As of now, there is no long-range, affordable, snazzy electric car available in the American market, but behind its factory doors, General Motors has rolled up it sleeves and gotten to work to put the first car featuring all these characteristics on the road by November 2010.

The Chevrolet Volt, as one reader astutely pointed out to me, has green-minded drivers everywhere buzzing. The Volt follows in the low-selling footsteps of the EV1 produced in 1996 (the failure is the subject of 2006 documentary film, Who Killed the Electric Car). But it is a smoothly re-packaged, re-furbished car that will appeal to many consumers this time around, and is one of GM’s top priorities now-with over 200 engineers and 50 designers working solely on the project.

The Volt is sleek, silver, and sporty, with 100 mph top speed and 0 to 60 acceleration in less than eight seconds. It runs entirely gas and emissions free for 40 miles on a battery, after which the battery combustion energy generator kicks in and extends the range an additional …read more of GM Speeding Electric Car to Market here

A Swiss school-teacher, Louis Palmer, stopped by my University earlier this fall in a solar-powered, 100% carbon-neutral car after traveling 300,000 miles and visiting upwards of 40 countries. He undertook his journey around the world to prove that the technology for a zero emissions car is currently available-it just hasn’t been picked up in the world market yet!

Electric cars, which have no tailpipe emissions and are oil-free, are more environmental petroleum cars. Because they get power from the grid, they are not carbon-neutral, but will be if grid-electricity is ever generated renewably. They also have lower fuel costs-recharging the battery is a fraction of gas prices. And, as Palmer demonstrated, the technology is here. So why is it that electric cars- are still such a ‘fringe’ …read more of It’s Electric! here