iPhone 4S em Portugal a partir de 629 euros

Já é conhecido o preço do iPhone 4S em Portugal. A Apple vende-o desbloqueado a partir de 629 euros (versão 16GB).

RYNO: Moto eléctrica de uma roda

Tem um sistema de equilíbrio semelhante à Segway e promete competir com a Vespa e as scooters eléctricas.

DeLorean regressa ao futuro

Um novo modelo DeLorean vai sair da linha de montagem na Irlanda do Norte. Agora, eléctrico.

Veículos eléctricos livres de impostos em 2012

Os veículos exclusivamente eléctricos continuam isentos do imposto sobre veículos (ISV) em 2012.

Carro eléctrico: Preços em Portugal

Preços dos veículos eléctricos em comercialização em Portugal.

STAY HUNGRY, STAY FOOLISH!

Vídeo legendado e transcrição do discurso de 2005 de Steve Jobs em Stanford.

Wired bashes Chevrolet Volt bashers

From Wired Autopia's Chuck Squatriglia: Listen up all you GM haters and Volt bashers: The Chevrolet Volt rocks and General Motors deserves tremendous credit for building it. We cannot say this emphatically enough. The Volt effectively bridges internal combustion and battery-electric propulsion to provide many of the best attributes of each.

Spare us your lame arguments about "Government Motors" forcing this car on us. The Volt was in development long before the Bush administration bailed out the auto industry. Quit rehashing the tired "GM lied" debate over whether the Volt is an electric or a plug-in hybrid.

The bottom line is you'll do much, if not all, of your daily driving without burning gasoline. Stop griping about the $41,000 (pre-federal tax credit) price, already. Yes, it's expensive. We're talking about first-generation technology here, folks. Could you afford a 53-inch flat-screen TV when they first came out? No, you could not. Be patient.

One more thing. Don't give us that line about government subsidies for electrics unless you're equally outraged by the many billions in subsidies, tax breaks and other handouts the petroleum industry gets each year. You can't have it both ways.

What stuns us most about the vitriol is the people who say the Volt sucks or it is a failure without having actually driven it. We've driven the Volt at various stages of its development and come away impressed at every turn.

This is a remarkably well-engineered car with excellent fit-and-finish and a boatload of features. There's a reason the Volt is racking up car-of-the-year awards and it won the Green Car of the Year award. It sure as hell isn't because it sucks.

A remarkable year for electric vehicles in 2011

From John Gartner, on Huffington Post: The first Chevrolet Volts, Nissan Leafs, and Smart EDs were delivered in December, but in the annals of history, 2011 will be remembered as the year that electric vehicles (EVs) arrived. EVs for sale to consumers will dominate the headlines throughout the year as average Americans begin to recognize EVs as they roll down the road.

Because of the stalled start in the 1990s, when consumers were tempted by and then denied access to GM's EV1 and other EVs, every milestone during the year will be magnified in the media. By year's end nearly new 50,000 EVs will be plugging in at garages and lots across America. The arrival of new models from automakers Think, Coda, Mitsubishi, Mini, Toyota, and Chevrolet (a few of which were delayed from 2010) will give consumers more options.

Any missteps -- and there will be some -- will be cause célèbre for the EV doubters who don't believe in or desire a move away fossil fuels. Humans have always been fallible in designing and operating vehicles, and replacing liquid fuel with electrons won't change that. While considerable safeguards have been put in place to prevent accidents when charging a vehicle, somewhere someone will find a creative way for failure, and we can expect considerable fanfare by the naysayers when this inevitably occurs.

One of the important trends of 2011 we've identified at Pike Research will be the slow subsiding of the catch phrase "range anxiety." Range anxiety is the supposed fear that both prevents consumers from wanting to buy an EV with a 80-100 mile driving range or from driving said car very far for fear that the batteries will run out, leaving the driver stranded. Range anxiety has been overblown, underestimating drivers' ability to monitor their battery charge level through the various dashboard displays and auditory prompts.

Like the arrival of EVs, the rollout of charging infrastructure has been slower than expected off the line. However, installations of public charging infrastructure such as the government-subsidized EV Project and Charge Point America will see hundreds of charging stations installed across many of the nation's largest metropolitan areas. The availability of public charging equipment will actually outpace the need for vehicles to plug-in, which will result in many charge spots idled for most of the day, or even days at a time. While this will be the subject of derision as a waste of taxpayer money, if EVs instead outpaced charging infrastructure, it could result in a serious setback as the minority of drivers who plan to regularly charge their vehicles away from home might otherwise wait to make a purchase.

The electric vehicles' second act will be a top media story throughout the year, even at the box office with the mid-year release of Revenge of the Electric Car (watch the trailer). Many consumers will get their first direct exposure to EVs by renting a car from one of the many rental agencies that will make emissions-free driving a premium service. Fleets including delivery vehicles and taxis will be critical for collecting data about EV performance and to build confidence that this time around, EVs are here to stay.

New York City to ditch yellow cabs for greener taxis?

From the BBC: Nothing screams New York more loudly than the city's yellow cab, but city officials hope the next generation of taxis will be, well, a bit more green.

New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission chairman David Yassky, who is overseeing the search for a new design, says the city hopes to replace the current fleet standard, the gas-guzzling Ford Crown Victory.

"It's done great work," he says. "But it's time for a new car. The Ford Crown Victoria gets 12 miles to a gallon. It's not the most comfortable ride in the back, and while it's a design that everyone associates with the New York City cab, it's time to freshen it up."

The finalists in the competition to design the next generation of yellow cabs include car manufacturers Nissan, Ford and Karsan of Turkey. The results will be announced in mid-January.

'No choice'

The competing designs are all roomier and more fuel-efficient than the current yellow taxis, which number about 13,000, and they all bear more than a passing resemblance to the most modern black cabs in London.

City officials are thinking of giving one manufacturer the contract to build all of New York's cabs - a change from the current situation where 16 different models of taxi are made by nine different manufacturers, although the majority are Ford's Crown Victoria.


The competing designs - including this Nissan - are all roomier and more fuel efficient than current cabs The potential move to one manufacturer is not popular with veteran taxi driver John Caines, who is devoted to his Crown Victoria.

"It's as New York as Broadway, as Manhattan as Times Square," he says. "It's my office, my production facility, my way of earning income."

Every morning, he gets up, washes his cab, and heads out to see what the day brings. Mr Caines does not want to part company with his current vehicle, and dislikes the idea of one manufacturer making all of the city's taxis.

"What about choice?" he asks. "Where's my freedom to choose? And what if that one manufacturer can't get you the parts when you need them? It's risky."

He also worries about how much the new cab might cost.

Read more...

