We got in touch with Tesla in the hopes of getting more detail, but they declined comment.

The deal is reportedly part of a larger initiative Daimler is reportedly unveiling today with German utility RWE to create a network of some 500 public charging stations around that country's capital. Daimler has been running a similar pilot project in London where some 100 electric Smarts have been zipping about since late last year. The pilot fleet currently has charge times of eight hours, but Daimler reportedly hopes that with Tesla's newer batteries and a utility helping with infrastructure, the charge time could be reduced to two or three.

We heard back in June that Daimler and Tesla were getting cozy. At the time, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche wouldn't comment on the California startup but did announce electric Mercedes and Smart models for 2010. Zetsche also said that Daimler was in talks with Shai Agassi's electric car infrastructure startup, Better Place. Today's news of Daimler's deal with RWE doesn't rule out a roll for Better Place, but it could mean the German auto maker might be trying to electrify the German autobahn without Agassi.

Some the interesting things found there include the alternating-current induction motor and the lithium-ion battery cells.

The motor is of the type advocated in the late 19th century by Nikola Tesla, and has several mechanical advantages over a DC motor.  The lithium-ion battery cells give more power for the volume than  nickel-metal hydride batteries.  The nickel-metal hydrides are what are typically used in gas-electric hybrids, such as the Pious.

Unlike the gas-electric hybrids, the Tesla roadster can go from 0-60 mph in 4 seconds, without putting a dime the pocket of Middle Eastern oil tyrants or Central American Socialists.

The system relies on solar panels to provide energy during the day when the sun is available, and it borrows a small amount of power from the panels to split water into its basic parts: hydrogen and oxygen.  Then, at night when the sun has gone down and the panels are no longer producing power, it combines the stored hydrogen and oxygen over a fuel cell to create electricy.  Power during the day or night.  What is so great about this system?  It is energy that is almost free.  If a homeowner were to have an all electric car, she could recharge the batteries with energy produced right at home.  No more trips to the gas station.  In addtion the scientists working on the system say that they are designing it to be closed, meaning that you would put water into it once and it would hum away creating electricity for the duration of its lifetime.  This is exciting stuff.

There are still hurdles to overcome, but technologies like this are just the kind of thing the world needs right now.  Information about the scientists (Daniel Nocera and Matthew Kanan) and the technology can be found all over the internet as this has been a hot topic over the last few weeks.  This Wikipedia page is a good start.

See a video interview with Daniel here.

Consider that there is hope and there will still be light tomorrow--if, that is, people continue to work toward a better future.

NL Motors trades in Lincolns for scooters

By Patricia Daddona    Published on 8/27/2008

For 57 years, New London Motors Inc. sold new Lincolns and other traditional cars, later adding Mazdas into the mix.

But on March 4, Richard Antupit, the company's president, and his son, Philip, the vice president, sold their traditional dealership franchise to Whaling City Ford.

Then in April, they signed on to sell Eurospeed scooters, motorcycles and, sometime in the first quarter of 2009, electric cars from the building and 4½-acre lot they own on Colman Street.

The Antupits contracted with Ansonia-based Eurospeed USA, which is the company's exclusive distributor for the United States and Canada. The importer is the Euro Group of Companies Inc., of Port Chester, N.Y.

”We just felt the direction of the automotive business was changing,” Philip Antupit said as he showed off the scooters scattered across the showroom floor.

”We weren't in trouble financially. We just weren't making any money. I just didn't want to keep going down that road until we were forced out of business.”

The nation's big automakers, including Ford, are feeling the pangs of an era where $4-a-gallon gas and greenhouse gases are taking their toll on the industry, and the consumer is willing to consider nontraditional alternatives.

”I personally think a lot of the major car companies we see today will either not be in business 10 years from now or we'll see mergers,” said Philip Antupit.

New London Motors Inc., on the other hand, could last another 57 years by diversifying into the new nontraditional market, he said.

