'electric vehicle'

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.--By Keshav Sondhi's telling, the handful of electric vehicles that FedEx is testing are wonderful, offering sufficient range and one-third the operating cost.

But because an electric truck costs three or four times more than a conventional truck, FedEx's worldwide fleet of all-electrics is only 19 out of about 40,000 trucks.

"We want those trucks. We believe in energy independence," said Sondhi, FedEx's chief engineer for electric vehicles. "We have a deep belief in electrification, but the capital (needed) has inhibited us to what we have now."

So it goes for so many consumers and businesses considering electric vehicles. The smooth and peppy acceleration of electric motors makes for a good driving experience, fueling up is cheaper, and owning a plug-in reduces imported oil and carbon emissions.

But for electric vehicles to break out beyond early technology adapters, battery prices need to fall dramatically--to about half where they are today in the coming years--said auto executives at the Fortune Brainstorm Green conference here. Cost reductions are expected to come from higher scale manufacturing and technology improvements.

"By mid-decade I have high confidence that we (as an industry) will establish (battery) cell production in the U.S.," said Tony Posawatz, the vehicle line director for the Chevy Volt. "The simple fact of producing cells with shorter transport takes likely hundreds of dollars out of the cost of pack." … Read more

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.--The Coda sedan will only impress your friends once they realize it's electric.

The sedan, due to start shipping in California in the fourth quarter, is designed to be simple and useful rather than flashy. But functionally, the car will meet the needs of many people and be priced in the "low to mid 30s," or somewhere in the range of $35,000 after federal and state credits and rebates, according to Kevin Czinger, CEO of Coda Automotive.

"The coolness of this car is that it's anti-cool," Czinger said after showing … Read more

A closer look at the recently passed federal fuel economy rules highlights how electric vehicles complicate the familiar measures of mileage for industry and even consumers.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last Thursday published final rules for automakers to meet fleet-wide requirements on fuel efficiency on light-duty vehicles. Fuel efficiency averages need to increase to 35.5 miles per gallon within six years, up almost 10 miles per gallon from now.

On the question of how electric and fuel cell vehicles contribute to the fleet totals, the EPA and NHTSA said the rules seek … Read more

Think will begin selling its all-electric City cars in the New York metropolitan area within the coming months, the company said Thursday.

Think's City model is a highway-legal electric vehicle that runs solely on a lithium ion battery system and gives off zero emissions. The car, which has a top speed of 60 mph, can be charged from either a standard U.S. 110-volt household outlet, or a fast-charging 220-volt station that can be installed for home use. The small two-door car, clearly intended for city driving and parking, has a battery system with a range of about 112 … Read more

Rather than a technology breakthrough, the route to cheaper electric cars is high-volume manufacturing of lithium ion batteries, according to an electric vehicle expert.

Management consulting company PRTM on Monday released a statement arguing that people are underestimating the projected demand of electric vehicles when it comes to battery capacity.

The companies and countries that can ramp up operations for both battery pack and battery cell fabrication are the ones that will profit as electric cars become cost competitive with gasoline-powered cars in the next six to eight years, said Oliver Hazimeh, the director of PRTM's Global E-Mobility practice. … Read more

South Korea is trying a new way to turn public transport green by using a technology popular in electric toothbrushes and razors to power buses and cars.

The country's top technology university on Tuesday unveiled a new electric transport powered by recharging strips embedded in roads that transfer energy through magnetic connections. There are no direct connections with wires.

Vehicles with sensor-driven magnetic devices on their underside suck up energy as they travel over the strips embedded a few centimeters under the road.

"The technological concept behind the idea has been around for about 100 years. We have … Read more

Someone at Honda's been watching too much "Akira," because the automaker's latest electric vehicle concept looks a lot like the main character Kaneda's bike with training wheels.

Created by Honda's research-and-design facility in Milan, the 3R-C concept is an inverted trike that is powered by a battery electric drive train and seats a single passenger. When parked, the driver's seat and controls are covered by a clear canopy for added security and protection from the elements. This canopy rises and slides forward to become a windshield when the vehicle is in motion, protecting … Read more

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--Nissan North America has cut the amount it intends to invest in a new U.S. electric-vehicle assembly line and battery plant by about $200 million and in turn reduced the amount of a federal loan it will tap.

Nissan originally estimated the cost of the Smyrna, Tenn., project at $2 billion and had applied for $1.6 billion in low-interest loans from the U.S. Department of Energy to pay for 80 percent of the project.

The scope of the project hasn't changed: produce 200,000 lithium ion batteries and 150,000 complete electric vehicles a … Read more

Electric-car services company Better Place has announced deals in Israel with corporate fleet operators and a gas station company, steps toward launching a nationwide network for all-electric cars next year.

Ninety-two companies in Israel plan to host charging stations for Better Place electric cars, the company said Sunday, and a gas station operator will host battery switching stations.

With the deals in place and support from the Israeli government, Better Place projects that it will be operating a nationwide network of thousands of charging stations by 2011, according to reports.

During a press conference, Israel-born Better Place CEO Shai Agassi … Read more