Electric Cars For Sale

The Nissan EV is the future. With instant acceleration, silent idle, and absent tailpipe, this car exhibits all the electric car benefits. It will of course take a decade before the electric vehicles have a significant take on our roads, but the little steps work towards a future when most of the cars will be electric.

In 2010, the Nissan EV cars will be one of the few electric vehicles to arrive the United States. The company has already declared that it will run several promotional programs in selected cities across the nation. It is expected that, the Japanese car manufacturer will have its electric cars for sale by the year 2012.

Some of the highlights of the electric car, developed by Nissan include 7,500 $ federal tax credit by the U.S. government, no gasoline usage, and just 220 volt required to charge the car. Moreover, the car battery takes only 6 hours to get fully charged, and it can go at least 100 miles on a single charge. Nissan banks on the fact that 98 percent of Americans drive less than 100 miles on any given day, so the car would be highly suitable for daily use.

What more? The plug in electric car emits zero amount of carbon dioxide, and costs just 90 pennies to “fill the tank” with electricity. That’s indeed a good start for an electric future.

The growing concerns over deteriorating environment and depleting fuel reserves have sparked a spate of research for new technology to run vehicles. The criteria for such vehicles being, they must not pollute.

Companies like Nissan, Reva and Honda are locked in the battle to start production of viable prototypes of electric cars for sale. It seems Nissan may be edging ahead in the race. Their yet unnamed model has been touted to be available in the Japanese markets by fall 2010.

Even though electric cars are yet to hit the markets, some owners have already pitched in to get their conventional cars converted to electric ones. Two local car mechanics in Sarasota County have shot to fame for their expertise in electric car conversions.

Conversion of conventional gas guzzling cars to the green car only requires a few hundred dollars worth of car parts and knowledge of how the engine works. Anyone interested in converting a gas run car to an electric one usually needs to choose a suitable power source. A DC motor forms the engine core. The car to be converted is to be stripped off its conventional engine, clutch and exhaust systems. The controller unit comprising of the motor, power source and voltage controller is installed. A gear reduction is needed to maximize efficiency. Once that is done and the adaptor plate is connected to transmission systems, the electric car is ready. However, some tweaks may still be necessary before the dream car is realized.

The fever for electric cars is rapidly spreading as many new and old car manufacturers strive to come out with latest models for public use. Market heavyweights like Nissan, Subaru, and Honda are locked in battle with a number of boutique car manufacturers to offer to the customers, the first electric car for sale.

Most of the prototypes currently on test are of the “plug in electric car” category. These cars come with in built power cords, used to recharge the car’s batteries. The pertinent problem that is associated with such cars is the prolonged charging period. A start up company by the name of Better Place has introduced its prototype shuttle that utilizes a battery switch technology. The shuttle can remove the dead batteries from an electric car, and refit it with a new one within 2 minutes. This eliminates the need for power cords, charging outlets, and the protracted charging period of the electric cars.

The implication of such technology is that, customers would rather be renting car batteries than buying them along with their electric cars. This poses a certain level of threat to the car manufacturers and is therefore being resisted by the auto industry. Costing approximately $10,000, an electric car’s battery forms a part of the car manufacturer’s package. With the advent of the aforesaid technology they fear ending up having to sell their product at lower prices, sans the batteries.

However, given the poor state of the automobile industry, accepting such technology and ushering standardization of electric car batteries would be a viable step to tap the future market base.

Toyota’s first plug-in electric car has been officially announced by the company. It has been developed by Matsumoto’s team. Toyota’s new car has an electric, as well as petrol engine but is different and better than the Prius, an earlier hybrid car developed by Matsumoto. The new improved battery of the electric car can be recharged with the help of a normal socket, in less than two hours. The new hybrid model by Toyota also travels twice as fast as the Prius.

If the new hybrid model by Toyota becomes a huge hit like Prius, it will not only enhance the sales and share prices of the company, but also establish new green standards for other manufacturing firms.

Toyota aims to develop more electric cars for sale in near future. Matsumoto said that by 2020 most of Toyota’s cars would be available as hybrids. This is indeed an outstanding goal when companies like Jaguar Land Rover don’t even have a single hybrid model for sale, and have requested the government for funds to manufacture one.

However, it will be a tough job to ensure the global success of plug-in electric cars. Consumers are apprehensive about buying fully electric cars as they fear coming across situations where they run out of charge and there is no charging station available nearby. Toyota will also face tough competition from other automobile companies. Honda has recently launched its new hybrid vehicle known as the Insight, and General Motors too has plans to launch its electric Volt in the near future.

Electric cars are no longer confined to the design boards of automobile manufacturers. The leading automobile heavyweights such as Volkswagen, Honda, Nissan and GM are ready with their prototype electric cars for sale. New players in the field comprise of a number of boutique car manufacturers who have unveiled their prototype versions and are giving the industry bigwigs a run for their money.

Even though electric cars do not use conventional fuel, have no emission to choke our environment, they are far from being the perfect car that many hope. Though electric manufacturers maintain that all you need for your electric car is a charging point; that is in itself the biggest drawback for the electric cars. With conventionally powered cars, we get to avail of gas stations at almost every location. This lends us virtually a limitless range.

The stark reality still remains that unless an extensive network of charging points are installed, the dream of electric car will continue to remain a pipe dream. The need for charging points to refuel electric car batteries has been circumvented with the technology of replaceable cells. However that too might remain a distant dream unless the network of replacement centers is as extensive as that of our conventional gas stations.

