One of the major contributors to poor gas mileage is the heavy weight of many conventional cars. Even the lightest cars, such as the Mazda Miata, weigh over a ton. This makes converting a conventional car to electric power especially daunting, as many available electric motors simply don’t make as much power as petrol engines. While you can slap a supercharger on a low-displacement petrol engine, there is no such easy fix for electric cars.
Tokyo-based Teijin has unveiled a lightweight electric city vehicle made from composite materials. So is this just a pipe dream project, or something that might one day see production?