Hybrids and electric vehicles

Electric cars like the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt may have gotten most of the attention this year but electric motorcycles also turned heads.

The year also brought innovations such as an electric vehicle that you can also use to power your house. SmartPlanet takes a look back at the evolution of EVs in 2011.

This video originally appeared on SmartPlanet with the headline "Electric vehicles: 2011's hottest headlines."

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By cutting out gasoline altogether, Ford may be the first production car to break the 100 miles per gallon mark.

Ford today said it has started production of the 2012 Focus Electric at its Michigan Assembly Plant, a sedan the company expects to be rated at more than 100 miles per gallon equivalent.

The electric version of its five-seater will be available early next year for just under $40,000 before a $7,500 federal tax rebate. Ford is making the car available first in California and the New York/New Jersey area and then will make it available in … Read more

Volvo's V60 plug-in hybrid gets outstanding mileage but still has some spunk.

The company today said that the diesel electric "sport wagon" will be available early next year priced at 57,000 Euros, or $75,500 . It expects that 80 percent of the buyers will be companies, rather than individual consumers.

Volvo has taken a unique path in building a plug-in electric vehicle with a diesel engine. The car will drive about 30 miles in pure electric mode and then the 215 horsepower diesel engine, which powers the front wheels, will kick in.

The combination yields mileage … Read more

This decade will bring a lot of changes to the fuel cell market, the latest being a partnership between General Motors and BMW.

The two automotive manufacturers will sign a cooperation agreement that gives BMW access to GM's existing fuel cell technology in exchange for research funding supplied by the German auto maker, according to reports in German weekly business magazine WirtschaftsWoche.

Both manufacturers have been developing and testing hydrogen-powered vehicles for more than two decades. After clocking more than 2 million miles during Project Driveway, GM is fleet and consumer testing its Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles in … Read more

commentary People are still trying to figure out if electric vehicles will be the Netbooks or the iPads of the auto industry--a flash in the pan or an enduring hit.

There has been a spate of recent articles predicting a glut of batteries because demand for plug-in vehicles won't be strong enough to match supply. The Washington Post yesterday pointed out that many battery companies that received federal aid could hit the brakes or run off the road entirely in the near future.

There are already signs of trouble. Lithium ion battery maker A123 Systems had to lay off … Read more

The Rinspeed Dock+Go debuts at the 2012 Geneva Auto Show in March.

The biggest problem with current electric car technology is limited range. People want more than the 80 miles most electric cars can realistically achieve. Rinspeed, a Swiss automotive modifier that previously showed off such concepts as the submersible sQuba and the polymorphic iChange, offers a solution.

Its Dock+Go concept starts as a simple Smart Electric Drive, the electric version of the Smart car, and adds what Rinspeed calls a Backpack. This second piece, supported by its own axle, attaches to the rear of the Smart. Frank … Read more

Instead of plugging a cable into an electric vehicle, drivers may some day just need to park it on the right spot.

Daimler yesterday disclosed it is working on a wireless charging system for electric vehicles that uses inductive charging. Nissan is also working on an inductive charging pad, which is expected to be made available with future versions of the Leaf.

In its tests, Daimler is using a modified Mercedes-Benz A-Class E-Cell, which includes a large coil under the car chassis. The car needs to be positioned above another coil placed on, or built into, the pavement. As … Read more

It's going to take more than a couple of battery fires to shake the confidence of most current Volt owners--so far only 24 people have taken General Motors up on its offer to buy back their extended range electric vehicles.

The Volt is being investigated by the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration because of fires that started in the liquid cooled lithium-ion battery three weeks after side-impact crash tests were performed by the organization. Proper post-crash safety protocols were not followed by NHTSA engineers, which requires the Volt's battery to be drained of power until repairs are … Read more

Rather than fiddle with cables, Nissan EV drivers will have the option to park over a wireless charger.

Nissan is working on a system in which drivers park over an induction charging mat that creates a wireless connection to an electric vehicle's on-board charger. Using a dashboard display to navigate, drivers back up so the charging map is under the rear wheels. Sensors stop the car at the appropriate spot and the charging is started by operating a touch-screen display on a charge point.

The automaker released a demonstration video of induction charging with the Leaf last month in … Read more