ELECTRIC CARS

The space-age Aptera might look like something straight out of a futuristic cartoon, but executives at the California start-up behind the electric vehicle say its time is now.

Mazda Motor Corp said it expects a single digit increase in March U.S. sales, lagging the projected growth in industry sales, after cutting back on sales to rental companies and incentives to consumers.

Japan's Nissan Motor Co will begin building the Leaf electric compact car at its Sunderland plant from early 2013, making Britain its third global production site for the zero-emission vehicle.

Carmakers emerging from a savage crisis hope to lure drivers to electric cars in the coming years, but cost, range and safety considerations mean many are still cautious, holding back from predicting an early sales boom.

U.S. electric sports carmaker Tesla Motors will partner with Japan's Panasonic Corp for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries, the companies said on Thursday.

General Motors Co sees limited sales of electric cars over the next five years and will ramp up output of its much-anticipated Volt plug-in cautiously, the automaker's vice-chairman said on Wednesday.

Toyota Motor Corp is considering working with affiliate Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd to develop its electric vehicles, slated for a global launch in 2012, the Mainichi newspaper said on Tuesday.

A world where electric cars running on clean power is getting closer, corporate leaders said on Thursday, the day after an electric car battery maker raised much more than expected in an initial public offering.

General Motors Co's [GM.UL] Indian unit is partnering local firm Reva Electric Car Co to develop electric vehicles for the Indian market, and hopes to start selling a battery-operated small car within a year.

Italian vehicle group Fiat SpA's (FIA.MI) Magneti Marelli unit has signed an agreement with Italy's FAAM SpA for development, production and sale of lithium batteries, Fiat said on Monday.

Italy's Fiat SpA (FIA.MI) needs to find a better route into the booming Asian car markets if it wants to catch its competitors and seal a place near the front of the grid of global automakers.

U.S. electric car start-up Tesla Motors Inc said on Tuesday that it is opening a new manufacturing facility that will produce powertrain components for its vehicles.

After General Motors said today its plug in electric car, the Chevy Volt, would have a range of 230 miles per gallon in city driving, interest grew about whether its price tag of around $40,000 will truly bring savings to consumers savings on a daily basis.

As makers from Tesla to Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) jockey to dominate the next generation electric-powered cars, a fight on which companies will control the lucrative market to fuel them is just getting started.

LG Chem Ltd will have the capacity to build battery cells that could support up to 250,000 electric vehicles in the United States when its first U.S. plant becomes fully operational in 2013, the chief of the U.S. unit said on Thursday.

U.S. based battery maker EnerDel and electric car maker Think Global said today Japan Postal Service is testing an electric drivetrain developed by the companies which can convert gasoline-powered delivery trucks to electric vehicles.

Electric car sales could jump to 86 percent of U.S. light vehicle sales in 2030 if consumers don't have to buy batteries themselves, according to a University of California, Berkeley study to be released on Monday.

Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. confirmed that it will build electric vehicles in the United States on a mass scale, beginning in 2011 or 2012 just ahead of an announcement from the U.S. Department of Energy granted a $1.6 billion loan to the automaker to produce electric cars and battery packs at its manufacturing complex in Smyrna, Tennessee.

Ford Motor Co and Japan's Nissan Motor Co Ltd will receive nearly $8 billion combined in U.S. government loans to spur development of fuel efficient vehicles, the U.S. Energy Department said on Tuesday.

The U.S. government plans to disclose that Ford Motor Co , Tesla Motors Inc and Nissan Motor Co will be among the beneficiaries of a $25 billion loan program created by Congress to help auto makers retool factories for advanced-technology vehicles, the Wall Street Journal said.

Automaker Coda Automotive announced today it has an all-electric sedan ready to enter the U.S. market by 2010.