Even though pure electric cars have been around for many years, there are only few designs which have met the expectation of the people. Many models which had prototypes designs were sent to market after making some adjustments and alterations.

In earlier times when gasoline was cheap, nobody thought of improving the battery pack used on electric vehicles as they were not good at all and that is the reason why such technology never became popular. Recent technology advancement has changed the entire scene and now more efficient and lightweight batteries are available in the market.

The most common problem seen with older batteries was it used to power the vehicle with DC power source which had a limited technology and the batteries were too heavy and were quite inefficient. When bigger and more powerful electric motor was used as the power plant of EVs, the effective driving range was limited because the batteries do not have sufficient charge to supply to the motor.

What’s needed was to create a system which works and makes the car power source lighter and could hold more electric charge. There was great reduction in the demand for lighter batteries after researchers created new designs for the electric car power system.

The glaring example is usage of hybrid technology which is based upon a small scale generator that runs on gasoline and produces the electric power required to charge the battery pack which in turn used to run the electric motor. This is really an efficient system because the generator continuously keeps on charging the small group of batteries that is used to power the vehicle.

Other designs which have been tried are using Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels to charge the batteries with a hope enough power can be generated to run the vehicle. This technology worked very well especially during sunny days but after sunset and change in the weather, the technology proved to be very inefficient. Alas, more research and development is needed to make solar hybrid electric car practical.

Research and experiment do help and such experimentation has really boosted the effective driving mileage of pure electric cars. The recently developed technology pertaining to batteries has really spur interest in the electric car segment. Batteries are now smaller, lighter and capable of holding much more electric charge meaning it could last longer in between recharge.

However, the biggest problem with these batteries right now is the cost. They are quite expensive as compared to normal batteries, thus this will add up to the cost of the electric car. But once manufacturing technology gets improved, the price reduction is quite imminent.

Several car manufacturers are working hard and planning to put pure electric cars in the market in the next couple of years which are more efficient and have a longer driving range. You can simply plug in these cars in your garage power outlet for charging. The best thing is, you can drive these cars similar to an automobile with an internal combustion engine.

The range will also be increased and you can drive modern EVs for around 200 miles in a single charge. Understandably, these cars will cost more but you can recover your investment quickly because you will save lot of money on gasoline.

As a cheaper alternative, you can convert your present car into pure electric vehicle using an EV conversion kit. You have the options either to wait till new technologies for EV are available or convert your present car into electric one. With the passage of time and technological advancement, it is only a matter of time before electric car is used by the mass market.

There is an increasing awareness among people these days about pollution-free environment and they are also more conscious on ways to save on their gasoline bill.

With that, more and more people are constantly on the look out for eco-friendly cars that not only cause less harmful impact on the environment, it will also help them to be less dependent on fossil fuel thus countering the effects of soaring fuel prices.

There are broadly two types of vehicles that are categorized as eco-friendly:

• Plug-in-hybrid vehicle
• Pure battery powered electric car

Finding the ideal eco-friendly car is not easy as it requires a very fair knowledge about various types of energy saving vehicles and their advantages and disadvantages.

They are many reputed manufactures that have now put eco-friendly cars in their production lines, with companies like Ford, Nissan, General Motors and Toyota being at the forefront in this market.

The following paragraphs will explain the features of the two popular types of eco-friendly vehicles and their advantages and disadvantages.

Plug-in-hybrid Vehicles

These types of vehicles run either on gas, battery or both. You cannot drive long distances on battery alone. However, there will not be any need to stop at a gas station for fuel often.

One of the well-known names in the market for plug-in hybrid type of vehicles is Chevrolet. Chevrolet has designed one of the most popular models of this type of vehicle known as Chevy Volt.

Chevy Volt can easily get a distance of 40 miles drive powered exclusively by a battery per single charge and an amazing 500 miles per gas fill-up. This type of vehicle is ideal for a person who is concerned with clean environment and does not want as yet to dispense with the internal combustion engine.

Chevrolet is concentrating on designing new models of plug-in hybrid vehicles in which higher capacity battery will be added to the vehicles to enable users to drive longer distances with a single battery charge.

The other principal manufacturer in the plug-in hybrid market is Toyota. Although the Toyota Prius appears similar to a standard Toyota Prius, the addition in this model is the port for charging the battery. While it gives only a low mileage range of 14 miles on battery power, it gets an incredible 50 miles per gallon, when in hybrid mode.

