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Just a note ahead of time. Some of the cars listed below are only available in certain parts of California and are only available in relatively low numbers.

Pure Electric:

2002 The Nissan Altra EV (pilot?)
2002 Ford Thi!nk City
2002 Toyota Rav4-EV
2002 Lido Motors Lido
2002 Ford Ranger EV (fleet only?)
2002 Nissan HyperMini (pilot only?)
Selectria Force (out of production?)

Hybrids:

2003 Honda Civic Hybrid
2002 Honda Insight
2002 Toyota Prius

Web Sites of Interest:

EV World
US DoE Alternative Fuel Car Buying Guide (many listed)
US DoE Alternative Fuel Vehicle Listing (many listed)
California ZEV Buyers Guide

There is an SULEV rated Honda Accord EX available at dealers in California now, while the Toyota Prius is not yet available (though some dealers are taking orders). The Accord isn't a hybrid and so the milage alone is nothing to write home about, but the emissions (per mile! not per gallon...) are very competitive for everything but CO2.

Some information about Honda's environmental impact can be found here at Honda's official website. A PDF file describing the SULEV spec is available from the transportation website of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The only question is why all the other states are lagging behind California! The technology is out there, and cleaner air benefits everyone.

The Insight, gets only 70mpg, and has less power.

These reasons, in addition to some of the ArsTechnica (What's with this whole 'Ars' thing, anyway?) comments like The car doesn't exactly inspire confidence when taken hard around a bend in the road and The manual transmission is a bit notchy and the clutch is a bit lightweight (feels like a toy actually), are why I'd much rather drive the Lupo. Small VWs kick ass. (Though I now own a big VW.)

This, and you'll find it much easier to find a mechanic with the skills and equipment to diagnose and fix a pure deisel engine (even one as advanced as VW's TDi engines) than one who knows the internals of Honda's hybrid, which means maintenance costs will be lower.

Too bad you can't pick up the Lupo in the States, but you can get its cousin, the Golf, which is an awesome car for its price..

I hate to sound like a VW commercial here, but Honda may have a solution for something that's already been solved, at least in Europe..

I'm an Insight owner, in Northern Virginia. I purchased the car in April.

It is the best car I have ever owned, out of 5 cars total.

My current miles per gallon is 50, I drive primarly in Surburbia, with a little on the highway, and even less in D.C. The car has a 10.8 gallon tank, so I fill-up about every 2 weeks. Other owners have gotten over 72 MPG, depending on traffic, driving conditions, speed, etc.

The car has great pickup, I can peel-out with no problem. I can even get it to peel-out in second sometimes. My max speed is about 95, though others report the car's max speed is 133.

I am about 6 feet tall, the car is comfortable, I think it would be comfortable for taller people also.

I paid about $23k for mine, 9.5% interest financed through the dealer (I will be changing to a credit union soon).

My Insight is #453, I'm hoping to sell it as a collectable in 5 years, after my warrenty is up :)

More info:
Honda Insight eGroups
insightman
Insight Central
Honda

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There is no other explanation for 80+ MPG cars existing but not being marketed or alternative fuel vehicals existing but not being properly marketed, if at all.

Here's the deal I see. First, we don't have the infrastructure, which is covered by other posts here. Second, all of the extra power-sapping stuff we have in cars these days.

Power windows. Air conditioning. Heat. Power seats. Power steering. High power audio systems. Need I go on? People love their cars, people like to drive and commute. Do you really think everyone wants to give up their gas engine, which runs things like your A/C compressor and power steering hydraulics, in favor of an electric-only car that doesn't have any power to spare for air conditioning? I don't think so.

Your electric car doesn't create enough heat to heat a car they way we currently do it, and certainly not enough to run enectric heaters, which just plain suck down an encredible amount of power. Is there enough electricity to spare for power windows? Headlights, if you're driving at night a lot? No, and no again. These cars don't appeal to the general population because of these nice touches, options, and luxuries that we like to have in our cars. However, a fuel cell that puts off a good amount of power could run all kinds of electric compressors, pumps, and whatnot like a modern vehicle. Or a hybird engine that kicks in when the extra power is needed for whatever reason.

It's the V-10 engines that are killing us, not the I-4's and smaller. The Insight uses an I-3 engine, and only has a curb weight of 1878 pounds. Here in America, we're on an SUV craze, with bigger vehicles that weigh more and demand bigger engines to move a 6000 pound vehicle. Give me a 2400 pound Focus with an I-4; less power required to move the thing, uses less gas than a V-10. Think about how much less gas wold be used if there were only cars. 30 MPG is better than 12, even if it isn't a hybird's 60.

Give us a car that's exactly the same as today's cars in every way except in what's under the hood. Give us our climate control and a million power accessories. Build the infrastructure that we need to run a hydrogen based fuel cell vehicle, or more hybird vehicles. Give us the option of having a hybird engine for no extra cost over a gas engine, or better yet, a discount on the total price for choosing hybird over gas only. People will then start to see these cars as real alternatives, not some toy car lacking major features. But electric-only just isn't any kind of serious alternative to gas engines.

