After showing practically no signs of life since being revived in a joint venture between Zap! and Youngman Automotive Group last February and officially striking out on its own less than a week ago, Detroit Electric has emerged, in Malaysia, as a Dutch company with $300 million in backing and a fleet of prototypes. Say what? We had a hint of this earlier but this seems to make it all official. The company, reportedly majority owned by CEO Albert Lam (Lam joined Zap! management late last year) has investors from America, Holland and Malaysia and appears to have taken over the Electric Cars Europe venture. The Malaysian appearance was a press event held to announce their plans to begin producing cars by the end of 2009.

We couldn't be there, but Paul Tan of PaulTan.org automotive blog fame was and he did a little ride-and-drive and took some pics. The sportiest of the the wares on hand was an electric Lotus Elise that we last saw circling a track in the Netherlands although now it sports "Detroit Electric" decals on its hood and doors. There was also a Proton Savvy (pictured above) and a Proton Persona. The pair of Protons were fast and wet conversions put together for the event and sported motors developed by Detroit Electric's chief scientist, Frits van Breemen-Schneider. An avid RC aircraft enthusiast who sells electric model aircraft and was co-president of Friend-EV, he claims his motors have a much higher power-to-weight ratio than existing tech and can produce 5 kilowatts of power per kilogram, adding that the best electric car of today are only capable of .25 kilowatts per kilogram. This is a bizarre claim, and either the International Herald Tribune made a mistake in quoting him or something because, at .25kw/kg the Tesla motor with 185 kw would weigh 1,628lbs.

Whatever the deal is with the motors, Detroit Electric is aiming sky high with a target of 30,000 cars in the first year and growing that to 270,000 by the third. As well as a Detroit Electric facility in Malaysia, the company hopes to work with the government to have a fast-charge network installed across the country. Press release after the break.

[Source: PaulTan.org / International Herald Tribune]

The Malaysian government has given the green light to national car maker Proton to begin "in-depth validation and testing" of electric cars. The announcement came after the Cabinet Committee on Inflation received a briefing on the role e-cars can have in reducing the consumption of petrol and diesel. Prime minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who seemed to be completely behind the idea, expressed hope that commercialization of the project could begin in a years time. As part of the announcement, the politician went for a ride in an electric Lotus Elise converted and supplied by Dutch company, Electric Cars Europe (ECE). Interestingly, Detroit Electric was named, along with PRO Dis-T, as one of the companies that Proton would be working with to "fine-tune" the car. In a somewhat convoluted web of alliances, Detroit Electric is a joint venture between Chinese firm, Youngman Automotive Group and ZAP! which is headed by Albert Lam, formerly of Lotus, which is owned by Proton. Youngman currently rebadges the Proton GEN2 as the Europestar RCR for the Chinese market. Also, Electric Cars Europe, as we recently informed you, has plans to bring ZAP/Detroit Electric vehicles, including the famous Alias, to the European market. It wasn't stated which model Proton would be initially using for the project but the ECE website shows the Savvy (pictured above) as one of the models it has targeted for production in 2009. We await further announcements to make the room stop spinning.

[Source: The New Straits Times / PaulTan.org]

A consortium of Dutch companies under the banner of Electric Cars Europe have decided a little collaboration is in order to help speed up the implementation of electric cars in the Netherlands. With a vision of seeing 26 per cent of Dutch cars powered by electrons by 2025, the consortium's plan has several parts, the first of which involves some conversion of several Lotus Elise vehicles to an electric drivetrain by partner company, Innosys Engineering. Isn't it a little strange how Lotus has become the "go to" company when you want to build, or even just convert, an electric sports car these days? But I digress.

The next order of business is to take €100 million already invested and metamorphose a couple hundred Volkswagen Golfs from liquid fuel to solid state. All of these vehicles, as well as some future models, are to be monitored by energy company, Essent, as part of large-scale testing of their "Mobile Smart Grid." This is a "smart" distribution system that will make the move to electric personal transportation more feasible by tracking how much power you need and when you need it. It can also bill you for what you use regardless of where you plug in.

To read about a somewhat surprising twist to their next phase as well as test your working knowledge of Dutch and watch some electric Lotus Elise action, hit the jump. As an extra bonus we've also tagged on an extra video from Innosys Engineering that shows off what they've accomplished to the syncopated rhythms of a funky soundtrack.

* Added another video showing more of the orange Elise on the track