1) Tesla Roadster – The Tesla Roadster is an all-electric sports car produced by the electric car firm Tesla Motors and is the first car produced by the company. The Roadster can travel more then 200 miles on a single charge of its lithium-ion battery pack, and can accelerate from 0–60 mph in 3.9 seconds. This is my number 1 pick because of its great sex appeal.

2) BMW Mini E – BMW announced the production of a Mini powered by an electric motor in the summer of 2008 to be called the Mini E. BMW Group will be the world’s first manufacturer of premium electric vehicles to deploy a fleet of more than 500 Mini E for private use.

3) Fisker Karma – The Fisker Karma is a plug-in hybrid luxury sports sedan revealed on 14 January 2008 and manufactured by Fisker Automotive. So far, this is the closest luxury sport electric car that can rival the Tesla Roaster.

4) Chevrolet Volt – The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle to be produced by General Motors. The vehicle is expected to be launched as a 2011 model with integration vehicles to be built starting on June 2009. In spite of GM bankruptcy filing, the automaker announced it remained committed to keeping the Volt on schedule. There has been a lot of buzz on the Chevrolet Volt. It looks like it could be the idea sedan electric car for the average driver.

5) Tesla Model S – The Tesla Model S is the second electric car model from Tesla Motors. This is a cheaper version of a sedan electric vehicle for the public. During the preliminary development stage, the car was actually codenamed WhiteStar.

6) Nissan Electric Cube – The Nissan Cube is a mini MPV produced by Nissan and currently sold only in Japan, United States and Canada. In 2008, Nissan revealed the Nissan Denki (Japanese for “electric”) Cube Concept. Making its debut at the March 2008 New York International Auto Show.

7) Jeep EV Wrangler – The 2010 Jeep Wrangler EV, was revealed on the 2009 Detroit auto show. The Wrangler EV runs as an electric vehicle so long as its lithium-ion batteries hold a charge. The vehicle also has a 200-kW (268 hp) electric motor that can go up to 40 miles, before a small gasoline engine kicks in. The internal combustion engine doesn’t physically drive the rear wheels, but acts as a generator and feeds electricity to both the battery and the electric motor. In total, The Wrangler EV with the combination of battery and generator power is enough to travel 400 miles on a ten-gallon tank of fuel.

8) BYD E6 – BYD E6 is an all electric crossover in production by BYD Auto. Its all-electric range is expected to reach 400 km per charge. The E6 will be marketed as a 5-passenger family-oriented crossover vehicle.

9) Citreon C1 ev’ie – The Citroën C1 ev’ie is a model of electric car adapted from a standard Citroën C1 by the Electric Car Corporation. The model was first released on 30 April 2009.

10) Aptera 2e – The Aptera 2 Series is a high-efficiency passenger vehicle, currently in the final stages of design by Aptera Motors. The initial 2e model is a two-seat, three-wheeled battery electric vehicle. Aptera is currently accepting pre-orders from California residents.

Related web sites:

Here’s a really cool video I found about the pure electric car produced by Aptera Motors, the 2009 Aptera 2e. The video was done by Jay Leno Garage. Jay Leno did an excellent job showcasing the Aptera 2e.

2009 Aptera 2e Technical Specification

Here’s some technical specs about the 2009 Aptera 2e:
1) Electric motor torque: 60 FtLb torque
2) Charging: 110 volt / 15 Amp charging in 8 hours
3) Battery Type: Lithium Iron Phosphate
4) Battery power output: 10-13 KWh battery pack
5) Battery voltage: 336V DC Nominal Traction Voltage
6) Transmission: Gear box 10:1 ratio
7) Front suspension: Independent unequal length A-arm
8) Rear suspension: Swing arm
9) Steering: Manual steering, tilt steering column
10) Brakes: Manual brakes, dual circuit brake hydraulics, mechanical brake proportioning, 3 wheel disc
11) Wheels: 14-in High Strength Stamped Steel wheels
12) Size: P165/65R14
13) Overall height/width/length: 53.0/91.0(wheel pants)/173.0 [approx.]
14) Wheelbase: 111
15) Track (front): 80.5
16) Coefficient of drag (Cd): 0.15
17) Minimum running ground clearance: 5
18) Curb weight (lb.): 1500 lbs [approx]
19) Seating capacity: 2
20) Fuel tank (gal.): N/A
21) Range: Up to 100 miles per charge