Related post: London to ditch black cabs for green taxis

Don’t mess with Facebook, Twitter, Blogs: Portuguese company Ensitel learns the hard way what the Streisand effect is

UPDATE: On December 31, 2010, Ensitel withdrew its legal action against the blogger

Portugal’s mobile phone store chain Ensitel, a branch of Avenir Telecom, put itself in the centre of a public relations nightmare of a storm after getting a court order to force a blogger (who happens to work for Portugal's leading web portal) to remove six posts originally published in 2009. The post series centered on the blogger’s frustration after Ensitel refused to refund her for a malfunctioning Nokia cell phone, acquired in Lisbon.

The blogger, Maria João Nogueira, offered her view on the bad costumer experience episode that ended up in court later that year. Ensitel won the case, but ended up losing far more than a client when two years later, on December 2010, requested a court order to force the blog posts removal on the grounds of defamation.

The blogger refused to delete the posts, and word of corporate censorship on the blogosphere quickly spread through fellow bloggers, Twitter and Facebook. On Twitter, the #ensitel hashtag hit number one among Portuguese-speaking users.

On Facebook, Ensitel’s page was flooded with critical observations from clients, who then joined by the thousands groups like I will never buy another product at Ensitel. The company kept on a suicidal track when it started deleting comments from its Facebook profile and allegedly threatening Facebook users with legal action.

The case then spread to the Portuguese press, with newspapers pointing Ensitel’s naivety about social networks and columnists baffled by the level of rage exhibited by the Portuguese consumers in a time of deep political disengagement (contrary to the Greeks, the Irish or even the Icelanders, the Portuguese haven’t really protested much against current austerity measures).

The Streisand effect

This telenovela, as Maria João Nogueira calls it, is yet another example of the so-called Streisend effect, an internet phenomenon in which an attempt to hide or remove a piece of information has the unintended consequence of causing the information to be publicized more widely (see Wikipedia’s article on the Streisand effect).

The name was coined after American actress Barbra Streisand unsuccessfully attempted to remove an aerial photograph of her California mansion from an online gallery through legal action, causing millions of internet users to search and view that very same image.

In September 2009, Wikipedia lists, the Photoshop Disasters blog posted an advertisement from Polo Ralph Lauren that contained a heavily manipulated image of a female model. The post was subsequently reprinted by BoingBoing. Ralph Lauren issued DMCA takedown notices to BoingBoing's ISP and Blogspot, which hosts Photoshop Disasters, claiming their use of the image infringed copyright.

Blogspot complied, but BoingBoing's ISP consulted with BoingBoing and agreed the image was fair use. As a result, BoingBoing issued a mocking rebuttal, using the same image again and posting the takedown notice. The rebuttal was widely reported, including on frequently viewed websites such as The Huffington Post and ABC News.

Newer, cheaper Ampera (Volt) already under development

From AutoEvolution: Before the European / British brother of GM's Chevy Volt, the Opel / Vauxhall Ampera, has even been released, GM Europe announced it will be replaced by a family of three extended-range electric vehicles within five years, that could potentially be made at General Motors’ Ellesmere Port factory in the UK, said AutoCar in a report.

While the first generation Volt/Ampera will be built in Detroit until 2015, the second generation of the extended range electric vehicles, which are already under development, will probably be manufactured in Europe.

“At that point it will make business sense to ramp up volumes of the Volt and Ampera, and to have several production sites for the ‘EREV’ model family,” said GM Europe president Nick Reilly for Autocar. “We will need one of those factories to be in Europe, and I’m very keen for it to be Ellesmere Port.”

The GM Europe official mentioned that the 2015 Ampera range will include a compact-medium hatchback, a four-door replacement of the upcoming Ampera and a crossover SUV similar to the Chevrolet Volt MPV5 concept that was unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show.

Read more...

Electric vehicle charging station market in the US to exceed $4B by 2016

Some interesting numbers in this study: Zpryme predicts the number of EV/PHEVs sold in 2016 will reach 203,200, and that the charging infrastructure and charging services market is will grow from $776.8 million in 2011 to $4.45 billion in 2016 (CAGR of 41.6%).

The projections in the electric vehicle study by Zpryme's EV Insights Practice and sponsored by Airbiquity (download ‘The Electric Vehicle Study’ for free www.zpryme.com) show that the charging service market value is expected to grow at faster rate than the charging station market value, but the charging station market is expected to be almost eight times larger than the service industry by 2016.

With such high anticipation for the growing U.S. EV market, developing and deploying charging stations has quickly become an extremely competitive race. Both large companies and start-ups are vying for market share, including Coulomb Technologies, ClipperCreek, ECOtality, ABB, GE, Siemens, Leviton, AeroVironment and Pep Stations.


Some key market value projections (2011 - 2016):


Electric vehicle sales:

Annual EV/PHEV unit sales are projected grow by 36.2% annually from 2011 to 2016, from 43,400 to 203,200.

The total EV/PHEV stock are projected to grow from 104,200 in 2011 to 730,700 in 2016.

Charging Stations:

Home (level II) charging station unit sales are projected to grow by 37.7% annually from 2011 to 2016, from 25,400 to 125,900.

Home (level II) charging station sales will grow from $239.6 million to $1.07 billion during this time period. Home charging stations are projected to account for 32.1% of the market value in 2011 and 27.0% in 2016.

Public (level II) charging station unit sales are projected to grow by 43.1% annually from 2011 to 2016, from 13,600 to 81,300.

Public (level II) charging station sales will grow from $282.0 million to $1.60 billion during this time period. Level II charging stations are projected to account for 37.8% of the market value in 2011 and 40.7% in 2016.

Fast (level III) charging station sales will grow from $193.4 million to $1.15 billion during this time period. Level III charging stations are projected to account for 25.9% of the market in 2011 and 29.1% 2016. (see table 1 above)

Fast (level III) charging station unit sales are projected to grow by 44.2% annually from 2011 to 2016, from 2,200 to 13,500.

EV Charging Service Users:

Annual new charging service users are projected to grow by 40.4% annually from 2011 to 2016, from 27,600 to 150,400.

The cumulative total number of charging service users is projected to grow from 39,800 in 2011 to 574,900 million in 2016.

VIDEO: How to charge your electric vehicle with home solar panels

Via EVPerspective / Los Angeles Times: Here's a video by LA Time's reporter Susan Carpenter on the equipment and costs involved with charging your electric car at home, using solar panels:

Who will struggle the most in 2011? Non-EV American drivers

A U.S.News & World Report article featured on Yahoo! Finance lists who will struggle the most in the aftermath of the recession in the US. Among the 15 million unemployed Americans, Government employees and homeowners, American gas guzzling car drivers are listed as one of the groups that will suffer the most in the following 12 months. Here’s why:

Gas prices have been drifting upward to nearly $3 per gallon, from about $2.62 a year ago. And energy analysts expect them to stay there or go higher in 2011, thanks to oil prices that are approaching $100 per barrel. And that's happening in a fairly soft global economy that has curtailed demand for oil in many countries, which means there could be a price spike if growth turns out to be stronger than expected.