Pure Battery-Powered Electric Car

As the name implies, these types of vehicles are powered only by electricity supplied by battery and therefore, is not provided with a gasoline motor.

One of the principal manufacturers of the pure electric vehicle is Nissan. Nissan has developed the most popular model, Nissan Leaf. This vehicle gets an astounding 100 miles per charge and is the first automobile manufacturer to produce more than 10,000 pure battery electric vehicles.

With such an extraordinary efficiency, it is no wonder that the company has been receiving huge number of orders from both individual users and city and town public service institutions. The basic price of a 2011 Nissan Leaf is around $32,000.

Ford, another leading automobile manufacturer has also ventured into the all electric vehicle market segment with their Ford Focus Electric. Ford has already manufactured the maximum number of hybrid vehicles than any other manufacturer and is now trying to establish leadership in the electric car category as well.

The Ford Focus Electric, which runs only on battery, plans to compete with the Nissan Leaf. Just as the Nissan Leaf, the Focus Electric gets 100 miles per charge. Another advantage with the Ford Focus is that it comes at a lower price of around $20,000 as compared to Nissan Leaf.

Ford plans to introduce more number of models of Focus Electric cars to cater to the requirements of diverse range of customers.

The recent happenings in the car industry are worth watching, a major impact has been made by electric cars in the entire automobile industry. The car industry which was traditionally manufacturing gasoline-engine cars is thinking out of box to explore the possibilities about the launch of pure electric vehicles (EV).

The rising prices of traditional fuel, its side effects like carbon emission are really hard to bear. The alternative is to use neat and clean energy, which lies only in using green electricity and this seems to be a viable solution.

In fact, we must understand about the electric cars, where traditional cars use gasoline to run, electric cars run on electricity which is stored in plug-in-battery packs for acceleration, speed and easy maneuvering.

Another energy which can be used to run the vehicles is being explored and still in the experimental stage, this is solar energy. This will be another revolution in the car industry which can use power of Sun. Another vehicle which is already running in many countries is hybrid vehicle; this car can run both on gasoline and electricity.

The interesting point to note is that electric cars were already very popular in the late 19th century until 20th century. These cars were more popular than gasoline powered cars, this continued till the combustion process was developed. This is also true that electricity propulsion offers more comforts than the gasoline run vehicles.

The internal combustion engine (ICE) technology pushed back the development of electrical cars; this was only because of the quick refueling of the gasoline and the improved driving range. Eventually the further development of the technology pertaining to electrical cars suffered and slowly the market of these cars faded.

Now due to high emission level and the cost of gasoline has compelled the manufacturers to further develop the technology and remove all the hurdles which are associated with the electric car. These cars are eco-friendly and the running cost is also very low, the engine too is less complex as compared to gasoline powered vehicle.

The main deterrent in the purchase of an electric car is the initial cost, high cost of batteries and recharging the batteries. The manufacturers are working very hard to remove all the hurdles so that these cars can be used by masses. This too is a fact that electric cars are suitable only for short distances, but some of the governments across the world are offering tax incentives.

There has to be mass development of infrastructure like setting up of quick recharging stations, this will help in increasing the range of these cars. These cars are quite eco-friendly with no emissions, but these cars use electricity which is stored in the batteries, the conventional electricity comes from the power grids which produces greenhouse gases during the production of electricity.

One has to explore other sources like solar power, wind power, geothermal or water energy; such a move can solve the electricity problem and can be used even for homes and other electric devices including electric cars. This is a fact that the in future lies only in electric run vehicles, government has also realized it and is providing all the assistance possible.

You may have many questions in your mind before you actually go for an electric car, these question are natural. The first thing comes to the mind is how far the car can go and where to recharge the car.

This probably is biggest deterrent for the people who want to buy an electric car. In addition there are other issues like long distance commuting, cost of batteries and other problem. For those who have to use the vehicle for long distance, the electric car is not for you.

Electric vehicle (EV) are suitable for city driving and where recharge points are freely available. There are some vehicles like Tesla Roaster which have a range of 240 miles which seems to be a good distance covered by the electric car. The price is again a deterrent for Tesla Roaster which is around 100,000 dollars; the cheapest vehicles have very short running range and are not suitable for long distance and can be used for driving in city area.

