Electric Cars For Sale

Reva, the electric car from India was introduced into the market long before the trend for electric cars caught up across the globe. Reva has the proud distinction of being counted among the world’s first commercially sold electric cars. Though the beginning was tough, but someone wise once said that nothing can stop an idea whose time has come. Reva came into its own with the rising fuel prices, and growing public awareness and interest in electric cars.

The Reva Electric Car Co was established in 1994 by the Maini Group of India and AEV from the United States to build electric cars for sale. They got their first car ready in 2001. Chetan Maini, the chief of Reva Electric Car Company deserves all the accolades for championing his electric car plans in the face of high skepticism. What is even more admirable is that about 95% of the development of the car has been indigenous. The one factor that went against it in India was the high price tag. But Maini is not a man who gives up easily. He started exporting Reva to Europe and the United Kingdom, selling under the brand name G-Whiz. Since then he has moved on to other countries. The car is also being tested for feasibility as mail trucks in the U.S., Germany, Australia and Austria.

It’s unfortunate and ironic that though the technology for electric cars existed much before the internal combustion engine came into being, it was completely eclipsed by the latter. Electric car companies did not bother to manufacture electric cars for sale until recently following the widespread resurgence of interest in electric cars. Car owners are now more willing to buy electric car than they were before. Electric car companies have woken up to the fact, and so have many countries that are amending laws and offering incentives to promote electric cars.

Electric cars are legally allowed to ply in several American states and Canada which had initially been doubtful about the viability of electric cars has recently started making positive efforts. The Canadian government amended a legislation in June 2008, which gave individual municipalities the power to approve the use of electric cars with a maximum speed of 50 kilometers per hour on their streets. This was followed by an initiative taken by the Mayor and council members of Oak Bay in Vancouver Island when they unanimously voted to allow the residents to drive low speed electric cars on the streets of Oak Bay. Now it is only a matter of time before other municipalities follow.

Meridian Energy, a company from New Zealand has revealed its electric car plans. It intends to manufacture New Zealand’s first electric cars for sale within a few months. Meridian Energy has entered into a deal with a Japanese car manufacturing company for the purpose.

This comes at a time when car owners around the world have started feeling the pinch of increasing petrol prices. They are open to the idea of getting themselves car that runs on electricity instead of guzzling gas and destroying the environment. According to K. J Kells who works with Meridian Energy as the electric vehicles program leader the time of electric cars has arrived. New Zealand’s citizens are going to be prepared for this new technology through a series of public lectures that are going to be organized by the Institute of Professional Engineers.
Meridian Energy did not expect the high level of demand that they are staring at right now. In fact one of the challenges for them would be supplying enough cars to satisfy the demand. The success of electric cars would depend upon the support of the Government as well, incentives and subsidies would be vital in determining the fate of electric cars in New Zealand.

It has been difficult for electric car companies to introduce electric cars for sale in the US market because of its people’s driving habits, as well as the powerful lobby of US automobile industry that is working against it. This has forced electric car companies to seek alternate avenues of entering this promising market. Project Better Place is one of these enterprising entities that have already entered into advanced stages of negotiations with the Hawaii government. They have been trying to get Hawaii to adopt its electric car as well as make the required changes in infrastructure.

Hawaii has been selected keeping certain important factors in mind. Its problems arise from the fact that Hawaii is constituted by a chain of islands which are completely dependent on oil imports. The state imports oil through long and expensive routes which leads to extremely high fuel prices. This has led the Hawaii government to search for alternate sources of energy. It is more open-minded towards accepting electric cars. Another advantage for electric car manufacturers comes from the abundance of natural resources like solar energy in Hawaii. There is an almost inexhaustible supply of geothermal energy generated due to ongoing volcanic activity. All these factors make Hawaii an excellent place to introduce electric cars.

“We’re the last manufacturing company of electric passenger automobiles in the United States - in fact, in the whole world.” – These words were uttered in 1934 by Alfred Renz, who was the president of Detroit Electric Co. The Detroit Electric Co. was established in 1907, and within 3 years it reached its peak selling 1000-2000 electric cars annually. It was mainly popular among doctors and women. But by 1934 the popularity of electric cars had declined rapidly with the introduction of cheaper and more reliable cars with internal combustion engines. When Renz said the above words, he was seeing the death of his company a few years into the future. The company closed down in 1939.

However, things have come full circle and the increasing interest in electric cars has led to the resurrection of the Detroit Electric Co. The rights to the name of the company have been purchased by a Dutch electric car company, which plans to manufacture affordable electric cars for sale and roll them out to the public towards the end of 2009. In its present incarnation Detroit Electric has partnered with a Malaysian company Proton, to execute its electric car plans and this time it’s here for success.

