Monday, December 13, 2010

Electric Car Battles Heat Up – A Long Road Ahead


Nissan delivered its first the entire electric Leaf to the customer in Redwood City, California Saturday. GM CEO, Dan Akerson called the Toyota Prius hybrid a geek mobile. GM’s have Chevy Volt is also being rolled out to dealerships this month.

Akerson’s tough words are an indication of the significance of the electric car market as it moves from infancy into something not quite as developed as puberty. Automakers are obviously experimenting with cars as varied as the all-electric Tesla Roadster that runs on laptop batteries and retails for more than $100,000, to the Honda imminent hybrid getting an average of 41 m.p.g. and selling for less than $20,000.

Battery costs make the electric vehicles more luxurious than their gasoline counterparts and companies are taking two paths. One is the huge, car-only style batteries favored by the Chevy Volt and the other is bundles of battery cells similar to those used in a laptop being used by Tesla, Toyota and Daimler AG.

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