ELECTRIC CARS

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.

A U.S. traffic safety agency has ordered the first recall of Tesla’s electric sports car Roadster over a problem which can cause its rear wheels to come loose.

A new battery switch technology for electric vehicles was demonstrated for the first time in Yokohoma, Japan Tuesday by the company Better Place. The technology consists in a station.

Over the following weeks 450 selected drivers will be driving the first highway legal Mini E car - the all electric zero emissions version of Mini Cooper - as part of a leasing program.

Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Officer, Jereoen van der Veer mocked electric vehicles, saying the cars' technology is a thing of the past and requires too much infrastructure.

Renault unveiled today in France its new prototype electric vehicle, the Kangoo be bop Z.E.

Elon Musk, the Chief Executive of electric automaker Tesla Motors said Tuesday that General Motors should have continued introducing new electric cars after its EV1 models were produced in the 1990s, adding that he hopes that his company’s cars will help spur an electric car revolution.

Nissan North America on Tuesday announced a partnership with the City of Seattle on Wednesday to promote the development of electric car infrastructure, as it plans similar promotions in other cities and regions ahead of its own car launch in 2010.

Auto brand Detroit Electric Holdings Ltd will partner with the Malaysian auto manufacturer Proton Holdings Berhad to produce pure electric sedan vehicles in the U.S., U.K. Europe and China markets due in 2010, the companies said Monday.

Thousands of miles (kilometres) west of Detroit, a California start-up hopes to find a market for a three-wheeled, ultra-efficient, downright odd-looking car among consumers sick of spending their hard-earned cash at the gas pump.

Ford Motor Co. announced Monday plans to introduce its first all-electric vehicle in 2010, a van based on its Transit Connect commercial vehicle platform engineered in Europe.

Nissan Motor Co. will recall 242,720 trucks to be repaired after weather conditions in cold states triggered a problem that could prevent front air bags from deploying in a crash.

General Motors Corp CEO Rick Wagoner boasts about the number of markets where the U.S. automaker is number one. Toyota Motor Corp President Katsuaki Watanabe emphasises where his company trails.