Back in 2008, when pump prices topped $4 per gallon, drivers reacted by driving less and downsizing their wheels. But for many, the lesson was short-lived: Lower-mileage trucks and SUVs have been making a comeback, thanks partly to discounts designed to move slow-selling merchandise. That could make buyer's remorse a surprise theme of 2011.

Read more

BMW electric supercar could be named the i8 and cost 200,000 dollars

From Green Car Reports: BMW is pressing forward with its plans to build a production version of the striking plug-in hybrid concept car it called Vision Efficient Dynamics, unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2009.

According to reports filtering out of Germany, the model that goes on sale in October 2013 may be called the i8 and cost roughly $200,000.

BMW's "i" sub-brand, for which a logo was leaked a couple of weeks ago, stems from its uber-green "Project i" research program. The "i" name will also be applied to the radical "MegaCity" carbon-fiber all-electric car that's scheduled to launch in 2013. You could consider the "i" label the green counterpart to its "M" series of performance editions.

The company hasn't announced which "i" number the MegaCity Vehicle will carry, though betting is on either zero or one. But if the i8 label is confirmed for the Vision Efficient Dynamics, it would clearly position the production plug-in hybrid as a counterpart to BMW's 8-Series sports coupe.

Read more...

Azores Islands, Portugal, test electric buses

The regional government of the Azores Islands, Portugal, has announced it has bought two electric buses for 700,000 euros. The two buses will be used to test the potential of electric powered public transportation vehicles in the green volcanic archipelago, which consumed electricity is partly produced by geothermal energy.

According to the Açoriano Oriental newspaper, quoted by Mobi.e, the regional government bought a 30 to 36 seats bus with an estimated autonomy of 120 kms, and another 18 to 22 seats vehicle with an estimated autonomy of 100 kms.

Related: South Korea starts commercial operation of electric battery buses in Seoul

Audi investe 11.600 milhões de euros em carros eléctricos até 2015

A Audi vai investir 11.600 milhões de euros nos próximos cinco anos e do total deste investimento, 9.500 milhões, ou seja, cerca de 80%, destinam-se ao desenvolvimento de novos produtos e tecnologias, tais como sistemas híbridos e eléctricos.
De acordo com a publicação espanhola CincoDias, citada pelo site do Mobi.e, este é “um valor recorde na história da fabricante automóvel alemã”. “Este investimento tem como base um crescimento sustentável e rentável, com o objectivo de situar a empresa como líder no mercado automóvel premium”, afirmou o director financeiro da Audi, Axel Strotbeck. A fabricante germânica anunciou entretanto que prevê lançar o seu primeiro carro eléctrico, o Audi R8 e-tron, no final de 2012.

Ano de 2011 será decisivo para os veículos eléctricos

O próximo ano será “importante para testar a viabilidade comercial dos novos veículos eléctricos”, segundo um estudo da consultora norte-americana Pike Research, especializada em tecnologia e energia, citado pelo site do Mobi.e.

O documento divulgado a 29 de Dezembro sustenta que 2011 será o ano em que o veículo eléctrico vai entrar no mercado automóvel, acompanhado da generalizada implementação de redes de pontos de carregamento.

“A indústria automóvel ainda está preocupada com questões fundamentais, tais como a forma como os consumidores vão aceitar e utilizar os veículos eléctricos”, afirma o analista John Gartner.

John Gartner adianta ainda que existem algumas incertezas “quanto aos preços, ao papel das redes de carregamento e ao cumprimento do tempo necessário para carregamento dos veículos”. Porém, “estas questões apenas poderão ser respondidas com a experiência real dos veículos, após a sua entrada no mercado. Em 2011 estas questões vão estar no centro das atenções”.

Relacionado: Veja as cinco previsões de John Gartner para os carros eléctricos em 2011

All 2011 Green Car Vision Award finalists are electric vehicles

The Green Car Journal has nominated five electric vehicles for the 2011 Green Car Vision Award: the Ford Focus BEV, the Honda Fit EV, the future Mitsubishi i model for the American market, the Toyota RAV4 EV (currently under development with Tesla) and the Volvo C30 DRIVe. The winner will be announced on January 27 at the 2011 Washington Auto Show, in the American capital. Here's what the jury has to say about the finalists:

Ford's Focus BEV, which is based on the automaker's all-new 2012 Focus model, will be introduced in the U.S. sometime in 2011. The automaker is leveraging global platforms like the Focus and collaborating with key powertrain suppliers like Magna International as part of its global electrification strategy.

The Honda Fit EV concept shares the direction and styling of the upcoming production Fit EV that will be coming to U.S. shores in 2012. The five-passenger electric will be powered by lithium-ion batteries and feature Econ, Normal, and Sport modes to maximize efficiency or improve acceleration.

Mitsubishi will produce the newly-named Mitsubishi i electric vehicle, a battery powered iteration of the automaker's popular 'i' minicar sold in Japan. Retooled and larger for U.S. tastes, this lithium-ion powered car will be sold in four Western states starting in November 2011 with a national roll-out to follow.

Toyota's second generation RAV4 EV will begin a demonstration program in 2011 with plans for market arrival of a fully-engineered vehicle in 2012. The automaker has partnered with Tesla to fast-track development, with Tesla providing the lithium metal oxide battery and related components and Toyota handling the rest.

The Volvo C30 DRIVe is an electric variant of this automaker's small sport hatchback that's powered by lithium-ion batteries from Indiana-based ENER1. A small test fleet is currently operating in Sweden with a larger demonstration of DRIVe electrics planned for Europe, China, and the U.S. in 2011.

Nissan Leaf drivers to be ranked for efficient driving via telematics system. Yes, like a video-game

Driving or video-gaming? Both. From Edmunds Inside Line: The 2011 Nissan Leaf is already a techno-geek's dream, but the new electric car's telematics system offers something most probably didn't expect: competitive rankings for energy use.

Nissan's Carwings system records and displays daily, monthly and annual data for distance traveled, electricity consumption and average miles per kilowatt-hour (kWh), among other figures. Best of all, it shows drivers how they stack up against other Leaf owners — and awards a virtual trophy to the top scorer. Check this image below originaly posted on MyNissanLeaf:



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5 electric vehicle predictions for 2011 by PluginCars.com

PluginCars.com's John Gartner is not alone when he says that 2011 will be the year of the revenge of the electric car, but he reveals some interesting key trends identified by Pike Research in this white paper. Some can be summarized in these 5 electric vehicle predictions for 2011. Having worked in the media industry, I cannot help myself but laugh at #5. So true.

1 - The majority of people who drive a plug-in vehicle won't own it. Thanks to car rental fleets, taxis, and car share programs, getting people into plug-in vehicles will be more influential in the long run than getting them to sign on the dotted line.


