When we write posts for AutoblogGreen, we pretty much assume that our readers know at least a little bit about the green car world. But we're the minority - I mean, only 20 percent of the people even know about hybrid powertrains, according to one recent study - and sometimes it can be difficult to explain just what it is you're trying to drive down the road if you're going to what some might see as the extremes.

Take this story from the Coloradoan, which described what it was like for one resident of Loveland, Colorado to try and get the city to allow him to use a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) in town. When he went to the city council, the city attorney turned to the books to see what other local governments had done and discovered that, while state laws prevent NEVs on federal highways (this is a good thing), municipalities can decide whether these 25mph vehicles should be allowed on their own streets. Maybe. There's the tricky issue of whether or not NEVs could be allowed to cross state and federal highways.

With the NEV discussion going on and the issue of three-wheelers getting attention in Ohio and South Carolina - and more green car legal issues certain to flummox lawmakers - it's time to think about standardizing the laws regarding the cars we cover here on AutoblogGreen. There are enough hurdles for these vehicles to cross without bizarres laws that change from city to city. h/t to Chris!

[Source: Coloradoan]

Way back in January, rumors began swirling regarding a potential tie-up between Chrysler's GEM and India's Tata Motors. The rumored love-child was an electric version of the delivery truck known in India as the Tata Ace. Now, we have a potential price for the unit, and it sounds almost too good to be true. According to Auto Observer, the electric Ace could sell for as little as $5,000 and would meet all necessary safety regulations in the United States. We'd imagine that this vehicle would be classified as a NEV, which would limit it to twenty-five miles per hour and operation on streets with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour or less.

No details are available regarding what kind of batteries or range are available. We can see a small delivery vehicle which uses no gasoline going over rather well in dense urban areas. Sales possibilities exist in both the U.S. market as well as in India.

[Source: Auto Observer]

Vern Buchanan (R), the Congressman representing the Sarasota, FL area, is one politician who sees the "green" light. While visiting with solar and electric car maker, Cruise Car Inc, whose manufacturing and sales operation is in his district, the lawmaker made a plea for a national bipartisan effort to make the switch from fossil fuels to more environmentally-friendly energy sources. Speaking to the company's employees and assembled media, Buchanan said, "My sense is we've been misled as Americans in many ways for the last 25 years in terms of our energy and where we're going to get it. Solar, alternate energy, all that stuff is possible; it'll create jobs, it'll make a difference."

Proof of that difference was all around him. While obviously not the transportation solution for everybody, Cruise Car is doing a booming business. There's a 60 to 90 day waiting list for some of their vehicles, which can go up to 62 miles on a charge and are powered by the sun, though they can be plugged in for extra charging if necessary. The company is doubling its 10 employees this year and will be moving to a new facility (and doing more hiring) to keep up with an exponential increase in demand. Hopefully, more of our representatives will open their eyes to the many benefits of a greener economy and make the changes needed to speed things along.

[Source: Bradenton Herald]

The Daily Times of Pakistan reports that the Canadian manufacturer of Neighborhood Electric Vehicles Dynasty Electric Car Corporation has been sold to Pakistani automaker Karakoram Motors. Dynasty General Manager Danny Epp told Canadian Broadcasting that limitations on the use of NEVs on Canadian roads along with the strong Canadian dollar contributed to the decision by the owner to sell the company. Dynasty has been manufacturing thirty to forty vehicles per year. Karakoram Motors assembles and markets light duty trucks in Pakistan.

[Source: Daily Times of Pakistan]

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The Neighborhood Electric Vehicle market is not exactly huge, and there are already some established players involved: Miles, Zenn, GEM. So, what's Dymac going to do to enter this space? The answer is, well, simple.

Dymac had something like a coming out event at the AFVI Expo in Las Vegas this week, according to Tim Melland, regional distributor for Dymac Northwest. There are already around 200 of these very basic all-electric trucks, vans and shuttles in operation, but the company wanted to make an appearance at AFVI to broaden their visibility. These are bare-bones EVs. If you thought a Miles Electric Vehicle was the bare minimum of what people would settle with in an electric vehicle, you're not thinking like Dymac, which thinks that things like regenerative breaking add too much complexity and cost to the vehicle. As Melland told me, if you've taken shop class, you can fix whatever goes wrong with a Dymac vehicle and, because of the way the components are installed, it shouldn't take more than an hour to upgrade any of them. Want new batteries or want to try out a fancy new electric motor in your car? Not a problem. The simpler system means that Dymac vehicles are around $5,000 less than comparative Miles EVs (the Miles ZX40ST is $18,400)

Oh, and yes, those are solar panels on the top of the truck there. Melland said that if you start with a full battery, drive the truck ten miles and then let it sit in the sun for an hour, the battery will be back to full charge. Without any solar input, Dymac trucks have a 30 mile range.

