29 electric car makers ready to rule the streets

Some crazy concept cars have emerged since the electric car frenzy hit the market in 2008. Where are they now?

We caught up with 29 electric car manufacturers and developers to find out what they’re doing today. Some are still going strong, some have begun actively producing their cars, and some … well, not every startup can survive.

Most major car companies have begun working on a hybrid electric car or a pure battery-powered electric … Continue Reading

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Elon Musk on starting small, blowing up education and reaching the stars in 3 years (video)

Tesla Motors chief executive Elon Musk was the final keynote speaker at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2011 conference in San Francisco this week. He’s a longtime entrepreneur and one of the co-founders of PayPal, along with Max Levchin and Peter Thiel.

Musk told entrepreneurs at the conference to start smaller companies with lower capital costs instead of jumping straight into a large market (watch the video below). The ante for a car company, for example, is … Continue Reading

Electric car range anxiety evaporates after 3 months

“Range anxiety” for pure battery-powered electric car owners wears off quickly as a driver begins to understand the capabilities and charging patterns of their car, according to a new study by the Technology Strategy Board.

Around 35 percent of electric car owners were concerned about reaching a destination before running out of juice three months after buying a car, compared to 100 percent of car owners when they first bought the electric car, according to … Continue Reading

Extended-range hybrids pick up steam

A clear trend is emerging among electric car manufacturers: Plug-in hybrids are a better near-term bet than purely battery-powered cars.

Ford today unveiled the latest in its series of electric cars, a plug-in hybrid electric car called the Evos. The car has a battery-powered engine that can travel between 30 and 40 miles before switching over to an engine powered by gasoline. (Drivers can also choose whether they want to power the car solely off … Continue Reading

Ford and Toyota begin work on joint electric car powertrain

Car manufacturers Ford and Toyota announced today that the companies will collaborate on a hybrid-electric car powertrain for sport utility vehicles and light trucks.

Ford and Toyota will jointly develop a rear-wheel drive electric powertrain and then introduce the powertrain in separate vehicle lines for each company. The light trucks and SUVs should arrive sometime later this decade, the companies said in an official announcement.

“The companies are likely looking to reduce cost of the … Continue Reading

Electric car maker Fisker Automotive raising $200M at $2.2B valuation

Electric car manufacturer Fisker Automotive is in the process of raising a $200 million funding round that would value the company at $2.2 billion, according to a report by Fortune.

It would be the company’s third funding round in six months. Fisker Automotive raised $190 million just five months ago to help fund the production of its electric cars. The company finished off a recent $100 million round in May, led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield … Continue Reading

Meet the Cadillac ELR, General Motors’ luxury extended-range electric car

General Motors today unveiled its first luxury extended-range electric vehicle, the Cadillac ELR Coupe. It’s the company’s second extended-range electric car and the third extended-range car unveiled in the past 30 days.

The new high-end vehicle features an electric motor that will travel for about 35 miles when the car’s battery is fully charged. When the battery runs out, the car uses gasoline to power a generator that recharges the battery, extending the distance the … Continue Reading

Has cleantech investing lost its glamour? Khosla Ventures loses two partners

Two partners are leaving storied cleantech investment firm Khosla Ventures, as excitement has started to peter out in the once-buzzing clean technology space.

Khosla Ventures partners Jim Kim and Alex Kinnier have followed former partner Gideon Yu in leaving the cleantech investing firm. The turnover has clouded the future of clean technology investment firms, which are exposed to higher risk and lower returns now that the initial excitement has died down.

“Not unlike most sectors, … Continue Reading

Market tantrum scares cleantech investors

Cleantech companies might not be feeling the sting of today’s market frenzy any worse than the rest of the pack. But for those companies, which typically require massive capital investments, a sustained downturn could crunch down on the sector’s badly-needed cash flow.

A number of prominent investors and sector analysts painted a gloomy picture when contacted by VentureBeat, citing cleantech’s more intense up-front costs.

The NASDAQ composite index fell nearly 7 percent for the day. … Continue Reading

Tesla CEO: Model X unveil coming in December

Tesla Motors will unveil its sport utility electric vehicle sometime in December after finishing up development of an alpha model of the car, chief executive Elon Musk said in the company’s quarterly earnings call today.

The Model X uses the same powertrain and technology as the other electric cars Tesla produces. That helped the company cut the development time for the Model X in half. It also required about a third as much in upfront … Continue Reading

BMW lays down its cards in electric car market

Car manufacturer BMW today unveiled its next wave of electric cars — the i8 sporty hybrid-electric coupe and a smaller i3 electric mini, both of which use a range-extending hybrid electric model.

The i3 is designed as a pure electric car, while the i8 is a high-end electric hybrid sports car similar to the Fisker Karma. BMW is also selling a range-extended version of the i3 that uses gasoline to recharge the battery and extend … Continue Reading

Tesla begins assembling beta models for Model S electric cars

Electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors has begun assembling beta models of its second electric car, the lower-priced Model S sedan (pictured right), the company said.

“We have started assembling the Beta vehicles,” Tesla Motors’ Model S Program Director Jerome Guillen said. ”While most Betas are intended for testing to prepare for production, a few are earmarked for visits to North American Tesla stores later this year.”

The Model S sedan (shown in an image above) … Continue Reading

Check out Ray Lane of Kleiner Perkins’ new ride, the Fisker Karma

Hybrid electric car manufacturer Fisker Automotive delivered its first production model electric car for consumers, the Fisker Karma, to Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Ray Lane (pictured right) on Tuesday.

Fisker Automotive has produced 54 cars and is revving up it production of the high-end luxury electric car. Lane’s Karma marks the first car that was manufactured for consumers and delivered. That means the company might soon be another player in the electric car … Continue Reading

Tesla Motors inks $100M deal with Toyota

Electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors has made a deal to supply Toyota with electric powertrains.

The powertrains, which Tesla uses in its Model S and Tesla Roadster cars will now ship in Toyota’s RAV4 car in a deal that will net the company $100 million, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The powertrain system includes a battery, charging system, inverter, motor, gearbox and associated software that are deployed in Tesla’s … Continue Reading

Psych! Tesla Motors still planning to sell Roadsters

Contrary to earlier reports, electric car maker Tesla Motors will continue making Tesla Roadsters. The company has purchased an additional 100 “glider” chassis from Lotus to manufacture new Tesla Roadster cars, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The filing indicates that Tesla Motors will sell Roadsters through the first half of 2012. Tesla Motors has now purchased a total of 2,500 Lotus Elise chassis from Lotus. The company was planning to … Continue Reading

California electric car rebate program runs dry

A California program that gives hybrid and pure-electric car buyers a rebate between $1,500 and $5,000 has run out of funding for the remainder of the state’s fiscal year ending June 30.

The state of California allocated $7 million last year for rebates to qualified electric car buyers. The popularity of the federally-mandated Cash for Clunkers program sent car buyers out in droves. Spurred on by high gas prices, early adopters were eager to go … Continue Reading

Tesla Motors to stop taking Roadster orders in two months

Electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors will stop taking orders for its high-end electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster, in two months, according to a report by CNNMoney. Instead, Tesla will concentrate on newer models.

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said the company was on track to run out of Roadsters at the end of the year. The electric car maker is still working on its second car, the Model S sedan, which will be geared … Continue Reading