An EV with a range of about 240km is more than enough for most people's commuting needs, and with batteries that last 1500 full cycles that means it should last at least 360,000km, and more if the battery isn't deep cycled constantly, which is probably the case if you charge at home and your commute isn't using the full battery capacity. The battery recharge time from empty is 5–6 hours using conventional 110 volt power, so a nightly topping off would probably only take a couple hours.
Unfortunately it's a PT Cruiser, the CUV based on the late Neon underpinnings. It may make a good testbed, the large body size may have given the engineers a good place to put the 272 kg (600 pound) 320V battery. Luckily whatever technology is going into this vehicle should be able to go into any other that gets produced, so these kinds of stats should be available when the first truly mass produced EV hits the market. As a taxi it will endure maximum abuse, both from road and driving conditions and in recharging due to each shift using up most of the charge. If this technology can survive a test like that it better come to market within the next few years, we've been waiting a long time to be able to choose electric over fossil fuel in a province with a wealth of hydro electricity. If the proper research was put into battery technology back in the 70's when the US hit their peak oil production and discovered that they were now dependent on foreign oil we would have even more sophisticated electric vehicle technology today, not to mention much more affordable. I guess it was easier to collectively put our heads in the sand and keep on pursuing dangerous foreign policies that eventually wind up costing more in the end. It's really too bad we have such skilled political and economic misleaders, everyone gets so mesmerized by the distractions they create and we forget about the real problems we're facing.