”We want to be a leader,” he added. “I don't like to be a follower. Be an innovator. It's a little riskier, but it's more interesting.”

Eurospeed USA distributes motorcycles, scooters, all-terrain vehicles and UTVs (four-wheeled utility vehicles) and the all-electric City Car, which is manufactured in China, said Mike Healey, president of Eurospeed USA.

Other distributors have sold them in Europe, Asia and Australia, he said, but the U.S. scooter business is in its infancy.

The scooter was introduced in Yonkers, N.Y., on May 9, Healey said. Sixteen dealers signed up in the United States, five of them in Connecticut. The Connecticut dealers are Crowley in Hartford, New London Motors, Healey Ford in Ansonia, Barbarino in Wallingford and Mannix in Guilford.

There are also Eurospeed dealers in five other states: South Dakota, Iowa, North and South Carolina and Rhode Island. Thirty dealers are waiting for approvals, he added.

Antupit said he has sold 10 scooters in the week and a half he's had them on the lot.

”That's pretty good,” said Healey, adding that the distributor has “sold everything (manufacturers) have given us off the first two shipments, about 1,500 scooters, and we have 2,000 on boats coming over here. That's a pretty good start.”

Healey and Glenn Russo, Euro Group's senior vice president, said that the company is specifically targeting new car dealers.

”We want to make sure it is people who have an understanding of engines, mechanics, warranty programs and how to deal with consumers' needs,” said Healey. “We're also looking for people with good volume, good location and some history in the industry.”

Philip Antupit, whose grandfather, Eli Aronson, started the business, felt “apprehensive” on the trip to Yonkers, but came away reassured by the corporate structure and Eurospeed's commitment to a three-year warranty for its scooters.

The scooters are “safe, stylish and the warranty basically makes a statement that, when you're putting an investment out there ... we're prepared to say there won't be issues with the bikes,” Russo said. “We're confident in the product.”

They range in price from $1,400 to $4,000, he said, come with product liability insurance and get 70 to 85 mpg, depending on the model, he said.

The electric City Car, a commuter car that travels up to about 45 mph, will sell for under $10,000, he said.

”Electric cars are of interest as gasoline prices have risen in recent years,” said Paul Taylor, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association, which has more than 20,000 members.

”Certainly, alternative sources of power for cars and light trucks is expected in the future,” he said. “The key to electric vehicles and natural gas vehicles of course is the price of fuel. Inexpensive kilowatts make for more interest in electric vehicles.”

Antupit says he is hoping to sell his first electric car in January and is in this new market for the long haul.

Russo says that is right where Euro Group wants its new dealers to be.

”Months away, years away, there's a much larger plan to give these dealers access to other value products,” Russo said. “They're not just becoming a scooter dealer, that's the foundation, but there's other products coming on line.”

2. Electricity: A great alternative fuel! But it to has alot of issues. First it’s expensive to buy or convert a car to electricity! A normal price to convert a car is around $8000.00usd and the results are not to impressive. Your mpc "miles per charge" is around 45-60miles not to good! and charge time is around 12-24hours. It takes alot of batteries to run a car on electricity and all the batteries equals extra weight which equals a decrease in horse power and space! Now you might remember GM produced a electric car back in the late 90's that got around 100miles per charge! put after three years on the roads they where recalled and destroyed! Other companies like Toyota and Honda have produced EV's "electric vehicles" but they to where either recalled or sold only to government or city personal! The reason they where recalled well there have been alot of speculation why but Im sure the main reason is because of big oil company’s pay offs! So don’t expect a full on electric car in the near future that’s affordable to the general public! (now you can buy a Tesla roadster for around $109,000.00usd and it does get around 250mpc and has a top end of 150mph!)