Where Oslo has seen a 5 percent reduction in the sales of new cars in the past year, it has also been witness to increasing popularity of the electric car. According to figures, electric car companies have registered increased sales to the tune of 74 percent during the last year.

Electric car companies ElbilNorge and Think have been pleasantly overwhelmed with the increasing interest in their products. According to sources at ElbilNorge, which has been producing electric cars for sale since quite a few years, it made a mere 20 cars a year, five years back and about 190 in 2007. Compare that too the present situation, where the same company plans to deliver 300 to 350 cars by the year end! The other electric car manufacturer Think has already delivered about hundred cars in the last few weeks and has 700 customers in their waiting list. They plan to build 22 cars a day.

Apart from the usual advantages of being environment friendly and saving the cost of fuel, owner of electric cars in Oslo get the benefit of saving on the traffic charges, as electric cars are not charged. Moreover the traffic authorities are planning to build around 400 parking zones equipped with recharging outlets.

As major car manufacturers gear up for releasing electric cars for sale in Japan, the country is preparing itself big time for electric cars. For starters, the Japanese government is supporting plans for building hundreds of plug in electric car recharge stations that would allow electric car owners to recharge their cars sufficiently in a matter of minutes. Apart from recharge stations, the infrastructure of the country will also be developed to allow the smooth entry and accommodation of electric cars.

Tepco or Tokyo Electric Power has developed a device, which would help small cars get sufficient power through a 5 minutes recharge, to travel 40 kilometers. Charging for 10 minutes would be able to power the car for up to 60 kilometers. This is a remarkable improvement on the other recharging devices being used at present.

The government of Japan has embraced the technology and would soon begin receiving applications from the towns and cities that are interested in supporting the electric car by installing recharging devices in public places like supermarkets, pay-car parks and restaurant chains among others, where the electric car owners could get their cars charged for free. The government would also encourage private companies to give discounts to electric car owners on things like loans, insurance and even parking.

Increasing number of automakers are developing cheap electric cars for sale. Some electric car companies have already come out with their products which are doing well. This has led to the growth of companies that manufacture electric car batteries, Enedral being one of them. With business showing excellent prospects, it recently revealed its plans for expanding its production and research facilities in Indiana. Enedral, which started operation in 2004, has around 92 people on its staff at present. The company plans to hire over 850 new people till 2012.

Recently a Norwegian automaker that manufactures and sells the electric car “Think” in Europe, entered into a $ 70 million dollar contract with Enedral, to make batteries for its car. According to Ulrik Grape, the CEO of Enerdal, they have planned to expand because they can see a huge demand for electric cars in the near future, and they want to be ready to fulfill that demand.

The Government of Indiana has been quite supportive, with the Indiana Economic Development Corp. offering performance based tax credits to the tune of $ 7 million and training grants up to $58,000. Indianapolis and Noblesville are thinking of planning out property tax abatement for Enedral.

The small and quiet electric car G-Whiz is steadily increasing in numbers in the streets of London. It has already developed a cult following among Londoners, who have suffered from steadily rising gas prices, killing parking fees and congestion toll fee of $16 per day. Compare this to the G-whiz which consumes about 9.6 kilowatt hours of electricity for a full charge lasting about 8 hours, which comes to around $1.

Furthermore G-Whiz owners don’t have to pay the license plate fees, which come to an annual average of $600. The City of Westminster which comprises a large portion of downtown London, has contributed a lot to the popularity of this electric car by allowing free parking and installing free charging points, which allows the owners to charge their cars at anytime through ought the day.

The technology for electric cars has existed since long before the G-Whiz, but it could not convince enough people to buy electric car. That’s one reason why even the major automakers did not pay serious attention towards developing electric cars for sale. But the breakthrough achieved by G-Whiz could change all that. We are standing at the beginning of a revolution, that would ultimately set us free from the disadvantages of gas.

There was a period not too long in the distant past, when London was considered a nightmare as far as its traffic was concerned. However the situation is changing rapidly since a congestion charge of 8 pounds sterling was levied on all gasoline cars between 7 A.M. and 6 P.M. The charge has forced Londoners to look for cars that are less polluting and would relieve them from paying the fee.

According to John Mason who heads the enforcement for the congestion charge, they’ve met with great success as the charge has led to a 25% reduction in the cars plying in the city. Moreover cars have become more environment friendly as well. The number of electric cars has risen from a mere 90 in 2003 to 1600 in June 2008. Electric car companies that existed in the fringes have assumed a lot of importance. More new models are on their way and major automakers are also unveiling their plans of developing better electric cars for sale.

Till the products of the major players come in to the market, Londoners have the Reva G-Wiz which is currently the best-selling electric car in London. Though it has a limited maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour, and needs to be charged after every 70 kilometers, the Reva G-Wiz has become a very common sight in London.