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One million. Call it Carlos Ghosn's magic number. That's how many electric vehicles the Nissan CEO says he needs to sell annually to generate a sticker price that is competitive without government subsidies.

Ghosn offered the calculation during a speech at a Tokyo business conference last week, just two months before the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle goes on sale in the United States and Japan.

Volume is key to bringing down the cost of electric cars. Lithium ion batteries can jack the price of a compact car into the lower-tier luxury range. Indeed, Nissan and other electric-vehicle hopefuls … Read more

Japan's three largest automakers are making a push to extend their alternative-fuel power train offerings in the next two years.

Toyota Motor will bring two electric and six hybrid-electric models to market in the next 24 months, including a plug-in Toyota Prius. Lexus will move into entry-luxury with the CT 200h hybrid hatchback in 2011.

Nissan Motor will launch the all-electric Nissan Leaf sedan in five markets in December. Infiniti will introduce the M35h hybrid next spring and an all-electric four-seater in late 2012 or early 2013.

Honda Motor engineers are working on a hybrid platform for such large … Read more

Popular Mechanics magazine today unveiled its sixth annual Breakthrough Awards winners, honoring 10 products that its editors identified as solving existing problems in all new ways.

The products range from two different approaches to electric cars to the smallest ever camera with interchangeable lenses to a thermostat that can provide a wealth of data even as it responds automatically to changing conditions. The magazine will name the individuals it chose for the Breakthrough Leadership award and Breakthrough Innovators awards later this week.

For six years, a group of the magazine's editors have sifted through countless products, looking for the selections for the year's best inventions. According to science editor Jennifer Bogo, the team tasked with choosing the 2010 awards--which comprised editors from Popular Mechanics' automotive, home, technology, science and online departments--searched for a roster of products that they felt satisfied their rigorous criteria.

Each of the editors on the team nominates their favorite candidates, and then the list is vetted to ensure that each winning product is "really, truly unique," Bogo said.

"We look at things that do more than work well," she explained. "We look for things that actually solve a problem and things that do that in a genuinely new way. [These are] products that take advantage of new materials, or which are networked in a new way, or which can pack more processing power into a small space."

And while the precise variety of selections varies from year to year, it's clear from this year's choices that the editors are sticking with the same general set of themes that Jerry Bellinson, the magazine's deputy editor, spelled out in an interview with CNET in 2009: alternative energy and products and designers that push categories forward. … Read more

We all want to save the world. It's just that some want to save it for longer than others.

So along comes the Nissan Leaf, the 100 percent electric car that tries to persuade us that the world is worth preserving for more than just the next few years. How does it do that? By proving that the Leaf makes polar bears extremely happy.

How would I know? Well, please feast upon the new Leaf ad that is set to launch in Thursday's exciting NFL game between the New Orleans Saints and a team from the Midwest quarterbacked … Read more

What will happen when millions of electric vehicles plug into the grid at at the same time? If ZigBee Alliance's blueprints for the SmartGrid go according to plan, not much.

The ugly specter of mass blackouts caused by hoards of EVs rolling into garages and plugging in at the same time is just one of the many arguments EV detractors use against electric vehicles and plug-ins. But EV adoption is inevitable, and the smart grid should make sure that energy loads will be balanced and shifted as needed to recharge them without causing widespread power failure. And eventually, ZigBee predicts, electric cars and plug-ins will become part of the energy solution supplying power to the grid.

But let's back up.

If you haven't heard of the ZigBee Alliance, you're not alone. Before I started this article, I'd never heard of it until I was forwarded one of its press releases. Named after a little-known Nordic elf that has nothing to do with wireless networks or energy, the ZigBee is a standard for wireless sensor networks on which the Smart Grid operates. "And the domain name was available," says Bob Heile, who is chairman of the curiously named group and one of the founders of 802.11.

More than 300 metering, computer, chip processing, electronics, and automotive companies are members the ZigBee Alliance. By incorporating ZigBee's technology in their products, many of these companies are laying the infrastructure that will enable utility companies, networked homes and buildings, and appliances to communicate wirelessly and automate metering as part of the smart grid. That includes electric vehicles.

Electric and plug-in vehicles will undoubtedly be a significant drain on the smart grid--each plugged-in EV has the equivalent drain of another house for hours at a time. But they're also uniquely designed to be able to give back.

