Start-Ups Race To Produce Green Cars

Wall Street Journal:

Spurred by the belief that the market for fuel-efficient vehicles is about to take off, a slew of tiny car companies is springing up in Europe and the U.S. They are racing to produce the next "green" car, betting that soaring demand will allow them to survive alongside the giants of Detroit, Stuttgart and Tokyo.

Most of the upstarts were founded in the last 12 months and have financial backing from venture-capital firms. They are headed by former top engineers and designers from the likes of Germany's Volkswagen AG and storied U.K. racecar builder McLaren. Responding to soaring gasoline prices and a tightening noose of emissions regulations in Europe and the U.S., the companies are working on a new generation of hybrid and electric vehicles.

Many of the green start-ups are hoping to ride the coattails of California-based Tesla Motors Inc. Founded in 2003, Tesla unveiled an electrically powered sports car in 2006. The Tesla roadster went into production last month and has presold the first year's output.

Read the whole story: Wall Street Journal

Comments

[ImmanuelGoldstein]

Look, I'm going to make this as simple as possible Okay?

Green Car = Big Lie.

Pass it on.

[BlackbirdHighway]

Hey loki, go to youtube and search for "car fire". You'll get 15,600 hits. I guess you better give up on those gasoline powered cars too. Best to stick with horses.

[loki]

If they can produce green cars at a price that most Americans can afford, then they will do great. But I dont know about the rest of the Americans, but I for one do not think there are many cars that justify the 25k+ price tags. They are cars. Transportation. Paying tens of thousands is nothing but vanity. They build and sell very nice cars with all the bells and whistles you could ever want for less than 15k all around the world. But in the US, they just wont do it. Like Pharma, its not that they cant do it, its because they wont do it.

[KillTheMessenger]

A Tesla is not a green car. It is a toy for those who have the yacht already.

[loki]

Inst the Tesla the one with the Lithium batter pack? Can you imagine sitting on that batter pack if it goes up in flames like many lithium batteries do these days? Google it, you will see its really common in radio controlled autos and planes, as well as in laptops and even some cell phones.
It could very exciting if a Tesla does it.

[ImmanuelGoldstein]

Indeed the Tesla is a Lotus with an electric engine. It weights1000 lbs. more that the gas powered version thanx to all those batteries.