Electric cars may present different hazards than conventional design. Recent crash tests as well as one report of a battery fire suggest that the present car design may have to be improved. Crash tests have been carried out in the well known Euro NCAP testing center on the Volt and the Renault Fluence EV that gives tested cars crash resistance ratings scores ranging from 1 to 5 points. Overall crash test results of both of cars resulted in the Fluence EZ having an over crash test rating of 4 points, as compared to the Volt receiving a higher score of 5 points, highest in the auto safety rating program. One Chevy Volt battery pack that was being closely monitored following a government crash test caught fire. Another recently crash-tested battery emitted smoke and sparks.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a statement on its investigation into a Chevrolet Volt fire that occurred at the organization’s facilities. NHTSA had done a side-impact test on a Volt then parked it outside, and three weeks later Chevy’s plug-in hybrid caught fire. The battery was determined to be the cause, after its coolant line was ruptured during the side-impact test. That led the NHTSA to consider a ruling forcing hybrid and electric-car batteries to be drained after a wreck.

So far, no fires have been reported in Volts involved in roadway crashes, NHTSA said. More than 5,000 of the vehicles have been sold.

Both the crash tests on the Volt and the Fluence appear to show a vulnerability to their lithium battery packs, especially when hit in the side.

Whether or not the GM Volt and Renault Fluence manufacturers can strengthen their cars more in respect to damage from crashes remains to be seen. This appears to be especially critical in regards to the danger of the cars’ battery packs catching fire or even exploding in a serious car crash.

Recent NHTSA tests of three battery packs were designed to replicate the earlier tests. In that test, the Volt was subjected to a simulated side-impact collision into a narrow object like a tree or pole followed by a rollover.

The first battery tested. But a battery test on Nov. 17 initially experienced a temporary temperature increase, and on Thursday caught fire. Another battery tested on Nov. 18 began to smoke and emit sparks shortly after the rotation.

Article by Andy Soos, appearing courtesy Environmental News Network.

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In the past ten years, environmentally friendly cars have become a fixture in advertising. First came the Prius. Then BMW claimed its electric batteries boost performance, great for boosting the entire BMW brand. Chevy Volt, an electric hybrid, hypes range, innovation and American values, trying to minimize its differences from traditional cars. Nissan Leaf touts its green credentials, scooping up the ultra-green market.

Leaf’s green strategy is working against the Volt: Leafs are outselling Volts by over four to one. Yet even at that, Nissan only sold 1,362 Leafs in August. By contrast, Toyota sold over 30,000 Camry in the same period. The ultra-green sliver market may soon be sated. What’s next?

So far, electric car marketers have failed to position themselves against the 5 million+ internal combustion engine (ICE) market in any way but green, leaving that task to the press and consumers. And what is the buzz? So far, the biggest story about the electric car is “range anxiety.”

Too many reviews and user stories concentrate on the issue. Is 100 miles enough? When will the recharging stations be up and running? What happens in a bad traffic jam? How long would you have to wait for the special Level 2 Charger permit? Who would ever buy one until all of these issues have been worked out!

That’s why, when I walked into the garage of my uber-practical friend Jane (not her real name) and saw a brand new Nissan Leaf, I was completely shocked. Her former car was a 4-year-old Lexus. The Leaf seemed to be a step down, both in size and luxury. She supports conservation, but not when it interferes with her lifestyle. She spends many weekends at a place 60 miles away, so her 100-mile range wouldn’t cover the round trip. This just didn’t make sense.

When I gave her a doubting look, Jane said “Just drive it.”

Understand, we are not car people. We drive whatever gets us there. Jane’s Lexus was low maintenance and had a great GPS. I bought a used 1998 Volvo Coupe for the low price and great sound system.

But when I drove the Leaf, I felt transformed. Suddenly, I was 10 years old riding my bicycle down a hill without a helmet. Jane turned off the pedestrian-warning beeper and the only noise was the wind and the whine of tires on pavement. I later discovered its design features – light body materials, soft suspension and steering, double insulation, low adhesion tires and the instant acceleration of an electric motor – sort of ET-like, suddenly you’re going a whole lot faster – all contribute to the feeling of floating on a cloud.