3. Hydrogen: Hydrogen the most promising out of the punch! Honda already has there FCX hydrogen car leased to a lucky few to beta test it! Now this scares me because its the same damn thing GM did with there electric car! Besides all that hydrogen cars are closer then you think! I’m not talking about compressed hydrogen and im not talking about liquid hydrogen! no no no im talking about hydrogen on demand! Taking the hydrogen and oxygen atoms out of its true state! "WATER" now you might have already heard about this or think its a bunch of bs but its not! By simple electrolyses you can extract the Hydrogen and oxygen atoms from water and use them for fuel. Its as simple as getting a few sheets of stainless steel, some nylon nuts and bolts, some wire and a jar to place it all in. That’s it! I have experimented with this and I have gotten a 30mpg increase in my car! now the technology isn’t quit there to run a car on nothing but hydrogen on demand or "brown gas named after professor brown."
Hope you found this informative if you care to post a comment feel free to do so and as always here is a link to one of my sites: BlackHawk

Drive Eco-Friendly Home
The Green Car Company

As gas prices soar, many residents of Seattle are turning to alternative transportation: biking, walking, buses, and carpools. Sometimes, though, practicality necessitates an hour or two in rush hour on I-5. But there's good news: even if you're not prepared to give up your single-passenger automobile, there are things you can do to lower your carbon footprint, reduce emissions, and save money. And the Green Car Company is here to help.

In their new Bellevue location, awareness and education are the name of the game. By focusing on reducing carbon dioxide emissions in transportation, the company hopes to help drivers made more informed - and smarter - decisions.

To meet those goals, the Green Car Company offers a wide range of services. They sell the widest range of alternatively powered vehicles in the Northwest, including electric options (the Smart Car, Xebra, and converted gasoline cars); hybrid-electrics; high-mileage diesel Volvos; and a whole selection of biodiesel options. And yes, you can test drive any of them - just call ahead.

If you're a business owner with a fleet of cars (think delivery vehicles, etc.), the Green Fleet Consultation Service can help evaluate baseline emissions and costs, provide suggestions on alternative fuel blends, and help create an individualized plan for reducing vehicle trips. Already got a flex-fuel wonder? The service department is the best place around to get your volts tuned up.

But the Eastside's best-kept secret of all is the Green Car University. This little-known division of the Green Car Company offers seminars, lectures, classes, and other education about all things related to reducing transportation emissions - everything from DIY tweaks to reduce the bills on your gasoline guzzler to full-fledged electric car consults can be found with GC University's experts.

"I've got to be honest," says one of the Green Car Company's biodiesel devotees. "I'm all for lower emissions, and I want nothing more than to see my kids have a happy, healthy future. But for me, right now, this is about saving money."

Welcome to the world of alternate fuel vehicles—which are not only trying to buck the trend of rising fuel prices, but also offer a greener, cleaner option. Awareness and enthusiasm about alternate fuel vehicles increased in recent times largely due to the rising fuel costs—crude prices hit a record $140 a barrel last month as against $80 last year. While every automotive company worth its name is talking of models with alternate fuels, a few have already started showcasing their products. At the Auto Expo this January, Mahindra & Mahindra unveiled a hybrid model of its global success, Scorpio, which is expected to hit the Indian roads this year. The Scorpio Hybrid is the only diesel hybrid on the horizon. Japanese carmaker Toyota too has promised to bring its hybrid Prius to India soon.

But the most significant announcement came last month from Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata—that Tata Motors is developing an electric car in collaboration with a Norway-based company. They are also working with the Thai government to develop an energy-efficient, eco-friendly car. The Tata electric car, expected to hit the roads by 2009, is likely to create as big a stir in motoland as did its Nano. Tata Motors is also working with French company mdi to develop an engine that would run on compressed air and be one of the cleanest in the world.

..."

