Hamilton: Electric cars coming, but can California take charge?

There are two things I couldn’t help but notice last week during a brief trip to Los Angeles. One was the earthquake that shook my hotel room and scared the bejesus out of me. The second was the number of hybrid-electric vehicles on the road.

Californians like their hybrid-electric cars, and it’s widely expected they will become the earliest adopters of a new generation of plug-in electric vehicles such as the Chevy Volt, the Nissan Leaf and the Prius Plug-In Hybrid.

For companies developing the charging infrastructure and electric cars themselves, this makes California an attractive place to sink roots. And sinking roots they are, something Michigan and Ontario should be watching closely.

Credit, of course, goes to electric car maverick Tesla Motors, which raised $226 million (U.S.) late last month in an initial public offering. Some say Tesla, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif., is the catalyst for turning Silicon Valley into the new Detroit.

Elon Musk, co-founder and chief executive of Tesla, says his company has vision, is nimble and is willing to bet big. “We’re a Silicon Valley company, closer to an Apple or a Google than to a GM or Ford in the way we operate,” Musk said last month during an investor road show. “I don’t think that’s something that GM or Ford is going to be able to replicate – ever.”

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Eco-friendly cars to cruise

PLAINFIELD -- Every Tuesday night classic cars line Lockport Street for a weekly cruise night, but tonight a different kind of auto show is coming to the Plainfield Public Library.

The library will host a Green Car Show, sponsored by Waste Management, at 7 p.m. in the parking lot, featuring hybrid and fuel-efficient cars.

The free car show is part of the village's Green Village lecture series, which is sponsored by Illinois Landscape Supply.

Local dealerships will showcase vehicles and will be on-hand to talk about the vehicles.

Among the green vehicles are hybrid cars, which use both gas-powered engines and rechargeable electric motors, clean diesel vehicles and highly fuel-efficient gas-powered cars.

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Electric Car-Makers Develop 'Cartones'

(NewsCore) - Select first gear and “vroom”, off you go. Or would you prefer to go “whoosh”? Or “zoom”? The choice may soon be yours, it was revealed Sunday, with electric-car makers tailoring engine noises so their vehicles don’t endanger pedestrians who cannot hear them.

While investigating different noises manufacturers realized they could offer customized sounds to individual buyers. After ringtones, here come the car tones, and as well as the classic “vroom” noises, researchers have been playing with sounds from films such as "Star Trek" and "Blade Runner."

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Electric cars push is on in China

China’s new rebates forelectricvehicles in five large cities put the world on notice that the economic Goliath wants to clean its filthy air and curb its appetite for imported oil.

Chinese consumers receive $8,800 off an all-electric car, or $7,320 off a plug-in hybrid. Chinese consumers have shunned first-generation gas-electric hybrids because they cost nearly twice as much as gas-engine equivalents.
But it will take more than subsidies to catapult China to a leadership role in electric vehicle technology.
Americans buying the electric-poweredChevrolet Volt or Nissan Leaf will receive $7,500 tax credits. Buyers of conventional gas-electrics qualify for smaller credits.

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Port Orchard Charging Ahead of Most on Electric Vehicle Technology

PORT ORCHARD —

The city of Port Orchard plans to install an electric vehicle charging station in the downtown area.

City officials hope to appeal to a growing market of Seattle-area electric car owners, who may be more apt to visit the town — and spend money — if they know they can get back at the end of the day.

Mayor Lary Coppola will meet in the coming month with representatives of Electric Transportation Engineering, or eTec, a company that is working with Nissan and the U.S. Department of Energy to install a network of charging stations across the nation by 2013. Nissan is involved because it is introducing a much-hyped electric car, the Leaf, in December.

Seattle is among a handful of test cities, most on the West Coast, chosen to initiate the EV (electric vehicle) Project. Electric Transportation Engineering received a $99.8 million stimulus grant to install the stations. About 2,200 to 2,300 of them will be in the Puget Sound area, said Linda Streissguth of Puget Sound Energy, which is working with Nissan and eTec to deploy the stations.

Port Orchard and PSE officials have to determine the suitability of a proposed city-owned site near the Port Orchard Marina and waterfront parking lot. The property has an underground vault with wiring that would support a charging station, said Coppola, a former electrician who is also a freelance writer for automotive industry publications.

“We see this as a cutting-edge opportunity for new economic development and a natural expansion of the city’s evolving green initiative I introduced at the beginning of this year,” Coppola said.

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Toyota, Tesla Said to Prepare RAV4, RX Prototypes

July 12 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. and its electric- car affiliate Tesla Motors Inc. will use the Japanese automaker’s RAV4 and Lexus RX crossovers as their first jointly developed battery-powered test models, a person familiar with the matter said.

Toyota will receive two prototypes this month, Tesla said July 10 without elaborating. While Toyota also aims to test an electric Corolla, the RAV4 and RX are better suited to the weight of Tesla’s battery pack, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the models haven’t been announced yet.

Toyota’s President Akio Toyoda said last week the partnership with Tesla, maker of the $109,000 electric Roadster, is the first of several the Toyota City, Japan-based company wants to pursue in advanced auto technologies. Toyota, the world’s largest seller of hybrid autos, bought a $50 million stake in Palo Alto, California-based Tesla this month.

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