Why aren’t the headlines about what a cool experience it is to drive an electric car? It is such a clear differentiation. Sports cars and Harley Davidsons are all about the experience. Sure, the electric car is not for those who would miss the growl of an ICE. But fans wax on about the experience, comparing it to a ride in a corporate jet or praising its quiet peacefulness. One ardent Leaf fan called it “Insanely wonderful” and told me, “It’s the first thing I’m buying when my company goes public.” Michael Carmichael writes in the Huffington Post that its acceleration is “…just like the Starship Enterprise.”

My favorite comment of all, from the Nissan Leaf Forum: “For now I’m just cherishing the boyish wonder that my Leaf is bringing me. All the cars I owned were a mode of transportation, while the Leaf felt like a toy that I’ve always wanted.”

Now wouldn’t that make a great commercial?

Article by Carol Pierson Holding, a writer and an environmentalist; her articles on CSR can be found on her website. Article appearing courtesy 3BL Media.

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Although still being outpaced by the all-electric Nissan LEAF in terms of North American sales, the new Chevy Volt from General Motors is bringing fresh faces into dealerships around the country — or at least at dealerships in the seven states where the Volt is currently being sold.

According to buyer surveys conducted by GM, more than half of the early-adopting Volt owners had not been in a Chevrolet dealership in ten years. And even more striking is that nearly one-third of Volt buyers have never even been to a Chevrolet dealership.

“We’ve been here a long time and the Volt is bringing in people we have never seen before,” said Alan Starling, a dealer in Starling Chevrolet in St. Cloud, Florida.

While the number of Volts available to drive has been fairly limited thus far, GM says it has ramped up production and the number of Chevrolet dealers with Volts available for test drives and for sale will increase from 550 to more than 2,600 in the next four months.

The big question for Chevrolet is whether they will be able to turn some of these early adopters into Chevy people for the long term; and whether they will be able to build enough of them and/or sell enough of them to make an appreciable difference to the brand’s position.

Article by Timothy Hurst, appearing courtesy Earth & Industry.

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Electric cars are not a new concept in the automotive industry. They were around before the pre-eminence of the internal combustion engine in the 1890s. They were introduced again in the United States in the 1990s with GM’s EV1, but were dropped when GM decided they are unprofitable. Now the Chevy Volt is out and several more models will be hitting the market soon. Automakers must figure out how to avoid having their electric vehicles suffer an agonizing death in the niche market, and instead, figure out how to get 100 million EVs on the road.

The single biggest complaint against electric vehicles is their lack of range, so the batteries must be addressed. They must be cheaper, safer, last longer, and contain higher levels of energy. Scientific laboratories around the country are studying how to make these improvements. In particular, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), which is recognized as a top lab in the country for battery research, is working to make incremental improvements to batteries as well as come up with breakthrough technologies.

Researchers hope to make electric vehicles as common place as electrical handheld devices and computers. “I think with incremental improvements in batteries, engineering advances in the car and support from the government, these are all things that will make it a reality,” says Berkeley Lab scientist Marca Doeff. “And there’s considerable enthusiasm among the population as a whole, so I think it’s going to happen.”

Battery technology is extremely complex, filled with trade-offs. For example, by increasing the energy density so it contains more charge, the life of the battery will be shorter. Also, if you wanted to make a safer battery, the energy density will be lower. These are among the many issues facing the development of lithium-ion batteries.

The researchers are striving to reach the goal of the Department of Energy’s FreedomCAR: a plug-in hybrid electric with a range of 40 miles and a battery life of 15 years. One reason why the government is pushing this research is to bring battery manufacturing back to the United States. About 20 years ago, nearly all lithium-ion battery production moved to Asia. In order to beat China, Japan, and Korea, the US needs a big breakthrough.

Another prohibitive factor which may keep electric vehicles from the mass market is that they are costly. The batteries are currently $1,000/kilowatt hour and the DOE’s goal is to bring that cost down to $150/kilowatt hour. Many researchers are skeptical of the DOE’s goal; it would be like all-electric vehicles having the same range as typical cars, about 300 miles.

To cut costs, battery makers need new sources of raw materials. For example, the cobalt oxide used for cathodes in lithium-ion batteries is expensive and comes from politically unstable regions. Options being explored for cathode material include lithium iron phosphate, lithium manganese oxide spinel, titanium, and aluminum.

Sixty percent of the batteries cost comes from the raw materials and forty percent from the manufacturing process which can have up to sixty steps. If cheaper materials can be secured and the manufacturing process streamlined, real cost savings can be realized. Then, perhaps, electric vehicles will be widely adopted. At this moment, too many people are invested in making sure EVs make it. The United States does not want them to suffer another agonizing death.