2 - Automakers will get push back from EV owners about how long it takes vehicles to fully charge. Most vehicle charging will be done overnight, enabling owners to wake up to a fully charged battery without concern for the rate at which it was charged. But because automakers decided to take the cautious (and less expensive) approach of installing onboard charging equipment that provides a maximum of 3.3 kW to the batteries, a full charge will take longer than necessary leaving some consumers feeling like they overpaid for charging equipment.


3 - The most popular selling EVs won't have four wheels. Electric two-wheeled vehicles, including bicycles, scooters and motorcycles are a huge global market that will continue to overshadow electric passenger vehicles for the foreseeable future. China is by far the largest market, with more than 48 million sales projected. In North America, the sale of two-wheeled EVs will outnumber passenger PEVs by approximately 8:1 in 2011, but the gap will be narrowed to close to 2 to 1 by 2015 as passenger vehicles sales will grow much more quickly.


4 - Many EV charging stations will spend the majority of their time idle. The strategy of installing a network of charging equipment may be good psychologically for EV owners and the automakers, but the business benefit for the owners of charging equipment will be lacking during the early days of EV sales. During 2011 and 2012 there will not be sufficient penetration of EVs for charging spots to see many visits–if any—per day.


5 - Somebody somewhere will have a bad EV experience and the media will overreact. The first time a driver is left "stranded" by running out of charge will be cause célèbre for the doubters to highlight the superiority of gas cars. The potential also exists for EV owner frustration if the promised all-electric driving range advertised is not realized. Heavy-footed drivers and trips taken in extreme weather will substantially cut into driving efficiency, but that should not be a surprise or especially noteworthy.

Read more of it and get the white paper at PluginCars.com

Renault-Nissan signs deal with AXA for Europe-wide roadside assistance for electric vehicles

Renault-Nissan Alliance has selected AXA Assistance to provide roadside assistance
for its electric vehicles in Europe following a call for tender launched in early 2010, the French-Japanese alliance has announced.

The companies declared that the deal will bring electric vehicle customers 'a full set of innovative services specific to the new market', alongside conventional roadside breakdown assistance and towing in the 21 following European countries: France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, UK, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland.

Customer deliveries of the Alliance's first 100% electric vehicle, the Nissan LEAF have begun in December in the United States, Japan and Portugal, to be followed by other selected markets in Europe. Renault will launch its first three electric models – Kangoo Express Z.E., Fluence Z.E. and Twizy – in the second half of 2011.

Portuguese PM is the first head of government in the world to use an electric car

From the FinanzNachrichten: Portugal received delivery of the first 10 electric vehicles in Europe from Nissan as recognition of the country's pioneering work in electric mobility with the MOBI.E project.

The Prime Minister José Socrates is one of the ten recipients and will now travel exclusively by Electric Car for his official travels around the capital city. With this Portugal becomes the first country in the world to have a head of state head of government using an electric car for official matters.

Prime Minister, Jose Socrates, said:

"Portugal is extremely proud of the introduction of the electric vehicle. This initiative is only possible due the fast implementation and development of the Portuguese MOBI.E Charging Network, which is considered a leading example to the world of how to roll out electric cars. Portugal is the first country in the world to have a nation-wide smart grid for electric vehicles."

The other cars will be purchased by nine companies of the technological consortium that developed the MOBI.E solution as a clear sign of the need for a transition to Electric Mobility.

The cars were delivered Carlos Tavares, Vice-President of Nissan, in a Ceremony that occurred in Parque das Nações, in Lisbon.

Portugal Pioneer on Electric Mobility

Portugal is the first country in the world to implement an electric vehicle charging network at a national scale. The MOBI.E network, which currently spreads over 25 municipalities throughout the country, displays over 50 charging points already installed growing to more than 1300 normal charging points and 50 quick charging stations by mid-2011.

It is the only truly integrated system in the world, focusing on the user and ensuring open-access and interoperability. Such approach has drawn interest from many countries to the MOBI.E Programme.

The MOBI.E charging network is thus the first electric mobility smart grid and has established itself as a world industry benchmark.

Portugal has therefore become the definite living lab for electric mobility, and is well on its way for a more sustainable oil-independent future.

Read more...

The Fuji Heavy saga: FHI 'may suspend' output of Stella EV

From the Japan Times/Kyodo News: Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. is considering suspending production of its only electric vehicle, sources said Monday (so said Bloomberg, Fuji Heavy denied the report later that day).

Details including the timing of the suspension have not been decided, but the maker of Subaru brand cars could suspend production of the EV when the automaker stops manufacturing the Stella minivehicle, the EV's base car, the sources said.

Fuji Heavy plans to withdraw completely from minivehicle production sometime around 2012.

Fuji Heavy began selling the plug-in Stella electric vehicle to corporate customers and local governments in July 2009 with a sales target of 400 units by the end of March 2011.

The Stella EV, manufactured at a plant in Ota, Gunma Prefecture, is priced at ¥4.73 million.

Fuji Heavy is seeking to launch a plug-in gasoline electric hybrid vehicle, which can be recharged using a household electrical outlet, in the mid-2010s.

The automaker is seeking support from its top shareholder, Toyota Motor Corp., an industry leader in the development and marketing of gas-electric hybrids.

Read more...

VIDEO: Renault ZE electric Santa ad

French carmaker Renault is telling everyone 'the next Christmas is going to be electric'. The Renault Fluence ZE, the Kangoo ZE and the three-seatter Twizy, all scheduled to go on sale in 2011, are briefly featured in this Renault's French television ad, along with the Zoe, expected to debut in 2012.

Earlier this December, Renault suggested that its Fluence ZE electric sedan could go on sale in Portugal for around 22,000 euros (after a 5,000 euros state discount), plus an 80 euros monthly fee for the electric battery. The Kangoo ZE will cost 24,000, plus a 90 euros monthly fee.

The three-seater Renault Twizy, expected to debut in late 2011, will cost around 16,000 euros, about 2,000 less than the Zoe, the french carmaker estimates.

Green Living: Italy bans plastic bags

From the TreeHuger: "Sustainability is made of little changes to our lifestyle that don't cost us anything and can save the planet," said Stefania Prestigiacomo, Italian Environmental Minister, as she confirmed that a ban on non-biodegradable, single-use plastic bags will take effect on 1 January 2011, for all of Italy.

The plastics industry protests that the rules are not clear, that the abrupt transition will have negative repercussions on consumers, and that Italy has no reason to take the initiative as there is no ban at the European level. But their arguments seem weak in light of the fact that the ban, originally announced for January 2010, has already been delayed a year to give the industry time for transition.

Further arguments include the cost of biodegradable bags (4-5 times more), and the fact that biodegradable plastics cannot yet meet the technical specifications that the non-biodegradable plastics meet; read: the biodegradable bags rip even as consumers pack their purchases at the cash register. Perhaps any inadequacy of the single-use biodegradable bags will convince more Italians to reach for multi-use bags. In a survey last November, 73% of Italians reported that they would use alternatives to single-use, non-biodegradable plastic bags when shopping.

