The Wall Street Journal got a chance to take the Nissan Leaf electric car for a spin. They posted their little tour in the above video. It won’t give you any major new revelations about the Nissan Leaf, but it helps satisfy those of us who can’t wait to get in and try one of these slick, little EVs ourselves.

Congress will be examining two bills today that would see up to $11 billion in new funding put towards the goal of seeing four million electric vehicles on the road by 2017.

This new cash injection would be earmarked for electric vehicle purchase subsidizing as well as investing in electric vehicle recharging stations.

With one of the main stumbling blocks to the whole hearted adoption of electric vehicles in the U.S. being range anxiety, increased funding for EV charging stations could go a long way to hitting the 2017 target.

The bills in the House of Representatives and Senate have sponsors on both sides of the partisan fence and have a good shot of passing especially with massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico looming in the minds of voters.

Better Place unveiled its electric car software (AutOS) at the Frankfurt Motor Show today and it adds a whole new dimension to what we might expect to see in a typical electric car of the near future.

Better Place is in the process of building a network of battery swapping stations for electric cars. The AutOS software that they are working on is designed to tell drivers where and when to charge their EVs, while tracking data for their billing purposes.

The Better Place business model will see Better Place maintain ownership of the electric car batteries being swapped while drivers will purchase subscription plans similar to cell phones that use “miles” instead of “minutes.” In order to pull this off Better Place will require software capable of tracking the location and charge level of thousands of batteries at a time.

Better Place already has deals set to open battery swapping and charging stations for electric vehicles in Australia, Denmark, Canada, Israel and California and Hawaii in the US.

Swapping stations will use robots to switch out batteries in electric vehicles starting with the first all-electric Renault.

In a quote for the NY Times, Renault spokesperson, Julie Mullins said that, “Renault will be unveiling their first electric-car model that will run on our network and for the first time the whole solution comes together.”

Renault has committed to putting 100,000 of their upcoming new electric vehicle on roads in Denmark and Israel by 2016 which will make for a potent test of the Better Place swapping stations and electric car software.

Ford is planing a new battery-electric version of the Focus for the North American market in conjunction with battery maker Magna, slated to debut in 2011.

“In the worst of times worldwide, we’re here today to celebrate a plan to profitably grow Ford,” CEO Alan Mulally said. “We’re fighting for the soul of manufacturing in the United States of America and worldwide.”

The battery-electric Focus will run up to 100 miles without using gas or emitting greenhouse gas.

“We’re building the highest tech vehicle in our fleet here in Michigan,” Chairman Bill Ford Jr. said. “It going to be a critical step toward the commercialization and ultimately the acceptance of electric vehicles.”

In addition to the battery-electric Focus, the Ford is working with Smith Electric to sell a battery electric commercial vehicle for North America in 2010, the Transit Connect. It also plans to introduce in 2012 a next-generation hybrid vehicle and a plug-in hybrid vehicle.

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If you’re looking to get around town this Earth Day, the smiling Peapod car might be your best bet. Chrysler has outfitted the Neighborhood Electric Vehicle with an iPhone docking station, which also transforms the iPhone into the car’s key.

Another nifty feature is that the iPhone will also work as a green meter, outlining the Peapod’s energy savings. The iPhone also functions as an interface to the Peapod’s sound system as well as a navigational system.

Maxing out at 25 mph (standard for all NEVs) on Earth Day today Chrysler will begin taking customer orders for the Peapod, which goes on sale at $12,500 and costs about two cents per mile to drive.

Hooray for the Brits, who are now offering citizens a £250 million incentive program to push the plug-in and electric vehicle industry as part of an ultra-low carbon private transport development budget.

Rebates  of up to £5,000 ($7,480 US) are being offered for purchases of full electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Moreover, the British government is investing £20 million for more public charging outlets for EV drivers. The charging stations are part of proposals for the creation of infrastructure of “electric car cities” across the UK. The government also plans to launch consumer trials of a fleet of 200 electric vehicles.

Bill O’Reilly opened his giant hole of mouth of his again, claiming that he would be more than happy to buy a Prius, if only he could fit into one. Sigh.

Now, the peeps over at ElectricAid.org, have challenged the right-wing ranter, writing an open letter where they enclose pictures of their Bill O´Reilly stand-in, who stands one inch taller and is clearly able to fit into their all-electric Th!nk City with room to spare!

Richard from ElectricAid tells O’Reilly, “It may look small, but the fact of the matter is that it is very spacey. It is designed for a 95-percentile person which means that 95% of the population would fit into it, and on top of that, Think has added some extra height to the headroom just to ensure a high comfort level. This makes the headroom taller than with the Toyota Prius. We could not find a person that matches your height exactly, but we did find one that is an inch taller than you. Lets just call him Bob. Bob is 6 foot 5 inches tall pluss an extra inch of hearstyle, and plays the Chello. He is also a sailing enthusiast. As you can see from the pictures below, even though he is taller than you, he is quite comfortable in the Think City and there is plenty of room for his rather big instrument.”

Richard adds as he closes the letter, “It can go a 110 miles on one charge which would more than bring you to work and back every day without using a single drop of oil.”

The company challenges O’Reilly to to sign up for a Th!nk City to see for himself. Think (pardon the pun) he’ll take the bait?

In this interview with Automotive News, new GM CEO Fritz Henderson, admitted the obvious -  it that GM will not be able to make their first mass-produced electric car both affordable and profitable for a long time, saying that GM plans to lose money with “Gen-1 and 2″ of the Chevy Volt.

“We have been very clear with the task force, particularly in Gen-1 technology, like the Volt, the cost is high,” Henderson said. “And that means, it doesn’t necessarily pay the rent. It actually consumes rent when it’s launched.”

However, Henderson says GM has a plan.

“We actually think oil prices are going to go up,” he said. “That’s what our entire plan is based on. So we’re going to make the bets. And I don’t think that our product portfolio is going to be out of touch with where the consumer’s going to go or where we need to be in terms of regulation.”

EVII showcased their three all-electric vehicles at the New York Auto Show, including the LiV Harmony, an ex-Pontiac Vibe. The Wave (pictured above), boasts a 170 mile range, 80 mph top speed and a $34,900 price tag.

They also displayed their $139,000 Inizio, EVII’s sports car model, which reaches a top speed of 170 mph and can go up to 200 miles between charges.

Although they’ll take orders and deposits from you the salivating consumers, who knows when you’ll be crusing the strip at 170 mph. The company hopes to start building both in 2010, but speculation is that this timeframe seems a tad bit optimistic given the company’s indecision over three or four wheels on the Wave.

Mazda, yet to jump on the EV or hybrid bandwagon, is at least taking steps to revamp their vehicles for the sake of the environment. And they also make promises to begin production on hybrids and electric vehicles, but not until 2015.

Yes, the brand that has you singing “zoom-zoom” after their ads air, is planning to focus on a more cost-effective venture for now, focusing on fuel efficiency and weight reduction in all of its vehicles with the goal to increase fuel efficiency 30 percent by 2015.

According to Mazda CEO Takashi Yamanouchi, “Our new gasoline engines will achieve the same fuel economy as current diesel engines, and our diesel engines will achieve similar fuel economy as existing hybrids.”

Mazda hopes that with these changes, they can offer eco-friendly vehicles that are more accessible to the mass market. Along with weight reduction to their fleet, Mazda plans to add improved aerodynamics and low rolling-resistance tires to their vehicles.

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