Click here for more information on Berkeley Lab’s battery research.

Article by David A. Gabel, appearing courtesy Environmental News Network.

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Detroit’s Big 3 have big plans for hybrid and electric vehicles. The Motor City was founded on the combustion engine and is striving to makes its return using exciting new battery, engine and powertrain technology.

As the world is becoming environmentally conscious, consumers are considering more than price and quality at the dealership lots. They are considering the environmental impact and financial energy efficiency of the car they take home. Sure Hybrid and EV cars are more expensive at the initial purchase, but with tax, rebate incentives and reducing or minimizing ever growing costs at the pump, Hybrid and EV cars will offer a return.

Ford Motor Company is bringing to market the Ford Focus plug in electric, Ford Fusion Hybrid, Ford Escape Hybrid and Ford C-Max Hybrid and the Transit Connect EV. This lineup of vehicles offers flexibility to the consumers depending on the needs. A local commuter, running around town in and out of an office, or a short 10-20 mile commute would run the Focus EV. The Focus EV is a battery electric car that offers projected 100 miles on a charge. This range would allow for daily travel and overnight charging. If the daily travels take you beyond the 100 mile mark the Hybrid options give you both battery and combustion engine power. Simply put, plug in and charge the battery at night, run around during the day. When the batteries run dry, the combustion engine kicks in power the vehicle while recharging the batteries.

General Motors has released the Chevy Volt, a 2011 Motor Trend Car of the Year winner that offers the flexibility of a Plug in Hybrid vehicle. Charge the slightly smaller than mid-sized sedan in at night and run battery/gas all day long. The Chevy Volt runs on regenerative braking technology that assists in charging the batteries while you go about your business.

With availability, environmental awareness and potential financial return, the EV and Hybrid vehicles have the potential of taking over the car market in the United States.

Article by Mike LaJoice.

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Cars have always been a part of my life. I was raised with two brothers who loved cars and when we were kids, my sisters and I would hear the buzz about the coolest “this” and the fastest “that.” With all the car talk, one would think I would have become an engineer. Two of my sisters did and we joke it’s how we got our “drive.”

By far though, my father played the most important role in my familiarity with cars. He taught me how to drive. He insisted that I learn with a stick shift. He told me that it would make me more independent – that it would take me further.

I thought about him when I visited Michigan’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant (where they are building the new Chevy Volt) and the Jeep Supplier Park plant in Toledo, Ohio recently. Both facilities have and continue to be a big beat to the hearts of their communities. And both are a testament to the success of the Obama Administration’s investments in auto communities across the country.

But while we’ve come a long way in the last two years – we too can go further.

These facilities represent what can be done when the interests of business and the well-being of hard working people are combined for a common good. Early on, this administration took immediate action on behalf of the auto community by providing necessary aid to GM and Chrysler, helping the two industry giants eliminate debts and get back to business. President Obama also created the White House Council on Automotive Communities – which I co-chair – to provide attention directly to workers and communities affected by dislocation in the auto industry.

The fact is this administration is addressing the needs of the auto industry from all levels: from the Department of Transportation’s “cash for clunkers” program, to the Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loans, to my department’s investment of nearly $170 million to benefit thousands of auto-impacted workers and communities with training and education for next generation jobs.

We are beginning to see the fruits of this labor. Since auto companies have gotten back on their feet, the industry has added more than 63,000 jobs. And just recently, the Detroit “big three” reported that auto sales rose last year for the first time since the recession – a piece of much needed good news and something that has executives optimistic about the year ahead.

During my visits to Detroit and Toledo, I also had the opportunity to see two values that I care deeply about put into practice. After my visit to the Volt plant, I visited Flour Construction’s Heavy Oil Upgrader Project. I was impressed with the culture of safety there, evidenced not just by talking to the plant managers, but from the comments and enthusiasm of the workers. The next day, in Toledo, after driving a new Jeep off the assembly line, I dropped by the Willard and Kelsey Solar Group, a state-of-the-art facility that is making clean and green energy technology.

I came away from my two-day visit more optimistic than ever. Because I saw firsthand what I’ve believed for a very long time: When America builds, America goes further.

P.S. I should add that while in Toledo, I also had to stop at the famed Tony Packo’s restaurant. I’ve signed many things in my life. This was the first time I was asked to sign a hot dog bun!

Article by Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor.

