On November 2nd, Ford announced that the 2012 Focus Electric will be priced in US from $39,200 before tax credit is applied. Buyers will have to pay an additional $750 as destination charges, so 2012 Ford Focus Electric and 2012 Chevrolet Volt have the same price.

Nissan Leaf, the Focus Electric’s direct competitor, has a sale price of $35,200 in US, which makes the Leaf around 13% cheaper than the Ford‘s electric Focus. Ford motivates the price difference saying that the Focus Electric‘s battery can be recharged in just over three hours using a 240-volt charging station, about half the charging time of the 2012 Nissan Leaf. Drivers also can top off the battery any standard 120-volt outlet using the included charging cord.

Starting November 2nd, drivers interested in ordering the 2012 Focus Electric will be able to configure the all-new electric vehicle online at Ford.com and place their orders with a Certified Electric Vehicle dealer.

The StreetScooter is a $7,000 electric vehicle with only two seats, a 74 mph top speed and a 50-mile range.

The StreetScooter is being built in a very unusual way. What began as a partnership of 10 companies has grown to a collaboration among more than 50 auto parts suppliers, tech companies and software developers. Each one of them had a hand not only in building the StreetScooter, but in creating it. It does have a management team of sorts, but is designed around the Disruptive Network Approach to project management, which is meant to keep the project flexible and to provide ways to work around potential roadblocks. In business school jargon, that’s called PLM – product lifecycle management.

The Chairman of Production Management at RWTH Aachen University, Achim Kampker said:

“Everyone is on par with each other. Everyone can bring in ideas to radically try whatever makes sense. The subject matter expert comes to the table and collaborates with the other LEGs. In case of a conflict that cannot be resolved, the issue is sent to the team of leaders in program management and it is resolved at that level.”

The companies involved are all subject matter experts, with each bringing their expertise and manufacturing capabilities to the project. The goal of the project is to … Read More

New York City goes electric! Nissan and the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission put together a pilot program adding six Nissan Leaf electric vehicles to the NYC normal taxi service.

Nissan is looking for owner-operators and fleet operators who are interested in participating in this pilot program. Each participant will receive a lease on a Nissan Leaf to use as a taxicab for up to a year free of charge.

The goal is to gain valuable feedback about how the electric cars function as taxis on the busy streets of New York City and to show people that electric vehicles are viable options.