The terms of the agreement between Ford and Seattle are nearly identical to the deal struck up earlier this week with PGE.

Ford and the City of Seattle will work together to develop consumer outreach and education programs on electric cars as well as share information on charging needs and requirements to ensure the electrical grid can support the necessary demand.

The partnership between Ford and the City of Seattle, including municipally owned Seattle City Light, also involves working with the state and local governments around permitting, electric car tax incentives and future legislations or regulations. Continued tax incentives as well as an easy charging station permitting process are both considered keys to electric car acceptance in Seattle and across the country.

With the addition of Portland and Seattle, Ford, like Nissan, is focusing a significant amount of effort into developing the EV infrastructure on western coast.

Ford will launch two all-electric vehicles – the Transit Connect Electric light commercial van in North America in late 2010 and in Europe in 2011, followed by the Focus Electric passenger car in North America in 2011 and Europe in 2012. Two next-generation hybrid electric vehicles and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle follow in North America in 2012 and Europe in 2013.

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Consumers are open to considering an electric car in future, with 42 percent reporting they are likely to follow news reports about them, but overall awareness of the various types of alternative vehicles remains low. While nearly one-third (32 percent) report they are familiar or very familiar with hybrid vehicles, only about one-quarter are familiar with electric-only vehicles.

Of the positives of electric cars, the survey found, more than three-quarters of those surveyed (78 percent) said the vehicle’s ability to run without gasoline is the greatest advantage, followed by less pollution (67 percent), and the lack of need for oil changes and tune-ups (60 percent).

This is tempered though by concerns about running out of battery power on the road (71 percent), lack of charging stations and/or not being able to recharge (66 percent) and limited mileage (59 percent).

“For a new product category, interest in electric vehicles is strong and likely to grow as more vehicles enter the market and consumers become more aware of them,” said Chris Ely, manager of industry analysis for CEA.

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Swinton surveyed 1,200 customers and found that 19% would consider purchasing an electric car as part of the government’s scheme.

From January 2011, under the new ‘Plug-In Car Grant’ scheme motorists in the UK who buy a plug-in electric car will get a grant worth up to £5,000.

The government has earmarked £43 million for the scheme, which means anyone who buys an electric car from next January will get a 25% discount up to a maximum of £5,000.

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Transport secretary, Philip Hammond, confirmed that from next year, motorists will be entitled to a ‘Plug-In Car Grant’ of up to £5,000 when buying a plug-in hybrid, hydrogen fuel-cell or electric car.

The move ends speculation that the grant, proposed by the last government, would be cut as part of the new government’s austerity cutbacks.

Carmakers had been putting pressure on the new government to announce the electric car subsidy and had warned the UK would not be attractive for new technology auto investment without it.

The government has earmarked £43 million for the scheme, which means anyone who buys an electric plug-in car from next January will get a 25% discount up to a maximum of £5,000.

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The bill approved on a 19-4 vote this morning is a scaled-back version of an $11 billion bill first proposed in May.

The legislation from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee also authorizes a $1.5 billion research program to lower the cost of vehicle batteries and connecting them to the electricity grid.

The program, to be run by the Energy Department, would provide electric-car grants to “deployment communities” across the U.S., said Senator Byron Dorgan.

The goal is to put the United States on a path to electrify half the country’s cars and trucks by 2030, which would cut U.S. demand for oil by about one-third.

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The launch of the plug-in vehicles is timed to meet tough regulations, including a new rule in California that will require three percent of an automaker’s sales in the state to be zero-emission vehicles from 2012.

Honda’s President Takanobu Ito also announced application of a lithium-ion battery in the next-generation Civic Hybrid in 2011.

Over the next year and a half, Honda will roll out a battery-electric vehicle demonstration program in the U.S. with participants including Stanford University, Google Inc. and the City of Torrance, Calif.

Torrance will receive a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle for evaluation by the end of 2010, and a battery-electric commuter vehicle will be introduced in the U.S. market in 2012, Honda said in an announcement.

Honda, Japan’s No. 2 automaker, now makes the Civic, Insight and CR-Z hybrids but had not previously given concrete plans for a plug-in or EV.

Japanese rival Nissan has already begun taking orders for its Leaf electric car, which is set to arrive in Japan and the U.S. later this year. Toyota is also planning electric vehicle model for 2012.

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In tests JFE conducted with its “Super-Rapid Charging System” device, Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV electric car, which has a driving range of 160km on a full charge, was able to drive for 80km (50 miles) continuously after a 3-minute charge. A 5-minute charge supplies 70% of battery capacity, making it possible to drive the same EV about 110km, according to JFE.

This range covers the average daily travel distance for almost all passenger cars.

The “Super-Rapid Charging System” device stores power at night-time in a storage battery incorporated in the device. This power is then transferred to a separate special battery, which discharges to the EV almost instantaneously, enabling charging in a short time of only 3 minutes.

JFE also developed a low-cost version of its charger, which doesn’t require a power transformer and therefore costs roughly half the usual amount. Both that device and the high-cost model meet the specifications of the CHAdeMo standard for electric cars that was brought to life by a Tokyo Electric Power Company, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Toyota in March.

