Sustainable Energy
Electric Vehicles and Plug-in Hybrids
Amid a welter of high-profile announcements, electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids will remain rare sights.
Think says that 1,600 of its small, all-electric commuter cars are already on the road, but the company barely staved off bankruptcy in late 2008.
GM’s plug-in hybrid, due in late 2010, will have an electric-only range of 40 miles–enough for most daily commutes.
The first battery-powered Minis should debut in March. But BMW is leasing only 480 of the vehicles in a pilot study, at $850 a month.
By late 2010, Daimler plans to release about 400 electric versions of its Smart commuter car in several pilot programs worldwide.
Like BMW with the Mini, Toyota will ship 500 plug-in versions of its 2010 Prius this year. The car’s electric-only range should be 10 miles.
The Chinese company BYD released its plug-in hybrid in China at the end of 2008 and says that it could reach the U.S. by 2010.
Aptera plans to begin production of its small, three-wheeled car this fall and says that it has orders from 4,000 customers.