The new Elettrica electric car is not for those with a ‘need for speed’. It has a top speed of only 45mph, so it is designed mainly for town or inner city driving. It only needs charging for five hours, giving it a drive range of up to 65 miles.

The car is relatively cheap as far as electric cars go. It costs just £12,750RRP. The Elettrica has only been released on the U.K. market at the moment, but is set to hit U.S. soil in early 2009. The cost is likely to be somewhere around $20,000RRP.

The Elettrica electric car is only really suitable for those that live in a city and do not travel outside much. It’s mileage is very limiting (65 miles) so it is not worth buying unless you stick to a short distance.

The car is, however, incredibly economical and cost effective. If you do just drive to the local stores and back, it is the car for you. It has a very unusual, yet somewhat attractive design that will turn heads wherever you go. You can rest assured that the Elettrica has zero CO2 emissions, and even the recharging will not increase your electricity bill by much.

Currently in the U.K. the car is exempt from road tax, congestion charges and receives free parking in state owned car parks. Once the car is released on to the U.S. market, similar incentives are going to be implemented, so you can save money in more ways than just on gas!

EnerDel, a company currently working on building superb lithium batteries has resolved to expand their production facilities for a new project.

They plan on building the first Norwegian completely electric powered car. This vehicle will run on a 600 pound lithium ion battery.

These large batteries will power the “Think Car”, a vehicle ready to accommodate two people.

The expansion of their product plants will provide approximately 250 working positions for the surrounding neighborhood.

This is an important step forward for electric cars. Creating batteries that will last for long periods of time without having to charge. This is the future of electric cars and they will provide low cost traveling capabilities gas vehicles could never match. The ideas are out there, now it’s time for more research and production!

Hingham, Massachusetts - A place that boasts one of the greenest environments in the nation has recently banned the electric car from the road. As you all know the Zap Xebra only has 3 wheels so legally it is a motorcycle. This caused a few problems in Hingham.

The owners of these vehicles are infuriated! They spent their money and their time trying to acquire these $12,000 vehicles just to receive a letter in the mail telling them to take them off the road.

Currently the legislators are trying to work around this banning with a new law, but for now they will have to wait.

You heard it here, Renault and Nissan are working on an a completely clean zero emission power-train by the year 2010. The team plans on utilizing lithium ion battery technology to power the vehicle.

Together this team will be targeting Europe and Japan with their new design. The main selling points of this vehicle are:

1. battery life,
2. Motor capacity, and
3. regenerative breaking

Hope to see more vehicle projects like this in the future.

You now have chosen a car to convert to electric. You have removed the internal combustion (IC) engine and all the related parts and transmission, radiator, exhaust, etc.

NEXT STEP:

Choose an electric motor to electrically down the road. This can give you a lot of choices. Size of the motor ( smaller motor won’t go fast, about 50 MPH but will go farther)

1. Front, rear, 4 wheel drive. The best is the Hub motor in wheel drive, however, the most expensive because you have to buy 2 or 4 motors (for 4WD).

The most economical is to buy 1 electric motor. (these are readily available on the internet.

2. Choose the distance and speed you want to travel. The distance is about 75 miles maximum because lead acid batteries run down fast and need recharging. The electric motor you choose determines the speed of the car and battery usage speed.

3. The type of batteries to use and how many. currently you can only purchase lead acid. Lead acid weight 30 to 55 lbs, heaviest and most expensive is the deep cycle. The prices run between $50 and $100.

Lithium-ion batteries weigh less and can take you up to twice as far and, if you can get them and will cost anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000

THE BLOGGER LOGGER

In time of the oil crises, who else, but the multi-billion dollar company Google to step in and help solve the problem of rising gas prices.

“Two companies developing technology for plug-in electric vehicles have won investment from Google. Aptera Motors of Carlsbad, California and Austin-based ActaCell will receive an undisclosed amount of funding from the internet firm. The investment is part of Google’s RechargeIT initiative, which was set up in June 2007 to accelerate the adoption of electronic transport.”

Lets not hope for a better future, but take action into our own hands to combat this episode of financial troubles.

source:vnunet news articles

Paul Niedermeyer of TheTruthAboutCars.com wrote and interesting and harsh review of the Zap Xebra.

“”Once I squeezed myself into the Xebra pick-up, I had to contort my legs to operate the two pedals located on the left side of the steering column. As I turned into traffic, I was overwhelmed by the sensation that I’ve just committed a youthful prank– stealing one of those electric garbage-can haulers from a convention center. And I’m having doubts whether I’m going to be able to outrun the security guard running after me.”

He says the vehicle is not functional, it’s too slow, it’s uncomfortable, and the design requires more work.

No matter what his opinion is, mechanics and other well known organizations have named the Zap Xebra one of the most impressive new cars of the day.

America, the place where democracy means taking to the streets and speaking your mind about a topic your passionate about. If electric cars are your passion then take to the streets! Many people believe it’s time to take action and get the government involved in the fight to save the environment.

Global warming, glacial melting, and heating trends - proof that the environment requires assistance to continue to prosper. Sure there are those who disagree, but even they can agree that saving resources and creating more efficient systems would be beneficial to all, no matter what they believe in.

The only route to success, grass roots movements. They start out small, but they grown with support from large numbers of like minded individuals. Take this site for example. Their site is all about going green. A major aspect of their plan is a larger electric rail and car system to remove cars from the road and plains from the sky.

To get the government involved they need to know the people want to take action. The actions of politicians come from large groups of people with the power to make a difference. Take action today by joining one of these groups.

Here is a little post to help you become inspired to build your own electric car.

Ken Albright built his own electric car in less than 100 hours.

The cost: Approximately $8000
Sounds steep, but in reality he will will pay that price tag in the next 4 years. At 3 cents per mile to operate his car he can drive wherever he wants without having to worry about the cost.

His design included 5 cars in the front under the hood and 10 in the back to power his electric vehicle. He chose to run his car on a 40 mile capacity because he has a 12 mile commute. Now he can drive to work and back for pennies rather than dollars.

And who knows, the way gas prices are skyrocketing these days he might get a return on his investment in less time than he expected.

One of Toyota’s dealerships in Rockwell Texas is receiving the first Gold LEED award in the country. LEED stands for Leadership in Environmental Design. Earlier this year another Toyota dealership was awarded the silver award. These awards are certified by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC.)

This award is not easy to attain. According to the Toyota blog:

“To achieve Gold certification, Toyota of Rockwall made extensive use of recycled and energy-saving materials. For instance, four water cisterns capable of holding 63,500 gallons of rainwater and air conditioning condensation are used for landscape irrigation. The landscape itself consists of native plants, trees and grasses that are drought- and disease-resistant. The roof is made of materials that reflect 90 percent of the sun’s heat energy.”

In recent years Toyota has joined in the cause to become more environmentally friendly. In the future other companies will be more than willing to join in knowing that they can gain exposure like this.

Source: Toyota Open Road Blog