Electric Cars For Sale

The automobile industry is trying to redeem itself by not only developing electric cars for sale but also revealing concepts of “green” electric cars. These are cars that would cause minimum damage to the environment. In a bid to stand out of the crowd, automakers are trying all that they can, to prove their green credentials.

Apart from a range of low emission cars, the British International Motor Show this year had a “green village” complete with hybrid vehicles and electric cars. Some of these cars had been fitted with dashboards made of cork. Now cork is the only wood that can be harvested without killing any tree. The British sports car manufacturer, Lotus displayed its Eco Elise concept. The car has been meticulously designed in such a way that its impact on the environment would be minimum at every stage, be it production, in use or at the end of its life. The makers have used sustainable materials like eco wood, hemp and sisal for the body panels and trim. What’s more, they have used hi-tech water based paint technology. The hemp hard top has been fitted with solar panels and is intended for powering electrical systems like the car audio. We hope that other electric car companies get inspired by the Eco Elise.

The world stands at the edge of a big technological revolution with electric cars poised to make a huge comeback. Yes this will be a comeback, it may surprise many people to know that when cars first introduced, they were powered by electricity. It was only later that the internal combustion engine was developed and turned out to be more efficient, than the electric ones. This pushed the electric car out of the scene for many decades. But the recent few years have seen vast improvements in electric car technology. This coupled with the disgruntlement over rising prices, and ill effects of the gas powered cars opened up opportunities for electric cars. Car makers all over the world have sensed the opportunity and gone into developing electric cars for sale in major ways.

One of the most significant help that electric car manufacturers would need is the development of a network of recharge stations where anyone can plug in electric car for recharging. Various governments are chipping in with help in developing the infrastructure. Recently, Australia announced that it will be introducing a network of charging stations. It would be the third country in the world to do so and would carry out the project following a scheme that was introduced by the Silicon Valley Group Better Place.

Electric cars had been regarded as a part of hobby mechanics over several decades. It’s only in recent times that they are making a big comeback, buoyed by the increasing fuel prices and protests over environmental degradation. Most of the major automakers worth their salt have announced or are in the process of developing electric cars for sale. In fact the demand has already reached such high levels that experts predict the auto industry would not be able to satisfy it completely in the coming years.

Incidentally, Japanese electric car companies are at the forefront of this revolution. There is Mitsubishi which has announced that it will be developing a car that will have two engines, one electric and the other petroleum. The car would run on electric charge over short distances and switch to gas for longer ones. Moreover, Mitsubishi intends to develop an engine which would travel 100 kilometers over a single charge lasting a mere half an hour. This is certainly going to be a tough challenge for its competitors, Toyota and Daimler.

But before things get going in a major way, car makers need to solve two issues which may damage the prospect of electric cars. These issues are the expensive lithium-ion batteries and the need for a well developed network of recharging stations.

The electric car industry is charged up like never before, and that augurs well for the world. Every few weeks we get to hear news about some new or established auto maker revealing its plans for developing electric cars for sale. Chrysler which had already entered the electric car race recently unveiled three prototypes of electric cars, out of which one would be in the market by 2010. The three models include the Chrysler EV, the Jeep EV and the Dodge EV. Out of these three, only the Dodge EV would be a pure plug in electric car. The other two have gas engines that serve as backups designed to take over after the cars have traveled around 40 miles on electric power.

The Dodge EV, on the other hand, has a maximum speed of 120 miles per hour and can travel up to 160 to 200 miles on a single charge which would take 8 hours on standard 110 volt outlets. It has an electric engine that can generate power which is equivalent to 268 horsepower and 480 lb/feet torque. Its 0-60 time is estimated to be less than 6 seconds and it can travel quarter of a mile within 13 seconds. Overall this car surely means serious business!

Tesla Motors, one of the cutting edge electric car companies, which has people like the founders of Google, George Clooney and Arnold Schwarzenegger among its fans, has announced that it has been hit by the global financial crisis and is losing money.

Tesla Motors was banking on an investment of $100m, which failed to materialize because of the present financial crisis. Subsequently the company announced that there will be some downsizing of staff, as well as reshuffling of the management team. The South African serial entrepreneur, Elon Musk who has been an investor in the company since its early days would take over as the Tesla Motors new chief executive and manage the day-to-day operations. He said that they would be focusing on two revenue producing business lines, and planned to achieve positive cash-flow within six to nine months. They would continue producing the Roadster sports car which comes with a price tag of $109,000, but would postpone their plan to produce lower priced electric cars for sale. The company had been developing a $60,000 saloon called Model S, but now that would be delayed till 2011.

Tesla Motors has not confirmed how many of its employees are going to lose their jobs. But it has denied reports that up to 250 people, who account for about half of the company’s workforce, would be released.