Coy Shades Of Green, Outlook India, Sep 1, 2008

この関連記事: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/atcars/news/20050819ve01.htm、３年後は４時間充電で２５０キロ。価格が２００万を切るという！　すごい！！！

三菱からの電気自動車http://sankei.jp.msn.com/economy/business/080710/biz0807100052000-n1.htm .。一回の充電で、１００マイル。トップスピードは８０マイル。充電のステーションは、東京のようなビッグシティで、構築されるそうだ。カリフォルニアでの計画もあるらしい。能率は、１マイルは２セントくらい？（この記事では、１Km　１から３円）。１００マイルだと２ドル。車両価格は２５０万円。もし、一回の充電で２００マイル走ったら、アメリカでは大ヒットだと思うけど。

You might be surprised to know that some people probably in your home city actually own an electric car that gets unbelievable gas mileage like you would never think. You also might be surprised to know that gasoline engines are very inefficient. So, not only is gasoline expense of but the engines it goes into does not efficiently produce the power to propel your car either. I just now saw a website that lists various project cars for sale which I have found one of them to be one I will be considering for an electric car.

Small cars are obviously the best to purchase for conversion. The smaller trucks like a Chevy S10 or old Ford Ranger truck would be a good possibility also because of the truck bed. The truck bed offers a great place for all the batteries that you'll have to mount onto the automobile. It's interesting that the batteries that you will use will be lead batteries and not some special type of batteries.

Unfortunately, some of the electrical parts can be somewhat cost prohibitive so I will still have to think about if I will go through with this project or not. ever since the gas has been going up fairly quickly, I have had an urge to find more efficient transportation. Anyway, as I said, I found electrical vehicles to be a very good option which I wish were available years ago by automakers. I personally believe that the electricity should be the way to go since motors are so efficient.

Here..Tesla Motors is electric vehicle I would really like to have but not at that cost.

The first electric car prototype ever built was designed and manufactured by Sibrandus Stratingh, a Dutch professor in 1835. However, problems with the battery kept his platform from taking hold until Frenchmen Gaston Plante and Camille Faure improved upon it in the mid and late 1800s. In fact, by the turn of the century, the electric car held virtually every land speed and distance record. This included a car capable of 65mph built by Camille Jenatzy in 1899.
Soon, however, the internal combustion engine would overtake electric cars as the dominant vehicle in industrialized nations. The limitations of battery technology, combined with the plummeting cost of oil, all but led to the demise of the electric car. By 1940, electric vehicles were limited exclusively to very specific applications, such as small industrial vehicles. The electric car would sporadically emerge throughout next few decades, however it wouldn't be until nearly the new millennium when electric cars once again appeared a viable option for the near term.

There were approximately 76,000 electric cars in use in the U.S. as of July 2006, compared to an estimated 100,000 as of 2008. This figure is only expected to grow. In 2001, Indian company REVA Electric Car Company  launched the first wide scale production electric vehicle the world had seen in nearly 100 years. The REVA has gone on to become the best selling electric car in the world, reaching countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. Japan and the U.S. may be behind this innovative Indian company, however there is a plethora of designs on the table to excite the American consumer.

The year 2007 saw a slew of announcements regarding the development of production electric vehicles by major auto manufacturers. In the past two years, GM, Dodge, Nissan, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda and Chrysler have all announced plans for electric cars to hit the streets no later than 2014. This is indeed very encouraging, however there is still a major problem that has yet to be overcome by any major manufacturer.

The batteries necessary for a mid priced production electric car are currently unable to provide sufficient range, tend to run very hot, and are cumbersome in size. To address these issues, a number of solutions have been proposed, including running a small gasoline generator to recharge the battery while it is running, or using the energy dissipated as heat from breaking to recharge the battery. Additionally, newer technologies such as supercapacitors and flywheel energy storage systems are being tested.

