While the electric car industry is in its infancy and there are many new projects on the anvil, the success or failure of Nissan’s Leaf will decide the direction that the electric vehicle market will take for the future. If the fossil fuels are available at affordable prices, the electric vehicle market may not see much of anticipated action, barring the few green car enthusiasts.

Fossil fuels have a very clear and massive distribution network.The overall fuel-delivery industry has matured to such an extent that there are multiple addon benefits that are available to the business owners or fleet owners that directly impact the swift, smooth and concise running of business and fleet operations. The distribution networks offer so many benefits that are addon to the essential fuel. An example is the availability of fleet fuel cards by almost all the distribution partners like Shell, Texaco or Esso. A business fleet fuel card can allow the business owners and fleet managers to effectively set targets for business fuel expenses and then manage them on a continuing basis Getting the indivuals to migrate to a new fuel form will be tough and getting business owners to migrate fleet operations to a newer fuel will be even tougher. Unless the industry matures and is assured of continuous and unhindered availability of green fuel, there is little chance of fleet operations to rely on them.

Now compare the above scenario with an Electric car charging stations that are just about starting up. And this is one of the biggest challenges for the electric car market space.

Apart from the affordable and continuous availability of fossil fuels, the initial cost of electric vehicles is likely to be higher. Beyond the limited number of enthusiasts, the mass population will adopt an electric vehicle if they see any cost-benefits attached to the product.The cost-benefits need to include the one-time costs as well as the running and maintenance costs for the electric vehicle. As a normal human tendency, people resist change. Hence changing the traditional-fuel driven vehicles with electric cars will depend on a lot of practical factors that could decide the future of the entire electric vehicle industry of future.

MIT scientists say their new battery is smaller and lighter than other batteries in use today, and that the new battery can recharge in mere seconds.

A lab prototype of the battery, made with MIT’s new technique could be recharged in less than 20 seconds. This compared to six minutes to fast-charge a conventional battery.

The biggest problem the boffins face is providing enough Amperage (power) to give the new super-fast charge-rate to consumers like you and me. That will be fine for specially-constructed electric car charging stations – and maybe they’ll have those installed at today’s gas stations. But people’s homes will need to be rewired to provide the heavy-duty charging for the new electric cars.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/12/2514848.htm

A Japanese electric car is expected to go on sale in Australia as early as 2010. Its the the Mitsubishi i MiEV, and it will sell for as little as $20,000 USD (approx $30,000 AUD).

The egg-shaped four-seater electric car will go on sale in Japan later this year. But Mr Robert McEniry, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Australia, said  the chances are good that Aussie car dealers will see their first shipment of the i MiEV some time next year.

On February 12, Mitsubishi will import two i MiEV electric cars to Australia. One will go on display at the Melbourne motor show next month, and the other electric vehicle is for potential customers to test drive.

The i MiEV is expected to sell well to corporations and government departments who are trying to reduce their carbon footprint and project a green image to the public.

“I think the public will go for them in big cities like Sydney and Melbourne. They are ideal for city commuting,” said Mr McEniry.

Unlike hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius or the hybrid Honda Civic, the little i MiEV has only an electric motor. It runs on electricity 100 per cent of the time. Hybrid cars normally use a gasoline engine plus an electric motor.

The i MiEV electric car doesn’t emit any carbon dioxide itself. However, much of Australia’s electricity is still generated by coal-fired power stations. McEniry says Mitsubishi is looking for green energy suppliers to be part of the project.

The Mitsubishi i MiEV has a 47kW electric motor and can be driven up to 160 kilometres before it needs recharging. The electric car recharges in  around eight hours at an ordinary power point, or in just 20 minutes at a dedicated high-voltage charger.

Mitsubishi examining recharging infrastructure for its electric vehicles and is in talks with two possible suppliers.

But Mitsubishi is not the only car manufacturer planning to  sell electric vehicles in Australia.

Holden plans to sell the Volt car by 2012. It’s a plug-in hybrid electric car that runs mostly on electricity.

Micro car maker Smart plans to sell a two-seater electric car in Australia. Toyota will consider selling the FT-EV here. Nissan iis pondering its EV car, and Mini is looking at its own E car.