Related web sites:
1) Aptera Motors Raises More Than $24 Million in Series C Funding

2) Aptera Motors Unveils Electric and Plug-In Hybrid Versions of Typ-1

3) Google.org invests $2.75M in Aptera Motors

4) Three-wheel vehicle by Aptera Motors

5) Aptera: A California original (San Diego Transcript)

Other related web sites:

If you are looking for electric car manufacturer, here’s another one, the Coda Automotive. To be honest, I have never heard of this company before up until recently. One thing is for sure, they are manufacturing their own version of pure electric car. I hope to see more of them in the news in the future.

In the mean time, what are other web sites writing about Coda Automotive? Here are a couple that I found.

Miles EV announces Coda Automotive full speed electric sedan

Miles EV announces that it will establish the new Coda Automotive brand for its full speed electric vehicles. The first product will be the Coda sedan. Coda plans direct sales of the $45000 four door battery powered car starting in the …

Start-up motor company, Coda Automotive unveils electric car for US

Pasadena, California (CaymanMama.com) –A start-up motor company based in Santa Monica, Calif., Coda Automotive, will reveal a new electric car on Thursday which it plans to begin selling in California in 2010, with plans to launch …

Coda Automotive presenting its electric vehicle, the EV Miles

A signature of Californian origin, called Coda Automotive, presented the first images of its fully electric sedan. In the development of Porsche Engineering and joined the Chinese manufacturer Tianjin Lisheen (for Lithium-Ion batteries) …

Heard of Coda Automotive?

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California., Coda Automotive is a manufacturer of all-electric, highway capable vehicles. For better or for worst, most of the blogging world has become very familiar with the Tesla and other EV companies …

Miles EV’s all-electric Coda Automotive defies Tesla’s dominance

Tesla’s Roadster costs you a gigantic $100000 and this is where Coda Automotive aims to strike on. Miles EV plans to unveil an all-electric sedan in the Californian market in 2010 to outclass others in the category. …

All-Electric Coda Automotive Sedan Launched (photos and video)

A California company Miles EV that is developing zero-emission, full electric vehicles, brand new all-electric car Coda Automotive. The Coda sedan will be assembled in China by Hafei under the direction of staff from Coda unknown …

Coda Automotive Unveils Mainstream All-Electric Sedan

Coda Automotive, formed and developed under the stewardship of entrepreneur Miles Rubin, announced that it will be introducing an affordable, full performance all-electric sedan to the mainstream California market in 2010.

Miles EV Launches The Anti-Tesla: Coda Automotive

Electric car startup Miles EV is launching a new electric brand called Coda Automotive. Miles EV sees the brand as a ‘coda’ to the industrial revolution which brought us the internal combustion engine. It’s time to move to an electric …

One of the drawback of pure electric vehicle (EV) is the drive mileage. A Do It Yourself (DIY) electric car may have a drive mileage of approximately 100 – 150 miles before you have to recharge the battery. Even the high end EV such as the Tesla Roadster has a drive mileage of approximately 220 miles. Can you use an EV for long driving trip? To make that a reality, we need facilities to recharge the batteries of an electric car.

Batter Place went out trying to solve that problem. Their idea is to build battery replacement / switching station. The concept is to drive your electric car to one of these station, drop off the discharged battery and a new charged battery pack will be installed in your car. The whole process takes less than 2 minutes. Sounds like science fiction? Check out the video below.

Related web sites:
1) Convert 2 EV and Electricity 4 Gas Guides Review – Top Electric Car Conversion Kit Manuals

2) Shai Agassi, Better Place CEO, Speaks Inspiration

3) Tangible Evidence of a Better Place

4) Better Place -Pioneering the Planet’s Electric Car Infrastructure

5) Is Project Better Place the big answer?

