Hot cars your kids will be driving

In the next issue’s Think Again: Oil (sorry, subscribers only), the Economist‘s Vijay Vaitheeswaran, right after he argues that the world still has plenty of oil left to pump, takes aim at the ecos’ beloved Prius, reasoning that any car that still takes gasoline—hybrid or not—doesn’t solve the world’s oil addiction. Remaking the automobile altogether, ...

598527_Tesla15.jpg
598527_Tesla15.jpg

In the next issue's Think Again: Oil (sorry, subscribers only), the Economist's Vijay Vaitheeswaran, right after he argues that the world still has plenty of oil left to pump, takes aim at the ecos' beloved Prius, reasoning that any car that still takes gasoline—hybrid or not—doesn't solve the world's oil addiction. Remaking the automobile altogether, he says, is the only serious way to wean the world off crude.

In the next issue’s Think Again: Oil (sorry, subscribers only), the Economist‘s Vijay Vaitheeswaran, right after he argues that the world still has plenty of oil left to pump, takes aim at the ecos’ beloved Prius, reasoning that any car that still takes gasoline—hybrid or not—doesn’t solve the world’s oil addiction. Remaking the automobile altogether, he says, is the only serious way to wean the world off crude.

In that spirit, FP has compiled a short list of the cars of the future—plug-ins hybrids, diesels, all-electrics—in a special Web-only photoessay. Sure, some of the models still rely on a little oil to get from point A to point B. But they’re a snapshot of where the auto majors (and a few start-ups) are heading in the quest to perfect the 21st century car. (Personal favorite: The all-electric Tesla Roadster at right, which goes from standstill to 60mph in a scant 4 seconds.)

Yesterday, Honda’s chief executive, Takeo Fukui, took aim at one of cars profiled, the forthcoming Chevy Volt, which GM’s Chairman Bob Lutz has said is more important to him than anything he’s done in four decades in the auto business. Fukui argued that the Volt’s electric motor (which is powered after a certain distance by a diesel fuel engine) is simply not as environmentally friendly as the auto industry ultimately needs to be, and that better, high-performing electric batteries that eschew the fuel engine backup are what’s needed. It’s clearly just a bit of corporate smack talk, but Fukui’s thinking is on the right track. Hybrids are just the first step in what needs to be an auto revolution.

Carolyn O'Hara is a senior editor at Foreign Policy.

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