Official data on this car (although it might change several times before it goes to production) is:

Range: up to 300 miles per 4 hour charge.

0-60 in 5.6 seconds.

Deliveries are scheduled to begin at the end of 2011.

It’s designed so that you could swap the battery in 5 minutes. I guess, just in case if in the future there will be battery swapping stations, you could stop your electric car to recharge it at one of those stations, just like at a fuel pump, but instead of recharging, another battery pack is swapped in…  And off you go.

Some people might like the second trunk, which is located under the hood. I wonder where they put the engine. But it doesn’t surprise me that they managed to save some space for another trunk, because with electric motors - you could hide 2 or 4 smaller ones pretty much anywhere in the car. There are electric cars that hide them inside wheels! Model S doesn’t do that though.

It is unknown what options exactly will be offered and what they will cost. But it looks like even the basic configuration will have 17″ touchscreen in the dashboard.

In addition to huge touchscreen there is also 3G Internet connectivity. Might be optional and will probably require additional monthly fee, but I am still excited about the idea of having Internet access in the car whenever I want.

So what about the price?

Base price is $49,900. That is after federal tax credit of $7,500.

For the sake of comparison to conventional gasoline cars, let’s consider saving on gas over 5 year period, it would probably be about $10,000. It could be more if we forget about interest on such investment when you have to pay upfront, cost of new battery when you have to replace the old one, etc.

So I would say we are looking at a $40,000 car in conventional car terms.

That’s not much more than an entry level luxury car on the market today. At the same time I can see many people being repelled by the fact that Tesla is a new player on the market and nobody knows how this type of cars will depreciate in comparison to cars from other car-makers that were around for dozens of years.

That’s good progress in terms of price for pure electric cars. I think it’s awesome considering that there are not too many cars like that. I would still wait price to drop another 30% before I can call it completely reasonable.

Research is led by Gerbrand Ceder. MIT news site has a more detailed article about this research.

Now, having this technology available to electric car makers, means you could charge your electric car even faster than the time you currently spend fueling your conventional car. That would be great - that would eliminate one of the biggest pit-stops of electric cars.

According to Gerbrand Ceder, this technology could be available for public in just 2 or 3 years.

For example, Tesla is around $100,000 and Zap cars are under 40 MPH so far.

Aptera can deliver highway speeds and it’s not very expensive. They promise to deliver first electric models in 2009. Here is a new video featuring the vehicle.

From talking with my insurance agent, I was surprised to know something new about owning a hybrid car: apparently a hybrid owner will have trouble finding a certified auto appraiser to look at the damage on his/her hybrid. There are just several of those in Massachusetts. I can only imaging how hard it is to find one in less populated states.

I am not picking on hybrids. I am saying that any drivetrain technology, especially combinations of two technologies, like gas and electric in hybrids, will need some time to sink in to infrastructure that we have to support the ownership. Like here it is auto insurance industry that needs to adjust to be able to effectively help people who need repairs with their new “cutting edge technology” vehicles.

The biggest culprit with electric cars is that currently there is no infrastructure for efficient (fast) recharging or the battery. There are advancements that Europe does in this area, but it is still far from being ready for mainstream. USA makes far less of a progress developing infrastructure for new types of drivetrain. Let’s hope it will improve soon.

• which type of car will take me from A to B faster?
• which type will do it cheaper?
• which type is emitting less pollution?
• which requires less infrastructure changes to switch to?
• etc.

Knowing that, it’s easier to realize what’s better for me now, what’s better for me in the future and what’s better for the environment we live in.

Interesting to know that even the most efficient gasoline engines, have very limited efficiency in terms of how much energy contained in the fuel will actually be converted to mechanical by the engine. It’s only around 32%.

Medium size electric motors are up to 90% efficient. And the bigger the motor is, the more efficient it can be. [Energy Conversion Efficiency].

Electric vehicle doesn’t need transmission in many cases and regenerative braking would be impossible on a pure gasoline car. This means that electric car can save a lot of energy that would be lost in gasoline car because of: transmission and breaks.

Gasoline car also needs to run its engine while standing in traffic or at the intersections - no need to do it in electric cars.

