While the United States has been working on a green campaign for some time now, other countries are still working to catch up with their own campaigns for more environmentally friendly vehicles. The French, in particular, have just announced a 10-year plan in which they will pump €2.5 billion into the production and deployment of all-electric-vehicles.

The French government hopes that with their efforts there will be 1 million charging stations around the country by 2015 and 4 million by 2020. Furthermore, they hope that by 2020 electric vehicles will make up for 16% of new car sales while 2025 will see 27% made up of the environmentally friendly vehicles.

Let’s hope that this plan works and that more national governments across the world hop on board.

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Towards the beginning of the month Honda told us that they would be focusing on hydrogen powered cars rather than all electrics. However, recent reports suggest that due to the limited availability of hydrogen components, Honda will actually be producing an all electric vehicle after all.

If these reports are true, we could possible be seeing a Honda produced EV prototype at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show with the vehicle itself going into production sometime in 2015.

For now, we’ll be stuck playing the waiting game.

via greencarcongress

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It seems that Ford’s Executive Chairman of the Board isn’t convinced about the Chevy Volt’s 230mpg claim. In fact, he isn’t even convinced that Nissan’s Leaf EV should be rated at 367mpg like the company said it would.

It’s not the automakers fault, he says, but instead the EPA who uses meaningless method of determining the fuel efficiency of such vehicles. Below is a quote Mr. Ford gave to Green Car Advisor concerning the matter:

“The government will have to come up with a meaningful number for customers – a user-friendly label. And I think they will. I can’t dispute that number, but I’m not sure it’s relevant to the customer either.

Mr. Ford may be onto something as it just doesn’t seem right to base all electric vehicles on the amount of gas they would use. I think instead they should just focus on consumers how much electricity the cars will use for every mile they are driven. Then again, consumers could probably just settle with knowing the vehicle’s range given a predetermined amount of charging.

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Tesla has today released a whole slew of images feature their their Model S in action. As you can see the car looks beautiful, event though that was already.

You can check out the rest of the shots in the gallery below and then begin the long wait until Q3 2011 for a chance to get your hands on the vehicle. If you can afford it, that is.

via egmcartech

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Tesla has been kind enough to supply us with a picture of their forthcoming all electric Tesla Roadster Sport. As you can see, the car looks very similar to the regular Roadster except it has a bit of a meaner look.

Furthermore, the Sport will sprint from 0-60 in 3.7 seconds thanks to an updated electric motor and the car will be outfitted with a plethroa of carbon fiber accesories such as a hood and rear spoiler. On the inside, there will be a “push-buton transmission selector” which will oust the original shifter knob along with a touch screen center console.

via World Car Fans

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Having announced that the Volt would get 230mpg, GM most likely thought that they would have other automakers shaking in their booties. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case with Nissan who have stepped in to say that their Leaf EV is also a very fuel efficient car. Just how fuel efficient, you ask? Something to the tune of 367 mpg.

Below is a tweet from Nissan’s EV twitter account:

Nissan Leaf = 367 mpg, no tailpipe, and no gas required. Oh yeah, and it’ll be affordable too!

While this most likely isn’t confirmed by the EPA either, Nissan seems pretty confident that their Leaf EV will be far more fuel efficient than GM’s Chevy Volt. We’ll have to wait until both cars hit the market before we pass final judgement.

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Currently, the most publicized extended-range all-electric vehicle is the Chevy Volt. Everyone is making it out the be the most revolutionary car the world has ever seen. However, Mitsubishi may be looking to give GM a run for their money as they too are reportedly working on an extended-range all-electric vehicle.

Apparantly, Mitsubishi’s extended-range EV will be based on the cX concept that was showcased back in 2007 at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

If you don’t know what an extended-range EV is, it’s essentially just an all-electric vehicle that uses gasoline to replenish the car’s battery once it runs out of juice. So yes, you’re still using gasoline but it’s not used to actually power the car directly, instead it powers the battery that then powers the car.

via Register Hardware

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Electric vehicles were once known to sacrifice power to save gas. Those days are long gone with companies such as Ferrari and BMW gearing up to release high powered electric vehicles.

