EV News – Page 2 – Aminorjourney

Nice Car Split. MEGA take over. MyCar goes elsewhere.

This one happened a while ago, but I didn’t actually get a chance to post about it until today, when I put two and two together to make six.

Until the end of 2008 the Nice Car Company were viewed by many as the rivals to Goingreen, the UK agent for the funny little Indian electric car, the Reva (or G-Wiz, as it’s known here).

The Nice Car company had a very nice showroom and office in the western side of the Capital, and had some pretty nice cars too. Okay. I can’t keep up this NIce talk. I’ll just stop being silly and carry on as normal now. I promise.

Anyway, back to the story. The Nice Car Company not only were the agents for the MEGA Truck and MEGA City, (which many people affectionately called the “Nice car”) but also sold Vectrix electric Motorbikes. At last year’s London Motor show the Nice Car Company launched a whole range of EVs, including an impressive conversion of a Fiat 500 which they planned to lease to customers rather than sell. They also planned to sell the MyCar, which Nice Car Company Founder, Julian Wilford, assured me I would just go crazy for. On arriving at the motorshow last year I had to admit to him that, after looking at it, I’d rather have owned the original Mega City. It just looked more conventional and I’d test-driven one a year or so earlier (and liked it). I liked it better than the MyCar. But at least others did hail the MyCar as the latest in EV must-have. The Nice Car Company were also showcasing an MPV style vehicle, the Zeo, which I quite liked the look of. It was touted to do 50 mph+ and a decent range too. It would have made an ideal vehicle to replace my City El with (before I decided on a plug in prius, that is). Heck, it’d still be better than a plug in Prius if I could have actually owned one – as I would never have had to fill up with fuel, but I digress. Take a look at some MyCar butt.

MyCar. Well not MY car. Id rather have a MEGA City, thanks. — MyCar. Well not MY car. I'd rather have a MEGA City, thanks.

_{Photo by Nikki Bloomfield, www.aminorjourney.com}

What does this have to do with a company who went bust in December, after sales reportedly went below one car per week? Well, it appears that both the Nice Car company is back up and running but also that the co-founder of the company has gone to pastures new, and taken his MyCar with him…

UK government finally publicy announces support for Plug ins, but from 2011.

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.”

EVs charging at Cribbs Causeway, Bristol

_{Photo by John Honniball}

_{More thoughts on this news after the jump}

Detroit Electric announces a (rough) price guide.

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.

Detroit Electric's planned 2010 model. Nice looks!

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}

SUV loving, EV hating from the Telegraph Newspaper. (again)

*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.

Those SUV loving conservative socialites at the Telegraph are beating up the EV again.

_{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}

Come and meet some friendly EVers in Farifax, VA tomorrow!

If you’re around the greater DC area and would like to meet me and some of the other EV and hybrid enthusiasts in the area then why not join us at Bertucci’s restaurant, VA, 22182 tomorrow. We’ll be meeting with the local EVA-DC group, who have kindly arranged this event. If you want to come…

GM and the PUMA. Wait till you have a better prototype, eh?

For serious EV enthusiasts who want full size vehicles which go fast and far there’s nothing more irritating than a joke EV making the headlines. It’s important for car makers to get new and exciting electric vehicles out in the public eye, but only if the vehicles in question give EVs a good name. But to put it bluntly the GM/Segway PUMA prototype looked no more than a complete joke when it hit the news earlier this week.

Segway/GMs prototype PUMA doesnt win any beauty prizes. — Segway/GM's prototype PUMA doesn't win any beauty prizes.

Unveiled as an early prototype at the New York Autoshow, the little two-wheeled, self balancing personal transport vehicle can carry two people at up to 30 mph around town for up to 35 miles.

_{More after the jump}

Vaporware. The curse of the EV

Yes, it’s April 1st today. I’ve thought about making a joke post, telling you about all the latest wonderful improvements in battery technology, or perhaps about the recent study which states that electric cars can be ran on brainwaves with a simple modification. But After listening to today’s EVcast I think that Bo and Ryan pretty much have the EV gag market sewn up for today.

But it got me thinking. In the world of EVs we’re used to big tales of new vehicles; of fantastic ranges and ‘next year’ promises. Does the public image of EVs benefit from this, or do wild claims and media hype only serve to give the EV haters out there something to base their attacks on?

Out in the wild (Well, almost)

We’re at an exciting time in the world of the EV. If the world’s automakers can be believed, electric cars are anything from a few months to a few years away. (Let’s not concentrate on the recent statement that VW’s CEO made, stating that EVs are 15-20 years away. I suspect he didn’t view the…

Category: EV News (page 2)