While the sight of this lilliputian on four wheels buzzing around may lighten almost everyone’s mood, the all-electric Reva car is, unfortunately, failing to change both mind-sets and the industry. Since it’s launch in India in 2001, the car has produced close to just 4,000 Reva cars from its Bangalore plant, which has an annual production capacity of 6,000. Of the cars produced, nearly 85 per cent have been exported. While Tata Motors and General Motors have earlier announced electric variants for their Nano and Spark models respectively, and reports of almost every major auto manufacturer producing an electric vehicle (EV) prototype, it will take years for demand to pick up.

[Source & read more: Indian Express]

There’s been a lot of discussion and consideration given to the topic of public charging stations for electric vehicles. The old “chicken verses egg” conundrum is called to mind as auto makers and politicians seem to fumble around without really knowing what to do and where to allocate funds.

Will people buy electric cars without a complex network of public charging points available? Why should we invest in these charging stations if there really are aren’t any electric cars on the roads yet? Shouldn’t we wait to see if the public actually buys these cars before we spend tens of millions of dollars to make sure they can charge them?

[Source & read more: All Cars Electric]

Enterprise Rent-A-Car said Tuesday it plans to buy 500 electric cars from Nissan starting in January 2011.

Enterprise plans to spend an estimated $12.8 million on its new electric vehicle fleet. Each Nissan LEAF retails for about $33,000, but Enterprise will receive a $7,500 federal tax credit per vehicle, said Lisa Martini, a company spokeswoman.

The St. Louis-based car rental giant said it will initially roll out the Nissan LEAFs, which use no gasoline and do not produce greenhouse gas emissions, in eight markets: Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.; Knoxville and Nashville, Tenn.; San Diego; Los Angeles; Portland, Ore.; and Seattle.

[Source & read more: St. Louis Business Journal]

Coulomb Technologies, one of the most successful companies rolling out rapid roadside charging stations for the new generation of plug-in vehicles debuting this year, announced today that it has adapted its technology for use in the home.

Interestingly, residential chargers are where many of Coulomb’s competitors have started out — just look at General Electric’s recent launch of its WattStation charger, capable of juicing up a battery in four to six hours. It looks like Coulomb wants to be able to claim market share on all tiers of this emerging market.

[Source & read more: GreenBeat]