The electric car has faded in and out of the public arena for over 170 years, yet it continues to be an attractive form of transportation. Doubtless, there are a number issues that must be overcome before it can again become the dominant platform for transportation. However,  the recent commitment of resources from major auto manufacturers has energized the public consciousness and it is only a matter of time before the electric car arrives. Again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONvCsos2T0Q

http://leftcoastelectric.com/content/view/13/29/

First things first. The young visionary who founded the company, Shai Agassi, is impressive; his goal is ambitious, and he's clearly got the enthusiasm and credibility to bring important partners on board to realize his vision (he's purportedly already raised $200 million to fund the startup). The plan is to create an area-wide (country-wide in Israel and small countries) grid of electrical charging stations and battery-replacement shops, charging car owners for recharging and battery replacements. This new company would in essence control the new fuel for their automobiles - stored electricity. They would not create or sell the cars themselves (and that would be insane anyway); the goal is to convince auto makers to use their battery and charging technology in new auto lines. To make things easy on car owners (and to hopefully drive adoption), they plan to have on-board software to calculate trips and battery capacity and to locate nearby charging stations and battery replacement shops, and charging stations will be easy to use with swing-out arms to automagically plug your car in for a charge.

This is attractive to a number of different constituencies. People concerned about the environment like the idea of removing oil entirely from transportation; hybrids (whether the 2-mode systems like the Prius or the superior "range extender" technology of the Chevy Volt) don't do that and will still require gas stations and a gas creation and distribution ecology into the foreseeable future. Car manufacturers might find the idea of having a single standardized battery technology appealing, although to counter that, it may constrain their ability to optimize and/or differentiate their cars sufficiently. Electrical utilities might decide that this approach would bring them an expanded market for electricity much faster than hybrids will; hard to tell. Governments may find the idea of potentially being independent from foreign oil compelling and may subsidize the effort for that reason.

Here are some reasons why this scheme could be a bad idea for governments and consumers:

1. Presented as a complete ecosystem for purely electric cars, the idea appears air-tight and compelling. However, after any modest reflection, it doesn't seem to provide much of an advantage over the hybrid technologies which are already farther along in production and which will not put any one company in a monopoly position on batteries, software, or charging technology. Because batteries are large, dense, and expensive, electric cars will always have a limited range; so how you extend that range is still open to debate. The vision of Better Place works fine in a small dense area like Israel or Denmark (perhaps even for much of Europe) - when you run out of range (or are about to) you find a local place to plug in or get a new battery. Now imagine doing that for driving across the US Midwest or Southwest, or really across any sparsely populated area. The hybrid technology answer to running out of charge is to bring the extension with you; and, when that runs out, you can still take advantage of the already deployed gasoline infrastructure until you get to a charging place.
2. Government subsidies (direct or in the form of tax breaks) should not be used to create monopolies. If any government subsidies are extended to Better Place they should extract a number of firm concessions in the business model (and to be fair, for all we know, these may already be in the business plan, but they should be conditions anyway). First, the charging infrastructure should be treated much like a deregulated residential power grid, phone system, or pipeline; Better Place may be allowed to install the chargers and extract a fee to cover their use and maintenance, but car owners should be able to buy their power from any operator. Similarly, Better Place should not be allowed to operate the battery-replacement shops directly or indirectly, but should instead be required to franchise them out (they are likely to prefer that anyway as it shifts the bulk of the capital investment to the franchise owners). Finally, the batteries themselves should have a number of different suppliers; Better Place should not the sole source or broker for the battery technology (and they might not want to be anyway).
3. Privacy is a big issue; you can forget about it with these cars. Every time you plug in to charge your car you are announcing your location to a central server; and that's only if the on-board software in the car isn't already reporting that on a constant basis so it can find nearby charging stations and swap-shops anyway. Compare that to fueling your car and charging it at home; if you use cash at the gas station (and Citgo even encourages that by giving a 3-4% discount over the credit price) then you aren't being tracked at all by anyone.
4. Allowing Better Place too much control over the specification of the battery technology would potentially stifle innovation in the design of the actual automobiles. Because of all the design issues for high-energy-density auto batteries (heat, safety, discharge, operating temperatures, size, longevity, etc.), auto makers need to be able to design all kinds of trade-offs when creating electric cars. I think that in the end, auto batteries will be a lot like lead-acid car batteries or even more varied like laptop batteries; there's standardization of the input (charging), output (12V/5V, etc), and the macro units themselves are built from mostly standardized cells. But you typically can't use your SUV's battery in your sedan, or your Toshiba laptop battery in your Dell or Lenovo, and in fact, you might not even be able to use the same battery across two laptops even from the same vendor. For different models, they make different trade-offs; and this is good. Trying to force a standardized battery profile just to facilitate the "battery bay" swapping would be a bad idea.
5. What's the profit model in automated battery swapping facilities? Will people pay a huge amount of money to do that ever, periodically, on a regular basis? Is there any analogue in the sealed-lead-acid battery world? Of course the charge lasts a lot longer in SLA batteries, and they don't get swapped out as often. How many swaps per day/month/year would have to make this profitable for a shop, at what cost per swap? Put another way, what kind of capital investment would a shop require, and how long would a shop take to see a return on their investment?

