In Europe, according to Greenzer it’s Portugal, Ireland, Monaco and Amsterdam , along with France, that have the particularly ambitious public policies as far as the electric vehicle is concerned.
Portugal, firstly, is aiming for nearly 1,300 recharging terminals and 50 rapid recharging terminals by 2011. The Government will allocate a €5,000 subsidy towards the purchase of an electric car; an additional €1,500 subsidy will be available for the first 5,000 cars sold.
Ireland has set itself a target of 10% electric cars by 2020, of which 6,000 should be on the road by 2012. In order to achieve this, the country will deploy a substantial recharging infrastructure - 1,500 recharging points by the end of 2011 – in addition to fiscal aid.
Monaco appears to be a pioneer in this field, with nearly 1.5% electric cars having been registered in the principality over the past 20 years. As for Amsterdam, according to Greenzer, again, it’s a leading edge city in the environmental area with almost half of its inhabitants using the bicycle. The city’s objective is to reach only 10,000 cars by 2015.
However, the United States are also active in this field. After Tesla and Coda in California and Fisker in Delaware, the manufacturer Th!nk has developed an electric vehicle in Elkhart (Indiana). Green Auto blog specifies on this subject that, for a whole generation of Americans, Elkhart is the "RV Capital of the World" as it was famous for making them. Th!nk should therefore be manufacturing around 20,000 vehicles a year by 2013.
Finally, Green Auto Blog tells us that Californian electric car enthusiasts should be celebrating. In fact, the State of California is getting ready to offer substantial rebates to electric vehicle buyers, in the region of $5,000 for light vehicles and up to $20,000 for commercial vehicles.
The company Aurica Motors has declared that it will soon take over a Toyota factory in Fremont, California, and manufacture its fully electric E-Car vehicle there. However, Business Green specifies that the manufacturer remains very discreet in terms of the nature of the technology used on the vehicle…
Unlike certain marques that are placing all their hopes on the electric market opening up to large-scale production, some manufacturers are proving much more measured in their strategy, emphasises CarTech. We learn from the site that this is the case with Audi, which plans for 5% of its production to be electric by 2020.
Voiture du futur informs us of another new model among the hybrids: the i-Flow, the first diesel-hybrid from Hyundai. Its main characteristics are fuel consumption of 3L/10 km and CO2 emissions limited to 85 g/km. The vehicle also benefits from ultra light materials and solar panels. Another innovation: an extra wide onboard screen, which recognises not only the touch but also the gestures of the driver!
Finally, both hybrid and electric vehicle drivers will be interested in the sixth edition of the Green Grand Prix which will be held on the 8th May 2010 in Watkins Glen (State of New York). This event that we learnt about from Green Car Congress is the opportunity to test the performance and use of green vehicles, with all the different types of technologies allowed. On the agenda: a rally and a fuel economy competition.
Agoravox wonders why alternative transport is so popular. The citizen media believes that the main cause is the spatial dispersal of dwellings and of activities. By increasing the demand for travel, this has led to growing use of the car and serious congestion problems in built-up areas... What can be done then? Well, among other solutions, use car pools, which allow, for example, their users in San Francisco to gain 30 minutes of journey time per day thanks to lanes reserved for shared cars …
Another unexpected alternative transport method: the tricycle! While its use is gradually decreasing in favour of cars in Asian countries, says Ecolopop, in Europe, it is returning, with the start of production of the cyclocargo tricycle, the latest creation from the company Cyclopolitain. Equipped with intelligent electric power assistance, fitted into the chain transmission, it allows the driver to avoid all effort and makes the CycloCargo as easy to ride as a simple bicycle!
With the intention of promoting sustainable mobility, the «e-mobility in commuting traffic» pilot project in the Rhine-Ruhr region in Germany, has been entrusted to a group of research institutes and companies. According to Green Car Congress, the fleet will be made up of 40 pre-production electric vehicles (provided by Renault) and 110 converted electric cars, which the company RWE is providing as lease vehicles, with the option to purchase. Renault will provide models of the Kangoo Express Z.E. utility vehicle and the Fluence Z.E mid-range saloon.
Urban mobility really is a very fashionable subject: the Expo 2010 Shanghai (planned from the 1st May until the 31st October) is taking the form of a huge forum on urban life ("Better city, better life"). Caradisiac specifies that the participating manufacturers will be giving their vision of sustainable mobility in urban zones in the 2030s.
