Tiny niche cars won’t cure America’s oil addiction

As the auto industry hypes up hybrids and electric car plans, new pint-sized vehicles are also attempting to squeeze onto roadways.

Neighborhood electric vehicles are gaining traction along with the green movement, despite critics calling them glorified golf carts and chastising Obama for including them in the economic stimulus plan.

NEV supporters promote the tiny plug-in electric vehicles as an alternative for short trips in residential neighborhoods.

They have a top speed of 25 mph with around 40 miles per charge – not too useful on a transcontinental expressway. Some of the best known NEVs are the Chrysler Peapod and the Canadian-made Zenn.

Many police departments already take advantage of NEVs for patrolling streets and delivering parking tickets, and in January the U.S. Army announced it would lease 4,000 of them in the next several years.

While the cramped cars seem ideal for niche uses such as Army base security, getting NEVs out to the general public may be a tougher task.

Some small U.S. cities - and even Chicago - have welcomed NEVs by approving their use with ordinances. But are consumers really going to invest in a new vehicle for trips across town, if they still need full-size cars in the garage for trips when residential speeds aren’t enough?

Obama’s stimulus package may sweeten the pot for some by providing up to $2,500 in tax incentives for NEV purchases, but NEVs still likely won’t go over well with consumers insistence on cheap, convenient travel.

NEVs are at best a temporary solution until fully functional electric vehicles hit the roads. Most motorists won’t trade in gas guzzlers for a smaller, slower, less-safe vehicle.

But until the auto industry starts cranking out truly electric vehicles or invests heavily in mass transit, NEVs might just have to try and pull the heavy load of America’s green hopes.