Need an audio guide to the electric vehicle world while you wait for the Who Killed The Electric Car sequel? Internet entrepreneur and author Bo Bennett along with his EV co-host Ryan Levesque think that their new electric car podcast - EVcast - is just what the doctor ordered. The free show is available at the website or in iTunes and the first episode will be released today at 1 pm EST via a live stream (podcast version to follow). According to a release sent out by Bennett, the show will "inform the American public on the benefits of the emerging technology of electric cars in a non-technical and entertaining way."

Bennett had the idea for the show after he started looking around for a new car about half a year ago and realized that EVs are the best option for the future. He recognizes EV's "shortcomings," but the show's "ultimate goal is to spread the adoption of the electric vehicle, but at the same time help consumers make smart decisions when comes to buying a pure EV, hybrid, or even sticking with a gas powered vehicle for now." Whether the duo will be able to "cut through the crap, figuratively speaking" remains to be heard.

[Source: EVcast]

Dean Patterson, a visiting professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, isn't waiting for the OEMs to make him a plug-in hybrid. Patterson and his team of researchers are building a range-extended electric car in the school lab. Patterson, who expects all cars made in 10 years to have electric drive, told a local TV news team from KETV that the goal is to give the car a 50 mph top speed and an EV-only range of 20 miles. Sure, those aren't Volt-like numbers, but there would be a lot of takers for a car like that. So far, Patterson's experiments are running in a bicycle with a motor/generator and what he likes about the range-extender set-up is that it's the most efficient way to get energy from the gasoline in the tank to the wheels. Driving demos are expected next year.

[Source: KETV via EV World]

Click on the image for more shots of the Electrek electric car

Good old eBay strikes again with another unusual but very interesting electric vehicle up for auction. Before seeing this auction, we were not really familiar with the Unique Mobility Electrek electric vehicle at all. As usual, the internet proves our friend, as a test of the vehicle was done by the DOE way back in the early eighties, and it's been made available online. So, we know that the Electrek uses a Soleq controller, a specially modified General Electric shunt wound 32-hp electric motor, and 16 6-V Globe-Union batteries. Those lead-acid batteries have been removed from the vehicle, as they are rather old and needed to be replaced. A fiberglass body, which may not be the prettiest design in the world, lies atop a custom-designed chassis with a central battery-tunnel running the length of the vehicle. Top speed is claimed to be seventy-five miles per hour and the range, when new, varied between seventy-five and one-hundred miles per charge (at 30 mph or so).


[Source: eBay Motors]

Click on the image for more shots of the Solargen Electric Hornet

Information about the Solargen Electric Motor Car Company and its conversion of old AMC models is pretty scarce, but we've been able to glean a few things about the company through the internet. Started in 1979 in Cortland, New York, Solargen used lead-acid batteries to power small electric motors which replaced the classic inline six cylinder engines of AMC models like the Concord and Hornet. Apparently, the vehicles were only capable of about 30 miles or so of range and couldn't quite reach highway speeds. Not surprisingly, therefore, the company didn't last very long. Apparently, the Solargen's president ran to Africa shortly after losing a lawsuit against AMC and General Motors. After that comforting introduction, perhaps (or, perhaps not) you'd be interested to see one of the Solargen AMC Hornet wagons on eBay right now. Unfortunately, this particular vehicle is not a runner, having had its batteries removed some time ago. On the positive side, the owner reports that the vehicle has only seen fifty-one miles of action. So far, no bids have been placed, so the opening mark of $3,500 could make you the next owner.


[Source: eBay]

click to enlarge

This week, at the AFVI Expo, I moderated a panel on the roll-out of electric vehicle products from Miles EV, Phoenix Motorcars and GEM. The representatives were Bryon Bliss, vice president of sales and marketing for Phoenix, Jeff Boyd, COO of Miles, and Richard Kaspar, GEM's president and COO. Oh, and our friend Ed Begley, Jr. was there as well, continuing his relationship with Phoenix.

The purpose of the panel was for each company to present their case not only for EVs but for their particular products. Since these companies all offer vehicles with quite different capabilities and styles, they're not really competitors, and it was a congenial event. Since I expect our readers to be pretty familiar with the vehicle line-ups of these three companies, I won't go into details about them. There were a few things said during the 90 minutes that caught my ear, though, that I think you'll want to hear about.

• The Miles EV offices are in Santa Monica, CA. To commute to work, Boyd drives a prototype of the XS500, Miles' upcoming highway-speed battery-powered sedan. The price target is still $35,000 and deliveries should start in the third quarter of 2009. The sedan will be followed by an electric SUV. I told Boyd that the next time I'm in town, I'll be knocking on the office door, begging for a ride. I mean, it worked for the Roadster.
• Phoenix expects deliveries of its all-electric SUT to start at the end of June (yes, in six weeks). Certification should be finished June 1, Bliss said and the company has orders for 600 vehicles to fill as of today.
• GEM's big news is the addition of new options to the back cargo space of its work trucks. Since GEM vehicles have been selling for over a decade, GEM has had plenty of time to listen to customers and find out what they want/need. New covers and door types are now available, and you can see a list of GEM vehicle options here.

Greentech media was also in the room, and wrote up this account of what happened. Both Miles and GEM had vehicles on the show floor, and I've included galleries of their displays below. The Phoenix photos are from the 2007 AFVI Expo. For those of you keeping score, Zap and Dynasty were nowhere to be found at the Expo this year (unlike last year).

RTEV, the Ruff & Tuff Electric Vehicle company, is not the first to realize that a battery-powered ATV could be a good seller (we spoke with Electric Vehicle Systems about their ATEV last year). RTEV is now ready to expand into the electric recreational vehicles market with three models - the Cruiser, the 4-wheel drive Hunter, and the Workman - and has high hopes for more EVs down the road.