Many potential electric vehicles purchasers are not satisfied with the current electric car technology, but this is also a fact that many governments across the world are developing network infrastructure to install high current low time charging solutions. There are some stations which take 20 to 30 minutes for charging which seems quite reasonable as this time can be used as coffee or burger break.

Recharging from the household sockets may take several hours due to single phase 10 amp limitations of many power points. Some of the countries like Japan and the United States are exploring using 3 – 6 times the energy density of current lithium ion batteries.

Another option could be using Lithium polymer batteries which is considered to be future technology, with this technology range will not remain the issue. This mostly depends upon the number and type of batteries; you may also need a motor which matches the batteries.

The cars which have fast speed will be expensive as the consumption of batteries is more as the motors require more current to run. There are other concerns like exploding of Lithium ion batteries.

Another concern is the safety of electric car; these concerns are being resolved and are at the verge of being solved. The biggest risk is high voltage wiring in the electric car which is not there in the conventional petrol powered engine.

There has to be a safety device like accelerometer kills switches, which will switch off the power from the batteries in case of an accident. Generally electric cars are quite safe as there is no petrol or gasoline in such vehicles.

One has to be extra vigilant at the time of recharge as there is possibility of electric shock, finally the removal of gear box will help the driver to concentrate on driving instead of changing the gears. The vehicle should be able to take you to favorite holiday destination; such a driving may not be possible with electrical cars.

There has to be proper service stations where expert mechanics are available who have thorough knowledge of such cars. Since the technology is being developed, we may soon see all the obstacles removed for a smooth drive of an electrical car.

To enter the relatively immature market of electric cars, the Reva electric car company was initially a joint venture between Maini Group of India and group of investors of California.

This was a sort of gambling, the company has not reported any profits so far, because all the income is being utilized in the research and development. There has been lot of changes in the ownership and shareholding pattern in the recent past before the Reva electric vehicles hit the market.

Mahindra and Mahindra of India has acquired major shares of Reva car company 2010, which is 55.2%. Such changes gave a chance to Californian investors to bail out at the early stage even though the value of the company is around USD 100 million; the investors left the company with more than what they had already invested. The exact terms of transactions were never made public; hence the exact details are still unknown.

Mahindra and Mahindra has multi dollar business and being financially sound was able to make significant investment in the Reva Electric Car Company. Even though there were some issues with the original partnership which were renegotiated, the company no doubt has a bright future.

The big question is why Reva is so successful, the answer is simple like many small electric vehicle manufacturers, Reva has made its place in the growing electric car market where big players hesitated in investing, the result is today Reva has shown good growth with popular models like Reva I, Reva NXR, Reva NXG and in addition many other models are being introduced in near future.

Earlier it was very easy to identify electric cars from a distance, but today companies like Reva and Tesla Motors has totally revolutionized the electric car market. It is very essential to investment large amount in research and development; this is required to develop the designs which ultimately become quite popular with the masses.

Though there has been a significant growth in the electric car market in the last decade but it requires governments to encourage the developments of such cars which being environment friendly and reduces the toxic emissions. This toxic emission has contributed largely to the destruction of natural resources and added to the air pollution.

Some of the governments have significantly encouraged such ventures by giving various tax incentives to the manufacturers and the public to push the sales of these cars. Such a step will encourage people to use these cars and also contribute to the environment.

The conclusion is that Reva cars have very good reputation in the electric car market and with the companies like Mahindra and Mahindra taking interest in such ventures is sure to boost the market. Mahindra and Mahindra are leaders in automobile technology and have many designed vehicles to their credit.

Such step has made Reva quite popular world over and it is believed that the future of Reva Car Company is quite bright. The future of electric cars in the world is quite promising; more automobile companies should start looking for options in the electric vehicle market and start investing.

Involving many automobile companies will bring more electric cars on the roads and this will help the governments also to save the precious foreign exchange which they have to spend in importing oil from various countries.

Hybrid cars are becoming more and more acceptable to the people, in quest for a substitute for the gasoline. Hybrid vehicles can be powered using different technologies including electric and solar energy, besides the traditional gasoline.