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South Korea starts commercial operation of battery electric buses in Seoul

From the Green Car Congress: The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) in South Korea has started commercial operation of full-size battery electric buses on the Mt. Namsan circular routes as of 21 December. SMG has worked on the project to develop full-sized electric buses with local technology over the last one and a half years since signing an agreement with Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hankuk Fiber for the development of electric buses in September 2009.

SMG has set a goal of putting a total of 120,000 electric vehicles in use in the city by 2020, which will account for 50% of all public transport vehicles, 10% of sedans and 1% of trucks and vans.

The electric coaches now serving on the Mt. Namsan circular routes are 11.05 meters long and run up to 83 km (52 miles) with a single charge. They can be fully charged in less than 30 minutes with a high-speed battery charger. The electric bus, with a maximum speed of 100 km/h (62 mph), has a low floor and a 240 kW motor. It features a high-capacity lithium-ion battery and a regenerative braking system.

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Tesla shares fall the most since July after lock-up ends

From Bloomberg: Tesla Motors Inc., the unprofitable electric-car maker, fell the most in more than five months after insiders were allowed to sell shares in the company.

Tesla shares fell $4.82, or 16 percent, to $25.27 at 12:12 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market trading after earlier falling to $25.06 for the steepest intraday drop since July 6. Capstone Investments Inc. initiated coverage Dec. 23 with a “sell” rating on the expectation that plug-ins and other hybrids will continue to outsell pure electric cars such as Tesla’s.

The end of the lock-up period on Dec. 25 allows Tesla’s early investors to sell for the first time since the company’s June 28 initial public offering. Other holders may have sold off in anticipation of insiders’ sales, said Carter Driscoll, senior analyst for clean technologies with Miami Beach, Florida-based Capstone. His long-term price estimate is $22 a share.

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Nissan to fill all 20,000 US Leaf orders by September 2011

Autoblog Green brilliantly spotted a tidbit of information buried within a San Jose Mercury News article that might help clarify Nissan’s delivery plans for the electric Leaf in the United States. According to Nissan’s spokesman Tim Gallagher, the Leaf's widespread roll out will kick off soon: ‘By the end of the summer, our goal is to have everyone in their car’.

Last September, Nissan stopped taking reservations for the Leaf in the US, having reached its goal of 20,000 pre-orders 3 months ahead of schedule.

In December, the first Nissan Leaf was delivered in Petaluma, Californa, to 31-year-old Olivier Chalouhi. Days later, the first ten Nissan Leafs being delivered in Europe were taken in Lisbon, Portugal, by the consortium behind the nation’s electric mobility plan, the Mobi.e, and the Portuguese Government.

VIDEO: Renault Fluence ZE electric sedan to cost 22,000 euros in Portugal

Renault has revealed the estimated prices for the three electric models the French carmaker will launch in Portugal in 2011. According to Turbo, the Fluence ZE electric sedan will cost 22,000 euros, plus an 80 euros monthly fee for the electric battery. The price reflects a 5,000 euros discount by the Portuguese state, being awarded to the first 5,000 electric vehicle owners.

The Kangoo ZE will cost 24,000, plus a 90 euros monthly fee. The commercial vehicle is not eligible for the passenger car-only state grant.

The three-seater Renault Twizy, expected to debut in late 2011, will cost around 16,000 euros, about 2,000 less than the Zoe, the french carmaker estimates.

Portugal has a nationwide EV charging network. There are currently over one hundred plug-in stations across the territory, and the number will increase to 1.300 until June 2011. Mobi.e's network is the world's only user-focused, inter-operable smart grid to date open to every manufacturer, utility company and private operator, the project's website states.

VIDEO: Renault Fluence ZE e Kangoo ZE a partir de 22.000 euros em Portugal


A Renault divulgou os preços estimados para os veículos eléctricos que a marca francesa vai comercializar a partir de 2011 em Portugal. Segundo a Turbo, o Fluence ZE, familiar de quatro portas, chega ao mercado a partir dos 22 mil euros. O valor inclui o desconto de 5 mil euros concedido pelo Estado aos primeiros 5 mil proprietários de veículos eléctricos em Portugal. Ao preço junta-se uma mensalidade de 80 euros pelo aluguer da bateria de iões de lítio.

O comercial eléctrico Kangoo ZE será comercializado com um preço-base de 24 mil euros. Os compradores deste veículo não terão direito ao desconto de 5 mil euros, uma vez que este apenas abrange ligeiros de passageiros. A mensalidade do aluguer da bateria do Kangoo eléctrico é 10 euros mais elevada que a do Fluence ZE: 90 euros.

O mini-eléctrico de três lugares Renault Twizy, que deverá chegar ao mercado no final de 2011, tem um preço estimado de 16 mil euros. Já o futuro Zoe ficará por 18 mil euros.

Para além dos incentivos estatais à compra de veículos eléctricos, Portugal conta já com uma rede de abastecimento para estes automóveis. A rede Mobi.e é actualmente composta por cerca de uma centena de postos de recarregamento, número que deverá aumentar para 1300 até Junho de 2011.

Fuji Heavy Industries denies it will halt electric vehicle sales

Fuji Heavy Industries, the manufacturers of Subaru, has announced it hasn't halted sales or development of electric vehicles, spokesman Fusao Watanabe said by phone from Tokyo today, quoted by Bloomberg.

Earlier on, Japan's Yomiuri newspaper, also quoted by Bloomberg, reported that the automaker will suspend sales of plug-in electric vehicles for as long as five years because of a scarcity of charging facilities and the price of lithium-ion batteries, citing the company.

Nissan Leaf is EV.com’s 2011 electric vehicle of the year

Electric vehicle's website EV.com has named Nissan Leaf car of the year. The Leaf is the first mass-produced pure electric vehicle (100% electric, no-gas) from a major car manufacturer available in the United States.

Deliveries of the front-wheel drive five-door electric hatchback started in December of 2010, with the very first model being delivered in Petaluma, California to 31-year-old Olivier Chalouhi. Days later, the first ten Leafs delivered in Europe were bought by the Portuguese Government and the consortium behind Portugal's national mobility network project. The first year’s production was essentially pre-purchased online within months of it being offered.

EV.com sent its congratulations to Nissan and their CEO Carlos Ghosn, credited with 'not only bringing a automotive industry changing product to the mass-market, but also providing the spark that started an electric car revolution at the major automotive manufacturers'.

Detroit veterans shift to electric car ventures

From the Record: The great economic quake of ’08 rattled Detroit mightily, wreaking severe damage to the foundation of the U.S. auto industry. Bankruptcies at Chrysler and General Motors, resulting in drastic cuts at the automakers and their suppliers, dominated the headlines day after day.

