Honda Fit EV ; A Battery powered car

Honda’s Fit EV, the new battery powered version of its popular Fit subcompact car, is a smooth, quiet and torquey joy to drive. But prospective buyers will have to give up on ever ”breaking even” as the savings on fuel eventually make up for the price premium typical for electric cars.
You’ll have to drive the Fit EV for a decade or so before the savings catch up with its sticker price, which is roughly double that of a garden-variety Fit.
It isn’t that buyers wouldn’t be willing to drive the car that long, but that Honda won’t allow it. For now the company is only leasing the vehicles at $389 per month for three years, which equates to a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $36,625.

So yes, the car is expensive — staggeringly so if you compare it with other vehicles of similar size or status level. But among electrics it is middle-of-the-road. And while its footprint is small, the Fit’s tall, airy cabin and upright driving posture make it a more pleasant place to spend time than the tight Chevrolet Volt or the relatively low-slung Nissan Leaf.
My time with the Fit was brief — just a weekend’s worth of errands and short excursions. During that period, though, the car was easy to live with and felt solid and even zippy on the road. The nearly instant pull, or torque, of the electric motor made it easy to dart away from traffic at stoplights, though smoother, more deliberate driving is preferable for maximizing range.
The Fit has an EPA fuel-economy-equivalent rating of  118 miles per gallon, and matching that figure — or surpassing it — on the Fit’s efficiency gauges is an engaging game.
Is this down-hill stretch steep enough to make use the regenerative brakes to recharge the battery? Or will I have to settle for a lesser charge from simply coasting? Will it be possible to drive a little slower without angering the drivers behind me?

These become important, frequent questions for the electric-car commuter. One question that didn’t come up was, “Will I get stranded in this thing?” That’s because my everyday driving doesn’t begin to test the car’s range limits. I plugged it in to recharge whenever I wasn’t using it, so it was always topped off. For longer trips you simply need another car.
Buyers will have to appreciate the Fit mainly for the feeling of efficiency it imparts. Sometimes that feeling can border on a sense of superiority. I admit to looking down my nose at all the Toyota Prius hybrids swarming around the local farmers’ market on Saturday. And their drivers looked back, with envy (I think).
The Fit EV became available in July in Oregon and California and is to move into six East-Coast markets early next year.