In the end, although I like this guy's vision (a future without oil for transport) and his dedication to the concept, I really think this is not a good way to go about it. I'm fine with getting a range-extender hybrid, since I don't typically anticipate needing range extension during the work week. With that technology, I'm planning to get as close to an infinite number of miles per gallon as possible, and that's good enough for me.

But there is just one problem...

The average price buyers were willing to pay for the car was $31,261 -- substantially less than the $40,000 GM has said it will cost to build the first-generation of the car equipped with a massive lithium-ion battery pack.

Can't sell the car for less than cost. However, the market should correct itself and the cars will become more affordable.

GM has been racing to finish development of the Volt in time for the planned launch as the centerpiece of its effort to break a costly association with gas-guzzling vehicles at a time when truck sales are tumbling and gas prices remain high.

[...]

GM is designing the Volt to run for 40 miles on a lithium-ion battery pack that can be recharged at a standard outlet. The Volt will also capture energy from braking, like a traditional hybrid, and feature an on-board engine that will be used to send power to the battery on longer trips.

GM is racing Toyota Motor Corp to bring the first mass-market, plug-in car to the marketplace.

As more of these alternative energy cars hit the road, the price of gas will tumble to like ¢.15 per gallon

A week after he told me this I got an email from a bunch of guys in Nashville driving a bus to DC, New York, Massachusetts, Denver, Burning Man, and California. They were looking for press coverage and ideally, donations to fund the ride by selling seats on the bus for $900. God bless them as well.

Three days ago I got an email about, (guess what?) another cross country road trip being sponsored by the US Department of Transportation that features hydrogen powered vehicles driving across the USA. As much as I want to believe that hydrogen is the answer to our countries energy issues, I just don’t buy it.

Part of it may be that I don’t really understand it but here’s what I do know. Hydrogen is non-polluting and totally sustainable. (I think) it’s the most abundant substance on the planet. The only by-product of burning hydrogen is water. Sounds great, huh?

Here’s the problem. In order for hydrogen to become feasible, every gas station in the country would have to be changed over and modified to dispense hydrogen. Sure it can be done and you could do the same thing with natural gas. Cars will run on that too. How long will it take? How much would it cost? Who can say?

Here’s something else I know. Tesla’s all electric $120,000 sport scars are starting to show up in people’s driveways. Leno has a video of him driving one on his “Garage” website. GM is busting their butt trying to figure out a way to get the electric Chevy Volt to the marketplace. Toyota is selling Pria faster than they can build them and people are now waiting in line for years to buy a Smart car.

We’ve been hearing for years about America’s love for large gas guzzling SUV’s and the open road. That’s all swell till gas hits four bucks a gallon. There was a small bit in the Washington Post today on page 2 about the latest numbers. Ready?

