The charger is fast, as in 30 minutes or less to recharge a dead Leaf. This one product I thought was the kind of thing that every homeowner would want in his or her garage.

Just imagine, you come home tired at night, the kids all have issues and you forget to plug-in your electric car. No matter as in the morning you realize this and pop on the plug to quick charge your car in 30 minutes. How great would that be?

The only problem with this scenario is that in order to solve this problem you have to shell out $9,900 or roughly one-third of the price you paid for the Nissan Leaf in the first place.

According to Nissan, “The starting price for the charger will be $9,900, about a third of the cost of models available on the global market today. The quick charger will come in two different models: a version for indoor use, designed to help accommodate fleets such as daily rental cars; and an outdoor model, which is specifically designed for public and commercial charging uses – such as public spaces, corporate campuses, and retail centers.“

So, my excitement quickly turned to WTF disgust. Nissan forgot about the homeowner in this scenario. I’m sure that there are a few homeowners that will shell out ten grand for this convenience, but the other 99-percent of the population won’t. And will businesses really shell out this kind of dough? In this economy it’s hard to say yes. I give this product two yawns and a shake of the head.

A lot of high-mileage cars such as from the Shell Eco-marathon are very high mileage getting in the hundreds to thousands of miles per gallon. Are they street legal? No. Would a high number of consumers want to buy them. Again, no.

Now, the Li-Ion Wave II looks to me like a cross between one of these eco-marathon cars (and why a Big Oil company like Shell would run this has me befuddled – yes, I like saying the word “befuddled”) and a standard consumer vehicle.

The point however is that Li-Ion is now taking orders for the Wave II. This odd-looking little beast reminiscent of the GM EV-1 or Honda Insight or even the Prius when it first came out, is all electric, can get up to 90 mph and has a range of about 150 miles (the SE model gets 200 miles).

The charge time is about 6 hours on the Li Ion Wave II and one not so pleasing feature is that this EV will accept about 2,500 full charges which could get you only about 7 or 8 years if you’re a frequent driver. The price starts at around $39,000 which a couple of years ago I would have said is outstanding.

But, now that the Nissan Leaf has made it to the scene at a cheaper price the maker of the Wave II will have shave its costs to be competitive in the coming years.

The U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) has developed a smart charger controller that will be useful for both plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and all battery electric vehicles (BAVs). With the smart charger, consumers can reduce the burden on the power grid and save money at the same time.

The smart charger can be set to start its work during off-peak hours, say 1 am, when typically there is more electricity on the grid than is needed and when electrical rates are at their lowest.

The system developed by the DOE also uses wireless technology to shop around for the cheapest prices for a particular time of day. Now, smart charging may not be a panacea for the electrical grid but it surely will help and will be another reason for consumers to buy EVs when they can charge their cars for pennies on the dollar.

The Pininfarina B0 will rollout first to France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain and Switzerland with the U. S. coming at a later date. The Pininfarina B Zero will lease for around $420 per month (it is estimated) and will include roadside assistance.

Created in tandum with France’s Bolloré, the Pininfarina B0 features all electric capabilities, powered by lithium metal polymer (LMP) battery and a supercapacitor to give it quick acceleration and the ability to recharge partially by regenerative braking. The rooftop of the B Zero also includes a solar panel for charging onboard devices.

The Pininfarina B0 electric car has a top speed of 80 mph and a range of around 150 miles. Several hours will be needed to recharge the batteries from a normal household socket.

The battery is said to be rated to last around 125,000 miles and no information is available yet about the cost for a replacement LMP battery pack. If Pininfarina manages to stay solvent as a company, the B Zero is expected to be an exciting zero emission offering that will truly be competitive in the alt car marketplace.

This is not your father’s electric car. The top speed is around 208 mph and the Shelby Ultimate Aero is not claiming to be the world’s fastest production electric car. According to Shelby Supercars the range of the vehicle is 150 – 200 miles and its recharging time is only 10 minutes with a 220 standard outlet.

This 1,000 hp electric supercar is now wowing many at the auto shows. The vehicle incorporates a new (All-Electric Scalable Powertrain) or AESP that can be scaled up or down depending upon the vehicle.

Now, even though the look and speed of this electric vehicle is wowing many, let’s do a little reality check on the 10 minute charge claim. I’ve heard this one before back in 2007 in regard to the Altair EV batteries.