"They are essentially batteries with wheels," says Heile. "Ultimately, long after the EV infrastructure is in place and consumers adopt them, there will be opportunities to load shift."

This means that at peak hours people can sell the energy stored in EV batteries back to utility companies. But don't think you can offset the cost of a new Nissan Leaf or Chevrolet Volt by becoming a homespun energy trader of sorts--that technology is still years away.

The typical EV and smart meter rhetoric goes something like, "You can charge your car overnight when electricity rates are cheaper." But the technology isn't entirely there to support that rational. Right now if you don't own a smart meter (you would know if you do) and you plug an EV into an outlet, it doesn't know what the device is or who it belongs to, or when to charge it other than right now. But in the future, it will know who you are by the car you drive so that when you charge at a friend's house, you'll get the bill. Or so the theory goes. … Read more

It's not just the weather that attracts start-up manufacturers of alternative-fuel vehicles to California.

The state's Zero Emission Vehicle program has created a marketplace for credits earned by selling electric and other low-emission vehicles. That means a potential source of income for small electric-vehicle makers that earn the credits but don't need them.

Indeed, part of the business plan of some small companies trying to break into the electric-car business involves selling credits to larger manufacturers. So far the only known transaction has been American Honda Motor Co.'s acquisition of credits from electric-vehicle maker Tesla Motors.

Tesla reported recently that it earned $12.2 million through March from the sale of credits earned through the sale of its $109,000 electric two-seat Roadster. The figure was included in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing for the company's planned initial public offering. The first Roadster was delivered in 2008, and Tesla has sold more than 1,000 units worldwide.

The California Air Resources Board requires manufacturers that sell more than 10,000 units in the state to accumulate ZEV credits. Individual targets are based on each carmaker's volume and market share in the state. Companies that don't comply face fines and potential restrictions on sales in California.

Credits earned through each sale are based on how far the vehicle can travel on a zero-emission fuel source. A vehicle with a range of more than 300 miles earns seven credits. One that travels more than 200 miles on a charge gets five. The Tesla Roadster brings four credits per sale … Read more

OnStar to show up in retail stores, Chrysler backs away from hybrids and electric cars, can technology end crashes in intersections, and we drive the new 2011 Ford Fiesta--was it worth the wait?

? Porsche 918 hybrid gets the green light--bring $500 grand.

? Chrysler scales back on electric cars for now

? OnStar soon coming to retail stores?

? CNET review of the 2011 Ford Fiesta

? CNET drives the production-ready Nissan Leaf

NASHVILLE--The Chevrolet Volt and the Nissan Leaf have less in common, aside from the hype behind them, than you might think. But marketers are preparing the two battery-powered cars for head-to-head battle for green-conscious American consumers, even though the two will compete head-on in just a handful of markets.

Last week, General Motors said it will price the Volt at $41,000, a stiff $8,220 above the Leaf's retail price, set in March, of $32,780. The Volt's price includes a shipping charge; Nissan hasn't set the Leaf's shipping charge. Also, a buyer of either car is eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit.

But backed by anticipated strong residual value from an aggressive eight-year/100,000-mile warranty on the Volt, GM said it also will offer a lease on the battery-driven Chevy of $350 a month for 36 months after a $2,500 down payment.

That plan clearly targets the Leaf's lease plan of $349 a month for 36 months after $1,999 down. And leasing likely will dominate electric-car transactions for the near future, said Mark Perry, Nissan North America's director of Leaf product planning.

"It doesn't matter," Perry said as he drove to an electric-vehicle conference in San Jose, Calif., last week. "We're still the most affordable electric vehicle."

Nissan immediately said it would offer an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty on the Leaf, citing "U.S. market competitive conditions." … Read more

Chevy prices the Volt - gulp. How to just about steal a Volt or Nissan Leaf. A first drive in the new VW Jetta, Ford Explorer & Mitsubishi electric car. And the James Bond car museum is gonna' be where?

• Cooley takes you for a spin in the Mitsubishi i MiEV

• Chevy prices the Volt. Too expensive?

• First drive in the new 2011 Jetta

• New 2011 Ford Explorer is a different SUV for different times

• Nissan Leaf

• James Bond car museum to locate south of Chicago. Way south.… Read more