It appears that the BMW Group will be one of the world’s first manufacturers (if not the first) to deploy a fleet of about five hundred electric vehicles for use in daily traffic. The car, known as the MINI E, is expected to be powered by a 150 kw electric motor and comes equipped with a high-performance rechargeable lithium ion battery pack. The pack will transfer power to the front wheels through a helical gearbox, which is surprisingly quiet while operating and completely free of emissions.

The battery has been specially engineered for use in the automotive industry, and the MINI E will be made available to a select few corporate customers as part of a pilot program. The states of California, New York, and New Jersey are to be the first to participate. The MINI E’s first world premiere will be at the Los Angeles Auto Show, which runs this November on the 19 and 20. The introduction of the MINI E goes a long way in showing that the automaker is taking environmentally friendly vehicles into serious consideration. Putting the MINI E out on the road is hoped to provide vital hands-on experience for the technology. BMW also aims to begin production of other all-electric vehicles in the near future.

The MINI itself draws a maximum charge of 28 kilowatt hours of electricity from the grid. A kilowatt hour translates into about 5.4 miles of driving. With this in mind the MINI E proves to have a number of economic advantages over a traditional gas powered vehicle as well. The battery is heavy duty and delivers its power to the electric motor. Interestingly this gives the MINI a tremendous amount of thrust even when going from a standstill. It’s deceleration is also unique, in that when the driver releases the gas pedal the motor begins to act as a generator. The braking force power is recovered, and the kinetic energy is then fed back into the battery. This also means that it’s often completely unnecessary to use the brake at all, as the vehicle tends to slow itself down rather rapidly.

At present, the biggest concern over the MINI E is the price. Other all-electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt have proven to be quite expensive, and there’s been no word yet as to what this amazing little vehicle will run the average consumer in terms of a price tag.

There’s no question that American automakers have been one of the hardest hit due to rising fuel prices and slowing consumer demand. While everyone in the industry is feeling the pinch, firms like Ford, GM, and Chrysler were particularly vulnerable. Their bread and butter lines, trucks and suvs, have seen the steepest drops in sales as countries around the world sink into a global recession. Most recently, General Motors came out with it’s most recent loss for the quarter at a massive $4.2 billion. Faced with increasingly dire prospects, they’ve appealed to the U.S. Government for help, but should Uncle Sam bail them out, or would it just delay the inevitable?

Investors and analysts alike were most shocked at the state of GM’s cash positions. According to General Motors, it burned through $6.0 billion during the quarter, and warned that it will “approach the minimum amount necessary to operate its business” during the next quarter. It had been thought that the company had enough cash to keep it’s operations running for at least another year.

The company also said that it’s estimated liquidity is likely to fall short of what it needs to continue operating. At this point, the only things that would help improve the firm’s prospects would be a government loan, better access to capital, or a quick turnaround in the economic environment. At present, none of these seem very likely to happen.

At present, it looks like the company is hoping to weather the current downturn with help from the Federal government. General Motors  recently announced that “The company has engaged in discussions with various U.S. federal government agencies and congressional leaders about the … the need for immediate government funding support given the economic and credit crisis and its impact on the industry, including consumers, dealers, suppliers and manufacturers.” Basically without cash, they’re going to go under, and one of the few lenders out there that are willing to help is the US government.

With the entire industry faltering (Toyota recently announced that its third quarter earnings had plunged 70%, and it slashed its fiscal-year outlook by 50%), one has to wonder whether GM will be able to survive over the long run, with or without government help.

When the average consumer considers purchasing an environmentally friendly car, there are a number of drawbacks, real or imagined, that come to mind. The first is likely to be cost, as hybrid vehicles and other tend to be inherently more expensive than their traditional counterparts for the battery and other technology that they employ in their operation. Yet another tends to be power, or lack thereof. It’s true in many cases that a hybrid or full electric vehicle will not have quite the same propulsion or acceleration power that a more traditional gas powered vehicle possesses. A number of manufacturers have looked at this problem and engineered solutions. The result? There are a number of eco-friendly cars out there that can get from 0 to 60mph faster than a Porsche 911 (I should note this is a standard 911, not a GT2).

The likely hood that the average consumer will need such acceleration speeds is slim to none, but it nonetheless makes the car more marketable, one such vehicle, the Tzero by AC Propulsion, was originally launched in 1997. The newest prototype utilizes lithium-ion batteries and can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds. Of course this is unlikely to see the light of day anytime soon, as commercial plans for the vehicle have been dropped.

If you’re looking for something more mainstream and if you’re thinking of electric cars, Tesla often comes to mind. The Tesla Roadster is an all-electric sports car, and carries a lithium-ion battery pack as well as a 248 hp electric motor (wow!). The Roadster can accelerate from 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds. Hopefully this can help improve Tesla’s dire financial straits, and the firm recently announced ousting it’s CEO and delaying it’s next model’s release.

If you’re looking for something a bit more unique, look no further than the Tango all-electric car. This quirky vehicle looks like someone took a motorcycle and a car and smashed them together, making a rather unusual design, but great acceleration. It can go from 0 to 60 mph in just 4 seconds. Unfortunately it’s also prohibitively expensive and hand built, so I don’t imagine you’ll be seeing Tangos everywhere you go anytime soon.

There of course in lies the problem with many cars that pack this kind of power. It’s entirely possible to design a car that runs on electric that can also pack enough power for rapid acceleration. Doing so in a cost effective manner and releasing enough of them to have any sort of impact on the market however, has proven to be a challenge for any automaker, big or small.

