When Will We Get a Charge Out of Going Electric?

Automakers are giving hybrid aesthetics more juice, writes Erin Baker.

- Erin Baker

Will electric cars ever really be the sexy choice? We’ll all be forced into them within the next 10 years, but that’s not the same as a driver in the market for a rare supercar actively choosing electricity over petrol. Is it possible that the sound of silence will become as desirable as the thrum of a naturally aspirated V12 petrol engine? Will wires and plugs and a 30-minute charge really appeal to the time-is-money brigade who can refuel and be on the way to the next appointment in 10 minutes? (The ultimate solution to that, by the way, is Bentley’s Filld trial, which, via an app, sends someone with fuel to a destination of your choosing – home, office, gym – to fill your Mulsanne while you’re busy spending your time more productively.) I recently talked to the CEO of Automobili Pininfarina, Michael Perschke, about whether electric ownership can be a sexy proposition. Pininfarina is the legendary Italian design house; what it doesn’t know about