20 December 2010

Yes, you read that right. US Secretary of Energy Dr Steven Chu has predicted (read: revealed with his inside knowledge of what’s going on behind the scenes) that electric cars will be the mainstream on the roads sooner than we think…

"It's not like it's 10 years off," he says.

"It's about 5 years and it could be sooner. Meanwhile the batteries we do have today are soon going to get better by a factor of 2."

So what needs to be done to make this all happen?

Dr Chu says car battery companies have to develop units that last 15 years, improve energy storage capacity by a factor of 5 – 7, and cut costs by about a factor of 3 in order to be make electric cars comparable to cars that run on petrol and diesel.

Since what happens in the USA soon-after trickles down to Australia, we’ll no doubt be driving more electric cars soon!

Check out Australia’s first fully-electric and most eco-friendly car as rated by the Government’s Green Vehicle Guide – the Mitsubishi iMiEV. The iMiEV just scored a 4-star safety rating from crash-test dummy and Australian-specific safety experts ANCAP, this week. (See how safe your car is at www.ancap.com.au)