Yesterday BMW announced the release of the brand-spanking-green electric Mini Cooper, which is expected to hit the road next month.   The British-designed, German-built eco-friendly Mini-E will initially only be seen around the U.S., driven by 500 selected corporate and private customers.   I guess they don’t want to rush a green alternative.   I mean it’s not like we’re running out of oil and poisoning the planet with the fumes from combustible engines, or anything.   But at least they’re making a notable effort, let’s just hope their ambitions don’t get pummeled as previous electric vehicles have.
While Mini’s are not usually chosen for roominess, the electric version will only have two seats to make way for a bulky lithium-ion battery pack.   So as long as you’re not a huge troop of clowns, you should have no problem.   And it’s got considerable kick, according to BMW, the peppy roadster goes from 0 to 62mph in 8.5 seconds, has a top speed of 95mph, and can go 150 miles on a full charge.    Personally, I’m excited to witness the cars fascinating launch capability, which may or may not involve a flux capacitor.

takepart by watching Who Killed the Electric Car, and encourage car companies to make the switch, not throw the switch.

Hybrid cars could have some competition from another eco-friendly vehicle, the electric car, in the coming months if Mitsubishi has it’s way. Of course it depends on you, as Mitsubishi plans on brining a only a few of their electric cars to the US to see if there is a viable mass market for them here in the states.

This is pretty exciting considering that there is only one company selling electric cars in the US these days, Tesla. They make the 100,000 dollar Roadster, which is no doubt out of most folks price range. In Japan, Mistubishi’s MiEV, goes for between 45,000-50,000 (not counting a 15,000 government incentive) which seems much more reasonable.

Also getting ready for the electric car market is Nissan and General Motors, who plan on releasing “the volt” in 2010.

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If you want to do a little reading about the oil crisis before you fire up your car and hit the gas, I reccommend heading over to TomDispatch to read Dilip Hiro’s piece called The Current Oil Shock : No Relief in Sight. In it Hiro, author of Blood of the Earth: The Battle for the World’s Vanishing Oil Resources, looks at how the “the present oil shock can’t be compared to the three shocks that preceded it and then explores just where the planet is likely to look in the medium term for energy (and global warming) relief.”

He also explores why it is so important for the West to take charge:

When it comes to energy conservation, there is a far greater opportunity for saving in the affluent societies of the West than anywhere else in the world. An average American uses twice as much oil as a Briton, a Briton twice as much as a Russian, and a Russian eight times as much as an Indian. It was therefore perverse of U.S. energy secretary Sam Bodman to focus on the way the Chinese and Indian governments subsidize oil products to provide relief to their citizens — and to urge their energy ministers to cut those subsidies to ‘reduce demand.’

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Energy reporter for The Economist, Vijay Vaitheeswaran, says that cars are the solution, not the problem, in our battle against global warming. Vaitheeswaran doesn’t think getting Americans to give up their vehicles is the answer, and in fact, says a world without cars would be a a dim, joyless place with much-diminished freedom, mobility, and prosperity.”

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Check out this story on Fred Crane, the mastermind behind the mileage master from ABC News.

In Jacksonville, Fla., a 69-year-old inventor designed a tiny gadget he attaches to his engine to improve his mileage.

“I’ve been getting about 42 [miles per gallon] with this car. On a previous car I had it on, I got 60!” said Fred Crane.

He calls the device the Mileage Master. According to Crane, when you’re going more than 35 mph, you can just flip a switch to cut off fuel to half of the cylinders in your engine.

“I’d like the American public be able to save gas. That’s what I want. I don’t want the oil companies to buy it off from me. They’ll just throw it away,” said Crane.

With the Mileage Master, he claims someone who gets 20 mpg, spending $100 per month, could reduce that bill to as little as $35 a month.

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Cars are expensive - this everyone knows. But which cars are too expensive? Forbes has an article and list to help you with just that. The top 5 overpriced cars are The Dodge Ram, Mercury Grand Marquis, Ford’s F-150, the Dodge Durango and the GMC Envoy.

If you take a look at the slideshow they provide, you’ll notice that all the overpriced vehicles are also large vehicles…All of this talk of people spending tons of money on gaz-guzzling, polluting vehicles makes me wonder one thing..

Who Killed the Electric Car?