Nissan is serious about taking the lead in next gen green vehicles. They have recently begun talk and negotiations with tech corp NEC, to mass produce and market LI-ON batteries.

This NEW partnership will allow Nissan to get closer to what it wants the most right now, which is to be the leader in the electric vehicles market. Nissan would like to make it to market first, over Honda and over irking eco minded competitor Toyota.

The Nissan-NEC venture, to be called Automotive Energy Supply Corp, is supplying the batteries Renault will use in the electric cars it’s building for Israel and Denmark. The governments of those two nations have rallied behind Silicon Valley startup Project Better Place and its plan to bring affordable EVs to the masses. Nissan is looking at a similar arrangement with the government of Japan’s Kanagawa Prefecture, which wants to develop an electric vehicle fleet and charging infrastructure. Getting a few thousand electric cars on the road before its rivals will give the joint venture a solid lead in the market.

This will certainly give Nissan a leg up in the electric vehicles sector. The Li-ION batteries will be mass produced, power up the next generation of plug-in hybrids and electric cars, PLUS they have been proven to out perform the current crop of Prius, nickel-metal hydride batteries. On average lasting more than 60,000 miles. In fact, Nissan and NEC are so confident in their new EV batteries, they plan to sell them to other manufacturers, as well. Production is ready to start at 13,000 batteries for next year, rising to 65,000 a year by end of 2011.

Toyota and Honda, no doubt, are not resting on their laurels. Let’s see how they compete.

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Filed Under: Autos, Eco Friendly, Green, Li Ion, electric cars, electric vehicles, ev, honda, nec, nissan, toyota, transportation

The once uber popular sports coupe, the Nissan 200 SX, is going green. Maybe! The concept is on the table, and studies are in the works to find out whether it is possible to make a powerful all electric sports coupe.

If there is one thing you can count on in the EV market is concept cars and all the green vehicle “maybes”. It is quite an undertaking to transform a fleet of vehicles and take it from one source of power (gas) to a completely different one, such as electricity, water or a hybrid of sorts. Not too mention making something powerful and turbo charged, all the while keeping it fuel efficient and environmentally-friendly.

The Nissan 200 SX, known to many as the Silvia, is in the works to come back and be reincarnated as either a hybrid or as an EV, electric vehicle.

VP of Global Marketing for Nissan, Junichi Endo, states there is a 50/50 chance of an EV version of the Nissan 200 SX making it to market. Endo goes on to state that a hybrid is much more likely to make it to market, than an electric version of a (sports coupe).

Toyota also has plans to create eco friendly performance roadsters, but nothing is set yet for production. And Honda has set in motion plans for a revamped and earth friendly Honda CRX, which will be known as the Honda CR-Z.

So, sexy meets green! Maybe.

via - [Auto Blog Green]

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Filed Under: Eco Friendly, General, Green, electric cars, electric vehicles, ev, transportation

I must warn you this car is not pretty, but it is quite rare. ABC found on eBay Motors a rare EV, the 1980 AMC Hornet Electric Vehicle.

The manufacturer Solargen, has not been in existence since about the mid 80’s, when it went out of business, below is an excerpt from ABC, on what happened.

Solargen used lead-acid batteries to power small electric motors which replaced the classic inline six cylinder engines of AMC models like the Concord and Hornet. Apparently, the vehicles were only capable of about 30 miles or so of range and couldn’t quite reach highway speeds. Not surprisingly, therefore, the company didn’t last very long.

If you are a car collector, this is an interesting find. Below are some of the features of the AMC Wagon EV:

Engine Type - 2 Cylinders

Transmission - Automatic

Body Type - Wagon

Miles - 51 (since 1980)

Fuel Type - Electric

The 1980 AMC Electric Vehicle listed on eBay is going for $3,500 and as of this writing, there are no bids listed. Grab it while you still can.

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Filed Under: Autos, electric cars, electric vehicles, ev

A recent study from the Public Policy Institute of California is asserting that hands-free cellphone laws, such as the one taking effect in California on July 1st, will save 300 lives per year.

Based on data from municipalities, including the California Highway Patrol, this statistic is not an entirely accurate picture of possible or future road safety. Currently the results from the report above include guess-timates, based on information collected from accidents and mobile phone users, in states that have had the hands-free cell phone laws in effect for some time, such as Connecticut and New York.

Will hands-free phone laws make our roads safer?

According to Joe Kolko, who conducted the cell phone and accident study from PPIC, the answer is yes.

Kolko discovered that traffic deaths during bad weather fell 52 percent within six months of the laws’ taking effect. Fatalities on wet roads dropped 38 percent and rush-hour deaths fell 17 percent.

Data from New York, which enacted the nation’s first hands-free law in 2001, suggests the pattern holds up over the long haul. Four years after the law passed, traffic fatalities during lousy weather or on wet roads were down about 64 percent. Kolko assumed California would see similar declines and applied those figures to the number traffic fatalities in adverse conditions to arrive at 300 lives saved per year.

Clearly his guess-timates paint a picture of increased road safety.

But many questions remain such as, will drivers en masse adhere to these new laws? Should drivers be told by the government when and how to use their cell phones? When will better reporting take place to accurately record whether a cell phone triggered an accident?

I’m sure as time passes, all 50 states will have passed similar laws, and drivers will not be allowed to drive while on their cell phones. I especially feel that TWD (texting while driving) is a far more dangerous activity performed behind the wheel. Essentially while a driver is on a call, be it on a hands free device or not, distraction can and does occur, which brings me to my reader question.

Reader Question

Do you think that hands free devices will make for greater road safety?

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Filed Under: Autos

The Zap-X Electric Vehicle is being tuted as “the fun, compact, and affordable EV”. Due out in the year 2010, this high performance crossover electric car is to be engineered by Lotus.

Some of the features of the Zap X include:

• APX Light Weight Aluminum
• Architecture Design
• Electronic Braking System (EBS)
• Rack and Pinion Steering
• Solar Glass
• Lithium Batteries
  (Bio-degradable Non-Explosive)
• Power Windows
• Power Door Locks
• Power Steering
• GPS
• On Board Carputer with Full Entertainment System

The stylings of this EV reminds me of a cross between a Ford Mustang and a small SUV, not terribly exciting a design. The Zap-X ride comes in at a top speed of 155 MPH, horsepower at 644, and a ridiculous charge time of 10 minutes.

The Zap-X EV is not yet available anywhere and some of its marketed features (such as charge time) will need to be seriously tweaked, before they become reality in many or most homes.

What Zap-X lacks in design, atleast they make up for in fuel efficiency and technology.

Price Tag: $60,000

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Filed Under: Autos, Eco Friendly, Fuel Efficient, Green, electric cars, electric vehicles, ev, transportation, zap x