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I recently learned of a compelling instance of U.S. government-funded clean tech research translating into widely commercialized technology through green patent licensing.

Argonne National Laboratory announced last month that LG Chem and General Motors had completed licensing agreements to use Argonne’s patented composite cathode material in the lithium-ion batteries that power the Chevy Volt (see the press release about the Argonne-LG Chem agreement here and the press release about the Argonne-GM agreement here).

Though perhaps old news, as pointed out in this Ceramic Tech Today piece, it still points up the power of green patent licensing and strategic tech transfer.

The licensed technology stemmed from early lithium-ion battery research funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Basic Energy Sciences in the late 1990s and subsequent development supported by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

The technology relates to a two component layered composite structure used as material for a cathode, the positively charged part of a battery.

A lithium-ion battery has a cathode and a negatively charged anode. When the battery is fully charged, all of the lithium ions are in the anode. When the battery is in use, the lithium ions flow from the anode through a thin membrane to react with the cathode, thereby creating an electrical current.

The new cathode materials are rich in manganese and provide increased stability through a layered composite structure with one component for energy storage and another component to stabilize the structure. The material also yields high charge-storage capacities and is cheaper to produce because manganese is a relatively cheap raw material.

The cathode technology is protected by a family of patents issued between 2004 and 2008, including U.S. Patents Nos. 6,677,082 (’082 Patent), 6,680,143, 7,135,252, and 7,468,223.

According to the ’082 Patent, a major problem of layered lithium electrode compounds is that the transition metal cations commonly used tend to suffer from structural instability and chemical degradation.

The’082 Patent describes its solution this way:

This invention addresses the stability of LiMO2 electrode structures [where M is a trivalent transition metal cation], particularly LiMnO2, and makes use of a Li2M’O3 component to improve stability.

According to an Argonne press release, the patented cathode technology is now mass produced in the battery of the Chevy Volt.

Argonne’s director, Eric Isaacs, said the “licensing agreement with LG Chem concretely illustrates the key role that DOE national laboratories like Argonne play in the manufacturing supply chain in the United States.”

More than that, this story demonstrates the confluence of funding, research, IP, and commercial risk-taking that is necessary to bring new clean technologies to market.

Eric Lane is a patent attorney at Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps in San Diego and the author of Green Patent Blog. Mr. Lane can be reached at elane@luce.com.

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In 1914, Rauch & Lang built an electric vehicle, the Brougham B4. I recently saw an example of this on Chasing Classic Cars. It was amazing to see that back in 1914 electric vehicles were very popular and served as an alternative to cranking the engine or getting the steam engine to work.

According to Chasing Classic Cars, the popularity of the electric car began to wane when the electric starter was integrated into cars.

There is no doubt that technological innovation has brought us tools that have proved to be immensely useful. After all, I am not sure what life would be like without the computer or the internet.

What really came to my mind after learning about the 1914 Rauch & Lang was that we, as consumers, buy what automakers are selling. While market research conducted by the auto industry may show that we want SUV’s, what did the market research say before SUV’s became mainstream?

Cars and SUV’s seem to be getting bigger with each generation. Now that we have these massive cars, does it mean that manufacturers of everything else will create bigger products that are bigger and better, but will only fit in that newly enlarged car or SUV?

For the vast majority of us, do we need 300 horsepower engines that go 0-60 in less than 6 seconds? Don’t get me wrong, I love driving and love having that power, but what good is it if many of us are stuck in traffic or have to drive under the watchful eye of law enforcement.

As gas prices steadily increase, do we need more powerful engines, even though they are more efficient? The automakers seem to think so. What about this thought….we just need more efficient engines. Better yet, let’s go all electric.

The debate has begun about which is better, the Chevy Volt or the Nissan Leaf. The Chevy Volt was designed to combat “range anxiety” because in addition to the battery power, it has a conventional engine. On the other hand, the Nissan Leaf is pure electric. Truth be told, on most days, how many of us will actually exceed the Leaf’s 100 mile range? Of course, there will be occasions where you might want to drive between San Diego and Los Angeles where the Leaf’s 100 mile range will be inadequate, so I understand when people think the Leaf is a good idea, but the Volt suits their lifestyle better. What about keeping your existing car and using that as your long distance hauler.

