At a rather subdued Knockhill race-track in Scotland, UK Business Secretary Lord Mandelson and UK Transport Minister Geoff Hoon announced a plan to support Plug In vehicles, not only buying them but “Building them”.
Mr Hoon and Lord Mandelson also had the privaledge to take one of BMW’s Mini E around the Scottish track, publising the Government’s plans to offer a subsidy of between £2,000 and £5,000 to car owners wishing to buy a new EV or PHEV from 2011 onwards. The plan also includes a £20m kitty to pay for the installation of more charging points and infrastrucutre to help Brits go green. Mr Hoon said “”The scale of incentives we’re announcing today will mean that an electric car is a real option for motorists as well as helping to make the UK a world leader in low carbon transport.”

The Detroit Electric company appeared on CNN yesterday to announce that they plan to bring not one, but two EVs to market by 2010.
Appearing on the CNN Corner Office Detroit Electric CEO, Albert Lam, announced the pricing and range of the two EVs that his company plans to launch in 2010.

• The “City Range”
  100 Mile Range
  $23,000-$26,000 US
• The “Extended Range”
  200 Miles Per Charge
  $28,000-$33,000 US

At that price, it certainly looks a good deal. The spec sheet is impressive too, with a top speed of well over 100 mph and a 0-60 time of less than 8 seconds. The car’s specs on the website look really good. There’s little mention on the website though of ordering or who will stock it. Nor where you can go for a test-drive.
_{CNN video after the jump, plus more about Detroit Electric}

Tesla motors are good at crushing stereotypes. They did it back in 2007 when the Tesla Roadster was unleashed on the general population. It was fast, sexy, efficient and the new plaything for those web 2.0 millionaires. It also generated enough interest that many EV enthusiasts contemplated pawning everything from their grandmother and their dog to their limited edition Star Wars box set to get one. Me included. Although I must admit at this point that it wasn’t any of the above… it was my mortgage. Okay, only for a split second, but it was there.
So, imagine my absolute joy when I opened up my mail this morning. It contained in it some news that the team of Tesla Roadsters taking place in the 2009 Rallye Monte Carlo d’Energies Alternatives finished the rally on a single charge, with over 40 indicated miles remaining on the car’s energy gauge. The course length? 241 miles.

_{Photo by Nikki Bloomfield of www.aminorjourney.com
More after the jump, along with details of how the Top Gear team have egg on their faces}