A dozen EV models exhibited in Geneva

Electric cars (okay, and hybrids) are definitely the stars at the 2011 Geneva Auto Show in Switzerland. Here's a list of the models unveiled or exhibited this week:

Ford Focus electric
The 2012 Focus family comes with an electric version with the capability to fully charge in three to four hours total.

Chevrolet Volt
The American Car of the Year 2011, a hybrid already available for order in the US, is still one of the stars in Geneva. Its European cousin, the Opel Ampera, will soon roll out to the Old Continent's streets.

BMW Active E
This German sports car can accelerate from 0-60 mph in about 8.5 seconds and has a top speed of 90 mph.

Volvo V60
A highly efficient plug-in electric hybrid and the first station-wagon electric vehicle.

Toyota iQ EV
The electric version of the popular Japanese microcar.

Tesla Model S
The troubled's Californian start-up's super car.

Honda Fit EV
Honda's first all-electric vehicle.

Smart fortwo concept car
Modeled after the company's popular non-electric version.

Tata Pixel concept car
Tata claims that the Pixel will return more than 60 mpg and only releases 89 grams of C02 per kilometer. The efficiency comes by way of a 1.2-liter three-cylinder turbodiesel, which, though it isn't a full hybrid, employs stop-start technology and regenerative battery charging.

Nissan ES Flow concept car
Nissan's first sport's concept car can go from 0-62 miles per hour in 5 seconds.

Nissan Leaf
One of the first EVs on the market, the vehicle can go up to 90 miles per hour, can get 80% charge in a half an hour, and its batteries feature a 100,000 mile warrantee.

Rolls-Royce Phantom Experimental Car
Lotus and Rolls-Royce teamed up to produce this luxury EV, which possesses the largest battery ever used in an electric passenger car, for 'market study purposes'.

Source: Go Electric Drive
and Autoblog Green

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VIDEO: Tesla's Model S hits the road

Tesla has just released a video of its Model S silently rolling on a countryside road. And it sure looks and sounds awesome.

From Tesla Motors' own blog: Model S, engineered from the ground as an EV, is meticulously designed for superior aerodynamics, stability and handling, crash safety, performance and range. Before Model S enters production it will have been thoroughly tested using both computer simulations and test vehicles. Tesla will complete two vehicle testing phases, Alpha and Beta. The Alpha phase began in 2010.

While test driving the first Alpha, Tesla Vehicle Dynamicist Graham Sutherland commented: "The first Alpha is amazingly agile for a car of its size. It has great handling balance and poised ride with communicative steering. Just goes to show what combining a low center of gravity with a very stiff body structure can achieve."

The Alphas will be tested extensively in the coming months in all climates. As each Alpha is built, the driving dynamics will evolve and improve.

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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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Arizona Daily Star reviews the Tesla Roadster Sport

Tweet this post 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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The cheapest Tesla ever... a RC Tesla

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Tesla gets over 3,000 orders for its Model S

From the Detroit Free Press: Tesla says more than 3,000 would-be buyers have plunked down $5,000 reservation fees to get in line for its next model, the all-electric Model S. The first versions will be built next year, crash tested and deliveries will start in 2012, Tesla says in a corporate filing.

In the meantime, Tesla says it is busy building an electric version of the RAV4 crossover with Toyota and has been delivering prototypes since July. It has a $9-million contract with Toyota.

Tesla is also making 1,500 electric powerplants for Smart and 500 for Mercedes-Benz to go into its small A-class vehicle. As a result, Tesla has doubled its engineering workforce since the start of the year. It now numbers more than 400, it says in the filing. Tesla now has 1,400 of its electric roadsters in countries around the world. It says they have cumulatively logged 8 million miles. Read more...

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