Toyota officially confirms launch of all-electric Scion iQ in 2012

Toyota’s been teasing us with its Scion iQ electric car for more than a year. Noe, the Japanese automaker, during a recent meeting held in Las Vegas, has officially announced that the launch of all-electric Scion iQ is coming in 2012.Although Toyota has no specific date to when the 2012 Scion iQ electric will be available at dealership yet, but it stated that the all-electric Scion iQ will be in America in less than 18 months from now.

If you’re looking for a cute and “green” car, this one is perfect for you. But if you have a long commute, you might want to wait until battery technology improves. Toyota says the Scion iQ can only go 50 miles on a charge, but it is probably going to be rated around 40 miles or less, so it may lose some points in competition because will face fierce competition from vehicles like the 73-mile rated Nissan Leaf, 85-mile Mitsubishi i, and, if Think Global survives bankruptcy, its 100-mile rated City electric.

So, as you can see is hard for this car to rich the top, but isn’t impossible because Toyota can either place the Scion iQ’s price lower than the competitors or increase its driving range; or both.

That 50-mile range suggests it’s not using the full complement of batteries inside the Tesla Roadster, but this can be a good thing, because the Roadster’s lithium-ion batteries are one of the items that pushes its price up to well into the six figures.

The battery-powered Scion iQ’s MSRP has yet to be announced and the vehicle’s price is sure to influence potential buyers one way or the other.

Source: Autoblog