Here’s a sneak peek video of Chevy Volt Pure Electric Car

Check out the cool video below. It’s one of Detroit Electric early Pure Electric Car. It was made back in the year 1916!

Turn up the volume on the speakers and listen closely to the sound it made when it was taken out for a spin.

Did you know, back in the early days, the target market for Detroit Electric was women drivers? Apparently, women had a tough time manually “crank starting” a car with an internal combustion engine. The pure electric car was a better alternative for them.

If you are looking for the best EV conversion guide to perform your own DIY electric vehicle conversion at home, feel free to surf this blog for more information.

It it really interesting to see the latest development between Detroit Electric JV with Proton. I am proud to see our local car company is taking the initial step to pursue the concept of electric car for the masses.

The current trend is in hybrid electric cars. Most other car manufacturers such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan etc are developing and pushing hard on hybrid technology.

I am sure they have a pure electric car (PEC) model in the R&D ready for the next launching phase. That is a wise move because the world has been addicted to fossil fuel for far too long. It will be a matter of time before we shift to a cleaner form of energy for our vehicles.

Are we ready for pure electric cars on the road? The answer is, No! There is one key component still missing in the equation. It is the recharging infrastructure.

Driving a PEC is very different from driving a car driven by an internal combustion engine (ICE). If you run out of gasoline, a gas station is just around the corner for you to fuel up.

If your PEC runs out of electric power in the batteries, you will not be able to find a power outlet to recharge. No doubt modern electric car can recharge in a few hours, but will you be able to find a shop that will allow you to use their electric power?

How would you pay for the power that you consumed?

Therefore, the missing component in the Detroit Electric JV with Proton is the network of charging stations. They can mass produce all the PEC, but without a readily available power outlets to recharge the battery unit, the vehicle is simply not practical.

I have a feeling company such as Better Place will be entering into the picture in the near future.

Better Place already has plan to setup thousands of electric charging station in Australia and many other countries. Their JV with Nissan makes more economic sense.

Here are some news closer to home…my home. As of 30th March 2009, Detroit Electric Holdings Ltd and Proton Holdings Berhad has announced a strategic partnership to mass produce Pure Electric Vehicles. Here’s some history lesson for us.

Detroit Electric was the first company the manufacturer electric car back in the early 1900. The company went bankrupt back during the stock market crash in 1930s.

Recently, the company was resurrected by Mr Albert Lam, the current company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Proton is the first and the largest passenger car manufacturer in Malaysia. It was incorporated back in 1983 with much of the automobile technology from Mitsubishi Motors.

The first car that I own was a Proton Saga. It is a 1.3 liter front wheel drive vehicle. The car was pretty excellent because most of the components were from Japan.

After a few years, Proton started to make the parts locally and thereon, its quality dropped substantially. Nonetheless, it is still one of the cheapest car available in Malaysia. I currently drive a Proton Satria Neo 1.6 liter.

It is very interesting to know Proton is betting most of its future on pure electric car. In the last couple of years, we have seen the company falling from grace after its market shares were eaten up by Malaysia second car manufacturing company, Perodua.

It will be interesting to see the development of electric car for the masses. The current challenge is the lack of funding in the market. Detroit Electric JV with Proton may find it hard to roll out their electric vehicle (EV) without hundred of millions in capital investment.

The bigger challenge is the lack of infrastructure to support the EV such as electric charging stations. To solve that issue, we may have to look for Better Place.

How big is the concept of electric car for the masses? It may not seem like mainstream current, but I believe in the near future, electric vehicle will be the main offering from all the big car manufacturers. We can only depend on fossil fuel for so long. There is going to be a tipping point. It is just a matter of time.

You will notice most of the large car manufacturers are launching their pure electric car models. If we are talking about large car manufacturers, we can’t leave out Toyota. Toyota also has its own electric car model, its the Rav4. Check out the video below.