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RTEV, the Ruff & Tuff Electric Vehicle company, is not the first to realize that a battery-powered ATV could be a good seller (we spoke with Electric Vehicle Systems about their ATEV last year). RTEV is now ready to expand into the electric recreational vehicles market with three models - the Cruiser, the 4-wheel drive Hunter, and the Workman - and has high hopes for more EVs down the road.

RTEV's three current models are all Low Speed Vehicles, which means they're OK going 25 mph on roads designated with 35 mph speed limits. Ruff & Tuff sold about 1,000 vehicles last year and will introduce electric scooters and bicycles (branded with the Wheego name) later this year. 2009 should see car-shaped Ruff & Tuff NEVs hit the market and the company is talking about "full-size, full-speed electric vehicles" in 2010. Currently, RTEV vehicles use dry cell sealed (AGM) batteries that can move the vehicles about 70 miles between charges. Check out a video of the Hunter electric ATV in action and see more details on the currently-available LSVs after the break.

GEM vehicles certainly aren't flashy. They don't go more than 25 mph, they look kind of goofy, and they're stuffed with old-fashioned lead acid batteries. In fact, GEM vehicles embody the "golf cart aesthetic" more than any other NEVs that regularly make an appearance on our little blog here. Still, there's something worth noting about Global Electric Motorcars: it's the Chrysler brand/subsidiary that has growing sales. Automotive News (subs req'd) has a good story that takes a look at how Chrysler is benefiting due to keeping the GEM subsidiary following the Daimler-Chrysler split last year. GEM has sold 37,000 Neighborhood Electric Vehicles since getting started in 1998 and, while the company doesn't announce sales figures, the company is profitable. With Chrysler trying to gin up sales through gas price gimmicks, it's good to see that these zero-emission niche vehicles are going strong. The potential for Chrysler to move GEM from the NEV category into a company that builds vehicles that are capable of higher speeds exists, particularly through Chrysler's ENVI. A GEM Zeo, anyone?

[Source: Automotive News (subs req'd)]

James Wang, director of the Intelligent Mobility Technology division of the Taiwan Automotive Research Consortium (TARC), believes that Taiwan is the perfect testing ground for small, low-speed electric vehicles. The fact that huge numbers of people live centered around large urban areas means that most people don't need to travel long distances to get what they need. Additionally, Taiwan's warm weather is favorable for batteries. So, TARC has created what it is referring to as a light-electric-vehicle (LEV). TARC envisions these two-seat vehicles, with their odd wheel arrangement of three in the rear and one in front, zipping around the urban Mecca's that make up emerging countries.

TARC's goal is to reach a range of 100 kilometers (62 miles) and a top speed of 40 miles per hour. Those targets shouldn't be too difficult to reach. The LEV is powered by four removable lithium ion batteries which can either be recharged in the vehicle or replaced when discharged. We think that the specifications are fine, but question why the design of their LEV is superior to a more conventional arrangement (Remember the Ecooter?). Regardless, the vehicle is currently being tested in in rural areas, and plans are in the works to bring it into urban settings shortly.

[Source: Wards Auto]

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It's Earth Day, so we would have been shocked to see the day slip by without a press release from Zap about their something or other. True to form, the EV company presents us with news that the Sopraffina Marketcaffe in Chicago will be using an electric Xebra truck with solar panels on the roof in its catering business (read more after the jump). Can't let the Ford Transit Connect have all the food fun, right?

The Xebra is Zap's one legitimate electric vehicle that has more than two wheels, but it does have some drawbacks compared to a "real" car because it's classified as a motorcycle. Still, for deliveries in downtown Chicago, running on electrons is a pretty good plan. Not a lot of sunlight reaches the street in the middle of the Windy City, but if you're on Lakeshore Drive, those panels should be able to suck up some juice. The three-cents-a-mile operating cost has got to be appealing to the business owners as well.

Click on the link for more images

As part of a project to create a Volkswagen concept city car for the year 2020, Stefan Mathys, Christoph Bigler, Florian Kaufmann, and Thomas Spycher came up with the City Transport Cell (CTC). Besides being completely electric, there are some novel ideas in this concept, not the least of which are the full-height doors and customizable seating-arrangement. The year 2020 is not nearly as far away as it once seemed (funny how that always happens) but we don't imagine that our roadways will be filled with anything resembling the CTC anytime soon. Still, we think that it's good for designers to push the boundaries of current car design in an effort to invent something truly revolutionary.


