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Where are the electric vans, trucks and SUVs for famlies?

If you are a family who lives in snowy weather, you don’t have many EV options. You want an SUV with 4-wheel drive. You want the ability to carry more than 5 people at a time. Maybe you just want to carry more than 5 people or some cargo?

Sure, I know that almost all 7-seat, $70,000+  Tesla Model S’s are now AWD and the Model X “Crossover” is about to debut but what about a family that wants to spend a lot less on a vehicle that can be used day to day and doesn’t require over 100 miles of range.

The Leaf, Volt, Ford Fusion EV and i3 all have one very basic thing in common. They are regular cars. There is a front seat and a back seat. Many families prefer minivans or SUVs for their daily routine and we know how much Americans love pickups.

Why hasn’t anyone exploited this yet? Nissan’s Small-ish e-NV200 just got released in Europe. Yes, it is a Nissan Leaf with a bigger shell that seats 7 not huge people and probably hits 75 miles with its 24kWh battery.

Via converts bigger trucks and vans to Electric or hybrid for commercial uses but the costs and configurations aren’t conducive to a normal family.

But doesn’t Ford or GM build a Minivan, SUV or Pickup on top of the Fusion or Volt platforms? Certainly the type of people who want an EV aren’t just car people.

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Comments

  1. Jörg - 9 years ago

    Maybe there will be a crossover/minivan version of the Tesla Model 3 too.

    • Seth Weintraub - 9 years ago

      Yeah a crossover is already announced sort of but that won’t be a family car really – more of a Subaru replacement

  2. Auric - 9 years ago

    What about the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV ?? It’s a SUV, a 4×4 and been around here in Europe since 2012

Author

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Seth Weintraub

Publisher and Editorial Director of the 9to5/Electrek sites. Tesla Model 3, X and Chevy Bolt owner…5 ebikes and counting