Nissan, just like all other leading players on US market, is working on their electric vehicle to meet required percent in ZEV (zero emission vehicle) sales in a few years from now.

I am a little surprised to see electric car of this form - it’s supposed to be more aerodynamic than that.

It’s pretty standard electric vehicle: lithium-ion battery, 100+ miles range.

One thing is a little out of the ordinary: some new tweaks in battery chemistry allowed to make them flat (or laminate-like), which makes them lighter and allows to fit more of them inside the vehicle using various tight spaces.

This battery technology also allows quick power charges: 80% of the charge in 15 minutes using a powerful electricity source.

The launch is scheduled for 2012, but Nissan plans to test drive this vehicle in fleet applications with several selected buyers.

This electric car is called X1 Prototype made by Wrightspeed, Inc. On one hand it looks like a super sophisticated go-cart, because of its open body design. On the other hand it is no toy, it gives you 0-60mph in 3.07 seconds.

Other features include:

• Range >100 miles in urban use
• Top speed 112mph (electronically limited)
• 3-phase AC induction motor, 236hp
• 182 ft lbs torque, from 0 rpm to 6,000 rpm
• weight 1,536 lbs

Some more pictures here.

X1 Prototype all electric car VS Ferrari and Porsche:

Some people say electric cars are boring or they are not powerful enough. Look at the car in this video. It’s actually fairly simple and affordable electric car.

It’s called EV-1. You could buy car like this in California in years 1997 - 1999.

In 2000, I am guessing, somebody in General Motors got bribed somehow and they recalled every single one of those cars. It was illegal for the car owner to leave the car for himself no matter what. It’s ridiculous. They were shredding those new cars non-stop for a while and nobody understood why.

The best of the best of the best - Lightning GT. I wish I could drive it one day - at least for a minute.

Produced by British company “Lightning Car Company Limited”.

It has a completely unconventional design:

• 4 electric motors - one inside each wheel
• 30 batteries spread throughout the vehicle as low as possible to make the center of gravity where it should be
• Lithium-titanate battery - charges in 10 minutes - obviously not from a normal electric outlet - but it’s good to know that it can
• body made out of carbon-fiber and Kevlar to be light and strong
• expecting to get 150-200 miles per charge
• one of the variations of this car will be a 700HP monster

This is a whole new level for an electric car. People used to say “electric cars are for girls” - well not any more.

The price tag is around $300,000. For this price among other features, you get ABS, navigation, “tire pressure and temperature monitoring system” and a “programmable external engine sound generator”

Funny little car called NmG (No more Gas) you can see on this picture. You can actually buy one of these today in US.

They beta-test Lithium-Ion batteries with them and some people can get one for a discounted price: $30K. They don’t actually publish the regular price on their web site.

It’s a one sitter, 3 wheeler and it gives you over 70 mph if you want. The lithium-ion model gives you 60 miles range in summer temperatures, which I think is decent for a car of this size.

This one is too funny-looking for my taste but I am sure there are plenty of people who would love to own one.

You got to love the variety of exterior paint colors.

If you happen to have a car that you like, but it eats too much gasoline right now, there is something you can do to make it better. You can convert it into a pure electric car.

It is a complicated procedure and you definitely want to be technically educated person and probably want to have some help from people with proper tools for such car work. But the most complicated part is having experience and information about what you need, where you can get it and what to expect in the process. There is a company in US, where you can seek for help with this.

It’s Metric Mind Corporation - they seem to have all the necessary documentation, experience and parts that you need to get such project going.

One thing to remember when you plan to do conversion: there are many options which you can include into conversion or decide to skip on them for some reason. The only mandatory thing is the electric engine and probably you want power converter.

Your electric car can have batteries, ultracapacitors or both. It can have normal or regenerative breaks. It can have 1 forward gear, standard manual transmission, CVT (continuously variable transmission) or some other kind of automatic transmission. Depending on budget and expectations, you can choose one or another set of options.

Tell me about your experience if you do something like this yourself.

Not too many people know that EV-1 even existed.

A must see movie for everyone who cares about history and future of electric cars: Who killed the electric car?

I ask myself: assuming that the free market economy does work in United States, why don’t car manufactures already produce a lot of electric cars? I mean, there is obviously plenty of demand for it, they have to be less expensive in mass production then combustion engine cars… Then why don’t manufacturers want to meet the demand and make some extra money while doing so?

I might be naive but I still believe that it’s not like there is an oil company simply paying all company manufacturers to never put any real effort into creating electric cars. It doesn’t sound realistic to me.

Only recently California law started to enforce car manufacturers to have certain percentage of their cars meeting zero emission vehicle (ZEV) standards. By 2018, 16% of the manufacturer’s fleet must be ZEVs.

Interesting to notice that today 90% of California population breath air that doesn’t meet state standards to be considered healthy (according to California Environmental Protection Agency)

One of the most popular electric cars today is Tesla, manufactured by Tesla Motors. I guess the reason why it’s so popular is that they managed to get PR support from many celebrities, but also because the car itself is pretty darn good:

• looks slick
• 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds - that’s probably faster then any other street legal car even twice the price.
• less then 2 cents per mile - that’s a lot less then average hybrid car - compare to at least 12 cents.

On the downside, just like with any electric cars you can get only limited mileage on one charge. Tesla claims to drive 220 miles on one charge, which is good in comparison to many other electric cars, but is obviously less than any gasoline car. You also have to charge it for 4 hours from an electrical outlet.

Let’s put it this way; you won’t be driving it across the country.

I guess we are all waiting for an electric car that charges in 5 minutes and drives 400 miles, don’t we?

Brand new site about electric cars and everything related to them.

Let’s talk about pure electric cars.