Of late, the manufacturers have started wait-listing the requests for different hybrid cars, in view of rising demand in the market. No doubt, hybrid cars are very special products, but their maintenance requires a different skill.

Here are some sound tips for a user to consider carefully.

Batteries Maintenance

With the introduction of the hybrid vehicle in the market, the battery pack was costing about $2000, in contrast to a mere $100 for a non-hybrid car, which was initially a shock for many buyers.

But the situation has changed fast and a hybrid car now comes to the market with a warranty like any other normal model. The car manufacturer, Toyota Corporation is offering 8 years warranty for the first 100000 miles for their new model Prius. This really gives some relief to the users.

Many other manufacturers are also falling in line with similar offers of warranties ranging between 80000 to 150000 miles. The cost of battery package cannot be held excessive, when considering with these generous warranty offers.

Another great advantage is that the cost of battery has become drastically low now, in comparison with what was at the introduction stage. The battery that was costing around $2000 five years ago could now be bought from the market for a price as low as $500.

Scheduled Maintenance

A main point of concern of the prospective buyer of a hybrid car is the scheduled maintenance. But in most of the cases it is not very much different from the ordinary cars, but one has to ensure that the service of a mechanic skilled in hybrid vehicles alone is utilized for the purpose.

Except a little variations, most of the maintenance keys are similar to the other cars. Special points of attention are the replacement of the air filters of the battery for every 40000 miles and oil changes at every 5000 miles, in addition to the common maintenance points.

With some hybrid models, the maintenance cost will be far less and a best example is the brake system that regenerates itself, by which a car can be run up to 80000 miles without replacement of the original brake pads.

Increased Fuel Economy

Many car manufactures exhibit high MPG rating for their cars as the part of advertisement, which may not always be true, when one goes to take to driving. Despite all these, hybrid models typically get more mileage and help reduce fuel cost.

It is possible to run a hybrid car on alternative power system and switch over to the fuel, at the choice of the user. But the running costs may vary to a commuter on high ways taking to fast driving, in comparison with the one who takes to city driving for a few miles to reach to his work spot and back.

The manufacturers mostly rate the MPG for their cars between 45 – 50 but at actual running this may fall short by 20%. In most of the hybrid models, the expected MPG would be around 38, for fast driving to long distances.

Electric cars are environmentally friendly and are definitely better than all cars and conventional internal combustion engines. Then the next logical question that arises is that, Why aren’t all the cars electrically driven? The following paragraphs below clearly explain this question.

1) Money invested by automobile manufacturer.

All manufacturers have invested an incredible amount of money into the refining and promotion of petrol and diesel cars as the primary mode of transportation and now, changing over to a newer means of transportation would mean no returns on the money that they have invested and no more money would be got by servicing and replacing parts of vehicles as electric cars run on a simpler mechanism.

2) Influence from oil companies.

Electric cars do not run on gasoline or diesel and obviously the primary losers will be the oil companies. They would do all things possible within their reach, to stop the implementation of newer technology that affects their lives and their livelihood.

They have bought-out technologies such as the Water Fuel Corporation in Australia that have threatened their source of income. An outstanding example is that of an oil giant named Chevron which bought out the patent and production rights of the NiMH battery, which were the source of fuel in electric cars during the early 19th century. They are refusing to produce any of these batteries to consumers.

Hydrogen is also being considered as a source of fuel to power cars and automobiles. Refilling hydrogen is similar to refilling gasoline in your car and oil companies too back this endeavor because they can still make money from hydrogen.

A perfect example of this act is that of the auto industry which falsely suggested that NiMH technology were not yet ready for widespread use in road cars, even though studies proved otherwise. In 1994, General Motors acquired the patents controlling the manufacture of large NiMH batteries from Ovonics’s and hindered the development of the battery and its manufacture.

3) Aspect of cost.

Electric cars are expensive due to the presence of batteries in them. This situation is improving due to the advent of newer technology in the field of battery manufacturing.

4) Issues of recharging EVs.

Electric cars, though easier to refill compared to a motor car is not much sought after. This phenomenon can be attributed to the lack of exposure of pure electric vehicles among the people.

The only disadvantage of electric cars is that it is not capable of traveling large distances unlike conventional gasoline cars but it would make an excellent car for traveling short distances in a very short span of time due to their small size and structure.