[Source: Stefan Mathys Design via Tuvie.com]

TechnoRide, 'the car site for tech fans,' has managed to score a Zenn electric car for review. They seem to have had a good time with the NEV, calling it "impressive." They do, however, note a few issues with the vehicle, which are to be expected, including a lack of luxury features and excessive noise. The reviewer had no problem getting up to the Zenn's max-speed of twenty-five miles per hour and mentions that it's capable of more if it weren't for that electrically-limited speed regulation system.

TechnoRide also makes mention of the solid state electrical storage system from EEStor, which we are all still waiting to hear more about. The review echoes news that the Zenn with EEStor system should be available in 2009, and we remain hopefully optimistic that this is indeed the case. We're not forgetting that we've yet to see any demonstration of the capacitor-based system.

[Source: TechnoRide]

I'm wondering if my skills at assembling Ikea furniture will be useful for the SUNN. The SUNN is a solar electric car in a kit that can apparently be assembled in your garage in four or five days. The kit includes everything that you need except the batteries and solar panels which have to be locally sourced to save you a bundle on shipping. Solar panels and batteries are heavy and thus expensive to ship.

Don't expect Tesla-like performance, however. Sunn's maximum speed is rated at 25 mph. If used without solar panels, you will be able to drive for 20 miles. Plug-in the solar panels and you will get extra 3 miles from the hood and 14 from the roof panels. That's 34 miles.

According to the website, this can be classified as a NEV in the U. S., which makes it legal if you register it. The manufacturer supplies you with the Manufacturers Certificates of Origin for all of the major components. Full specs and video after the jump.

Neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) are about to get their status upgraded in British Columbia. Currently, NEVs are lumped with tractors in the slow-moving vehicle category which means, like tractors, they can drive on public roads with speed limits up to 50 KPH (31 MPH) as long as they have an "overhead amber light" and a large orange triangular sign displayed. Oh, and the four-way flashers must be blinking just for good measure.

New legislation this Spring will impact potential drivers of these vehicles (like the Zenn car pictured above) in two ways, according to an article in the Times Colonist. First they won't have to be decked out like tractors and second, they will be allowed on any road in the province with a speed limit of 40 KPH (25 MPH) and on some roads with a 50 KPH limit if it is in a municipality that will allow the higher limit. That may be good for electric-car friendly cities like Saanich but not so good in Victoria, where Mayor Alan Lowe believes that NEVs could impact traffic flow and might "cause even more greenhouse-gas emissions by putting on your brakes more often."

[Source: Times Colonist]

It's been a month since we last wrote about Miles Automotive. Most of our recent coverage of the electric car company has revolved around the sounds-too-good-too-be-true XS500, a highway speed all-electric sedan that is - supposedly - about a year away. Now we have something new from Miles to write about. The 2008 Production Model MILES ZX40ST Work Truck, which was introduced today at the Green California Summit in Sacramento.

The ZX40ST (boy, that rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?) is a low speed electric vehicle (25 mph top speed) that uses six lead acid batteries (rated for 25,000 miles) and a brushless AC motor to go 50-60 miles per charge. It takes 4-6 hours to charge from 50 percent to full from a standard home outlet (so, I'll assume it takes about double that to charge from near empty?). Watch out, pedestrians, as this little guy can scoot from 0-20 mph in five seconds. These may not be spectacular numbers, but for what a vehicle like this is supposed to do, I'd say they're quite sufficient. Miles has announced that it is making 200 ZX40STs a month and is sold out through June. The truck costs $18,400.
The truck will be on display at the Sacramento Convention Center through tomorrow. See more after the break.

Photo by Mayr. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0. Yes, I know it's not the UK.

The RAC Foundation (a UK organization dedicated to "protecting the interest of the motorist") warned that the idea of a town with a 20 mile per hour speed limit would grate many drivers, and they're right. But, the UK car supermarket group Motorpoint conducted a survey about the reduced limits and found that two in five British drivers - about 12 million people - would "welcome" a lowered speed limit in their town. We'll see if any of them move to Portsmouth to prove their point. In most American towns, after all, residential streets have 25 mph speed limits. There is a proposal from the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety to make 20 mph the mandatory standard in all residential areas in Britain in order to reduce the number of people who are killed on British roads (currently 3,100 a year).

There is also a green angle to this. We know that neighborhood electric vehicles are not the fastest cars on the block. Forcing all in-city traffic to go 20 mph would mean that NEVs can hold their own, something that should help NEV adoption rates in the UK. Press release after the jump.