ELECTRIC AUTO PRESENT AND FUTURE

As of July, 2006, there were between 60,000 and 76,000 low-speed, battery powered vehicles in use in the US, up from about 56,000 in 2004, according to Electric Drive Transportation Association estimates.[8] There are now over 100,000 NEVs on US streets. 

In 1994, REVA Electric Car Company Private Ltd. was established in Bangalore, India, as a joint venture between the Maini Group India and AEV LLC, California USA, to manufacture environment-friendly and cost-effective electric vehicles. After seven years of R&D, it launched the REVA, India's first Electric Vehicle, in June 2001. The REVA is currently commercialized in India, in the UK (since 2003), and in several other European countries (including Cyprus and Greece, Belgium, Germany, Spain Norway, and Malta). In most countries the REVA is classified as an electric quadricycle, while in the US it is allowed only as neighborhood electric vehicle with reduced top speed. More REVAs have been produced than any other currently selling electric car.

The Tesla Roadster, the first 650 of which are scheduled for delivery in 2008 uses Li-Ion batteries to achieve 220 miles per charge, while also capable of going 0-60 in under 4 seconds.

The Tesla Roadster, the first 650 of which are scheduled for delivery in 2008 uses Li-Ion batteries to achieve 220 miles per charge, while also capable of going 0-60 in under 4 seconds. 

In the summer of 2003, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla Motors in San Carlos, California. In 2006 it was announced the production of the Tesla Roadster. The Roadster, the design of which is based on the Lotus Elise, uses Lithium-Ion batteries rather than the lead-acid batteries which had previously been predominant in small-maker BEVs. The vehicle uses 6831 Li-ion batteries to travel 394 km (245 mi) per charge, an equivalent fuel efficiency of 1.74 L/100 km (135 mpg U.S.), yet accelerates from 0-100 km/h in under 4 seconds on its way to a top speed of 210 km/h (135 mph). Tesla is set to begin deliveries of Roadsters in early 2008. The company announced that production of the Roadster had officially begun on March 17th. The first Tesla was delivered on February 1, 2008. 

In December, 2007, Fortune reported[citation needed] on eleven new companies planning to offer highway-capable electric cars within a few years. Aptera Motors plans to sell both electric and hybrid vehicles in late 2008. Mitsubishi Motors will sell its iMiev EV beginning in 2009.[citation needed].  In 2007, Miles Electric Vehicles announced that it would produce a highway-speed all-electric sedan named the XS500. The company anticipates that the XS500 will be available for sale in the U.S. in early 2009. The XS500 uses Li-Ion batteries.[9][10]  

In early 2008, Dodge announced an electric concept car called Dodge Zeo. [6] While there are no official release dates or prices, they say it will be affordable to the average American.   

In May 2008 Nissan Motor Company announced plans to sell an electric car in the U.S. and Japan by 2010. Nissan's chief executive, Carlos Ghosn said they envisioned a broad range of electric vehicles, starting with small cars.  

Other automakers like Fuji Heavy Industries are testing versions of electric cars, and General Motors and Toyota are working on battery-powered vehicles that have small gasoline engines for recharging. 

Since the late 1980s, electric vehicles have been promoted in the US through the use of tax credits. Electric cars are the most common form of what is defined by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) as zero emission vehicle (ZEV) passenger automobiles, because they produce no emissions while being driven. The CARB had set progressive quotas for sales of ZEVs, but most were withdrawn after lobbying and a lawsuit by auto manufacturers complaining that EVs were economically infeasible due to an alleged "lack of consumer demand". Most of these lobbying influences are shown in a documentary, called Who Killed the Electric Car?. 

The California program was designed by the CARB to reduce air pollution and not specifically to promote electric vehicles. Under pressure from various manufactures, CARB replaced the zero emissions requirement with a combined requirement of a very small number of ZEVs to promote research and development, and a much larger number of partial zero-emissions vehicles (PZEVs), an administrative designation for a super ultra low emissions vehicle (SULEV), which emit about ten percent of the pollution of ordinary low emissions vehicles and are also certified for zero evaporative emissions. While effective in reaching the air pollution goals projected for the zero emissions requirement, the market effect was to permit the major manufacturers to quickly terminate their electric car programs and crush the vehicles.