5) The change syndrome.

People, in general have this strange nature of adhering to their old customs and traditions which is one of the reasons for their refusal to try out electric cars. They are very different from normal cars and they run on a totally different technology.

Ever increasing environmental concerns will definitely give people, the much required boost to opt for electric cars. Vehicle manufacturers still admit that there is not much of a demand among the people for EVs which is the basic reason for not introducing newer models in the market.

The newer batteries are much more efficient and reliable compared to the one’s present in the early 19th century. With these improved changes the people might want to consider changing over to electric cars in the near future.

Level 1 Charging

As standard, both the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf come with a charging cord, called a “Level 1 Charger,” which looks like an extension cord. By plugging the Level 1 charger into an electrical outlet, you can charge your car.

Using the Level 1 charger is simple and inexpensive to set up, but will require a dedicated circuit, meaning that no other appliances, such as a washer or dryer, are on the same circuit.

Your electrician will need to check whether your electrical panel should be upgraded to handle the extra power draw and the outlet will need to be the safety version usually found in garages and outdoors (a GFI).

Once the outlet is installed, the EV driver pulls out the Level 1 charging cord which comes with the car and begins the charging process. This will take a while, with a Chevy Volt battery taking about 10 hours to fully charge and a Nissan Leaf’s battery taking around 20 hours.

Even though Level 1 charging is slow, it should be satisfactory for drivers with short commutes as if managed properly, the battery should not reach empty and will be able to be charged over night. The 100 mile range of the Nissan Leaf is a lot more than the 33 miles the typical American drives daily.

If driving an average of 33 miles per day, you will only use one-third of the battery in a day. This means if you regularly plug in when arriving at home, you will be able to top it off at night and leave with a full battery in the morning.

For hybrids, such as the Chevy Volt, the issue of leaving home fully charged is less important, at about 35 miles, when the battery hits empty, it will turn to the gas backup and use that to power the car instead. This isn’t exactly ideal for gas usage, but the driver will feel less anxious about the time spent driving.

Level 2 Charging

If unsatisfied with Level 1, you can also choose to go with Level 2 Charging. This method of charging will require the installation of a special Level 2 Charger running on 240 volts (which is more powerful than standard house current), but will charge much faster than Level 1.

A Level 2 charger takes a Chevy Volt battery from completely empty to full in about four hours; eight hours for the Nissan Leaf. So, even if you completely drain your battery, you will be able to completely fill your car’s battery by morning with a Level 2 charger.

A Level 2 charger is housed in a container about 18 inches around and hangs on the wall of your garage, sticking out nearly a foot. When you recharge with it, it feels as if you are filling your car with gas, stretching out a “house” over to the recharging socket built into the EV.

A Level 2 charger is usually purchased when you buy your electric car and if you wish, Nissan or Chevy can arrange the installation for you. Nissan has partnered with AeroVironment to handle the supply and installation of chargers and Chevy Volt with SPX.

However, warranties and follow-up repairs on the charger may not be as good a deal. Consumer Reports estimates that purchase and installation of a Level 2 Charger can cost around $2,000, but depending on the distances of the charger from your electrical panel and whether you need an upgrade of your panel’s size to accommodate the extra power draw of the charger, prices may vary.

When we compare the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt, it is clear that Volt has left Leaf much behind in car sales. The latest report of Edmunds clearly shows that during the period from, January 1 to April 1, 2011, the total cars sold by volts were 1536 as compared to leaf which were only 471 in the same period.

In March Chevrolet announced to deliver 10,000 Volts by the year end, this is evident that the sales of leaf has not been quite encouraging. The president of Nissan-Renault Carlos Ghosn, does not seem to be worried, he had already announced in May 2010 that leaf is already sold out; this announcement was made six months prior to the release of the car.

This announcement was quite surprising for the market; probably his announcement was based on the number of orders received by Nissan. Back in May 2010 it was reported that Nissan has received 13,000 orders. People who were interested to get the car, when released were able to book their cars online on Nissan website by making a payment of $99.

The initial sales figures did not match with earlier orders, the big question is that are people still interested to have this car or they have decided to give up their deposits. Many people in the auto industry are of the opinion that electric car cannot be successful until some good infrastructure is developed for after sale and service.

