The lure of extracting hydrogen from water in a somewhat real-time fashion in sufficient quantities to power an automobile has so far been a complete dead-end pursuit. One of the biggest problems is that it takes more energy to release the hydrogen from its water-tight bonds than is actually returned by that hydrogen.

But those basic laws of physics haven't stopped scientists with well-funded checkbooks from trying. The latest endeavor comes from Daniel Nocera from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is being funded by Indian businessman Ratan Tata, who, among other things, heads the global automaker that bears his name, Tata Motors. At this time, the total grant comes in at $15 million.  read more.

Would you drive a Nissan Leaf? Would a Vauxhall Ampera tempt you to part with your hard earned cash?

There is a perception on both sides of the Atlantic, and in Asia, that electric cars are at a watershed - that one big push is all it would take to build up the momentum to persuade the world's motorists to start switching away from petrol in significant numbers.

The argument behind electric cars is simple. Countries want to control carbon emissions and if they increase renewable energy generation, electric cars will become an increasingly ecological proposition.  Read more

BOULDER — When his Berkeley, Calif.-based electric vehicle conversion company had expansion in its sights, Paul Guzyk's eyes landed on Colorado.

 Noting the state's favorable alternative fuel tax credit for consumers and the northwest Denver area's affinity for the Toyota Prius, Guzyk determined Boulder would be ideal for a branch of 3Prong Power.  read more



As General Electric and NRG Energy are grabbing headlines for buying electric cars and building electric-vehicle infrastructure, respectively, I can't help thinking we're focusing on the wrong type of electric vehicles in the media. We hear about General Motors' Chevy Volt, Nissan's Leaf, and, of course, the Tesla Motors Roadster, but we get no news on the practical applications that are driving the few profitable (or nearly profitable) companies in the industry.

Headlines are nice, but as an investor, I'm more concerned about where I may be able to profit from this trend. GM and Nissan both expect to sell their electrics at a loss (at first), and Tesla is burning money trying to get the Model S launched -- so where is the profit going to come from?  Read more.

Toyota, Daimler and BMW have all turned to the laptop battery cell technology utilized by Tesla in the Roadster to power at least one of their electric car models. For Toyota, the laptop-style cells will find a home in the automaker's limited test fleet of battery-powered RAV4s. Daimler has chosen to power its Smart ForTwo Electric Drive and Mercedes-Benz A-Class E-Cell with the small, cylinder-shaped cells while BMW outfitted its Mini E prototype with the Tesla Roadster-like power supply. Judging by these inclusions, it could be argued that the small-format cell pack is the way to go with electric vehicles.

But wait. BMW's upcoming Megacity and ActiveE electrics will forego the laptop-style cells in favor of large-format ones provided by SB LiMotive. Additionally, Toyota has not committed to a single battery type for its mass-produced electric vehicles and will try out large-format units on the upcoming plug-in Prius and iQ-based battery electric and even Daimler has enlisted the help of Evonik to develop large format cells for use in the company's future EVs.   Read more.

The world's most powerful and most technically advanced electric superbike is set to make history early next year.

Developed by Swigz.com Pro Racing in the USA, it will take on established petrol-powered race bikes on 9 January 2011 at the Auto Club Speedway in California.

The bike's rider and owner, Chip Yates said: "Our electric motorcycle will compete head on with real racing superbikes such as the Ducati 1198 and KTM RC8 as well as other established manufacturers, and we expect to work hard to show the world that electric technology can achieve lap time parity with petrol superbikes. Read more

It looks like at least 10,000 people want to see the preview for the new Revenge of the Electric Car movie. That was the number of "likes" the film's producers set for the RotEC Facebook page, and now that the number has been hit, we have our first preview of what movie-going audiences will learn about when the flick hits the screen in the spring of 2011. The production team sent AutoblogGreen the following message just before the 10,000th fan clicked "like."   Read more

How's your math? If you have 240,000 "potential buyers" but only 10,000 vehicles to sell them in the first year, what can you do? If you're General Motos and the item in question is the Chevrolet Volt, then you look for ways to seriously increase the number of Volts you can build (and, of course, sell).

That's exactly what CEO Dan Akerson says his company is trying to do, looking to double or triple production rates of this very important car. The problem, according to GM North America President Mark Reuss, is the bottleneck created by the limited number of battery cells that vendor LG Chem can produce for GM. The current plan is to make around 10,000 in 2011 and 45,000 in 2012. That 2012 number has already been increased from 30,000.  Read more

The TT Zero is one of three electric motorcycle racing series which sprang up following the 2009 TTXGP race held on the Isle of Man during the 2009 TT Week.  The Isle of Man Department of Economic Development has confirmed on Nov 28, 2010, that in 2011 the TT Zero will be held during TT Week, as they did in 2010.

The Department has created a new "University Prize" of £5,000 which will be awarded to the fastest University or College team in the 2011 race.  At least three University teams have participated in either the 2009 TTXGP or 2010 TT Zero, and there are indications of other University teams in development.  The prize for the first team to beat a 100 miles/hr lap time is still up for grabs.  In the 2010 TT Zero, MotoCzysz was the team who got closest to that goal with a 96.82 miles/hr lap time.  Read more

The unique business model of Better Place is frequently discussed and the company often claims the headlines in the EV world. cars21.com has talked to representatives of the company in Japan about the successful trial of battery switching in Tokyo, lessons learned and future projects.  Read more