Meanwhile, as Reuters reports, Renault-Nissan will produce cars in cooperation with Project Better Place for use in Israel. The cars will have a range of about 100 km in city driving and up to 160 km on the highway. The cars will accelerate from zero to 100 kph in 13 seconds and have a top speed of 110 kph. The cars, to be made in Europe, will run on a battery developed by Nissan and Japan's NEC. Israel's government will offer tax incentives on the cars.
Furthermore, Project Better Place has teamed up with DONG energy in Denmark. To promote the project, the above image shows an electric car in a "virtual oil field" that is produced by wind turbines. In Denmark, 20% of electricity comes from wind power and a large part of that is sold on to Norway and Germany - practically for free some times, due to low demand for electricity at night. Electric vehicles that are recharged at night are a perfect fit for wind energy.
The NICE Mega City is available in the UK from £8,998 ($17,862) plus VAT. It is available with either two or four seats, has a 40 mph top speed and a typical range of up to 40 miles. It comes with two year warranty on labor and parts, including the batteries. The website says that the car can save you £7,000 per year. That's because the MEGA City is exempt from the London congestion charge and exempt from road tax. Road tax is set to increase to £950 in the 2008 budget on the most polluting cars. You can benefit from free parking in many London locations. Driving will cost you about 1.5 pence per mile. The MEGA City can be charged from a domestic socket at home, at work or at any of a growing number of public charge points around London. As a company car, it could be even more attractive financially. As a zero emission vehicle the Mega City allows companies 100% corporation tax write-down in the first year.
The UK has sliding scale levels of road tax corresponding to the CO2 emitted by cars. Furthermore, in London, electric vehicles are exempt from the congestion charge and can be parked for free at most meters. The cost of motoring has now risen from 33p per mile in 1988, to 58p per mile today, according to The AA and as reported in The Sunday Times. This compares to 9.9p per mile for the G-Wiz (in top image and below), according to the London Evening Standard (29 February). The G-Wiz (below) is 83% less than the average small car to run, even before parking and congestion charges are included. The G-Wiz is also known as the REVA, an Indian electric car intended for use as a City car. The car may be exported to the USA with a speed limiter for use as a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV). It is on sale in the UK for about £9000 ($18,000) for the standard model.
As GoingGreen further reports, France has a system called Eco-pastille, which sets a 'break-even' point at around 130g/km of CO2. Buy a car that emits this level of CO2 and you pay 0 extra carte-gris charge compared to last year. But buy a car that emits more, and you now pay up to 2600 euros more on a Band G (250g/km) car. However, if you buy a car that emits less than 130 g/km of CO2, the French Government actually starts to pay you back. So buy a 'voiture electrique' (electric car) and they give you a 5000 euros rebate.
The world's cheapest car is the Tara Tiny (above), not to be confused with the car that previously held the claim of being the world's cheapest car, the Tata Nano. The Tara Tiny has four seats, needs 8 hours of charging to travel 80 kms and is all set to hit the Indian roads in July. Four types of electric vehicles are ready at the Tara International factory at Palta, a few kilometers from Kolkata. The Tara Tiny and Tara Titu are priced at Rs 99,000 which is $2,470. Each of the cars can be recharged daily at 220 volts through 15 amp sockets. Tara International also offers an electric light truck and an electric 14-seater light bus (below). The Tara Shuttle, a 14-seater bus, is expected to cost about Rs 500,000 which is about $12,475.
Now who said that electric vehicles were too expensive?
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Comments: 9
I think that most Americans are probably unaware of how small gas-driven cars can be in Europe and elsewhere. Sure, they have some large cars, but many of those won't make it through village lanes or cobblestoned city streets. The autobahn in Germany may be a rather different thing from our freeways, with its high speeds, etc., but it is quite far removed from a standard European driving experience.
I may be a little dated in my observations given the number of SUVs reported to be in London these days, but I'm sure that there are still plenty of small cars and large buses. When I lived in England (ah, the good old days!), the Land Rovers stayed on the country estates for the most part, and Citroën 2CV were everywhere (French: deux chevaux vapeur, literally "two steam horses", from the tax horsepower rating, as Wikipedia tells us, and as you well know).
So, the horror of the small car is a cultural thing, having to do with our more modern cities and the long distances and range of weather that we might have to face. But, I'm starting to see lots of tiny cars in St. Louis. After all, the Mini Cooper was a status symbol in this country, and not too many jokes were made about it. I think that many of us would do just fine with smaller cars, at least for commuting to work.
Thanks again!
James, you may also recall this page from Blogforward showing some 29 start-ups that have come out with electric cars. I mentioned it in a January 2008 comment under my article The Distributed Grid, and I also mentioned that there are many companies that add batteries and plug-in capability to hybrids or convert existing gasoline cars to electric cars.
Then, there are many who can do the conversion themselves. In a January 2008 comment under your article The European Union bans certain biofuel sources in draft law, I mentioned this nice article in Suburban Journals that describes how Ron Erb's brother-in-law had a Ford Ranger that had just stopped running, but the body was still in good condition. Ron converted the truck into an electric vehicle for $7,700. A rebate program offered by the state of Illinois, called Green Fleets, gives rebates of up to 80% of the conversion cost up to $4,000. So it looks like he's got an electric vehicle for about $3,500. Furthermore, he may have tax advantages and he'll make savings on the cost of driving and on maintenance, so he'll practically have a good, clean truck for free. Also, there are employers who give financial assistance to staff purchases of or conversion to electric cars.
In conclusion, cost should not be an obstacle in the shift to electric cars. Electric cars need less parts than gasoline cars. In other words, with economies of scale electric cars should be cheaper to buy, to drive and to maintain. Note also the many nice little extras that you can get with some electric cars, such as wireless recharging, solar roofs, etc. I've added some photos in and under my article on the Mitsubishi i Miev electric minivan.