Wired reporter Chuck Squatriglia got the use of a futuristic-looking electric car from Mitsubishi and took it out for a spin on the streets of Berkeley.
He was amazed at the reaction he got: total indifference.
It seems Berkeleyans were so busy whizzing around in their hybrid Priuses that they barely noticed the bright blue subcompact.
“Only in Berkeley could an egg-shaped car with the steering wheel on the wrong side and the words electric vehicle all over it garner absolutely no attention,” Squatriglia wrote in Autopia, Wired’s car section.
“I thought people would point, or at least look at Mitsuishi’s i-MiEV with the same slack-jawed “WTF?” looks I got when I drove the Aptera 2e. This is an eco-crazy town that outlawed styrofoam, declared itself a nuclear free zone and celebrates Indigenous Peoples Day, for cryin’ out loud. But no. Aside from one guy exclaiming, “Hey — check it out!,” this thing’s gotten as much attention as a Cal hat on game day.”
People in Berkeley may have yawned at the car but Squatriglia thought it was pretty cool. He plugged it in at night and it easily took him around town and across the Bay Bridge each day to his job.
Read the complete story here.
Photo by Jon Snyder / Wired.com
