2007 Tokyo Auto Show Coverage

Back to Tokyo Auto Show

2007 Subaru G4e Concept

- Five-seat, four-door hatchback
- Electric motor
- Lithium-ion battery located beneath the floor
- Claimed 124-mile range
- Name means "Green for the earth"
Subaru says: "Amidst diversifying lifestyles, we aspire for a lifestyle with automobiles to become more accessible and exciting." We say: The G4e concept isn't terribly interesting from a design standpoint (its treehugger green paint is perhaps its most visually distinctive feature); it's more of a rolling showcase for the latest battery technology. Subaru claims that this car's vanadium lithium-ion battery stores twice the energy of a manganese lithium-ion battery. Special charging stations could recharge it to 80 percent capacity in only 15 minutes (a full recharge at home would take 8 hours).