On the GreenBeat: Think’s electric car gets recalled, Khosla bets against lithium-ion car batteries

Here’s the latest action we’re following today on the GreenBeat:

Think City electric car recalled — The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has recalled 39 of the 2011 Think City two-seater electric cars (pictured), Green Car Reports writes. Sixteen of the models have an issue with a seatbelt missing the component to properly hold a child’s seat, while 23 may have inadequate defroster systems. The recall calls for the removal and replacement of the insufficient parts.

Khosla predicts disruptive new energy sources — Cleantech venture capitalist Vinod Khosla recently told an audience that he doesn’t believe there will be a lithium ion battery by 2025 because there isn’t enough available lithium in the world to power the batteries needed for electric vehicles. He’s also betting that a cheaper alternative to the silicon-based solar cell will have emerged by that time, Forbes reports.

Power-One opens plant in Phoenix — The facility is the first North American manufacturing plant for Power-One, the second-largest power inverter maker in the world. Inverters are a key part of renewable energy, converting the direct current (DC) energy generated by solar panels and wind turbines into the alternating current (AC) electricity for the grid. The plant will reach a capacity of 1 gigawatt in production by the end of the year.

Control4 lands NV Energy deal for home energy management-– Control4 will deploy its home energy management devices as part of a smart grid project for Nevada utility NV Energy. The devices (example pictured, right) will allow NV Energy to manage residential energy load and in particular deploy demand response solutions on a large scale. Demand response offerings allow residents to opt into programs to earn rebates for dialing back electricity use during peak load times.

Solar player Heliovolt raises $8.5 million in debt — The Austin, Tex.-based thin-film solar panel manufacturing startup has $1.5 million to go before it reaches its $10 million goal, according to an SEC filing. The company plans to begin shipping modules in the second quarter of this year, Earth2Tech reports.

OriginOil lands deal with MBD Energy — Carbon capture company MBD Energy said it will test out OriginOil’s algae oil extraction system at three of Australia’s largest coal-fired power plants. The pilots will take concentrated CO2 emissions to produce oil-rich algae via MBD’s technology. OriginOil’s technology will then harvest algae oil and biomass from the mix, which can be used to produce oil and petroleum-based products like plastics. If all goes well, the projects have the potential to grow to commercial-scale.