Electric vehicles aim for 'longest and greenest' world tour

GENEVA — Electric vehicles from Australia, Germany and Switzerland set off Monday on the "longest and greenest" round-the-world drive to promote emissions free transport and November's world climate conference.

The UN-backed "Zero Race" is organised by Swiss schoolteacher Louis Palmer, who made headlines with his 18-month pioneering world tour in a solar-powered "taxi" two years ago, picking up celebrities on the way.

"With this race we want to show that seven billion people on this planet need renewable energy and clean mobility," said Palmer.

"Petrol is running out and the climate crisis is coming, and we are all running against time."

A South Korean vehicle failed to reach the start line at the United Nations in Geneva in time after it broke down with "a minor battery problem" some 60 kilometres (37.3 miles) up the road, Palmer said.

It was due to join the other three teams later in the day.

The Zero Race is planning to stop off at the World Climate Conference in Cancun, Mexico, after touring through Europe, Russia, China, Canada and the United States before heading back to Geneva in January 2011.

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U.S. Navy Gets Solar Power for Slow Moving Electric Vehicles

The vehicles included in the Slow Moving Vehicles (SMV) group will run at a top speed of 25 mph and will be used within its premises at Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast in Jacksonville, Florida. The initiative is an outcome of a Navy instruction to make 50% reduction in petroleum use.

Southeast Command rated as one of the biggest fleets in the US Navy has the largest convoy of SMVs that are electric powered and it was looking for renewable source of energy to balance the ever increasing electric power demand of its vehicles. Out of its total number of 314 SMVs only 23 of them are solar powered. The command is planning to increase the strength of the SMVs to 412 by the year 2012 and to have 121 of them solar powered.

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Electric cars will overtake hybrid in 2020, forecast shows

Electric cars will not overtake hybrid technology until 2020, a new report has predicted.

GlassGuide.co.uk's Alternative Powertrain Vehicles in Europe report forecasts that by the end of the decade, the two systems will represent 21 per cent of the total UK vehicle market share.

This will represent the same level in France and Italy, although the UK will remain behind Germany, which is predicted to have a 26 per cent market share of all new car sales.

Individually, 274,000 units of electric vehicles will be sold, while 235,000 hybrid units will be bought, the report found.

Andy Carroll, managing director at Glass's, commented: "One of the central issues for the vehicle manufacturers is encouraging consumer adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles, including plug-in hybrids."

The report indicates to a positive uptake of cleaner cars in the UK's future transport technology.

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Dealers gear up for electric cars

Ray Burke will be making room at his auto dealership in Cape May Court House for what could be the car of the future: an electric vehicle. But the future will come at a cost to consumers and car dealers alike.

The Chevrolet Volt will be mass-marketed first in six states, including New Jersey, and could reportedly debut in November in some areas. The car, which runs on electricity but also has a backup gas engine, will cost about $41,000. It is a steeper price compared to new hybrid cars, such as the 2010 Toyota Prius, with a suggested retail price of $22,160, and the 2011 Ford Fusion, priced at about $28,825, according to Kelley Blue Book.

"There have been a lot of inquiries and people asking how the Volt works," said Burke, whose Burke Motor Group will be one of seven General Motors dealerships in Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland counties authorized to sell the 2011 Volt. "With the Volt, you can drive it like a regular car. You don't have to worry about whether you'll break down somewhere. (In southern New Jersey), people drive long distances to commute."

Burke doesn't expect to receive his first Chevy Volt until March, and may get about one per month since the initial run is just 10,000 cars nationwide. But he already is scheduling classes for his technicians so they will know how to handle the vehicles, he said.

David Perry, of Perry-Egan Chevrolet in Ocean City, said he might get just a couple of cars during the first run. Citing growing interest, GM said last month it will increase production by 50 percent to 45,000 vehicles in 2012.

Jim Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers in Trenton, said dealerships will see a cost burden because they'll have to get workers trained in maintaining the cars and buy the related equipment and materials to service electric vehicles.

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Japan Post Service to buy 1,030 electric cars from start-up firm

Japan Post Service Co. plans to purchase 1,030 electric vehicles from Zerosports Co., a start-up firm based in Gifu Prefecture, for collection and delivery of mail, sources familiar with the matter said Monday. Under the plan, the mail delivery service arm of Japan Post Holdings Co. will order 30 vehicles in fiscal 2010 through March and 1,000 more in fiscal 2011, they said. The plan follows Japan Post Service's experimental use of some Zerosports electric cars in which it rated their performance highly. Zerosports, which entered the electric car business in 1998, says its electric vehicles loaded with mail can travel for around 100 kilometers on an eight-hour charge.


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Lotus gets ready for multi-model launch

Lotus is pretty tight-lipped about what its plans are these days, though it is clear its ambitions are great.

"There's going to be a lot happening at Paris," Mr Doyle says - though exactly what it will unveil at the biennial motor show in October remains secret.

But one thing is clear.

"We're going to expand the model range quite significantly," Mr Doyle says.

The car world is awash with rumours about what Lotus will do and if expectations are met it will certainly create waves.

Lotus is expected to unveil four new concept cars, a notable number given that nothing significantly new has come from the company in more than a decade, with the obvious exception of the recently launched four-seater Evora.

'Old' and 'New' Lotus:

The concepts expected to be on display at the Paris motor show are said to be a mixture of "Old Lotus" and "New Lotus".

"Old Lotus" models might include an updated and perhaps more comfortable version of the Lotus Seven, which was built between 1957 and 1972, as well as a new version of the Esprit supercar, which was built between 1976 and 2004.

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