Electric Mini Cooper - MINI E

MINI E: All-Electric Plug-In MINI Cooper with 204HP Revealed!

Over the next year or so, BMW will produce around 500 units which will be leased to selected private and corporate customers in the U.S. states of California, New York and New Jersey, giving the Bavarian automaker the chance to evaluate the viability of a full-scale production EV. MINI said that it also considering the possibility of leasing the vehicle in Europe.

The battery can be fully charged through a standard outlet in about eight hours. However, MINI will offer each buyer a wall-box with higher amperage that will be installed in the customer's garage enabling a full recharge in just 2 1/2 hours. The MINI E also features a brake regeneration system that transforms kinetic energy to electricity replenishing the battery. According to BMW Group officials, the lithium battery offers the MINI E a driving range of more than 240km or 150 miles. Read more

Chevrolet Volt - Electric Plug-in Hybrid

The Chevy Volt, due out in 2010, is an Electric Plug-in that will run entirely on electricity. One nice added feature to the Chevy Volt that was not implemented on the old Chevy EV-1 is its small on board gasoline engine that can recharge the battery without plugging it in. This added feature will insure your ability to get home and not be stuck dead in the middle of some unforeseen bumper to bumper traffic. The Chevy Volt is said to go 40 miles before the auxiliary generator is needed to charge the battery.

Not yet confirmed, but Chevy also intends to deliver the Saturn Vue Plug-in Hybrid. The Vue Plug-in won't be as revolutionary as the Volt, but it will probably cost a lot less. (The Volt is expected to cost about $40,000.) For starters, the Vue Plug-in will be an enhancement to an existing vehicle, the Vue Two-mode Hybrid that's expected to go on sale next year.
As planned, the Vue Plug-in will be a parallel hybrid. That means that, like a regular Toyota Prius or Ford Escape Hybrid, it will be powered by a gasoline engine with significant assistance from electric motors
Starting with a full charge, GM expects to have an electric-only range of about 10 miles. GM expects overall fuel economy twice that of any current SUV.

Chrysler's all new Peapod - neighborhood electric vehicle, or NEV

Chrysler Peapod

The car is built on a 102 inch wheelbase with an overall length of 143.6 inches. It is 56.5 inches wide and 70.5 inches tall. For contrast, that's just two inches shorter in overall length than a MINI Cooper with a longer wheelbase. Its turning circle is 32 feet curb-to-curb. Base vehicle weight is estimated to be 1,290 pounds, and with a rated payload capacity of 910 pounds the maximum gross vehicle weight is 2,200 pounds. The Peapod is built on an aluminum spaceframe that's supported by dual A-arm front suspension with coil-over shocks and rack-and-pinion steering.

Buyers will have a choice of either six flooded electrolyte 12-volt lead acid batteries or optional maintenance-free batteries. The Peapod's 72-volt electrical system will have an onboard charger that will top off the batteries in six to eight hours from a standard 110-volt outlet. No details have been released on the electric motor, but the platform will be front-wheel-drive and feature regenerative braking. A full charge will yield approximately 30 miles of range, depending on terrain.

Raser debuted a plug-in hybrid version Hummer H3 that gets 100+ mpg

Utah's Raser Technologies debuted a plug-in hybrid version Hummer H3 that gets 100+ mpg, nearly doubling the 51 mpg of the Toyota Prius in the city. And it goes from 0 to 60 in 8.5 seconds — faster than the smaller Hummer H2 with a V-8 gasoline engine and within the under-10-seconds goal of the next-gen Prius.
As Raser calls it, this "Chevy Volt on steroids" comes with a 260-horsepower 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder EcoTech engine that drives a powerful 100-kilowatt generator that recharges its 600 pounds of lithium-ion battery packs. Those batteries are the bugbear of hybrids because they're bulky and heavy. But when you've got a Hummer H3, you've got the room.
With a range of 400 miles, this green Hummer will go 40 miles on electricity only, well within the typical seven-mile drive of most Americans.