JFE’s “Super-Rapid Charging System”should be available in Japan by March 2011.

[source: JFE Engineering]

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RWE plans to set up an extensive charging network in Germany with about 1,000 stations to be set up across Germany by the end of 2010 focused mainly on the Berlin and Ruhr areas. Together with other partners, RWE plans to extend the charging infrastructure to other major cities and regions in Germany shortly thereafter.

Under Nissan’s agreement with RWE, Nissan will supply electric cars to Germany in autumn 2011, starting with the Nissan LEAF compact family car. Renault has already said it will supply electric cars to Germany in the second half of 2011 starting with the Fluence Z.E. sedan and Kangoo Z.E. light commercial car.

Renault and Nissan customers will be offered an affordable RWE e-mobility package, which will include a safe solution for charging cars at home and easy access to the public charging infrastructure.

Separately, the Renault-Nissan Alliance, Yulon-Nissan Motor and Taiwan’s Taichung City entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to promote electric cars.

Studying how to make Taichung City more EV-ready is part of the city’s ongoing commitment to build a sustainable infrastructure that would include supporting a high speed railway and encouraging the use of electric bicycles and motorcycles.

The city is planning to promote the popular use of electric cars while developing supporting policies and structures, which will include using electric cars as official cars, creating an EV promotional team, educating the public about electric cars, creating purchase incentives, building charging stations.

The Alliance has formed partnerships with more than 60 governments, cities and other organizations around the world, including Japan, U.S.A., Europe, Asia and Australia, to advance the deployment of EVs worldwide.

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The carmaker aims to cut the price of its key i-MiEV electric car to 2 million yen by lowering output costs to promote the still-pricey vehicle.

The i-MiEV electric car was priced at 4.59 million yen when it was unveiled last July. In April Mitsubishi has cut the i-MiEV price to 3.98 million yen (US$42,690), a 619,000 yen savings from the previous price. Providing current government incentives remain in place, the i-MiEV is eligible for a 1.14 million yen subsidy, cutting the total cost to 2.84million yen ($30,700). By 2012 the i-MiEV will effectively sell for 2 million yen after factoring in government subsidies, the Nikkei said.

Mass production of lithium ion batteries, the most expensive component in an electric vehicle, will lower costs sharply.

A battery plant coming online in April 2012 will churn out 70,000 units a year, with the mass production cutting battery costs to under 1 million yen per vehicle, down from 2.5 million yen. Mitsubishi Motors will also work with the suppliers of motors, rechargers and other parts to reduce component numbers, making volume production easier.

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More than 25% of the 4,000 drivers surveyed across the U.S., Europe, China and Japan said they would consider buying an electric car. Even if only a small portion follow through on a purchase, Ernst & Young said that would be enough to sell out projected 2010 and 2011 production runs.

Despite substantial interest for new car technologies, the overall awareness level is very low, even for established technologies such as the hybrid powertrain. Moreover, in some markets, natural gas cars are better known than PHEVs.

The majority of respondents will not consider a PHEV or electric car until they are well-established in the marketplace.

Survey findings

• Between 7% and 37% of respondents in the developed markets surveyed (all except China) are willing to consider the purchase of a PHEV or electric car as soon as it is available. When considered in terms of the total number of cars in service, these responses are indicative of relatively high volumes.

• 60% of respondents in China show a strong interest in purchasing a PHEV or electric car — nearly five times that of the US, Germany, UK and Japan, which also potentially represents significant volumes.

• 62% of respondents have never heard of PHEV technology or have heard of it but don’t know what it is.

• 40% of respondents have never heard of electric car technology or have heard of it but don’t know what it is.

• More than 60% of respondents say they are not likely to buy a PHEV or electric car until it is well established in the market, highlighting the importance of successful launches among the potential early adopters and sharing these success stories in distinct markets.

• Fuel savings is the most important favorable factor encouraging the purchase of a PHEV or electric car. Other factors, such as environmental impact and government incentives, are not nearly as significant to respondents.

• Battery driving range, access to charging stations and car price are the factors that make our survey respondents most hesitant to purchase PHEVs or electric cars. Several other factors such as performance and handling, reliability, and lack of clear understanding of cost advantage play an important role with various levels of significance across the markets surveyed.

• The vast majority of respondents would prefer purchasing a PHEV or electric car over leasing. Respondents from Europe are slightly more favorable to leasing.

• There is a clear range anxiety among respondents, as 60% believe a battery driving range of less than 100 miles is unacceptable, whereas only 2% drive more than 100 miles a day.

• Willingness to pay for charging stations in their respective communities is higher among respondents than their interest for purchasing PHEVs or electric cars.

• Among the markets surveyed, Japan has the lowest interest for PHEVs or electric cars, with only 7% potential early adopters.

Survey demographics:
Of the 4,000 respondents interviewed:

• 1,000 were from the US, 1,000 from Europe (equally split between France, UK, Germany and

Italy), 1,000 from China and 1,000 from Japan

• 92% drive less than 50 miles a day

• 83% paid less than $35,000 for their car

• 78% drive less than 30 miles a day

• 4% paid more than $45,000 for their car

• 2% drive more than 100 miles a day

[source: Ernst & Young - pdf file]

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