The first of these cars were supposed to be on sale and on the streets in the first quarter of the year 2011. However, production has been moving real fast at the manufacturing plant of Think North America and they plan to roll out the first electric car a little after Thanksgiving. This is the very first time that electric cars have been able to get out of the Europe niche and step on to the North American soil.

The assembly space for the Think North America cars have been set up in a huge space that runs into thousands of square feet. This is going to be used for the assembly process with the best of facilities available under one roof.

The first cars to be to be rolled out are going to be 220 small cars that are going to be in the favorite colors of red, black and blue. The next stage of this plan is to make it in such a way that workers move from one car to another. This system is going to change and become more mechanized so as to be able to produce more cars.

Keeping all of this in mind, Think has decided to launch 300 new cars this year. This is what was conveyed by Brendan Prebo the spokesperson for the company. However, by the year 2011, they expect this figure to reach as much as 2,000 to 3,000 new electric run cars.

According to ET Automotive, this is going to be a great employment opportunity generated with several people being able to get themselves on to the payroll. The Think plant expects to be functioning full steam by the year 2013 and have 400 people on its rolls.

The first EV to catch the spotlight will be the NXR. Reva describes this as a car capable of carrying 4 persons but a lot doubt it since the dimensions seems to be small to achieve this.

Next in line will be the NXG, a two-seat EV that is scheduled to debut by next year. The NXR will roll off the market by 2010.

The rest of the car industry is more interested in what Reva calls REVive system. This technology aims to alleviate the range anxiety which is a big issue in the acceptance of EVs in any market. How REVive work is not yet clear but according to sources it will be a remote charging system.

EV owners will only have to call or send an SMS to REVive to remotely recharge their vehicles in case they run out of power while on the road. How the telematics technology will work its magic is not yet clear but it will be a feature of the NXR and the NXG.

Reva has yet to announce the pricing scheme for the cars and the REVive. This might be done during the Frankfurt Auto Show.

The partnership with the bank will allow consumers to buy the Tesla Roadster and deal directly with the bank for all the agreements that need to be signed and for all the payments.

The collaboration between the bank and the car manufacturer though does not mean that all people with great credit ratings and who want to be behind the wheel of an EV can buy the car. There are a lot of things to look at and the hefty tag price of $100,000 is on top of the list. Aside from the sticker price one should think about the $20,000 down payment plust about $7500 of federal tax. Financing is also taking in 7.7% for a 5-year term with monthly payments of around $1650.

The figures might be overwhelming but Tesla wants to point out that savings with the electric Roadster is long term compared to owning gas guzzler exotic cars with the same price.

The Tesla Roadster consumes about $4 of electricity so it can be fully recharged. It is still a considerable amount even if fuel prices will drop dramatically. The electric sports car also has less moving parts which means less maintenance in the long haul. There are also no parts like spark plugs, exhaust, belts, hoses, and pistons that will need replacement. There’s no oil change needed too.

This exhibition program will make Miljo create more than one hundred units of an all-electric version of Tata Motors’ Indica Vista.

Tata Motors and Miljo will gain advantage from TM4’s latest production of motors for the industry of automobile, the TM4 MOTIVE series. An inverted rotor topology was utilized by the TM4 motors for utmost torque density.

The inverted rotor topology (wherein the rotor spins outside of the stator) has a bigger magnetic field, in contrast with rotor centric permanent magnet motors. The additional radius is a feature that increases torque and power density and provides improved competence.

Miljo will also utilize the MO 120. Its design permits larger output of power density over an extensive range of operating velocity. Aside from that Miljo will make use of a 60 kW peak regulator. The peak power of the unit will be 60 kW.

TM4 is also working to plan, expand, and exhibit a latest automotive electric powertrain with Magna, which is based on the high density permanent magnet motor of TM4.

Tata Motors Limited, India’s biggest and recognized automaker, has a revenue of US$ 9 billion last 2008. Miljo Innovasjon, meanwhile, creates electric versions of vehicles constructed and sold by Tata Motors.

The three-wheeled vehicle Type 1, now coined as 2e, is a Carlsbad concept with investments from big names like Google and Idealab. The sleek electric vehicle is made from composite high strength materials with good aerodynamics. The e2 can travel 100 -120 miles in a single charge with a top speedometer reading of 85 to 90 miles per hour. Aptera boasts of the e2 passing the safety standards and crash testing with flying colors.

Production of the vehicles will early January or a year few weeks delayed from the original plan of late December 2008. It is not yet clear if the first batch of e2 will go the test fleet or to the consumers. It is certain though the mass production will be this fall.

The suggestion of having a test fleet came from automotive experts hired by Aptera Motors. This will be used to study in anticipation of the ease of use or other concerns that may be raised by end users.

The tag on each e2 may vary from $20K to mid $40K depending on the options one will avail. The company also introduces reservation schemes to measure what will the demand be for the e2 in this challenging economic difficulties.

Aptera Motors aims to produce around 10000 vehicles in 2010 and increase the volume of production to 100K units by 2015.

A four wheeled vehicle called Palomar is also on the drawing boards.

According to the scoop in Autocar, the French electric vehicles will include an electric version of the Kangoo MPV, a new electric car patterned after the Megane sedan, and a new smaller 5-seater model.
At present time, Renault has been testing the electric versions of Megane Sedan in Israel, the results of which will serve as the basis for the production of several more electric vehicles by the same company. The electric version of Megane will be released in the market sometime in 2011 while the Kangoo MPV electric car will follow shortly.

While the new Renault electric vehicles will emerge as compact city cars, it will not have the boring and nondescript designs like its counterparts in other brands. The French automaker is eager to make the new electric models fun and youthful with a unique look and cool driving features.

Expect these three Renault electric cars to make waves in the global market by 2012. Renault is eager to finish and perfect its production in time for the 2012 Olympics in London, as the company is planning to use the new electric vehicles for transportation for both the athletes and spectators. Talk about the perfect advertising scheme.

A quick excerpt:

“The car will depend on lithium-ion battery which will propel the front wheels by transferring the energy through a gearbox without producing any sound and emissions. The battery of the Mini E was especially engineered for the vehicle and has a rating of more than 150 miles per charge.”

Their newest innovation, the GEM Peapod, announced mid-September, will be the perfect “around town” vehicle. Short trips are said to cause the worst type of pollution. By driving the Peapod to run local errands, the environment will be much healthier. No gas and no emissions, the Peapod is considered the next generation of electric vehicles with production beginning in 2009.

Current GEM cars come in a choice of six models including a two, four and six passenger car as well as three utility vehicles. An impressive thirty-eight thousand vehicles on the road, they are legally permitted to travel on public roads in forty states.

A live announcement was seen on CNBC introducing another set of vehicles, the Chrysler ENVI, also electric vehicles but electric available in more mainstream models such Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge. Lithium-ion batteries will power the Dodge EV (based on the Dodge Viper), while the Jeep EV will also use an integrated generator system. The Chrysler EV will be produced in many models but the seven-passenger van will run on eight gallons of gas to four hundred miles.

At least one of the group of three new vehicles will go on sale as soon as 2010 in North America.

Online resources:

• http://www.gemcar.com/
• http://www.greenecomobility.com/peapod
• http://www.chryslerllc.com/en/innovation/envi/overview/