Sometimes a tiny nugget of information with sizable implications can slip by in the truckloads of news we sift through everyday. Just yesterday, for instance, there was a small mention in the China Real News of an "high-speed Hafei Saibao electric car" passing an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) crash test. Big deal, right? Well, yes and no. A little digging helped us uncover that the test wasn't actually conducted by the IIHS but rather by the China National Quality Control & Inspection Center for Automobiles and was meant to replicate the IIHS 40 percent frontal offset impact. Still no biggie until you realize that this car also very likely goes by the name of XS500 and that Miles Electric Vehicles is planning on selling it in the U.S. sometime next year. One of the worries about importing cars from China has been their past crash test performance (or lack thereof) and this test offers some insight into how well the XS500 may do when it comes time for its testing over here.

So, how did it fare? After a little more digging we found out it did quite well. After hitting the barrier at 40 mph, the injuries to the crash dummy were "lower than standard limited values" (We're pretty sure that's good). All the expensive stuff, including the lithium ion batteries, motor and controller survived intact and were still operable as well. There was no mention made of any side impact or other tests which vehicles must pass to meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and although Miles declined to comment on the progress of their testing, this small tidbit does offer up some hope that their XS500 may indeed make it to the American market.

[Source: EV World / China Real News]

It's been a month since we last wrote about Miles Automotive. Most of our recent coverage of the electric car company has revolved around the sounds-too-good-too-be-true XS500, a highway speed all-electric sedan that is - supposedly - about a year away. Now we have something new from Miles to write about. The 2008 Production Model MILES ZX40ST Work Truck, which was introduced today at the Green California Summit in Sacramento.

The ZX40ST (boy, that rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?) is a low speed electric vehicle (25 mph top speed) that uses six lead acid batteries (rated for 25,000 miles) and a brushless AC motor to go 50-60 miles per charge. It takes 4-6 hours to charge from 50 percent to full from a standard home outlet (so, I'll assume it takes about double that to charge from near empty?). Watch out, pedestrians, as this little guy can scoot from 0-20 mph in five seconds. These may not be spectacular numbers, but for what a vehicle like this is supposed to do, I'd say they're quite sufficient. Miles has announced that it is making 200 ZX40STs a month and is sold out through June. The truck costs $18,400.
The truck will be on display at the Sacramento Convention Center through tomorrow. See more after the break.

Back in October, we wrote about Miles Automotive's new partnership with the environmental web site No Gas Required that would take the form of a video competition for college and university students. Entrants were asked to make a video on the "no gas required" theme to try and win a Miles electric car for their school to use. As of this writing, there are eleven videos up on the Miles Revolution YouTube page, and the five videos from this batch (or others, if more are forthcoming) that are viewed the most times will win a $1,000 scholarship and the cars.

I'll admit that I haven't watched all of these videos (yet). I selected the video to add to this post based on length, so don't take this as any sort of endorsement. The video above is simply the longest one. If you do check all the videos out and have a fave, let us know.

[Source: YouTube, h/t to Domenick]

NPR's Elizabeth Shogren spent a morning with Miles Rubin recently, and has a report on the man and his electric machines. The result is a 5:30 minute piece that succinctly captures the current electric vehicle market and Miles Electric Vehicles' place in it. We also hear from David Cole, Chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, on the extreme difficulty inherent in getting an EV to market. Still, Rubin is positive his company can make a difference.

"I think everybody has to do something. We can't just depend on governments. Yes it will take government action to make a change, but we can't sit back and wait for Congress," Rubin told NPR.

One human touch: The story of how Rubin's wife jokes that her husband doesn't know anything the major automakers don't, so what does that say about his chances? Miles agrees it's tough, but still told Shogren that Miles Electric Vehicles is still planning on a highway speed car in 2009 for $30,000. That's the Javlon xs500. Just two more years until we see how Miles implements this plan.

You can listen to or read the report here.

[Source: NPR, thanks to Beth @ Miles EVs]