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.”

_{Photo by John Honniball
More thoughts on this news after the jump}

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.

At the moment the company are offering two versions of the same car.

• 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}

*Sigh*
It had to happen didn’t it? If you’re an electric vehicle enthusiast you’re used to being moaned about and told that your green vehicle will kill more blind, gay baby whales than they it will save. Strangely you’re told this by those who spend most of their time driving around suburbia in a large 4*4 (that’s SUV) which has never even seen a country lane – let alone a muddy field.

_{Photo by KenJonBro}
Do I sound bitter? Well, perhaps a little. Y’see, the Telegraph Newspaper has published today two articles bashing the UK government’s plans to kickstart a green transport revolution by offering up to £2,000 subsidy for each private purchase of an electric vehicle. The Telegraph would like you to believe that not only are electric cars dangerous and un-trendy but that providing an infrastructure to charge and run electric cars would actually cause more damage to the environment than good, not to mention economically cripple the country. .

Erm. Yes. Of course. What ever you say. What you dumb asses journalists seem to be hell bent on is furnishing your own ends and pushing ratings up before checking your facts. Hmm. That sounds about right then.
_{More of the story critique after the jump, and reasons why both articles are wrong}

The plug in prius is a strange beast. Promised by Toyota many times and not yet on the market, many owners (like me) have taken the time and energy to convert their own 2004-2009 Prius to a plug-in hybrid. There are even companies who, if you have enough money, will convert your Prius to a plug in without you worrying about doing it yourself.
Jerry Asher is amongst one of the increasingly large number of lucky souls who has a prius which you can plug in at night. He loved the idea of the plug in Prius so much that he decided to drive his PHEV prius (called the Spirit of DC) around all forty-eight of the mainland US states to highlight the good a plug in vehicle can do to the economy, the environment and the security of the USA. (Of course, it also helps in the UK, but we’re a bit behind and only have a few dozen PHEV prius in the whole country, of which two – mine is one – are DIY converted.)

_{Photo by M.Berkley
Press release and exciting news after the jump}

As my regular readers will know, I’m currently visiting family on the East Coast of the USA. While I’ve been here I’ve been noticing the differences between the UK and USA cultures from things as diverse as eating out and shopping to travel and environmental issues.
Now, before I go any further I feel duty-bound to put a mini-disclaimer here. I know the USA is a gargantuan country, encompassing many different communities and lifestyles. But I feel that the generalization I’m about to make holds good enough for most of the country that I won’t feel bad making it. Not only that, but the generalisation I’m about to make holds true for my home country and most of Europe just as much as it is true for North America.

The car is king.

_{Photo by Nikki Bloomfield
More after the jump}