Next up may be Audi, if recent reports are to be believed that suggest the Automaker is gearing up to debut an R8 ePerformance EV concept at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show. Don’t get this confused, however, as the reports say this call will be powered by nothing more than high capacity batteries and an electric motor making it a fully all electric vehicle.

Audi has yet to say anything of such a car so we’ll have to wait until September to see if these rumors turn out true.

via WCF

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If reports are to be believed, Toyota may have intentions to launch their iQ based all-electric vehicle into the market by 2010.

Almost no details have been released regarding the car but WorldCarFans suggests that it will feature a lithum ion battery, 4 in-wheel motors and a range of up to 93 miles. In terms of charging, the car will apparantely reach a full charge after 8 hours.

8 hours? Let’s hope those guys over at MIT get their rapid-recharge system out sooner rather than later.

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Jon Lauckner, VP of Global Program Management over at GM, let us know yesterday that we wouldn’t officially know a price for the Chevy Volt until mid-to-late 2010. Even earlier than that, we learned that GM was inking a deal with eBay to allow consumers the ability to bid on brand new cars. But is there a connection between the two?

According to Chevrolet Brand Manager, Ed Peper, yes, as in a recent interview with GM-Volt.com he confirmed that GM is pondering if they should or shouldn’t sell the car on eBay.

If they do this, it would make the Chevy Volt’s pricing extremely competitive as it wouldn’t necessarily be predefined. Would you buy a Chevy Volt if they put it on eBay?

via AutoBlogGreen

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What are automakers to do when their plates get so full that they can’t find the time to develop things such as rapid EV charging? Well, leave it to the college folk, of course.

It seems that MIT students are currently develop a rapid recharging EV prototype that will effectively rememdy the 3-12 hour recharge times all-electric vehicles on the market currently have.

There’s not much in terms of how fast they plan on recharging their prototype 2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid, but they plan on having a working prototype by 2010.

via KickingTires

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It seems that BMW has recently filed a trademark for the term ActiveE. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that BMW currently has a line of ActiveHybrid vehicles, so what do you think ActiveE could mean?

Well, our best guess points to BMW producing a line of all-electric vehicles with an ActiveE branding. There’s absolutely no solid information to go by but if our hunch is correct we could see a BMW produced EV being unveiled sometime within the next couple of years.

Let’s just hope it retains the power BMW has been known for because if Mercedes could do it, so could they.

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If all goes well for NIssan, they are hoping to bring their all-electric vehicles to the Chinese market by 2011. This will be their EVs debut as Yasuaki Hashimoto, Nissan exec, has said that Wuhan, China will be a good market for the battery powered vehicles.

This still isn’t set in stone as things are likely to change but here’s to hoping that Nissan will be able to bring their publicly available EVs to the entire world within the next couple of years.

Just a side note, how come some automakers can’t seem to make a nice looking vehicle? No disrespect to those who like the design but I’ve never been big on the whole cube-shape thing. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to wait until they showcase a production model before I pass judgement.

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Rumors had been circulating over in Europe which then spilt onto US shores that Audi would be introducing an alternative energy R8 supercar at the Frankfurt Motor Show later this year. These rumors pointed towards either an all electric R8 or an extended range EV coupled with a diesel range extender.

Unfortunately, an anonymous Audi rep has said that these rumors about an alternative energy R8 were false. However, the R8 will still be making an appearance at the Frankfurt Motor Show in the form of a gas-guzzlin R8 Spyder.

Then again, once the economy recovers and gas prices skyrocket, anything is possible.

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Chrysler has submitted three proposals outlining a $448-million plan to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to try to quickly bring plug-in hybrid models and electric vehicles (EV) to market. These proposals were presented in order to get two initiatives established by the DOE – the Electric Drive Vehicle Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative and the Transportation Electrification Initiative. Both are planned to speed up development, demonstration, evaluation and manufacturing of alternative energy vehicles.

The programs lay out a 50/50 cost-share opportunity, with $224 million to come from Chrysler and the same amount matched by the DOE. If approved, Chrysler is planning to use the funds to build a demonstration fleet of EVs and plug-in hybrids, in addition to creating a new-vehicle electrification technology and manufacturing center situated in Michigan. Under this plan, this new facility would be operational by next year and be capable of producing more than 20,000 vehicles per year.

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