The EV's are Coming!!

EV's? Didn't we have them back in the 90's, only to be smashed by the Iron Cowboy boots of GM, and then and brushed under the carpet by the oil industry? I was skeptical too, then I saw a commercial on the tv (whilst slogging away on the treadmill at the local gym), and lo and behold there it was, a commercial for the "soon to be released" Nissan Leaf. Sure the name leaves much to be admired, but it is the real thing, not some decaf version, but an actual EV!!
The car itself actually looks pretty cool, something similar to the Toyota Prius. The key point here though is that it will be the first full-scale, widely available, manufactured, and actually commercialized "Zero-Emissions Car" on the market. Chevrolet (who for some reason I thought didn't even exist after last years big 3 Car Company Meltdown) is releasing the mercedes-benzish-looking "Volt," which will definitely appeal to American consumers who can dish out the $40,000 USD to claim one for themselves. In fact I have read elsewhere the Chevy and Nissan are competing to release their car first, but I don't really see it as a competition, you see, the Volt is merely a hybrid (which means carbon emissions, come get your Carbon Monoxide folks). Whilst being a very sexy looking hybrid vehicle, its hardly news, in fact hybrid vehicles have been on the global market since 2003! Hey Chevrolet, ever heard of the Toyota Prius or the Honda Insight??
That aside, the Nissan Leaf is the real deal, and Nissan says it will be priced somewhere between $25,000-35,000 USD, and that it will travel a purported 100 miles on a single charge. Also, the batteries will be leased, but the buyer will own the rest of the car?? I reckon that Nissan is setting it up so that the low-batteries can be taken to a "way-station," (probably at gas stations) where they can be simply swapped for a fully charged battery at no additional cost to the owner, thus allowing one to not have to stop and charge their own batteries every time they start to run low. Many states have been installing charge stations along busy highways as well, these ideally will be 220 VAC outlets or higher as the batteries take longer to charge on the lower current outlets. This will however, lead to another side business of installing home-charging stations. In my opinion, not having to inhale as many noxious (not to mention cancer-inducing) fumes will make it all worth it in the end.
The main take-away point here is that it is finally actually happening! The EV, which always seemed to be "just a few more years away" is going to be here by December this year (that's 2010 for you Einstein's out there). This is huge, and it means that many other car companies are going to be jumping on the band-wagon, assuming of course that the Leaf is a smash-hit, and with the public interest and dominance of the Toyota Prius in recent years, I can see that happening. Check out the links below to see what I am talking about. Nissan Leaf