Electric Cars

Due to make her debut at the New York Auto Show in April, the Inizio EVS is a full-bodied plug-in electric supercar, a full foot wider and a few inches longer than a Corvette, featuring a closed ratio, 5-speed manual transmission that can launch her in whiplashing fashion from zero-to-60 in a scant 4.5 seconds.
Her sire is North Carolina-based EV Innovations (formerly Hybrid Technologies), the maker of the a broad range of green vehicles and products, including the LiV Wise hatchback, the LiV Surge PT Cruiser electric conversion, and the Hybrid Living Home, among other designs.

Specs:

Type: 100% all-electric

Class: 2-seat high performance sportscar

Manufacturer: EV Innovations

Top Speed: 160 mph (257 km/h)Zero-to-60: 4.5 seconds

Vehicle range: 160 miles (257 km/h)

Fuel(s): Electricity

Battery system: Lithium-ion

Time to full battery recharge: Not available

Tailpipe emissions: No

The design: The Inizio EVS has been designed with the curvaceous seduction of a Cinemax star—confident, sexy, revealing, but never smutty. Her bold, voluptuous lines give the woozy impression you're ogling her through heat waves boiling off the pavement. She might not quite have the specs of the TeslaRoadster, but when set against the Inizio, the Tesla almost looks … dated.

The India initiative: In May of last year EV Innovations opened up a subsidiary in India to "create greater in-house capabilities for R&D and to tap the vast knowledge pool of engineers in India." The epicenter of the automotive industry—or at least that of the affordable, efficient green car industry—will likely be in India. Getting a foothold there now is a wise move for a company with a product line as varied as theirs.

What we don’t

The battery range: 160 miles on a single charge is good, but set against the Tesla, the industry benchmark, and its 220 mile range, there is room here for improvement.

The Alan Thicke factor: I could have gone either way on this one. Alan Thicke has some involvement with EV Innovations, and I'm among the few Thicke of the Night fans worldwide (who else would express his condolences to David Carradine over the passing of his father … five years before the man died?), but I find those tacky Vegas spots problematic.