It’s gorgeous, yet beastly. It’s classic, yet innovative. It burns rubber, yet is environmentally friendly. It can destroy most sports cars off the line and you won’t hear any loud tremling exhaust pipes spewing out noxious fumes. It is what every gas guzzling classic car enthusiast turned eco friendly gas sipper could ever want in a car.  It is the 2 SSIC.

Top Speed – 150mph

0-60  – 2.1 seconds!

Range – 75 miles

In an interview Monday, Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s chief executive, said Nissan decided to accelerate development of battery-powered vehicles because of high gasoline prices and environmental concerns, not just because of the need to meet stricter fuel-economy standards.

“What we are seeing is that the shifts coming from the markets are more powerful than what regulators are doing,” he said.

Mr. Ghosn said Nissan envisioned a broad range of electric vehicles, starting with small cars, and adding: “It’s not only about a small city car or a small minivan. It can also be about a small commercial vehicle and a small crossover.”

The race to the mass produced electric car is on! Chevy is claiming a 2010 release of their hyped Chevy Volt by 2010 and Toyota also has said to be working on their own Plug-In hybrid also to be released around the same time. With ‘09 models just around the corner, we will just have to wait it out and see how many roll back their release dates to 2011.

The Th!nk City, due out in 2009, will have a top speed of 65mph and will have a range of 110 miles on a single charge, and designed to meet all U.S. federal motor vehicle safety requirements. It will be equipped with ABS and dual front airbags. The price is estimated to be below $25,000.

Th!nk, the Norwegian electric carmaker, secured funding from two U.S. venture capital firms to bring its business to North America. The financial backing—from Silicon Valley-based Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Boston-based Rockport Capital Partners—will allow Th!nk to set up shop in Menlo Park, California under the banner Th!nk North America. The company’s first production car will be the Th!nk City, a small all-electric vehicle capable of reaching 65 miles per hour and traveling up to 110 miles on a single charge.

Sadly, BMW most likely would not have plans for such a model if the new CAFE standards were not going to take effect 2012. With the new CAFE standards BMW will be considered a “large vehicle manufacturer,” which means that it will be held to more stringent efficiency standards.

In an interview Tuesday with Mobile Magazine, Reithofer suggested that the vehicle could be a collaboration with another carmaker. “Our goal is a cooperation but if it does not work out, we will do it alone. We will make a decision this year,” he said. Reithofer added that the new vehicle might serve as the basis for the global launch of a new “mini car” designed for big cities.

Aptera, another shot to the big auto makers who keep denying humanity technological advances that are clearly readily available!

Nov. 24, 2007 – This week, Mitsubishi announced plans to mass-market a small electric vehicle by 2010. As major car companies continue to introduce eco-friendly offerings in the marketplace, second-tier car manufacturers like Mitsubishi are busy playing catch up. “One of the biggest issues facing an automaker today is the problem of the environment,” said Osamu Masuko, president of Mitsubishi. “Being able to come up with solutions to an array of environmental issues or not will decide if an auto maker can survive long into the future.” Read more

Like the Chevy Volt, Hyundai announced future plans build a hybrid version of the Elantra using lithium batteries. The vehicle should be available no earlier than 2010.

Lithium batteries have yet to be used in hybrid vehicles for saftey and cost reasons, however Hyundai has partnered with LG Electronics to find a cost effective way to get the price of lithium ion batteries down for use in next-gen hybrids and also to find a way to make them safer. Should this happen there will be a definite increase in fuel efficiency in today’s hybrid vehicles.