There is good news for the buyers of electric cars in Britain. The British government has offered a solid backing with millions of pounds in subsidies for the plug in electric cars. It is expected that the incentives will range from 2,000 pounds to 5,000 pounds ($2,985 to $7,463) for each buyer wishing to own an electric car. Geoff Hoon, Britain’s transport secretary says that it will become ‘a real options for the motorists’ when automobile companies launch their electric cars for sale in 2011.

Peter Mandelson, the business secretary of Britain said that the ‘subsidies initiative’ marked a new industrial activism. However, one of the biggest challenges that electric car companies face is providing assurance to drivers that they can conveniently fill up as they do now, in corner gas stations. In Britain especially, there are very few charging points to support a huge market of electric cars.

But…the good news is that - Britain is setting aside 20 million pounds to establish a network of charging points in the major cities, and regions where the electric cars would be marketed the most. There are more plans in the pipeline to encourage electric car sales, and support the ongoing costs incurred by the electric car drivers.

Those who already have plans to buy electric car certainly have reasons to celebrate. But, whether the subsidies offered by British Government will incline the not-so-interested market towards a predominantly electric future remains an open question.

Electric Cars have created a significant impact in the automobile scenario, making many auto brands vie for a niche in this segment. Detroit Electric, an electric car manufacturer which was once favored by Thomas Edison, is making a comeback with electric cars. The plug in electric car created by Detroit Electric, targets Chinese city dwellers and U.S. soccer moms.

Detroit Electric is expected to announce a partnership with Proton Holdings, a Malaysian auto manufacturer. It aims to have electric cars for sale by 2010. Detroit Electric is reported to offer a compact four-door electric car model, based on the designs of Proton model. The company also has plans to design a hatchback. Electric Cars with a range of 180 kilometers will be priced between $24,000 and $26,000; whereas those with a range of 320 kilometers, or about 200 miles, will cost up to $5,000.

The electric cars produced by Detroit Electric will run on an engine, developed by Detroit Electric’s engineering team based in Netherlands. The electric car batteries will be imported from Korea.

Detroit Electric plans to promote and market the cars in China, Europe, and the United States as an everyday vehicle. They wish to promote it as an affordable and practical, pure electric car. They believe that the revival of the name ‘Detroit Electric’ will bring them in sync with the spirit of electric driving that they had in the past.

The final prototype of the electric car by Nissan is out. Here is a quick review of the much-awaited plug in electric car by Nissan.

The outer shell of the electric car (EV-02) by Nissan is similar to its existing car. However, the car parts and performance are expected to be the same as what the buyers will get when the electric car reaches the market by late 2010.

Nissan’s electric car offers a good driving experience. It runs quietly like other electric cars, and is easy to handle. Nissan is aiming for a price range of $20,000 to $33,000. The price doesn’t include the tax exemption that the federal government will provide to the first 200,000 electric car buyers.

The battery of the electric car can be fully recharged in 4 hours on a 220-volt outlet. It can be recharged within 15 minutes in a high-powered charging station, which has a 480 volts outlet. The battery used in the car is a lithium-ion manganese battery. It has been developed by a joint venture between Nissan and NEC.

Nissan hopes that by 2010, it will get its electric cars for sale in the market; and by 2015, 10 percent of its production will comprise electric cars. The markets that Nissan plans to target in the beginning are Tennessee, Oregon, the San Francisco Bay Area, Tucson, and San Diego.

Better Place, the venture-backed firm has a vision of how the electric cars will remodel the landscape of automobile industry in the next decade. CEO of Better Place predicts the future of transportation as all-electric based, rather than hybrid. It is expected that once there are electric cars for sale in the cities, the demand for the rechargeable plug in electric car would be so high that the today’s carbon-emitting vehicles would become extinct.

Better Place’s CFO, Charles Stonehill said that the role of electric cars in this electric car motor industry would be that of ‘the seller of electric miles.’ The auto-powering lithium batteries, provided inside the electric cars, could be recharged or easily switched out for fully charged units, which could be purchased from Better Place. It is expected that in future, drivers would prepay for several electric miles per month or year at the service stations. Better Place is expected to have charge stations operating in cities all around the world.

Better Place is currently is working on developing the technology to build electric-cars recharge grid in selected cities and countries. According to the plan, charge points will eventually be installed in different locations like public parking places and parking lots. The drivers of electric cars would be able to charge their electric battery in these charging stations built along highways and roads.

Mr. President on his tour of Southern California has announced a financial support of $2.4 billion for the electric cars. He laid emphasis on his environmental jobs agenda by visiting the electric cars testing facility situated in Pomona where he made the announcement. This competitive grant program was made with the intention to have electric cars for sale in more cities worldwide.

In his modest speech, made at the Edison International facility, he focused on his offer to create new jobs in field of green technologies. As the audiences cheered his plans, Obama also promised to put a million plug in electric cars on the road by the year 2015. He also laid emphasis on his proposal of up to $7,500 in tax credits for the citizens of America who buy electric cars.

The $2.4-billion grant will be utilized to ask companies to contend for federal fund required to boost the manufacturing of batteries and other parts used in electric cars. Obama also viewed the company’s proposed model for a ‘future garage’. The plug in electric car would be charged every night in the future garage with energy drawn from the solar panels on the ‘future garage’ roof. Mr. President also paid a visit to the battery-testing center and asked engineers about what help they require from the government to further advance the technologies and electric car plans. Well, all we can do is keep our fingers crossed and hope to have a million plug-in hybrid cars running on the roads of America by 2015.