Sure there are not enough charging stations just yet, but the infrastructure will come. With the amount of investment being made in electric vehicles, I’m sure the range will increase. But do we really need a combination gas electric vehicle? Is “range anxiety” just a marketing scam? Where would we be if GM had not crushed the EV1? We’ve come full circle in a sense. Now the question is how to move out of the circle and carve out a more sustainable path?

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The first Chevrolet Volts, Nissan Leafs, and Smart EDs were delivered in December, but in the annals of history 2011 will be remembered as the year that electric vehicles (EVs) arrived. EVs for sale to consumers will dominate the headlines throughout the year as average Americans begin to recognize EVs as the roll down the road.

Because of the stalled start in the 1990s, when consumers were tempted by and then denied access to GM’s EV1 and other EVs, every milestone during the year will be magnified in the media. By year’s end nearly 50,000 EVs will be plugging in at garages and lots across America. The arrival of new models from automakers Think, Coda, Mitsubishi, Mini, Toyota and Chevrolet (a few of which were delayed from 2010) will give consumers more options and be closely tracked.

Any missteps – and there will be some – will be cause celebre for the EV doubters who don’t believe in or desire a move away fossil fuels. Humans have always been fallible in designing and operating vehicles, and replacing liquid fuel with electrons won’t change that. While considerable safeguards have been put in place to prevent accidents when charging a vehicle, somewhere someone will find a creative way for failure, and we can expect considerable fanfare by the naysayers when this inevitably occurs.

Any of the important trends we’ve identified at Pike Research for 2011 will be the slow subsiding of the catch phrase “range anxiety.” Range anxiety is the supposed fear that both prevents consumers from wanting to buy an EV with a 80-100 mile range or from driving said car very far for fear that the batteries will run out, leaving the driver stranded. Range anxiety has been overblown, underestimating drivers’ ability to monitor their battery charge level through the various dashboard displays and auditory prompts.

While like EVs, the rollout of charging infrastructure has been slower than expected off the line, installations of public charging infrastructure such as the government-subsidized EV Project and Charge Point America will see hundreds of charging stations installed across many of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas.

The availability of public charging equipment will actual outpace the need for vehicles to plug-in, which will result in many charge spots idled for most of the day, or even days at a time. While this will be the subject of derision as a waste of taxpayer money, EVs outpacing the charging infrastructure could result in a serious setback as the minority of drivers who plan to regularly charge their vehicles away from home might otherwise wait to make a purchase.

The electric vehicles’ second act will be a top media story throughout the year, even at the box office with the release of Revenge of the Electric Car mid-year. Many consumers will get their first direct exposure to EVs by renting a car from one of the many rental agencies that will make emissions-free driving a premium service. Fleets including delivery vehicles and taxis will be critical for collecting data about EV performance and to build confidence that this time around, EVs are here to stay.

Article by John Gartner, appearing courtesy the Matter Network.

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Electric vehicles are set to experience a breakthrough in 2011 due to a £5,000 car grant introduced by the government today, experts predict.

Motorists will have a choice of just one subsidised car to buy outright as the project is launched – the Mitsubishi i-MiEV – but should have a choice of nine or 10 fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars by 2012.

Among the first available to buy will be the Nissan Leaf in March, which is billed as the first mass-market electric car. It is currently being made in Japan and will be made in Sunderland from 2013 onwards.

It will join several models only available to lease from January, including the Peugot iOn, Citroen CZero and an electric version of the Smart fortwo.

“This is a breakthrough year,” said Chris Paine, director of the cult documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car? “In the first time in 90 years, people will actually have a chance to buy electric cars from major carmakers. Tesla, Nissan and GM are first out of the gate and almost every other car company has announced plans to join the race in 2012 and beyond. That’s what makes the next few years so exciting.”

Paine has a new documentary out later this year, Revenge of the Electric Car, telling the story of the competition between the three rivals.

The plug-in car grant was conceived as a £230m incentive by the Labour government to cut the upfront cost of electric vehicles, which typically cost at least a third more than rival, conventional combustion engine cars. The subsidy survived the coalition’s cuts with the proviso that it will be reviewed in 2012 – only the first year of funding, £43m or 8,600 cars, is guaranteed.

Although more expensive to buy, electric cars are cheaper to run than conventional ones. Edmund King, the AA’s president, said a car such as the Leaf would cost 2p per mile to charge and run, compared to around 14p per mile for a similar-sized petrol or diesel car. They also pay no vehicle excise duty, have cheaper insurance premiums, are exempt from London’s Congestion Charge and can be charged for free at some public car parks.

