Next Generation Of Electric Cars On Display

Mar. 28 -- It appears that the electric car is making a comeback. A year after the release of the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?", hybrids are being converted to plug-ins, Chevrolet and Ford are showing new electric models, and more people than ever attended Palo Alto's electric car rally.

A car called Wrightspeed zooms by. This car tops 112 miles per hour in 11 seconds. A white Prius pulls onto the freeway. This car tops 100 miles per gallon. A red car is driven by George Clooney.

All of them are new, and all of them powered by electric motors. What happened?

People like Felix Kramer happened. His Prius, as nice as it is for the environment, is built as a fossil fuel burner. So his CalCars Organization added a plug to the bumper of his -- and started a movement.

"Now, it's completely changed," says Kramer. "And it's largely because people have been organizing and converting cars, and jumping up and down and saying, 'We need this car now!'. So now you've got seven car makers that say they're interested in plug-in hybrids."

Mind you, an electric car is not zero polluting. To charge the batteries, a power company somewhere has to pollute a little. We have no way of knowing how the power at the other end is being generated. It could be a hydroelectric plant, but, then again, it could be a fossile burning plant.

So the question is how to get the electricity to the motor. There are as many answers as there are carmakers.

Toyota will soon sell an electric Prius with a gasoline engine that can also drive the wheels.

General Motors' concept car has an engine, too, but it does not drive the wheels; it just charges the batteries. The Chevy Volt even runs on biofuel.

Then again, Ford uses hydrogen to get the electricity in its HySeries Edge.

But all the new cars have one thing in common. You can plug them in to get more efficiency and less pollution. Maybe "Who Resurrected the Electric Car?" will be nominated for an Oscar.

RELATED LINKS:

ORGANIZATIONS

CALCARS: PLUG-IN-HYBRIDS
Links:
Plug-In Hybrids: http://calcars.org/vehicles.html
PRIUS+ Project: http://calcars.org/priusplus.html

ELECTRIC AUTO ASSOCIATION (EAA)
Links:
Home: http://www.eaaev.org/index.html
Chapters: http://www.eaaev.org/eaachapters.html

PLUG IN AMERICA
Link:
What Are Plug-Ins?: http://www.pluginamerica.com/whyev.shtml

CARS MENTIONED IN THIS REPORT

CHEVY VOLT/GENERAL MOTORS
Hybrid: Plug-in Electric with hybrid options of gas, ethanol or biodiesel Sports sedan Concept car Link: http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/index.jsp
Coming in 2010

FORD EDGE/FORD MOTOR COMPANY
Hybrid: Fuel-cell hydrogen plug-in electric utility vehicle The HySeries Edge (concept car is not on Ford's Web site yet)
See what the Edge looks like: http://www.fordvehicles.com/ crossovers/edge/

PRIUS/TOYOTA Hybrid: Gas electric plug-in sedan
Links:
Brochure: http://www.toyota.com/toyota/vehicles/2007/prius/ebrochure.jsp
Build and price your Prius: http://www.toyota.com/ prius/models.html

TANGO/COMMUTER CARS CORP
All electric city commuter car
Link: http://commutercars.com/ George Clooney's car: http://commutercars.com/images/ gallery/customerCars/index/index.html
Yes! Parking: http://commutercars.com/images/gallery/parking/index/index.html

TESLA/TESLA MOTORS
All electric roadster
Links:
Electric power: http://www.teslamotors.com/performance/electric_power.php
Tesla album, photo gallery: http://www.teslamotors.com/styling/body.php

X1/WRIGHTSPEED, INC: CLEANTECH SUPERCARS
All electric racecar/street sportscar prototype
Link:
Wrightspeed X-1: http://www.wrightspeed.com/x1.html

THE MOVIE, WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?
Sony Pictures Classics
Sony online store: http://tinyurl.com/39qvfg
DVD purchase price: $21.00

GLOSSARY, LINKS & SHOPPING
Glossary: http://www.eaaev.org/Info/eaaglossary.html
Links & Resources: http://www.pluginamerica.com/links.shtml
EV Store: http://www.pluginamerica.com/estore.shtml
Merchandise: http://www.eaaev.org/eaamerchandise.html
EVs For Sale: http://www.eaaev.org/eaaevsforsale.html

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