In June 2008, we Americans drove 12.2 billion fewer miles than in June of 2007. That’s billion with a “B,” folks. According to the article, that’s a 4.7% decline and the biggest monthly drop in a less driving trend that began last November. Here’s another “B” fact for you. Measuring from November to June in 2008 as compared to 2007 we’ve driven 53.2 billion fewer miles.
Here’s one more but we have to drop back to millions with an “M.” The first quarter of 2007 as compared to first quarter 2008 – 400 million fewer gallons of gasoline burned in the US of A.

What can be learned from all this?

My neighbor John is a little kooky but I already knew that. If I could stand to ride in cars for long periods of time I’d volunteer to go with him.

The guys in Nashville have a great idea but they need marketing help. I wish I had the time.

Hydrogen is a good idea but still in the pipe dream stage.

All electric cars are already here.

A wave of plug-in hybrids are expected in 2010.

If the price of gas stays high and I believe it will, America will cut back on their Great American road trips, drive less, spend less time in their cars and dial down the production of green house gasses. Doesn’t sound so bad, does it?

http://moroadtrip.wordpress.com/
http://www.hydrogenroadtour.com/
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com

Scott Sowers
http://www.ScottSowers.com
http://wwwDesignPOV.com

Amp Motor Works plans to provide a service converting some Saturn car models into plug in electric cars. In their first model, the customer provides the Saturn Sky and a payment for the electric conversion. The company then takes out all the gasoline motor parts and puts in a fully electric drive train. It should get about 150 miles on a charge. The company has plans for an SUV and a 5 passenger car conversion as well.

Article about the Amp Motor Works electric conversion: Link

Amp Motor Works: Link

Want something a little more extreme? Try out the Tesla: Link

Forerunner to the Tesla Roadster.
Viper = 510 hp, 3380 lb,
tzero = 225 hp, 1970 lb,

Viper = 0-60: 3.9sec
tzero = 0-60: 3.6sec

Viper = 326hp/ton
tzero = 250hp/ton

Only about 15% of the energy from the fuel you put in your tank gets used to move your car down the road or run useful accessories, such as air conditioning. The rest of the energy is lost to engine and driveline inefficiencies and idling. Therefore, the potential to improve fuel efficiency with advanced technologies is enormous. With an Electric Car it costs just $2.00 per 100kms with MUCH more performance than with petrol at $20.00 per 100kms.

Dodge Viper V10 500 hp Vs Tzero EV Electric car. Electric Car Electric Vehicle Drag race

The four-seater, based on the "i" gasoline-powered cars Mitsubishi sells in Japan, is a little smaller than a Honda Fit. It ditches the 64-horsepower engine in favor of a 47 kW electric motor and 330-volt lithium-ion battery. The battery charges in about 10 to 16 hours plugged into a standard 110 volt electrical outlet like the ones in your house. Plug it into a 220 and it'll charge in six to eight.

Although it doesn't look like much, the motor produces an impressive 63 horsepower and 133 pound-feet of torque. It's said to be a quick and nimble runabout good for zero-to-60 mph in less than 9 seconds and a top speed of 82 mph.

This should be a nice car - range claimed to be 75 miles.  The 2000 Insight was listed at 67hp for the gas engine and 14 more from the electric (although I see the "engine" rated at 73 hp), and 66 lb-ft torque from the gas engine and 25 from electric motor.  The stated 0-60 time was around 11 sec, but it felt faster to me.  So 133 lb-ft should seem zippy indeed!

The top speed of 82 mph might be enough for the highways in CA, but just barely.  I got the Insight to triple digits a couple of times, and while it did not feel especially stable, it didn't scare me too bad.

I hope this car is US street legal and will be sold soon in the US.  This would be a practical all-electric car, capable of completely replacing a gasoline car.

Totally cool, free market solution. 40 miles before using any gas. Interior kind of looks like Star Trek control panels...

[ht: Instapundit]