Other countries are offering or planning electric car grants, hoping to attract car manufacturers and supply chains to create green jobs. The US gives motorists a $7,300 (£4,708) tax credit for cars such as the Volt and Leaf, China offers electric car-makers £4,721 per car and France has a €5,000 (£4,240) grant scheme.

The transport secretary, Philip Hammond, said: “A few years ago, ultra-low emission cars with mass-market appeal appeared just a pipe dream. Now they are a reality and we can have all the convenience of the car without all the carbon that normally goes with it. Government action to support affordable vehicles and more local charging points means we are on the threshold of an exciting green revolution – 2011 could be remembered as the year the electric car took off.”

“Global car-makers are now entering the fray,” said Keith Johnston, who launched the pioneering G-Wiz electric car in the UK in 2005 and runs electric car consultancy connEVted, “which means some early electric car companies will fall by the wayside, but prices should also drop, which is good for consumers. I’ve seen a lot of headlines saying ‘2011 will be the year of the electric car’. Well, I think it could be.”

Electric cars are seen as a means to cutting carbon emissions by 40% or more, improving air quality in cities and – in the case of US motoring giant GM, with its just-launched Chevy Volt – reviving car-markers’ fortunes.

While just 55 electric cars were sold in the UK in 2009, with buyers holding off until today’s grants took effect, the government’s climate advisers, the Committee on Climate Change, says the country needs 1.7m of them by 2020 to help meet the country’s tough carbon targets.

But analysts caution that electric cars’ breakthrough in 2011 may be more symbolic than substantial. “It might be the first year people notice electric cars driving around – normal people rather than G-Wiz owners,” said Andrew Close, European manager for powertrain forecasts at IHS Global Insight. “But 2011 will not see any breakthrough in volume [of cars on the road], though it will be a considerable jump from before. 2011 is way too early, £5,000 or not – the vehicles are expensive, constrained in supply and there are still too many good [conventional car] alternatives.”

Close added that it is highly unlikely the first year of the grant fund will be fully spent, and that “optimistically” only around 4,300 will be sold before the scheme is reviewed next year. The climate committee’s call for 1.7m electric cars in the UK by 2020 was extremely optimistic, he said, and would require batteries to become much cheaper and conventional cars far more expensive through taxation and fuel prices. A more realistic figure would be 0.8-1m cars by 2020. Nissan has received 350 pre-orders for the Leaf so far, part of a total of 27,000 pre-orders worldwide.

There are several potential roadblocks to electrifying Britain’s fleet of 31m cars. Johnston warned of the uncertainty and “hiatus” that would occur if the government fails to continue the grant after its first year. “There was a government grant of £1,000 when we launched the G-Wiz [in 2005]. Two weeks later it disappeared, which killed the market,” he said.

Paine said: “It’s critical that government grants and incentives continue. Oil has been subsidised for years and that’s allowed it a strangehold on the economy. For electric cars to really compete it needs help in the first years to get into truly mass production.”

Public charging points to top up the cars are also in short supply, with just a few hundred in the UK, mostly in London.

The government does not even know exactly how many points currently exist, though it is putting £20m towards regional partnerships to install 4,000 points by 2015. Most of the new generation of electric cars have a maximum range of 100 miles.

And there are still some doubts over motorists’ appetite to get behind the wheel. In Spain, which offered a grant up to €6,000 per car, a target of selling 2,000 electric cars last year was missed by a wide margin – just 16 had been registered by August.

Electric dreams

• Mitsubishi i-MiEV – to buy from January 2011. £28,990

• smart fortwo electric drive – on lease in January 2011 (but you won’t be able to buy it until 2012. Lease and on-sale price yet to be agreed.

• Peugeot iOn – to lease from January 2011. £415 per month.

• Nissan Leaf – to buy from March 2011. £28,350.

• Tata Vista – to buy from “early summer” 2011. Price not yet agreed.

• Citroen CZero – lease from early 2011. £415 per month

• Vauxhall Ampera – to buy from early 2012. £33,995

• Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid – to buy from early 2012. No price yet, but latest Prius is £21,929, so expect around the £27,000 mark

• Chevrolet Volt – to buy from early 2012. Price not yet set.

• Tesla Roadster – available to buy now for £87,945. Technically eligible for grant, but has not completed registration process yet.

Article by Adam Vaughn, appearing courtesy ecopolitology.

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