The Volvo C30 Electric has now left the product development stage. Initial deliveries to leasing customers, mainly companies, authorities and governmental bodies, will take place immediately after the summer.

The Volvo C30 Electric will be delivered to leasing customers throughout Europe, including in Sweden, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands. Tests on about 50 cars have been conducted since 2010, mainly at the Volvo Car Corporation. A Volvo C30 Electric is part of the “One Tonne Life” project in which a family was given the task of living as climate-smart as possible for a period of six months. More than 250 cars will be built by the end of 2012.

The Volvo C30 Electric is built on the regular assembly line in the Ghent factory and then transported to Göteborg for installation of the motor, batteries and other model-specific electronics. The batteries are installed where the fuel tank normally sits and also in a special compartment in the car’s central tunnel. The electric car is recharged from a regular household power socket. A full recharge takes about … Read More

Mitsubishi Motors recently announced that the company plans to market a device that enables i-MiEV electric cars to supply power to domestic appliances such as rice cookers in emergencies by the end of this year.

The device, which will make it possible to use the i-MiEV‘s lithium-ion battery as a power source for electric appliances, will likely attract people’s attention as a mobile high-capacity power source in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which deprived many people of household power.

The company has provided local governments in devastated areas with about 80 electric cars. In response to a survey conducted by the company, many respondents expressed a wish to have power “to cook rice.”

Currently, i-MiEV electric cars are able to supply power to charge a cell phone or run a laptop through … Read More

Tesla Motors has published more photos of the Alpha version of the upcoming Model S sedan. The Alpha version of the Model S sedan is closer to what we will see when the electric sedan is officially released next year.

The new concept has a different front fascia with a more aggressive style than the first concept. Tesla is also supposed to unveil its first crossover at the end of this year, the Model X.

Mark Hildebrandt developed an interest in clean energy in the 1970s. He owns a company that installs solar panels and he counts on the sun to create the electricity to charge his Chevrolet Volt.

The owner of Sunventrix in Saline, Mich., Mark Hildebrandt said:

“I made the switch to renewable energy a while ago, and thus with solar energy, I can power my house, charge my Volt and pump energy back into the grid, which I get credit for. As more Volts are sold, I believe the demand for solar charging stations will increase. I have spoken to a handful of Volt owners in Michigan that are really interested in charging their Volts from solar energy.”

Hildebrandt isn’t the only one using the sun for battery power. Robert deLeuze, ZD Wines’ chief executive officer, has run his California-based winery exclusively on solar power since 2007, and today you can often see deLeuze’s Volt charging from the winery’s … Read More