RTEV's three current models are all Low Speed Vehicles, which means they're OK going 25 mph on roads designated with 35 mph speed limits. Ruff & Tuff sold about 1,000 vehicles last year and will introduce electric scooters and bicycles (branded with the Wheego name) later this year. 2009 should see car-shaped Ruff & Tuff NEVs hit the market and the company is talking about "full-size, full-speed electric vehicles" in 2010. Currently, RTEV vehicles use dry cell sealed (AGM) batteries that can move the vehicles about 70 miles between charges. Check out a video of the Hunter electric ATV in action and see more details on the currently-available LSVs after the break.

Lots of Nissan electric car news today. Shortly after hearing that Nissan intends to be a global leader in affordable electric cars, news comes that the company is looking at a few cities to trial some of their new electric vehicle technology. One such city on the short-list is reportedly London. Carlos Ghosn says, "We have not yet got to the level of talking to the mayor's office. At this stage it is just a feasibility study, but London is definitely among the cities interested." London seems to be a rather obvious choice, considering the cities controversial new congestion charges which would offer zero-emission vehicles a big advantage over their gas or diesel-consuming cousins.

Let's recap the other recent news. Israel and Denmark want in on the electric car craze too. In fact, What Car reports that Israeli authorities have struck a deal with Nissan allowing the automaker exclusive rights to sell electric cars in Israel for a period of ten years. California is slated to be the first stop for an upcoming Nissan electric car in the U.S.

Interestingly, Nissan hopes to get 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, of range from a single battery pack, which could then be swapped out or recharged at an EV station -- sorta like an electrified version of today's gas stations and part of the Project Better Place idea. Ghosn says that Nissan is fully capable of offering an EV, sans battery, for the same cost of a normal gas-powered car. After the initial purchase, the cost of the battery and the amount of money spent keeping it charged will be less than the cost of gasoline. Ghosn also says that Nissan's electric cars will be sexy and attractive. That seems to cover all the bases rather well. Nissan, you've got our attention... we're waiting!

[Source: What Car]

James Wang, director of the Intelligent Mobility Technology division of the Taiwan Automotive Research Consortium (TARC), believes that Taiwan is the perfect testing ground for small, low-speed electric vehicles. The fact that huge numbers of people live centered around large urban areas means that most people don't need to travel long distances to get what they need. Additionally, Taiwan's warm weather is favorable for batteries. So, TARC has created what it is referring to as a light-electric-vehicle (LEV). TARC envisions these two-seat vehicles, with their odd wheel arrangement of three in the rear and one in front, zipping around the urban Mecca's that make up emerging countries.

TARC's goal is to reach a range of 100 kilometers (62 miles) and a top speed of 40 miles per hour. Those targets shouldn't be too difficult to reach. The LEV is powered by four removable lithium ion batteries which can either be recharged in the vehicle or replaced when discharged. We think that the specifications are fine, but question why the design of their LEV is superior to a more conventional arrangement (Remember the Ecooter?). Regardless, the vehicle is currently being tested in in rural areas, and plans are in the works to bring it into urban settings shortly.

[Source: Wards Auto]

A Wall Street Journal story today highlights the promise and potential problems with plug-in cars. More accurately, it highlights the problems and shoves most of the promise to the bottom. As automakers ready plug-in hybrids and electric cars for market, the sensational headline poses a clash of the titans: "Utilities, Plug-In Cars: Near Collision?"

As gasoline reaches $4 a gallon, the benefit to consumers of transportation energy at about $1 per gallon (equivalent) is undeniable. And if one reads down to near the end of the story, one finds the studies that show the tremendous upside in terms of carbon emission and petroleum reduction. As the article makes clear, as long as most plug-in cars charge up at night, the American electrical grid can already carry the load of more plug-in cars than are likely to be produced for a decade or more. Of course, night time charging is also more convenient; most cars are parked at night and used during the day. Still, the utilities are already exploring ways to ensure cars utilize the low-cost, excess capacity existing while consumers sleep, including incentive pricing, time of use metering, and smart meters.

And the environmental benefits reported are extraordinary. If enough plug-ins were on the roads, we could see oil consumption cut by 6.2 million barrels a day and U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions cut "by 450 million metric tons annually, equivalent to scrapping 82 million cars." Where the grid is comparatively clean, as in California, switching to electricity is a no-brainer. More surprising, the story reports, "Carbon-dioxide emissions would probably fall even if coal-fired plants made the electricity, some studies have found, because they burn coal more efficiently than automobiles burn gasoline." Of course as the electric grid becomes cleaner and more renewable thanks to state and federal mandates, the cars charging actually get cleaner, too.

[Source: Wall St. Journal]

When we were brainstorming ideas for Earth Day posts, we thought about featuring the ten most exciting green cars we wish we could buy today. It turns out that there are at least twice as many green rides on the horizon that we'd really like to have today, so the list has expanded. We'd like to note that this list is far from complete; the green sector of the automotive industry is growing in leaps and bounds. Start here and join us for a guided preview of our future garages or jump ahead by clicking on a number below. Either way, enjoy!

• Number 20
• Number 19
• Number 18
• Number 17
• Number 16
• Number 15
• Number 14
• Number 13
• Number 12
• Number 11
• Number 10
• Number 9
• Number 8
• Number 7
• Number 6
• Number 5
• Number 4
• Number 3
• Number 2
• Number 1

There you have it. Take a look at our list and, as always, feel free to share your own favorites in the comments.