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Sites to Refuel Electric Cars Gain a Big Dose of Funds
Better Place, the closely watched start-up that hopes to create vast networks of charge spots to power electric cars, is set to receive a vote of confidence on Monday, in the form of $350 million in new venture capital. Although Better Place will most likely require billions more in financing, this investment is an important step for the company and its chief, Shai Agassi, an Israeli-American software executive who founded the company in 2007.

The electric car revolution will soon take to the streets
Electric cars are a green movement that is finally moving. Shunted to the side as the public indulged its love affair with gas-guzzling SUVs and four-wheel-drive trucks, history has finally caught up with the plug-in vehicle. The North American International Auto Show in Detroit is the domestic auto industry's biggest annual showcase, and the new models have traditionally been brought out in a son et lumière of dancing girls, deafening music, and dry ice smoke. The few green cars that made it this far were usually for display only — very few actually made it to showrooms.

Putin backs Russia’s first electric car project
Russia's richest man, Mikhail Prokhorov won early backing from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for his plan to start mass production of electric cars, Putin's spokesman said on Tuesday. Russia is seeking to modernize its commodity-based economy, which was hit hard by the global crisis when energy prices fell, and wants to achieve growth in technology sectors where it believes it may have some competitive advantage. Prokhorov, a gold-to-basketball entrepreneur who sold some of his most lucrative assets just before the crisis, is sitting on a cash pile he is ready to invest. He has previously demonstrated strong interest in technology. "Putin listened very attentively and wanted to see this project discussed in detail with all the ministries involved as soon as possible," Peskov told reporters without elaborating on the details of the plan.

Survey hints at strong demand for EVs
Plug-in electric cars have technology geeks and the well-heeled excited, but how will they play in Peoria? Ernst & Young on Thursday released results from a survey of 1,000 licensed U.S. drivers that found 10 percent of drivers would consider purchasing a plug-in hybrid or electric vehicle. That represents about 20 million American drivers, enough demand to sell out 2010 and 2011 electric vehicles. Automakers are betting the electrification of power trains is the future of the auto business, as was clear from this week's North American International Auto Show in Detroit. But even as automakers prepare to produce tens of thousands of these cars, big questions remain over how strong the demand will be.

Detroit reaches out to auto innovators with $10M prize
With the Detroit auto show suffering from a drought of groundbreaking model launches by the city's incumbent carmakers, the focus has shifted towards an alternative motoring future based on innovation and inventions. This year, Michigan State will host a series of competitions that offer a $10m (£6m) prize to the inventors of the world's most fuel-efficient cars. Surprisingly, perhaps, the competition, which is run in stages, is not pitting major automotive groups up against each other. Rather, the 41 teams teams that have entered 51 vehicles in the competition are mostly drawn from science and technology communities rather than from traditional automotive circles.

At Detroit auto show, the hot cars use the least energy
The 2010 North American International Auto Show, which opened for previews Monday, is more subdued than in years past and reflects the diminished sales of the U.S. industry. But there were still cars that caught people's attention, mostly by catering to the new taste for fuel efficiency. The Ford Fusion Hybrid won the 2010 North American Car of the Year, which is juried by automotive journalists. The company boasts that the car "is America's most fuel-efficient midsize sedan," with an EPA-estimated 41 mpg rating in the city and 36 mpg on the highway. Ford also won the Truck of the Year award with its Transit Connect, a fuel-efficient commercial van.

The Way To Innovate To Beat Radical Discontinuity
In the early 19th century most people lit their homes with lamps that burned whale oil. In mid-century a Canadian physician and geologist named Abraham Gesner developed kerosene, a cleaner-burning alternative made from a newly plentiful resource, crude oil, and founded what became the modern petroleum industry. Whaling, which had been a major world industry, ceased. Then Thomas Edison threw a light switch, and the world changed again. No one wanted the foul smell and dangerous flame of kerosene lanterns in their homes when they could have clean and easy electric light. Demand for fossil fuels plummeted, and they rose again only when Henry Ford came along and made the new technology of automobiles affordable for the masses. Today the ramifications of global warming threaten the automobile, electric power and oil industries.

Smaller, electric cars reign at Detroit auto show
Electric, hybrid and small cars will grab center stage at the Detroit auto show this week, as the industry adapts to a world reshaped by the Great Recession and environmental worries. The event will demonstrate just how automakers are responding to this new reality. Ford wants to build on its success in midsize sedans and re-ignite its small car sales, while Hyundai aims to extend last year's triumph in budget-conscious models. GM and Chrysler will start fresh with electric vehicles but also try to boost their small-car credibility. Toyota hopes to solidify its dominance in hybrids.

It’s Electric!: Electric Cars Go on Sale This Year
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Electric cars have long been more of an idea than a reality. They've been hailed as the future of driving yet they're hard to find on car dealership lots. This year, that will change. Several big automakers plan to start introducing a range of electric vehicles in late 2010, giving the broader public its first chance to buy the vehicles that rely more on the electrical outlet than the gas pump. In the next several years, most major car companies plan to release vehicles that use electricity to get around.

Twizy Z.E. Concept will be out on Indian roads by 2011
NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday inaugurated Twizy Z.E. Concept, a new electric car from the stables of Renault, which will be out on Indian roads by 2011. The blue and white two-seater works on the green technology principle. Welcoming Renault’s new car, Ms. Dikshit said Delhi roads would be better off with electric cars like this one. “They are developing this new technology. It is very beautiful to look at and they are saying it will take them one or one and a half year more to come out. Then we will give as many incentives as we can to such cars which do not contribute to pollution,” she said.

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