France is preparing itself to welcome electric cars, with President Nicolas Sarkozy pledging to mobilize around €400 million of public money over a period of four years, on the research and development of electric cars. Furthermore EDF also announced that it had entered into agreements with PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault to build infrastructure for recharging plug in electric cars as well as the hybrid versions. EDF has already been working with Toyota to develop plug in electric car for France, as well as UK. In fact they started testing Toyota’s plug in hybrid car last month in UK.

The government of France is providing much needed support by offering various financial incentives like offering a tax bonus of €5,000 till 2012, for cars with ultra low emission. President Sarkozy also announced that he would like changes in the European Union state aid regulations that would support the investments of automakers who manufacture the best electric cars for sale.

It is heartening to see so many positive developments happening simultaneously not only in France but all over UK. The governments of all these countries have shown great foresight by supporting electric cars enthusiastically, hopefully all this would lead to a cleaner, greener future and end our dependency on fossil fuels for good.

Shai Agassi, who is quite well known as an electric car evangelist, has been trying to popularize a new way of selling electric cars, which according to him would make them cheaper and bring the prices to the level of regular cars, if not lesser. Mr. Agassi, who used to be a software executive, say that he aims to make electric cars a product which can be used by the masses and not only by the wealthy few, referring to the exorbitant prices quoted by major automakers who intend to manufacture electric cars for sale.

What Mr. Agassi intends to do is to provide electric cars without batteries, at rates which are similar to regular cars. He would then offer his customers a long-term subscription model for renting the battery and having access to recharging stations. Partnering with Renault-Nissan, he believes that his electric car plans would lower the overall cost of ownership of such vehicles. However the industry is skeptical about his model and overcoming this skepticism could prove to be a major challenge. Agassi agrees that the electric car industry is in a state of denial but he intends to whether it out, after all a few years back these naysayers wouldn’t have believed that electric cars could have a future.

Insurance Corp. of British Columbia has announced that the owners of electric cars in Vancouver would not have to pay to higher insurance than the owners of conventional gas-powered cars. Vancouver recently became the first major city of Canada to allow electric cars on its roads. Though major automakers have already shown their faith in the ‘car of the future’ by developing electric cars for sale, Transport Canada took its time in giving permits to such cars because it was concerned about the fact that electric cars were not required to have safety standards like regular cars, for example, anchored seatbelts and air bags. This is why it has permitted electric cars with certain recommendations, like electric cars should be allowed in controlled environments like university campuses or gated communities. However the provinces were given the power to format their own regulations.

Though the ICBC is aware of Transport Canada’s concerns, for the time being at least it has planned to insure electric cars just like it does conventional cars. So if you buy electric car for personal use and not for your daily commute, then you would need to pay around $1,300 annually. ICBC has insured only 21 electric cars until now, as more cars get insured it will be in a better position to conclude about their safety.

The Paris Motor Show had some major car companies showing off their upcoming electric cars. A number of models were on display and the atmosphere was charged with electricity. Certain doubts remained, however. Some executives acknowledged that their companies’ electric car plans could be slowed down due to uncertainties pertaining to batteries, as well as weight and cost needs. Moreover, recharging requirements of electric cars would require major infrastructural changes. All this translates into the requirement of huge investment.

These are critical issues, especially when one remembers that electric cars which came earlier than the gas powered ones were done in the first time around, because of some of these problems like lack of sufficient battery power.

The good news is that the technology has come a long way with progress in lithium-ion cell technology. Major automakers like Renault, General Motors, Daimler and Chrysler which are readying their electric cars for sale, are leaving no stone unturned for their success. General Motors which displayed its electric car, Chevrolet Volt in the Paris Auto Show is planning to roll it out for sale in the later part of 2010. Though it hasn’t decided on a battery manufacturer yet but it has zeroed in on the requirements, which are autonomy of 60 kilometers and 3 hours recharging time. It seems like the electric car is here for good.

Tesla Motors, the luxury electric car manufacturer recently announced its intentions of building a $250 million manufacturing unit in San Jose. It plans to build a new $60,000 sedan at this factory. The area would also have Tesla’s headquarters and is expected to employ around 1000 people. The site should be able to put roll out its first electric cars for sale by 2010.

Though initially the company intended to establish its factory in California, the efforts that San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed put in wooing Tesla over a period of several months, eventually paid off. The company got an 89-acre parcel from the city which they can use rent-free for the next 10 years. After this period they would have to start paying an annual rent of $1.5 million per year. The city of Jan Jose itself expects to have a $2 million dollar annual boost to its economy resulting from taxes, and expenditure of people employed by Tesla.

Over the years many electric car companies have toyed with the idea of electric cars, and most of the major car makers have announced or already launched their electric cars in the market. What makes Tesla’s approach different is that it intends to glamorize the electric cars; it is planning to come out with cars that look sexy and carry a reasonable price tag.