Charged with Electric Vehicle News and Views
The Seven is a home-built E.V. that its owners say travels 200 miles on a charge. It competed for the Automotive X Prize in 2010. Tested by /DRIVE's Chris Harris at the Valencia circuit in the winter of 2013. The Porsche 918 Spyder has come a long way since when we first saw it at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2010. Competing against the Ferrari LaFerrari and McLaren P1, it is the cheapest of the trio of new hypercars at a base price of $845,000.
The engine weights 140 kg according to Porsche and it delivers 608 horsepower (453 kW) at 8,500 rpm and 528 N·m (389 lbf·ft) of maximum torque. This is supplemented by two electric motors delivering an additional 279 hp (208 kW) - One 154 hp electric motor drives the rear wheels in parallel with the engine and also serves as the main generator.
The Kawasaki J has three wheels. However it uses more than one mode, allowing it to transition to a sports bike, making the two front wheels mesh together. In that mode, the vehicle also lowers, closer to the ground.
The bike was recently unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show. Housing an all electric motor, when the rider is taking part in leisurely, slow cruises, or stop and go trips through the city, the two wheels remain separated and the handlebars raise offering the driver more comfort.
It's during the fast speed, highway type of rides, the tires comes together and the bars lower, allowing the rider to have optimal positioning and posture.
The basic idea behind the bike is for it to stretch out as speeds increase. The radical and mean looking machine has been generating some serious buzz since the premiere, however it is just a concept for now.
Kawasaki did not release any plans to put it into production.
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Autosport exclusive test: Electric Le Mans Nissan ZEOD RC.
Article in 2013 Christmas special edition double issue.
Retail sales of Mitsubishi's Outlander plug-in hybrid (PHEV) only commenced on 21 October in the Netherlands and it has immediately become the best selling car by a significant margin.
2,736 plug-in Outlanders were sold in November (from a total of 2,766 Outlanders) accounting for a market share of 6.8%. The second highest selling car in the Netherlands for November was the Renault Mégane with 1,505.
In EU guise the permanent electric 'Twin Motor 4WD' has a claimed maximum driving range of 824 km, electric only range of 52km, fuel consumption of 1.9l/100km, CO2 emissions of 44 g/km and a maximum speed of 170 km/h. Braked towing capacity is 1,500kg.
The battery pack takes five hours to recharge using a standard European 230V/10A domestic supply but just 30 minutes (to 80%) using a quick charger to CHAdeMO standard.
MMC insists the Outlander PHEV is neither "a mere adaptation of an existing internal combustion engine vehicle nor a dedicated plug-in hybrid EV system high tech showcase" but a further variant of the Outlander – alongside standard petrol and diesel versions "and developed as such from the start of the programme: a unique/no-compromise proposal in the industry and "the first self-power generating twin motor (permanent) 4WD PHEV".
Mitsubishi said dealers had booked 10,000 signed orders across the continent since December 2012 and was "Much expected by dealers and customers in a region forecast to be its largest global market". The automaker expects EVs, hybrids and PHEVs to account for 20% of its production by 2020.
The Nissan LEAF has reached a milestone with the 3,000th sale of the model in the UK.
The landmark was reached in November and came as Nissan's second-generation LEAF secures more than 1,300 UK sales in the six months since its launch.
Jon Pollock, sales director at Nissan GB said: ‘The fact the we have been able to reach the 3,000 mark is a fantastic achievement and shows not only what a wonderful car it is but also that motorists are keen to experience the revolutionary new technology it introduces.
He added: ‘The low running costs of the LEAF, not to mention its many other benefits, make it an incredibly attractive proposition and we have been seeing steady growth in sales.
‘We expect that trend to continue rising as the model's visibility increases and the rapid charging infrastructure expands across the UK.’
With the price of unleaded petrol in the UK this year as high as 132.9p per litre (AUD$2.42/lt) equal to US$8.21 a US gallon, EV sales can surely only accelerate.
To date, more than 16,000 LEAFs have found owners across Europe, while global sales have now topped 87,000.
AOL's Bradley Hasemeyer gets behind the wheel of BMW's first production electric vehicle, the BMW i3.
Schneider Electric joined forces with students at Miami University of Ohio to promote an electric-vehicle charging station and help those without electricity. 
Tesla’s Model S is the top-selling all-electric car in Canada.
Consumer research by IHS shows that within its release year, the Model S captured a staggering 20% of the electric vehicle market share. Over the course of the next year (2013), it more than doubled to 43%, outselling all other OEMs. It is important to note that with such tremendous gains, Tesla did not necessarily conquest customers from other electric vehicle OEMs, but instead, brought new customers from outside the electric vehicle market to grow the current EV customer base.
Current EV competition includes the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi Imiev, Smart Fortwo, Ford focus EV, Toyota Rav4 EV and the Chevrolet Spark. This new option has helped the overall electric vehicle market volume more than double from 2012 to 2013 showing signs of continual rapid growth with Tesla leading the way. In short, Tesla's Model S has helped to boost the electric vehicle market in a big way. Perhaps now with strong customer loyalty, Tesla Motors can begin conquesting existing electric vehicle customers from other OEMs through the release of a family of Tesla vehicles.
Many luxury hybrids have been sales duds, but there are higher expectations for the new models.