Behind the front-page news were the more personal stories of job losses — hundreds of thousands across the industry, according to the U.S. Labor Department — that were part of the aftershocks. Even so, some who found themselves on the outside discovered that their talents were in demand elsewhere.

Instead of playing musical chairs with competitors or starting down entirely new career paths where their knowledge and experience might not be so highly valued, many of these Detroit graduates have found greener pastures at electric car startups and suppliers.

Technological advances in batteries, motors and electronic controls have created new possibilities for electric-car ventures. After plodding along for two decades, the carmaking operations are accelerating with the help of a new business model: small, agile organizations aided by a network of outside suppliers, developers and consultants.

That’s good news for the engineers and executives with the expertise needed to move this emerging technology out of the lab, down an assembly line and into customers’ hands.

Credit the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for greasing the skids at the manufacturer level. Nearly $3 billion US in loans and grants helped firms developing electric, hybrid-electric and alternative-fuel vehicles gain momentum. The companies, in turn, often hired former Detroit Three employees who had the required skills.

The downturn made available proven leaders such as Jim Taylor, who, after a 30-year career on small and large engineering teams, was ready for a change. One of the first dozen employees of GM’s Saturn division, then later the head of Cadillac and Hummer, Taylor had enjoyed more highs than lows. After GM, he joined Amp Electric Vehicles, an Ohio startup whose ranks include members of the team that developed GM’s EV1 electric car in the 1990s, as vice chair and chief executive.

“The opportunities here range from the conversion of existing cars to electric drive to establishing new relationships with major manufacturers to helping develop electric-propulsion components,” Taylor said. “All the experience I gained at GM prepared me well for this environment, where there are far more questions than answers.”

He’ll have plenty to do. A utility in Iceland recently hired Amp to provide 1,000 electric SUVs, and Michigan-based DTE Energy wants Amp to electrify part of its fleet.

Tom Reichenbach, chief engineer at Aptera, an electric carmaker, is another Detroit graduate thriving in this emerging field. Though he lacked electric-car experience, Reichenbach spent the last half of his 26-year stint at Ford working on racing and high-performance projects. As engineering manager for the special vehicles team, he helped to develop the Ford GT and the Mustang Shelby GT500. And until he left two years ago, he was assistant chief engineer for the EcoBoost V-6 engine.

“I was lucky to enjoy a string of fascinating projects,” Reichenbach said. “But when the downturn hit and Ford was into a fourth round of layoffs, I updated my resumé. When my boss mentioned that, at 56, I was eligible for retirement, I knew I was in trouble.”

He added: “Everyone in Detroit experienced a scare when gas prices spiked and buying habits changed overnight. But I lost faith in Ford’s future when the company’s entire electric vehicle team was part of the first round of engineering layoffs.”

Looking for a challenge less dependent on petroleum supplies, Reichenbach interviewed at two electric-car startups, Aptera and Fisker. Tesla Motors, also on his list, was not hiring when he went prospecting for a new job.

Aptera’s outlook convinced Reichenbach it was a company where he could thrive. “Their business plan was modest, and their growth prospects were geared to cash flow,” he recalled. “Aptera’s desire to build a light and aerodynamically efficient — albeit unusual looking — car made sense.”

He said his new job “is way more fun and rewarding than working at Ford,” adding, “The four-year incubation times there were torture.”

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Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru) halts electric vehicle sales until 2016

 UPDATE: FUJI HEAVY HAS DENIED YOMIURI'S REPORT: From Bloomberg: Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (manufacturers of Subaru) will suspend sales of plug-in electric vehicles for as long as five years because of a scarcity of charging facilities and the price of lithium-ion batteries, the Yomiuri newspaper reported, citing the company.

Its plug-in Stella cars have been offered to corporations and local governments. The automaker plans to re-enter the market around 2016, the report said.

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VIDEO: Deepwater Horizon's Final Hours, by the NYT

From the New York Times: The worst of the explosions gutted the Deepwater Horizon stem to stern. Crew members were cut down by shrapnel, hurled across rooms and buried under smoking wreckage. Some were swallowed by fireballs that raced through the oil rig’s shattered interior. Dazed and battered survivors, half-naked and dripping in highly combustible gas, crawled inch by inch in pitch darkness, willing themselves to the lifeboat deck.

It was no better there.

That same explosion had ignited a firestorm that enveloped the rig’s derrick. Searing heat baked the lifeboat deck. Crew members, certain they were about to be cooked alive, scrambled into enclosed lifeboats for shelter, only to find them like smoke-filled ovens.

Men admired for their toughness wept. Several said their prayers and jumped into the oily seas 60 feet below. An overwhelmed young crew member, Andrea Fleytas, finally screamed what so many were thinking:

“We’re going to die!”

It has been eight months since the Macondo well erupted below the Deepwater Horizon, creating one of the worst environmental catastrophes in United States history. With government inquiries under way and billions of dollars in environmental fines at stake, most of the attention has focused on what caused the blowout. Investigators have dissected BP’s well design and Halliburton’s cementing work, uncovering problem after problem.

But this was a disaster with two distinct parts — first a blowout, then the destruction of the Horizon. The second part, which killed 11 people and injured dozens, has escaped intense scrutiny, as if it were an inevitable casualty of the blowout.

It was not.

Read more of this extensive piece by the New York Times, or watch the video below:

China's BYD to roll out electric vehicles at Detroit auto show

  From the Detroit News: BYD Co. Ltd., one of the most widely-watched of China's emerging automakers, plans to unveil two advanced technology vehicles at the Detroit auto show next month: an all-electric 2012 e6 crossover, and a S6DM hybrid.

BYD, a battery-maker that branched out into the auto business, said today that it also will display solar panels, home energy storage units and other environmentally friendly products and technologies in an exhibit titled "Green City Solutions."

BYD, which counts U.S. billionaire Warren Buffet among its investors, is one of China's most closely observed automakers because of its battery expertise. The company plans to export vehicles to the United States in the near future.

The BYD e6Premier, equipped with an iron-phosphate "FE" battery, has a 186-mile range on city roads and a top speed of 87 miles per hour. It takes 40 minutes to fully charge the e6 using a 100-kilowatt fast-charger and six hours on a standard outlet.

BYD's S6DM SUV can travel 38 miles on electric power alone and more than 310 miles when engaging a 2-litre gas engine. A 10-kilowatt electric motor is paired with a six-speed dual-clutch transmission propelling the front wheels, while a powerful 75-kilowatt electric motor powers the rear wheels.

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James Martin reviews the electric Mini E

From the Daily Mail: Forgive me for talking shop, but this year’s been a crazy one in TV-land. The presenters of The One Show on BBC in the evenings are now the presenters of Daybreak on ITV in the mornings. The Bill was axed, The Stig was dishonourably discharged from Top Gear, Piers Morgan is on CNN and I woke up one morning to find Emma Bunton doing Lorraine Kelly’s job… Meanwhile, Jonathan Ross has been absent from our screens for most of 2010. Weird.

