6. Fisker Karma
Now you’re talking. Check out this Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid sports car, a comely road rocket whose designer Henrik Fisker hails from BMW and Aston Martin. The $80K car supposedly will go 125 mph, but beyond that number and lots of sexy pictures, the company is mum about the progress with its power plant it says is made by Quantum Technologies. Too bad the company is now being sued by Tesla Motors for swiping trade secrets. Fisker says he’ll be showing off a test vehicle before this summer, and hopes to produce the first cars sometime in 2009. So far, it’s a lot of talk.
7. Renault-Nissan
Here’s a novel idea: Give away electric cars, and then sell battery maintenance in a contract-based business model. Called Project Better Place, it’s a plan scheduled to start this year that involves a huge grid of parking meter-like charging units, along with refueling stations where the entire battery can be quickly swapped out for a fresh one. The cars, jointly developed by Renault-Nissan, will have a 100+ mile range, a 100 mph top speed and will go 0 to 60 in under 10 seconds.
8. Zenn
This Toronto-based carmaker started out slowly, selling 250 low-speed electric “neighborhood electric vehicles” in 2007. Now Zenn plans to roll out a much faster car, powered by an energy-storing “ultracapacitor” made by EEStor by fall of 2009. This all-electric car is said to have zero emissions and no noise, something that might strike fear in the hearts of blind people everywhere. That mysterious ultracapacitor solid-state electrical energy storage unit is called by its maker: “longer lasting, lighter, more powerful, and environmentally friendly” than batteries used in other vehicles.
9. Venturi Eclectic Car
You have to laugh when you first lay eyes on this car, with its optimistically-placed wind turbine hoping to catch a breeze that might add to its 30-mile range at 30 mph. There’s also a solar panel up top, making the plug-in car “energy-autonomous.” Pretty much a glorified golf cart, its makers say they plan to build 200 of the $31,000 cars in an initial limited run, with production models hitting the road next year. The only problem would be finding people to drive the car that don’t mind appearing to be a bit eclectic themselves.
10. Th!nk Ox
Here’s the first five-seat electric car, the Th!nk Ox, which is a follow-on to this Norway-based (formerly part of Ford) company’s first car, the Th!nk City. Said to have similar technology, the Th!nk City can travel at 62 mph, goes more than 100 miles on a charge, and there are 1,200 of them on the road now. The company didn’t mention a price or delivery date on the Th!nk Ox, but a notable development in the company’s fortunes was GE’s investment in lithium-ion battery manufacturer A123Systems, which will supply the batteries for the cars.
