6 Cool European Electric Cars Never Coming to the US

The European tradition of coachbuilding—the manufacturing of carriages—dates back to the 1700s. These days, it refers to the high-end auto design firms, such as Rolls Royce and Ferrari, which build custom-designed specialty vehicles.

Like nearly every automaker in the world, coachbuilders are going green, by designing and building all-electric vehicles. Their electric cars are well suited to the congested streets of Rome or Paris, but don’t hold your breath for these cool electricity-powered rides to make it across the pond. By nature, the coachbuilders produce vehicles in limited runs intended for local markets.

The cars in the list are:

Pininfarina B0 ("B Zero")
UK Lightning
Heuliez Friendly
Heuliez Pondicherry
Karmann Quicc DiVa
Ford F-150 Ha-Pa



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Think Electric Car

From Norway, comes the Th!nk City, the new compact electric car coming from Europe.

With a fantastic acceleration, considering the size of the car, with the following stats:

Top speed 100km/h
Acceleration 0-50km/h 6.5 seconds
Acceleration 0-80km/h 16.0 seconds
Typical charge time – standard electric socket:
0-100% SOC (state of charge) approx. 13 hours, 230VAC / 14A
0-80% SOC (state of charge) approx. 9,5 hours, 230VAC / 14A
Range IEC* 170km (summer tires, heater off)
Range FUDS** 180km (summer tires, heater off)
Range EU UDC*** 203km

With the city range around 200km(125Miles), the Th!nk City has the most attractive mileage in the Electric Car market, using the electric motor only.

Pre-launch activities of the TH!NK city have started in selected European markets like Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and now recently Spain. TH!NK city vehicles are in this pre-launch phase primarily being sold to municipal fleet, government and utility partners for early adoption EV pilot and demonstration fleets, supported by government incentives to help reduce the initial high cost of the batteries.

It might take some time before this car enters the open market in Europe and even longer in the US.

Electric Car Th!nk's Official site: www.think.no

GM fuels electric car hype wars

Hyping Volt's claim of 100 km/litre...

The company that gave the world the monster-sized Hummer now claims it will deliver a plug-in vehicle next year so fuel efficient it will take you several times across the city on a single litre of gasoline.

General Motors Co., eager to shift attention from its near-collapse and racing to dump its image as a maker of petrol-sucking trucks and SUVs, stoked international debate yesterday by saying it expects its upcoming Volt to get an unprecedented fuel economy rating of 230 miles per gallon (nearly 100 kilometres per litre) in city driving. That's four times better than the gas mileage of Toyota Motor Corp.'s bestselling Prius.

"Is it hooey? Probably not," said Paul Lacy, a specialist in vehicle power components with consultancy IHS Global Insight in Detroit.

http://www.financialpost.com/news-sectors/story.html?id=1883012

Nissan Displaying Electric Car

Some news regarding Nissan's new electric car Leaf:

Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s third- largest automaker, rose to the highest in 10 months after displaying its first electric car, aimed at a market it anticipates will be larger than hybrids.

Nissan gained 5.4 percent to 726 yen, the highest since Sep. 29., at the close of Tokyo Stock Exchange trading.

Nissan Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn said yesterday electric cars may account for at least 10 percent of global vehicle sales by 2020. Nissan has failed to match the popularity of Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius hybrid and Honda Motor Co.’s Insight, and is betting demand for emission-free cars will offset the restrictions of limited range.

“Investors are jumping to Nissan after it actually unveiled the much-awaited car,” said Koichi Nishi, an equity strategist at Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. “Products that fulfill the promise of environmental-friendliness are encouraging.”

The company plans to sell its electric car, the Leaf, in the U.S., Japan and Europe next year. Nissan’s new electric car can travel 100 miles on a full charge and can seat as many as five people. The car’s lithium-ion battery pack can be fully recharged at a 200-volt outlet in eight hours, or in less than 30 minutes from a so-called fast-charge station, according to Nissan. In contrast, hybrids can refuel at conventional gasoline stations.