The trend of the electrocar

I live in the Netherlands but when I visited the US last May I noticed everyone talking about the skyrocketing oil prices. Driving from JFK Airport the taxi driver explained that the gasoline prices have never been this high and that he was wondering whether or not his current rates were profitable. But anyway, in the Netherlands the prices are just always high.

Since the US has a big car-market, car manufacturers see an opportunity here. If people think that the gas prices are to high they would rather not use it, but since there aren't any other options they stick with gasoline. Well, there are a few other options. There's the Toyota Prius, Lexus has got a few models and Honda has an alternative. They are all hybrids which means they use gas and electricity. Then there's also BMW who has a model in their 7-series running on hydrogen. A good start.

Very recently two other car brands announced some new things concerning environmentally friendly cars. First there's Mini, the popular English car that is produced under license of BMW now. In the summer of 2009 an all-electric version will be released. One downside here, the production of the new Mini is limited. But the technology is there so if the demand is huge, who knows?
Secondly the German Smart is going to build the Smart ED. Which is, like the Mini, fully electric. The Smart ED is supposed to be hitting the streets somewhere in 2010. For now there aren't a lot of production details available about the new Smart.

Pretty awesome. Because of the high gas prices car manufacturers are finally (collectively) starting to shift their focus from gasoline to alternative sources of energy.

-jdh