As automakers amp up plans for electric vehicles, more local and state governments are trying to plug themselves into the movement. Nissan Motor just announced alliances with Sonoma County, Calif., and the state of Oregon. And the mayors of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose have a nine-step program aimed at making the Bay Area the “electric vehicle capital of the U.S.”…

The BMW’s Mini E made it’s world debut at the LA Auto Show. Hybridcars.com source: The Mini E made its world debut amidst a crush of reporters and TV cameras. The car offers BMW a way to gather information on how drivers actually use electric vehicles, which it badly needs. The maker of ultimate …

ZAP introduced its redesigned Xebra electric car for 2009 this past weekend at the Sacramento International Auto Show. ZAP, a pioneer in the field of electric cars, says the 2009 Xebra Hatchback is a five-door model with folding rear seats, a larger rear cargo area (34 cubic feet), and more head and leg room. Check the original news article here

BMW just officially revealed the new electric Mini, that was already known to exist, with some spy photos posted on this blog way before. Autopia brings the news story: BMW’s finally pulled the wraps off the 204-horsepower all-electric Mini it is bringing to America and says the car could be here as early as next year, although just 500 people will be lucky enough to get their hands on one. …

The 2010 Toyota Prius has just been revealed, before the autoshow, with leaked photos that originally appeared on priuschat.com Whether it was a leak or one of those clever viral marketing campaigns, we’ll likely never know, but photos of the 2010 Toyota Prius have shown up online months before its planned unveiling at Detroit’s North American International Auto Show in January. Leaked Photos

Autopia just posted more news about to future BMW’s Electric Mini, with no Tail Pipe! Details are scarce, but Autocar says the Mini EV will use a lithium-ion battery, have a range of 100 to 135 miles and a 0-to-60 time of less than 9 seconds. Last we heard, BMW planned to build just 500 electric Minis and bring them all to California to help meet the Golden State’s zero-emissions vehicle mandate that requires…

The Chevrolet Volt is one of the first serious contestants, by General Motors, to be one of the leading electric cars in the world. The vehicle is designed to run purely on electricity from on-board batteries for up to 40 miles (64 km), or about half the range of GM’s first electric car, the EV1. Unlike many other competing cars, the Volt can actually carry 4 people, unlike many other electric cars already in the…

If it is undoubtedly premature to say that lithium is the oil of the new century, this raw material is still the subject of sudden interest, shown by the increase in its price from about $350 a tonne in 2003 to nearly $3,000 today. The explanation is tied to developments in battery technology. For a long time these have functioned with …

Audi joins the Electric Car Race: Audi will apparently be joining the ever-growing all-electric car contingent in the near future with an ultra-small car of its own, reports Autocar. During an interview at last week’s Paris Motor Show opening, Audi board member Peter Schwarzenbauer confirmed that engineers at

The race for the electric car, in CBS News, 60 minutes, an interesting read: The price of oil is up, gas guzzling cars are out, and a race for a fuel-free, practical electric car is on. It includes the usual suspects: Detroit, Japan, and Germany. But as correspondent Lesley Stahl reports, a surprising newcomer with no …

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