The bigger picture, comparing well to wheel energy efficiency, is far more complicated. You need to take into consideration storage loses in the battery, electricity delivery from electric plant to where you charge your car, plant efficiency. For gasoline you need to look at fuel refinery and delivery cost.

Another important piece of the puzzle is the effect on the environment. We know that if you are burning gasoline, you are releasing greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the atmosphere.

On the other hand, there are multiple ways to produce electricity without pollution: solar, wind, ocean waves and tide, etc. Some people even talk about harvesting the energy of lightning - you just have to channel it into a big enough battery that can be charged quickly enough.

This electric vehicle has been announced quite some time ago, and this month (October 2008) is when production is scheduled to begin for the all-electric version of Aptera Typ-1. As of right now it is available for reservations.

Tree wheels, 2+1 seats and a very aerodynamic body, as you can see on the picture.

120 miles range on single charge, 0 to 60 mph in 10 seconds and top speed exceeds 80 mph.

I can imagine it’s not as stable as a car, but definitely looks more stable and safer then a 3 wheeled motorcycle. Aptera is actually classified as a motorcycle due to its light weight and lack of fourth wheel. One of the downsides to it not being a car is that it won’t get government tax breaks like electric cars and plugin hybrids get.

I think it’s a good option for a daily commuter. It looks cool, relatively large trunk and there is a child seat behind the front row.

The price tag is $27,000. Believe it or not, it’s actually more reasonable then most other manufacturers of electric cars today.

The most noticeable promises have been given by a Texas company EEStor, which promised to create super performant ultracapacitors and have them store several times more energy than the best chemical batteries available today. EEStor’s site is currently under construction: http://eestor.us/.

If this is all true, we will soon have electric cars driving up to 80mph for 400 miles on single charge and you could recharge such car in 5 minutes, given that you can find an outlet powerful enough.

EEStore managed to raise the necessary funding and signed several partnerships, which kinda tells me that they proven that it can be done, although they are not very vocal about their work in press.

One of the big partners is an electric car maker ZENN. They sell low-speed electric vehicles for a while now and I believe represents an important strategic partner for EEStor.

Most recently they got Light Electric Vehicles Company on board, which in turn promises to deliver entire drivetraine based on EEStor’s Ultracapacitors. Here is an overview of what this is about, taken from their website:

EEStor EESUs are expected to provide over 450 watt hours per kilogram and over 700 watt hours per liter, charge in minutes, and, for all practical vehicular purposes, last indefinitely. By comparison, lithium iron phosphate batteries provide about 100 watt hours per kilogram and 170 watt hours per liter. Unlike electrochemical batteries, EESUs should not break down from use or time during the life of a vehicle. They are expected to deliver high current without loss of efficiency or excess heat, and they should operate at optimum efficiency over a wide range of ambient temperatures. They will be configurable for any output voltage that optimizes vehicle performance, and will maintain that output voltage at a constant level over the span of each discharge cycle. Production is expected to start mid 2009.

I personally only pay attention to 100% electric cars, because those are most energy efficient, environmentally clean and promise to improve better then other types of alternative drivetrains.

Our of announced vehicles, Dodge EV is pure electric vehicle with range of about 150 to 200 miles.

It provides decent acceleration: 0-60 in under 5 seconds. Decent - in terms of sporty electric cars! It would be awesome for any petrol car.

Chrysler is preparing this car to sell by the end of 2010, as well as Chrysler and Jeep electric vehicles.

Seems like 2010 is the target year for many manufacturers to deliver one or more vehicles that do not produce any emissions. There is a real race unfolding in front of our eyes and we are going to witnesses and be the judges in this race. We all are going to vote by buying one or the other type of vehicle over the next few years.

I am very excited to see how “mass production of electric vehicles” race plays out.

In the best case scenario hybrid vehicles would have an optimized gasoline or diesel engine which would kick in when the battery goes low - generating more electricity and extending vehicle’s range this way. I am saying this is the best case scenario because this way engine can work on only the most optimal RPM - which is a big deal for a combustion engine - a lot of optimization potential when it should only work on one RPM.