The electric car requires regular charging so that the car can run without any problems. Some companies like General Eclectic have offered to set up charging stations which can be developed at homes, which can charge car faster than any other electric appliance used at home. But such a facility is only a recent development.

Major cities are thinking of placing these charging stations at parking lots and parking structure, but it has been seen that other locations like big malls, where people frequently visit, the facility is still very less. It also requires upgrading of electric grids so as to cater to the millions of electric cars; people expect it to be on roads for easy accessibility.

But then there are other problems like “Range Anxiety”. For best results the electric car has be fully charged and people are holding back due to the fear that car will run out of power before they reach their destination.

This range anxiety is quite obvious with Leaf, but Volt is one step ahead as it has got gasoline engine back up in case the battery gets drained. The engine works as generator so that the journey is goes uninterrupted. All electric cars are same without any gasoline engine backup.

Another reason could be the price structure. Volts costs around $ 40,000 which is a huge cost for the buyer, but the federal government gives a tax rebate of $7,000 to buyers of electric car.

There are many other electric car manufacturers apart from Leaf and Volts, people are also waiting for a car being released soon by Tesla by the name model S. If you can afford an electric car which eliminates the “Range Anxiety”, because it can be guaranteed to run 160, 230 and 330 mile range, then it is worthwhile to go for a pure electric vehicle.

The technology is being upgraded regularly, who knows, tomorrow another good car will be on the roads at the most affordable price.

Does purchase of electric cars call for home wiring upgrade? One can do a great service to the environment by switching over to electric and hybrid vehicles. Such a switch will not only help the world solve the fuel crisis, but also provide monetary savings.

Prospective electric vehicle buyers usually stop short when they find out that they need to hire an electrical contractor to upgrade the electrical wiring of the house in order to enable charging electric cars at home. An electric car does not use any fuel. The motor is powered by lithium-ion or hydrogen fuel-cell.

Since fuel is not used, there will be no hydrocarbon emissions. Hybrid vehicles will have smaller quantities of emissions. Most of the automakers manufacture their own hybrids.

However, hybrid vehicles in the true sense are just starting to be easily available. Nissan Leaf is one popular electric vehicle manufactured in large numbers by a big carmaker.

The battery of the vehicle needs to be recharged only after driving it for about 100 miles. A person who uses the electric vehicle a lot will have to recharge the batteries frequently.

Many companies are working on establishing public charging stations. In a public charging station, an electric vehicle user can just drive in and get the batteries charged. As of now, such stations are not widely available.

According to research reports, approximately 80% of charging will have to be done at home. This is because many drivers cannot take the time to charge the batteries at a station. It is, therefore, a must to hire an electrical contractor to modify the wiring at home.

The batteries of both hybrid and electric vehicles are required to be recharged. The hybrid models that are currently available require a standard 110 V outlet at home, but electric cars need 220V outlet. Of course, 110V outlets can be used for charging electric vehicles, but it takes about 24 hours to charge the batteries.

As of now it is not practical, time consuming and increases the electricity consumption charges of the household as many of the electric vehicles available on date are able to cover only 40 miles on charging the battery fully.

A dedicated circuit with a 220 – 240V outlet is the best cost effective option. In such a setting the battery can be charged in 4 to 6 hours. Although, the American standard for home wiring is 110V, each home will have a 220V outlet in the garage for the dryer.

An electrical contractor can asked to check if this would be sufficient or a new outlet has to be provided. An upgrade of the wiring will be required in older homes.

According to recent estimates, it costs up to $2,000 to upgrade the home electric wiring to provide a charging facility for electric vehicles. In the case of older homes, it may go up to $10,000. This is because old wiring may have to be replaced, new breaker may be required to be installed and the electrical grid of the home may have to be rewired to accommodate the car.

An estimate based on the condition of one’s home will have to be obtained by contacting a licensed electrical contractor. The manufacturer of Leaf, Nissan, will depute an electrical contractor to a prospective buyer’s home to assess the upgrade requirements, including cost. It is recommended that

you learn about the modifications required to be done at home to provide the charging facility before purchasing an electric vehicle.

Want to know what to expect when you buy a pure electric car? Check out the 2011 Electric Car Guide: Discover the truth about owning and using electric cars book to answer all of your question. Click on the button on the right to get a copy of the book from Amazon.com/.