A lot of auto makers out there are trying to take advantage of the green movement. We’ve seen all sorts of new electric and hybrid concepts unveiled, from the incredibly quirky to the sleek and expensive. Citroen, for it’s part, recently confirmed on Wednesday that it was considering putting it’s C-Cactus Concept into production. The Cactus is as unique as it’s name, with an ultra environmentally safe take on the potential for electrically powered vehicles.

One of the more unusual features of the Cactus is that it takes away a lot of “nonessential” features like, say, a dashboard. It was actually first unveiled last year at the Frankfurt Auto Show in 2007, where it met with mixed reviews. The newest model, if put into production, would have the option of a full electric version with a top speed of 70mph and a 100 mile range. It also offers a more traditional loadout with a 1.0-liter gas engine or diesel-electric hybrid.

As I mentioned earlier, the Cactus strives to be incredibly green. The traditional dashboard has been removed, and as a result just about all of the cars functions like climate control, audio, and navigation are mounted on the center console and the steering wheel. The concept model uses just about all the recycled material it can get it’s wheels on, including recycled cork, felt, and leather. The newest iteration of the cactus cots out excess components for a sleeker, more light weight model and a lighter environmental footprint, as well.

The real question on many a consumers mind though is whether Citroen will actually put into production. One Correspondent, Ania Lienert, noted that it could be one of the “most radical electric vehicles on the planet.” From taking a look inside and out myself, I’d be forced to agree. Though I do wonder as to how much such a vehicle would cost. One of the biggest roadblocks to full on electric vehicles becoming main stream is the prohibitive cost in acquiring the car. Take the Volt, for example. GM has managed to develop a full electric with solid range and an attractive design, all of which I’m happy to give them credit for, but at $40,000, it’s unlikely that they’ll sell more than a handful. Even if they did sell more, GM has already admitted that they won’t make much money on the cars sold, making the Volt a great PR piece but hardly a game changer in the automotive market or the ailing balance sheet of General Motors.

News of the imminent release of General Motors electric car has been circulating for some time now. Given the deteriorating conditions of the market for SUVs and Trucks, once GM’s bread and butter, it was obvious that GM needed to step up and deliver something extraordinary to the public. As Rick Wagoner, the company’s CEO said, “The Volt Symbolizes GM’s commitment to the future.” The volt was officially revealed this past Tuesday and should go on sale in 2010, but will it measure up?

Performance wise, the Volt is driven by a large lithium-ion battery pack which runs the length of the car. It’ll take “several” hours to charge, and then it can run up to about 40 miles without any use of gasoline. The Volt will also have about 150 horsepower and a top speed of roughly 100 miles per hour. The car should be able to go from zero to sixty in about nine seconds, which would put it on par with the average modern car. The car itself can be plugged to any ordinary home electrical outlet to charge.

The biggest lure of the Volt is certainly the cost to drive According to GM the Volt should only cost about 2 cents per mile to drive on electricity. In fact the car will cost “less than purchasing a cup of your coffee” to recharge it. For me, the biggest question mark is the actual price of the vehicle. It may use less electricity than a refrigerator, but what if it takes the equivalent of 300 refrigerators to purchase it? Rumors abound that the price of the car will be up there, with some speculations at $40,000. This would put the car out of the grasp of most consumers.

The car that was unveiled looks a bit different from the original, more aggressive concept that was originally released. According to GM, the original angular face of the car simply wasn’t efficient to make it to the final version, since engineers were trying to stretch as many miles as possible on one charge, so drag was important. The Volt will also only be able to seat four people instead of 5 due to the battery pack taking up the space a middle passenger would occupy.

Regardless of any drawbacks, there’s still plenty of buzz surrounding GM’s all-electric vehicle, despite the high costs that will likely be involved. Even then, curiously, GM said it wasn’t looking to make much money on the car, which is odd given the firm’s rather dire financial situation.

Certainly, after Honda’s latest iteration of it’s soon to be flagship hybrid, the Insight (Based of course on it’s original model), one has to wonder if Toyota will be able to keep the coveted Prius on the pedestal spot it’s maintained for so many years now. Already Honda officials are touting the Insight as a “global hybrid” that may be just a concept now but is rapidly gaining notoriety in hype and the public mind.

Talking Price
One of the biggest developments in relation to the new Insight is how much it will cost. Currently, a 2008 Toyota Prius goes for roughly $20,210 – 21,816 invoice price. The Insight, on the other hand, is expected to fetch about $18,500 per car. That’s a significant difference, especially given the fact that the Insight is expected to run at a similar MPG to it’s Toyota counterpart.

Sales and Release
According to Honda, the Insight is expected to go on sale next spring, and expects to sell about 200,000 units, with half of those coming from the United States. While the original Insight suffered from a cramped design that put off a number of potential buyers, the Insight is expected to comfortably seat 5 people. As one commenter so eloquently put it: “If they get 45 mpg, seat 4 comfortably, and sell for $18,500, Honda won’t be able to build them fast enough.” I’m inclined to agree.

Insight Roots
The original Insight did in fact pioneer hybrid technology and certainly fuel efficiency when it was first introduced in December 1999. It was one of the first vehicles to break through the 70 mpg barrier, and was also interesting in the fact that it was only a two-passenger vehicle, which was almost unheard of for a mainstream subcompact. Honda has also been working on alternative fuel sources for it’s cars as well. The Honda Clarity FCX (http://www.hondaclarity.org) was the world’s first EPA-certified hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. In addition the Honda Civic GX, which runs on natural gas, was also recently introduced.

Whatever the case, it appears Honda is living up to it’s “greenest automaker” title originally coined by the Union of Concerned Scientists. The Insight has a lot of buzz going into it’s debut at the Paris auto show on October 2, 2008, and will likely continue to generate hype straight onto it’s release. Toyota will definitely have to be on it’s toes come this spring.