But the fact is that - unless you can afford to go on vacation for more than 6 month a year - you won’t be driving more than 60 miles per day. This means that 99% of people will not have to drive more than 60 miles a day.

In this case, why do you want to drive a gasoline or diesel engine with you everywhere, pollute air, have to fuel it up, having shorter range because this engine takes up room in the car and adds in weight significantly?

Here is what you can do instead when you need extended range:

Imagine, you drive to work in an electric car with range of about 100 miles, plug it in every night, no pollution, only pay about 2c per mile. Then when you need to go on vacation, you just hook this trailer, plug it in and go. I bet with comparable fuel tank, you can go further than your average gasoline car goes.

I would imagine that when electric cars are popular, you can rent one of those once or twice a year when you need it. So you don’t even have to buy one of those and don’t have to store it in your garage.

Neat, isn’t it?

ZAP already has a variety of all-electric vehicles: bikes, scooters, cars and trucks. Some of them are concepts and some are already in production.

This company used to manufacture all their vehicles in China, but from now on it is all coming back to US, thanks to the State of Kentucky, which provided the necessary tax breaks and other incentives to make the move financially attractive.

The factory is expected to begin manufacturing electric cars in 12 months from now and is going to employ up to 1,000 people initially with more job openings in the future. Web site for future employment opportunities is here.

There are two concept cars, that in my mind are more attractive than the others - ZAP Alias and ZAP X, both of which you can reserve today and they will be delivered, as the manufacturer promises, in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

ZAP Alias is a relatively affordable and yet very functional two-seater on 3 wheels. The range is 100+ miles and the top speed is about 100 mph. Check out the video of this concept.

There is almost no information about ZAP X yet, except for this picture below and the fact that it is engineered by LOTUS Design.

Think Ox is an all electric concept, which would make a nice family car.

There are 5 seats, 125 miles range, 5 star crash rating. Not sure how they got the crash rating, since it’s only a concept.

It’s light because the frame is made out of aluminum, it has a watercooled brushless electric motor, delivering up to 134 hp and overall seems like enough performance for an average family car type of vehicle.

There is a solar power panel integrated in the roof. I understand it won’t provide nearly enough power to run on it continuously, but it will still extend range a little when driving or parking under the bright sun.

Creators envision to have a fully functional computer on board for driver and passengers to be able to browse Internal, read emails, get directions, all sorts of location based services, audio & video applications and other fun stuff.

Now when this work has been completed, we know that the new gearbox design and implementation belongs to BorgWarner, the new transmission design is one gear as opposing to two in the old design and the new motor is about 25% more powerful. Inverter also has to support higher throughput now.

While improving power and torque, they managed to also improve range. It went from 211 to 244 miles on a single charge.

It was the agreement from the beginning of production that all customers who got temporary powertrain will be upgraded to the new one when it’s ready.

There are many companies that can produce electric cars and plug-in hybrids…  What we haven’t seen before is collaboration on such a big scale, where consumers get infrastructure that makes it much more convenient to use those electric cars.

For example you could buy Lightning GT, which can be charged in 10 minutes theoretically. But then you don’t have an electrical outlet at home that let’s you charge it that quickly and you don’t have that anywhere near your city or town.

Ideally we all want to have cars that you don’t have to worry about plugging it anywhere. E.g. you could potentially have a nuclear fusion reactor under the hood. I am hoping to see this kind of technology in my lifetime… But before we have such a huge technological breakthrough, we need a network of locations where you can plug your car in.

Having required infrastructure is a must for successful adoption of electric vehicles in the near future.

This one is from Dodge, which normally is  “nothing but cute” to me…

But this time I liked the car design, plus it’s a pure electric car, sporty, 4 passenger wagon.

The way I look at it: big enough to be useful - being able to carry 4 people, sleek enough to be cool, sporty enough to be “fun to drive” and eco-friendly - which is a very important plus, considering scary global warming.

Not sure if it actually going to end up a production vehicle some day, but Dodge needs to come up with one or two ZEV (zero emission vehicles) within just a few years, so I understand there is a good chance that something close to ZEO will be in production.

Specs:

• range 250 miles
• 0-60mph in under 6 seconds
• 268 hp
• rear wheels drive

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:

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.

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.