As for me, I’ve been mad busy all year except for a four-week break in the summer. Not that it was much of a break, as this magazine kept me at it with events at Goodwood, Silverstone and Brands Hatch, and tests of everything from hybrids to Ferraris.

Of course, I can’t complain, but it was almost a relief to get back into my normal routine – which, since you ask, includes commuting to the studio on a Friday morning and driving back late at night, past all my male viewers laying the groundwork for the hangovers they’ll enjoy during Saturday Kitchen.

Often I get a buzz out of driving around in something before it goes on sale. People do tend to notice you. But this week I’ve got something that’s not even close to being on sale. It might look like a normal Mini, but this is my first ever test of a research prototype, the all-electric Mini E. BMW has made a handful of these and given them to people to test for a year, to see how they perform under real-world, real-family conditions. Well, I don’t know how anyone else found it, but I reckon there’s a long way to go before the Mini E is ready to go on sale.

Actually, that’s not quite true – the car itself is great; it’s the battery life that’s rubbish. I found the same with the Tesla electric sports car, and as far as I know there’s no electric car that’s immune.

Let me tell you what I mean. The day it arrived, the car’s power meter told me I had 140 miles’ worth of juice. Great, I thought, and off I went to the shops and back – ten miles each way. When I got home it said I had 80 miles left. Eh? I know I failed my maths GCSE, but I’m pretty sure that’s 40 miles less than it should have been.

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Keys to tomorrow's roads may be in lithium

From the Washington Post / St. Paul Pioneer Press: It's the lightest of all metals, skitters wildly on water and can unexpectedly explode. To mine it commercially requires an elaborate process involving drilling, evaporation tanks and chemical processing.

But if President Barack Obama is to fulfill his goal of putting 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015, a once-obscure metal crucial for the batteries in those cars, lithium, will probably be mined by the tens of thousands of tons here in the high Andes. Its boosters say lithium will one day rival petroleum in value, and that has prompted a race to secure mining rights across this craggy, bone-dry mountain range where vast salt flats contain some of the world's largest deposits.

"These are the most notable reserves at the moment," said Horacio Dias, a geologist who manages operations here for Exar, an Argentine affiliate of Canada's Lithium Americas Corp. "We think there is enough here to last many years." Mining executives are banking that lithium-ion batteries, which carry a longer-lasting charge than the lead acid variety long used in vehicles, will become cheap enough to help spur a mass market for electric cars or gas-electric vehicles. The Obama administration, trying to reduce America's reliance on foreign oil, has provided $2.4 billion in grants to car companies, battery makers and suppliers.

Whether the salt beds here in the heart of South America become a lithium mecca, as mining companies predict, depends as much as anything on American scientists as far away as Watertown, Mass.
There, A123 Systems, a battery technology company with roots at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology, is working to create lithium-ion batteries that would give electric cars a greater range — say, 200 to 300 miles — between recharging. A typical battery uses only a few pounds of lithium, but other components make such batteries expensive — by some estimates, well over $10,000 each — and bulky.

Failure could mean that cars such as General Motors' new Volt, a gas-electric hybrid that costs $41,000 before a $7,500 federal tax rebate to buyers, will remain too pricey for all but a small number of American car buyers. The Volt can go about 40 miles on an electric charge before the driver must switch to the car's internal-combustion engine. Fully electric cars can go 100 or more miles between recharges.

"We need to demonstrate that we can reduce the cost of this over the next four or five years to make the sale of these things take off without government stimulus," said David Vieau, chief executive of A123, which received a $249 million federal grant to build factories in Michigan. "It is a critical component for getting the volume up and helping drive the cost out while we make these batteries more efficient." Some of the projections on the future of electric cars — and lithium use in cars — are promising.

Nissan has said that by 2020, one in 10 cars worldwide may use lithium batteries. And Pike Research, a consulting firm in Boulder, Colo., said the market for lithium-ion batteries could expand to $8 billion in five years, from less than $900 million this year.

"Virtually every major car company around the globe has some sort of a hybrid electric vehicle program going," Vieau said.

Electric cars and their gas-electric cousins are not new. Ferdinand Porsche's hybrid was presented at a Paris exhibition in 1900. In the United States, there were 50,000 electric cars plying the roads in 1918. But big oil discoveries and Henry Ford's introduction of the Model T quickly established the dominance of the internal-combustion engine.

It is only now, with the United States consuming more than twice as much oil as it produces, that policymakers are considering a shift that would place less emphasis on gasoline-powered vehicles.

If that happens, the role of lithium will expand dramatically, with mining companies scrambling to secure the metal, said Ann Marie Sastry, chief executive of Sakti3, an Ann Arbor, Mich., company that is working to develop batteries with more juice. Lithium is now used in ceramics, to power cell phones and laptops, and even as a component in drugs to treat manic depression.

Much of the world has had its eyes on Bolivia, which President Evo Morales claims has infinitely more of the metal than all other lithium-producing countries combined. His socialist government is trying to lure mining companies, but Bolivia's terms call for those investors to also fund a Bolivian-based lithium-ion battery industry.

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Arizona Daily Star reviews the Tesla Roadster Sport

From the Arizona Daily Star: You can crunch all the specifications for the all-electric Tesla Roadster, but two numbers stand out: 245 and 3.7. The first represents the 245 miles per charge maximum driving range - tops among production electrics and an important number for environmentally conscious buyers, along with zero tailpipe emissions.

But the second figure says a lot more about the Tesla's driving experience: the 3.7 seconds it takes the Roadster Sport 2.5 model to get from 0 to 60 mph. Indeed, the Tesla Roadster is a real sports car, with out-of-the-blocks speed that rivals some Porsches and is just a bit slower than the Chevy Corvette ZR1 (0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds). The Tesla is fast as well as quick, covering a quarter-mile in about 12.7 seconds.

But enough oohing and ahhing over the numbers; let's get to the driving experience (which will inevitably lead to speed). For starters, the "fusion red" Tesla Roadster Sport 2.5 convertible we tested has supercar looks. And it has the underpinnings to match, with a bonded-aluminum chassis adapted from the Lotus Elise.

This Sport came with clear-coated carbon-fiber accents (an $8,000 option), premium Italian leather seats ($7,800 with leather interior). The black ragtop, which comes standard, nicely sets off its black rims.
Getting in the Tesla Roadster's racing bucket seats is a bit of a trick; you either sit momentarily on the door sill and slide in, or aim your knee just to the right of the steering wheel and sort of plop in. The seats are thinly padded, but wrap the body so well they had a glove-like feel for my fairly average-sized frame.