Or maybe not, just because a car isn't a big-ass SUV, which is today's vehicle of choice. Get more people to drive a car first.

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Find a solution that when implemented, will be as cost affective as what it replaced. For instance, don't force everyone to buy a new car which costs two and a half times more than a gasoline powered device and then force them to use a fuel that costs several dollars a gallon and have that same device and fuel get the same mileage as their previous gasoline-powered device.

Hmmm perhaps this Honda might be a solution?
Insight == 60-70MPG Cost: ~$20,000
Beats the hell out of all of the Excursions\Expeditions\Suburbans I keep seeing roaming about suburbia!

Since it's likely to be a long time before the gasoline infrastructure goes away, I recommend looking at hybrid gasoline-electric cars. These cars run entirely on regular gasoline; they don't need to be hooked up to an external electric system. They store up extra energy (that a regular car wastes) in batteries, and use this energy later to save gasoline. These cars have the range of a regular car, unlike pure electric vehicles.

Two commericially available hybrid cars are the Honda Insight, and the Toyoto Pruis.

If you get one of these cars, you'll save a fortune on gas while helping to preserve the environment.

I recently purchased a Honda Insight, from Fairfax Honda, Fairfax, Virginia. Don't buy anything from them.

The Insight is the first Hybrid vehicle released in the U.S.

The car has a 3-cylindar VTEC engine, with motor assist, for accelerating. It has regenerative braking, to charge the battery.

I never need to plug it in, and I fill the gas tank every 2 weeks. Milage listed by Honda is 61 City 72 Highway! I get about 50, but other owners have gotten up to 80.

More info:
http://www.honda2000.com/insight
http://www.insightman.com
http://www.insightcentral.com/


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Warning: this may sound like an ad.

I understand that there are alternative fuel sources available; but they're not widespred. Yet. When they do become widespred, I'll be the first one to own them; but I don't enjoy the idea of limiting my driving radius based on location of fuel. But there's alternatives AVAILABLE TODAY - mainly, gas/electric hybrids.

They still burn gas - but they can get about three times the milage. The average milage of the Honda Insight is 65mpg (61city/70hwy)- and can get up to 90+ under the right conditions. Can you imagine going 650 miles on a tank of gas?

I'm not real sure how many other hybrids are available, but they few I've seen look pretty bad. You can get a paint job for about $100, but... and they only seem to come in two-door varieties. The MSRP w/ AC is ~US$20K, which is a little pricey. But considering gas prices around here ($1.65/gal for regular, greater D.C. area), and the current rising trend, I think it's worth it.

more about the Insight

-lw

Go hybrid. The Honda Insite uses a small effecient gas powered engine to charge the batteries it uses to go.

One small problem, it costs $19000 right now.

Why wait until 2007? Check out the Honda Insight or Toyota Prius (no link b/c of dumb javascript site, but just search for "prius"). Both of these are hybrid gas/electric cars out TODAY that get > 60 mpg for *city driving* (~70 for highway). No chargers or special equipment required. Handles just like a regular car, including acceleration.
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Ok. How small can you get a hybrid engine? You know - one of those new ones like they used for the new Honda Insight.

Is it possible to get a version of it small enough to fit in a back pack? Can you silence it?

I'm sure it doesn't have to be completely quiet.

At least not all the time. Just set it up so you can run off of battery some of the time. The problem with that is, DC motors are much larger and heavier. You could always use an AC generator on an engine or turbine. The problem is how?

Maybe you can set up a highly efficientelectrolysis reaction. That would allow you to create Oxygen for breathing and Hydrogen for burning. (I'm hoping that there is a safer way than the Hindenberg for storing H2 now.)

Power is definitely the problem. If that can be solved, I've already been looking into Servos. They can be activated into 2 different configurations - speed and power. Servo amplifiers for speed and servo reducers for power. Not as fast, but a buttload more strength.

Just a few thoughts.

...that are on the road now.

The Honda Insight is a 70 mpg gas/electric hybrid that has won the Sierra Club's Excellence in Environmental Engineering Award. Base model MSRP is $18,880. You can read Carpoint's review of the Insight here.

The Toyota Prius is a 66 mpg gas/electric hybrid that has received the United Nations Environmental Protection Award. It has been available in Japan for about two years now, and is scheduled to be released in the US sometime this year. Toyota's site doesn't currently list the MSRP, but it sold in Japan for about $16,500 USD. There is a review of the Prius at TopGear.

Anyone out there get their hands on a Honda Insight????

Car is only slightly electric, it runs mostly on its gas engine, and gets an assist from the electric on hills and when accelerating.

Idonknow $8,000 more than a civic hatchback and only twice the gas mileage (at $1.60 a gallon it would take 400,000 miles to recoup your investment).

I'd have to be a lil greener to pony up to that LEV table.

I like the item on cars however, I just got a new car and it seems to be a GeekMagnet(tm). Its the Honda S2000 So I heartly reccomend it for any geek in your life.

Flying down the 280 and surfing the white space,

Mark

www.hpshopping.com