The Tesla Roadster

California, USA -- Another addition to the GreenMonster's list of electric sports cars is the 2-seat, 2-door roadster, the Tesla Roadster by Tesla Motors.

This highway capable car uses lithium-ion battery technology, which they call ESS (Energy Storage System), has a capacity of 53 KWh of electrical energy when fully charged at 3½ hours using the high power connector which supplies 70 amp, 220 volt electricity. The full charge lets you drive for 244 mi (393 km) before it needs to be plugged again.

This darling accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in under 4 seconds with a top speed of 125 mph (201 km/h) run by a 3-phase, 4-pole AC induction motor licensed from AC Propulsion's EV Power System design which includes a Reductive Charging patent covering integration of the charging electronics with the inverter, thus reducing mass, complexity, and cost. Transmission is a single speed BorgWarner automatic fixed gear.

Officially unveiled to the public on July 19, 2006, in Santa Monica, California, it has delivered its first 100th car in December 2008 and its 200th car in February 2009.

The price is at $109,000 for the 2009 models. A $5000 refundable reservation fee starts the process and locks in price; and additional $55,000 to lock in a production slot and delivery timeframe.

Electric Roadster from Lightning GT

United Kingdom -- The GreenMonster continues its search for electric cars and goes sporty with the Lightning GT from the British Lightning Car Company.

It's a 2-seat convertible roadster capable of highway speeds accelerating at 0 to 97 km/h (60 mph) in 4 seconds with a top speed of 210 km/h (130 mph) run by 4 in-wheel Hi-Pa Drive motors, with 480 kw of power combined, developed by PML Flightlink Ltd. All the power and speed won't be wasted when you step on the brakes as it uses regenerative braking.

The battery system is a 36 kwh NanoSafe Lithium-titanate battery pack developed by American company Altairnano Inc. Charging is achieved in 5-6 hrs using its 6.6kW onboard charger and 10 minutes using a 250kW external fast charger unit. Range 300 km (200 mi) on a full charge.

The impressive body design is made up of carbon fiber and Kevlar composites.

The price is at £120,000 inclusive of VAT as at October 2008 with returnable reservation fee of £3,500 for delivery in 2009 and 2010.

REVA Reveals REVA L-ion -- a Lithium-ion Battery Powered Car

Bangalore, India -- The GreenMonster continues to shop for electric cars around the globe and came across this highway-speed capable car from India called REVA. Reva Electric Car Company (RECC) was said to be the first company worldwide to successfully commercialize electric cars and sell or test market its range of electric cars in 18 countries across Europe and Asia and has the largest deployed fleet of electric cars in the market with over 2,500 EVs on the road that have logged in an estimated 50 million kilometers of user experience.

An announcement was made that the new REVA L-ion, powered by the next generation high-performance lithium-ion batteries will be available this year in May. Lithium-ion batteries will enable to the electric car to charge in 6 hours with an onboard charger and 1 hour with an external charger requiring 3-phase power. Top speed is the same with the REVA i at 80 km/h (50 mph), but the range has increased to 120 km (75 mi) from the 80 km (50 mi) range of the REVA i.

The REVA i, introduced in January 2008 after the discontinued REVA (or G-Wiz in the UK), runs on eight 6-Volt EV lead acid batteries that fully charges in 8 hours (80% in 2.5 hours.) on a 220 Volt, 15 Ampere socket. The standard REVA i model costs about £7,995.

Hmm... how much would the new REVA L-ion be? We'll see.

What will Electric Automobiles and Mobile Phones have in Common?

Los Angeles, California ,USA -- The GreenMonster is shopping for a green car that uses renewable energy that will complement his good looks, his will to emit lesser and lesser, if not zero, pollution, gain energy efficiency, and independence, not just on the road, but from fossil fuels as well.

A company called BETTER PLACE, with Shai Agassi as its founder and CEO, gears itself to provide an electric car infrastructure or network, in places powered by renewable energy, where people can affordably and conveniently charge or switch batteries -- to free us from expensive fossil fuels.

The BETTER PLACE business model is like that of cellular networks and mobile phones. We pay cellular network providers for minute-by-minute access to cell towers connected together in cellular networks. We buy the mobile phone we want or sometimes it's thrown in for free depending on the mobile phone service's subscription plan we choose.

We just replace the phone with an electric car, replace the cell towers with battery recharge stations, and replace the cellular networks with an electric recharge grid powered by renewable energy. And now we’re buying miles, not minutes.

If and when this electric car infrastructure holds ground, I imagine car manufacturers mass producing their Motorolas, Nokias, and Sony Ericssons at cheap prices and maybe at even much cheaper prices for the end-users by getting financial incentives from the electric car infrastructure provider or from the government to drive more users or drivers to the network.

Within their proposed infrastructure is the BETTER PLACE operating system which they call AutOS, which has GPS and power monitor that communicates between the car, the battery, and the grid to guide drivers to the nearest charging station and to manage the electricity the car needs.

I think that this is a liberating idea and a business model that would go a long long way. Israel, Denmark, Australia, California, Hawaii and Canada are some of the governments that made commitments to the installation of this grid.