The instrument panel is clean - no gee-whiz electronic bar graphs - with an old-school analog (dial-type) combined speedometer/ tachometer to the left and a power-consumption meter to the right. An optional 7-inch touch screen controls the "infotainment" group, including a seven-speaker stereo, GPS navigation and back-up camera. A second screen above the console helps manage electrical options.

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Green Living: Wii is the most energy efficient video game console

From the New York Times: Shopping for a video game console? The Electric Power Research Institute has ranked models on a characteristic that is rarely at the top of the list of must-have features: energy consumption.

Playing Madden NFL 11, the popular EA Sports video game, consumes roughly six times more electricity on the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Microsoft Xbox 360 than on the Nintendo Wii, according to engineers at the institute’s lab in Knoxville, Tenn. The Wii drew an average of 13.7 watts vs. 84.8 watts for the PlayStation and 87.9 for the Xbox. (The figures do not count the TV screens that the boxes must be connected to.)

To calculate what this adds up to over the course of a year, the engineers drew on a 2006 estimate by the Nielsen Company that heavy users play for five hours and 45 minutes a day. That puts the Wii’s consumption in the range of 29 kilowatt hours, which the engineers compared to that of a fluorescent light fixture with two four-foot tubes. The consumptions of the PlayStation, at 179 kilowatt hours, and the Xbox, at 184 kilowatt-hours, were akin to a washing machine’s or a television set’s.

The Xbox and the PlayStation “are very powerful computing units that have powerful graphics cards and powerful processors, and it takes a lot more power to run things like that,’’ said Jeffrey A. Dols, a project manager at the lab. “The Wii is much less powerful.’’

In fact, in the Madden game, the players have recognizable faces on the PlayStation and the Xbox; on the Wii, the images are “more cartoony,’’ he said.

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Beijing to cut new cars by two-thirds to battle traffic

From the BBC/Reuters: New rules have taken effect in China that restrict car purchases in an effort to combat serious traffic problems in the capital, Beijing.

City authorities will allow only 240,000 vehicles to be registered for 2011 - one-third of this year's total.

Car buyers have been swamping dealers in anticipation of the new rules, which will still leave about five million cars on the road in the capital.

Traffic and air pollution in Beijing is among the worst in the world.

Beijing officials are trying to balance the desire of a growing middle class to have the convenience and status of car ownership, with a huge congestion problem.

Officials said the new rules would not solve the full extent of the city's problems, only slow the down the rate at which they are worsening.

"It will be difficult to dramatically improve the traffic situation in a short time," said Liu Xiaoming, deputy director of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau.

"But it can slow down the pace of worsening traffic congestion."

Car registrations will be allocated by a license plate lottery system from Friday.

Under the new rules, government departments will not be allowed to increase the size of their fleets for five years.

About 750,000 new cars appeared on Beijing's streets this year, raising the total of registered vehicles for the city 4.8m.

China overtook the US as the world's biggest car and van market in 2009, with 13.6 million vehicles sold within the country.

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Deutsche Welle: Rise of electric cars prompt 'smart' electrical grids in Portugal

From DW World: Portugal’s long-term target of 750,000 electric cars fits with its smart energy plans. Already, the country has 40 percent of its energy coming from renewable sources.

The launch in Portugal in January of Nissan's Leaf marks the start of the rollout in Europe of what the company says is the first 100 percent electric car aimed at a mass market. Nissan targeted Portugal - where it will also soon be assembling batteries for the Leaf - after that country's government agreed to setting up a national network of charging points.

In fact, the network is to be compatible with any make of electric car, and is part of still more ambitious long-term plans for a genuinely "smart grid" that could help Portugal make fuller use of its fast-expanding renewable energy capacity.

In early December, amid ultra-modern architecture at the former site of the Expo 98 World Fair in Lisbon, members of the Portuguese public got the chance to test drive the Leaf.

Portuguese consumers are curious about electric cars

Comments ranged from the polite to the enthusiastic, with the lack of engine noise the most obvious characteristic of what at first glance looks like a regular five-seater family run-around. But the very lack of engine noise creates some new "problems."

"For instance, the headlamps have a specific design to avoid air going to the mirrors," said António Joaquim, the communications director of Nissan Iberia Portugal.

"The exterior mirrors on a normal car produce a lot of noise with the wind. But on this car, which doesn't make any noise from the engine, all the very small noises that on other cars are not perceptible are - let's say, uncomfortable."

The more obvious matter of charging the car seems straightforward: a small panel on the bonnet opens to reveal something rather similar to an ordinary electric plug.

"If you want to charge when you are parking inside a garage in your own house or in a shopping centre, it's better to have it on the bonnet," Joaquim added. "It's a completely different usage from a combustion engine. You just charge the car during your daily life."

Charging stations are scarce for now, but are expected to increase

There are two charging options: a partial quick charge, for example when you are on the motorway and do not want to stop for long, or a cheaper slow charge of up to eight hours.

Prospective buyers in Lisbon seemed to take the limitations of electric cars on board.

"It's a nice car, and a good prospect for someone like me who has an urban life, and drives about 30 or 40 kilometres to work and back," said one man, who declined to give his name.

The innovative design of the Leaf's lithium batteries means that you can drive the car for longer.

But even a fully-charged Leaf has a more limited range than a car with a full fuel tank. So the fact that it recently was named European Car of the Year - the first completely electric vehicle to do so - raised some eyebrows.

António Pereira, editor of Portuguese car magazine AutoMotor, told Deutsche Welle he suspected the competition's jury may have been anxious not to miss a trick, having previously failed to garland the first version of the Toyota Prius, which later became a hit.

The Nissan Leaf is, he said, an interesting experiment, and Portugal a suitably small testing ground, but with some problems.

"Recharging stations are still few [in number] and mainly in the big cities," he said.

"And in Portugal we mainly live in apartments. So either you have a parking space in your building or you have to recharge at night in the public recharging station. That's complicated because there won't be one for each."

Portugal pushing for dynmaic energy flow in its 'smart grid'

Still, the spread of on-street charging points in Portugal is the reason the Leaf is getting its European launch in the country.

The government-led Mobi.E consortium is installing 1,300 chargers around the country, compatible with all makes of car. In addition, the state is offering a 5,000 euro ($6,500) subsidy for buyers of electric cars - bringing the Leaf's price down to 30,000 euro - and a road-tax exemption.

Portugal's ambitious declared long-term target of 750,000 electric vehicles on its roads also fits with plans to expand its renewable energy output, going some way to addressing sceptics' argument that electric cars' environmental impact depends on where their power comes from.

"We have defined as a target to be the first country to have a nationwide and comprehensive infrastructure for vehicles and to work to give the necessary framework and incentives so that we can massively introduce the electric vehicle," Luís Reis of Mobi.E explained at a trade fair earlier this year.

"This is important not only in terms of the sustainability of mobility but also in terms of the strategy that we have for energy."

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