If you thought the Toyota Prius was eco-friendly, check out the soon to be released Toyota plug-in hybrid cars available by the end of this year. Toyota will start leasing 200 plug-ins in Japan, 150 in the U.S. and 150 in Europe, mostly for rental, such as through special government-backed programs. The cars will use lithium-ion batteries. The plug-in car will recharge from a regular household socket, and when the battery runs low, it will start running as a regular hybrid.

I’m really excited to see how this car works and I’m really excited about the idea of having a car I can plug into my house!

Yesterday Tesla Motors unveiled its long-anticipated second electric sedan, the Model S. Just a sliver shy of $50k, post-tax credits, the high-ish price tag of the luxury electric car is in part due to the lithium ion battery, and in part to its size—it fits a 50-inch TV, surfboard and mountain bike at the same time. Perfect for my typical Saturday, and it travels 300 miles on a single charge. From the press release:

The Model S, which carries its charger onboard, can be recharged from any 120V, 240V or 480V outlet, with the latter taking only 45 minutes. By recharging their car while they stop for a meal, drivers can go from LA to New York in approximately the same time as a gasoline car.  Moreover, the floor-mounted battery pack is designed to be changed out in less time than it takes to fill a gas tank, allowing for the possibility of battery-pack swap stations.

takepart and read this recent article from Scientific American on lithium ion batteries.

High in the Bolivian Andes, more than 12,000 miles above sea level, lies a serene, dream-like landscape that may prove to be integral in the reduction of the United States dependency on foreign supplies of oil. Yesterday’s NYT article on the Salar de Uyuni salt flat sheds light on the potential impediments to accessing the world’s largest lithium reserve, including the nationalization of the lithium industry by the President Evo Morales.

We know that Bolivia can become the Saudi Arabia of lithium,” said Francisco Quisbert, 64, the leader of Frutcas, a group of salt gatherers and quinoa farmers on the edge of Salar de Uyuni. “We are poor, but we are not stupid peasants. The lithium may be Bolivia’s, but it is also our property.

While Bolivia decides how to proceed with mining, the demand for hybrid cars continues to increase in the US, and electric cars are making their way from conceptual stages to mass production. Read the rest of this entry >>

Chrysler announced plans today to 3 new electric vehicles to its line of cars, with one to be launched as soon as 2010. The Detroit automaker is looking to add electric vehicles to each of its divisions with an electric Jeep, and electric Town & Country Minivan and an electric Dodge sports car all in the works.

The new direction for Chrysler ambitiously puts it in the hunt with General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt for the first fully electric American car from one of the old line Big Three mass-market manufacturers. But Chrysler is trying to push the technology either further than rival GM by offering a larger Lithium Ion battery in it new models and hopes to eventually extend the range of the vehicles to over 400 miles on a single charge. Read the rest of this entry >>

John McCain wants to unleash the power of American innovation to ween the country off oil with an old fashioned, but effective motivator; a cash prize. The presumptive Republican nominee for President proposed awarding a $300 Million prize to the inventor who could come up with a car battery far advanced from the current technology available, in a recent speech at Fresno State University.

While enormous strides have been made in recent years in battery technology, what’s currently available for mass production limits plug in electric cars to about a 250 mile range per charge, and leaves little to no room for trunk storage with the space needed for the Lithium Ion Batteries. The batteries are also costly which prompted Senator McCain to require the winner of his proposed challenge to deliver battery power at 30% of current costs having as he put it, “the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.” Read the rest of this entry >>

The Mindset Six50 is the latest in innovative, super energy efficient car developed by a startup company working outside the traditional confines of the industry. But Mindset is hardly some fly by night strewn together on a whim. Former Volkswagen Head of Design, Murat Gunak has partnered with Swiss Multimillionaire Lorenzo Schmid to create a new standard in energy efficient ground transportation coupled with truly striking design.

The Mindset Six50 mixes power sources creating multiple energy options for its owners. Plugin Lithium Ion Batteries, a two cylinder hybrid gas engine and even solar panels installed on the roof of the car work in unison to provide the owner with a range of nearly 500 miles on merely one charge and one tank of gasoline. Central to the efficiency of the machine is its light weight, about 1400 lbs., from its state of the art aluminum frame. Large 22″ wheels provide for greater safety. All told, the car is Marat Gunak’s answer to the major industry players who used to employ; an industry he says has become, “too big, too heavy, too expensive.” Expense is the one thing the Mindset needs to work on however, with the first models, scheduled to arrive in 2009, priced at 50,000 EUR or $77,200. But just think how much the DVD player was when it first came out - then take a trip to the Wal-Mart Electronics section. Read the rest of this entry >>

A 100 Mile Per Gallon automobile is being tested by scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. The car is basically an after market assembly of Toyota Prius in which scientists added extra Lithium Ion batteries capable of being plugged into the power grid for recharging along with solar panels on the roof of the car for some extra juice. These two add ons will serve to power the Prius along with its already existing batteries and gasoline tank in its hybrid motor power system.

The result yields a car that barely consumes any gas whatsoever for its first sixty miles on the road, yielding gasoline mileage of approximately 100 mpg per tank. Plus with the average commuter spending only 30 miles on the road per day, the experimental model would hardly ever need to be filled up at all as long as it was plugged into the wall each night for recharging. Read the rest of this entry >>