According to IEEE Spectrum, “At issue are the awesome power levels required. To charge a 35-kWh battery in 10 minutes requires 250 kilowatts of power—five times as much as the average office building consumes at its peak. That rules out rapid charging at home. Even rapid-charge ‘filling stations’ stretch the imagination, as you’d need a megawatt power feed—generally available only at electrical substations—to simultaneously operate four power pumps. That is a stretch too far for even some staunch EV proponents.”

Now, Shelby Supercars hasn’t released any information about how many kilowatts of power its 10 minute charge consumes. But, if it is anything like the Altair batteries, then sucking down this much coal-power does not make it a very green vehicle at all.

This price would make anyone in India think twice about an electric car conversion since the selling price is so affordable. So, far there have been no hints however about the Oreva Super electric car coming to any overseas markets such as the U. S.

Running on-time and under budget will be a key element to making this EV a success. But the company producing the vehicle, the Ajanta Group (a clockmaker) has no doubts that this can be accomplished.

The first model car is on display at the Rajkot dealer, but he isn’t saying much, do to the command of silence from the higher ups in the company. The estimated time for a rollout of the Oreva Super electric car is still two months away, so one can expect a buildup of hype until this point.

The batteries that power the Oreva Super are not likely to be lead acid, but rather NiMH or lithium battery. As India’s car price wars heat up, expect much interest from overseas buyers as production vehicles this inexpensive has not hit the showrooms for years.

The electric version of this Mini-Me of cars is expected to fill a void left by the GM EV-1 and Toyota RAV-4 EV that were crushed a few years back. BMW will be shipping 500 of the electric Minis to the U. S. but are still uncertain whether they will offer the vehicle for sale or as a lease.

My advice to BMW, if you have learned anything from the crushing of the electric cars is to offer the vehicles for sale. A lease will have many people suspicious that their auspicious Minis may also end up in the crusher one day.

BMW has not released any technical details for the electric Mini car such as its range, recharging time, type of battery pack, horsepower or its selling price. The company did say, however, that they would unleash a Mini electric test fleet in California soon.

The British Mini Cooper has never been a high-volume car in terms of sales in the U. S. market. But, my guess is that introducing only 500 Mini electrics will be way too low of a number and the demand for this vehicle will cause BMW to revise its figures upwards in short order.

The submersible SQuba reminds one of the James Bond car in “A Spy Who Loved Me” when Roger Moore drove an animated car underwater. Now, this animation has become a reality as the Swiss automaker says the vehicle can travel at a depth of 10 meter below any lake, pond or stream.

One electric motor drives the Rinspeed SQuba by land and two if by sea as the extra motors motivate the propellers, propelling the car like a fish. The water tight submersible car is different from amphibious military vehicles that trudge along at low speeds as the SQuba is said to move swimmingly through the water.

Now, just why would a person want to drive an electric sports car like the Rinspeed SQuba underwater? For the coolness factor of course. That’s Bond, James Bond, to you petrol driver.

Of course, you may wish to watch the video to check out this bad ass automobile for yourself.

In 1907, the Anderson Electric Car Company started building Detroit Electric cars, which were very popular until 1939, when gasoline powered cars with internal combustion engines finally took over the marketplace. The original Detroit Electric cars were powered by a lead acid battery that was rechargeable and later models used a nickel-iron battery.

Thomas Edison, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Henry Ford’s wife, Clara all owned Detroit Electric cars. But, what they didn’t see coming was cheap oil and the assembly line perfected by Henry Ford and others.

Now, the Detroit Electric car of old will be transformed into the Zap Alias of today. The manufacturers see California is the proper launchpad for its line of electric vehicles. Some would argue that the electric car is like a bad horror movie where the hand reaches up from the grave at the end.

Others would argue that the movie “Who Killed the Electric Car?” was a bit premature. But, like a fine wine, the Detroit Electric car was never really dead, only aged appropriately before it could be enjoyed at a later date as a Zap Alias. Expect to see the Detroit Electric Zap zipping around Napa Valley in the not so distant future.

The Dodge ZEO is being billed as a 2+2 four door sports wagon that uses a 64 kw lithium ion battery pack to supply the power to the 200 kw (268 hp) electric motor. Quick off the line, the rear-wheel drive Dodge ZEO is able to accelerate from 0 – 60 mph in under 6 seconds.

Other features of note on the Dodge ZEO are scissor doors, the front lit crossbar grille and huge 23-inch wheels. The interior was designed with a dual-cockpit effect that is targeted to appeal to younger drivers.

I don’t know if the Dodge ZEO performance sedan will ever see the light of the showroom floor, but it’s good to see one major automaker saying “game on” when it comes to developing all-electric vehicles for the masses.