Until recently, critics haven’t had to work very hard at making a case against the electric car.

Most of the vehicles in question are small. Almost all either are relatively expensive or figure to be when they finally hit the showroom. With ranges between 40 (Chevy Volt) and 100 miles (Nissan LEAF), you won’t be going very far before you have to stop for a time-consuming charge.

Lately, though, progress is being made, and just how much the times may be changing will be on display at the North American International Auto Show, which opens to the media today in Detroit. (The show’s public run is from Jan. 16-24.)

On its way to Motown, the Tesla Roadster tried to toughen up the image of the electric vehicle. A team of Tesla employees drove the car  from Los Angeles to Michigan, stopping off for promotional appearances (and yes, a charge or two) along the way.

The message: The Roadster (which can go up to 240 miles on a full charge) isn’t just a curiosity; it’s a practical, real-world vehicle.

“It proves the Roadster is tough, durable, and range anxiety is for the weak,” a company spokesman said.

(Of course, that peace of mind is also expensive. While a cheaper model is in the works, the current Roadster lists at about $109,000 — a bit out of the reach of the average consumer.)

Toyota's concept compact hybrid, the FT-CH at the Detroit show

While the technology is still in the embryonic stages, electric is being taken seriously these days, even in staid old Detroit. Some 37,000 square feet of Cobo Center will be devoted to electric car displays.

Volt and LEAF figure to be among the show’s biggest stars.  BMW plans to introduce an electric-powered test vehicle, and Toyota is expected to take the wraps off its latest hybrid plan. Behind the scenes, GM, Nissan and Ford are engaged in improving lithium-ion batteries in order to increase the electric car’s range – generally considered the new breed’s biggest drawback.

With the major players finally getting onboard, electric may not be here just yet, but it surely seems to be coming.

Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by GRN Network

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GM video of Electric Avenue at the North American International Auto Show:

The German government hopes to get one million electric cars on the road by 2020, offering incentives for BMW and Volkswagen to get behind the push. France aims to have twice that many in operation by that same year. Carlos Ghosn, who heads up Nissan and Renault, expects 10 percent of the world’s automobiles to run on electricity before the end of the next decade.

Wait, wait, waiting for the Volt, shown here on a pre-production test drive

Is your good old fashioned gas guzzler going to be nothing more than a noisy, pollution-spewing bad memory by the time 2020 rolls around? That may be a bit overly optimistic, but it doesn’t mean we won’t see a significant move toward a more sustainable, environmentally-friendly kind of personal transportation in the years just ahead.

Before visions of flying cars and quiet, gasoline-free roadsters begin dancing in your head, however, consider this: If history is an indicator, change will not come about quickly or easily.

For several years now, Chevy has been touting the 2011 arrival of Volt, the manufacturer’s first electric plug-in hybrid (it has a small gas engine).

Volt is expected to run up to 40 miles on a single charge, the assumption being that 40 miles will more than cover the average commute. After that, you either have to plug it in or allow a gasoline engine to kick in to keep the battery pack charged. While the company will wait until May, 2010 to set a price tag, industry analysts expect Volt to debut with a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price in the high 30s. Even with the anticipated $7,500 government subsidy, you’re still looking at a $30,000 investment. (This is GM’s second run at an EV; see details of the first here.)

Nissan, meanwhile, plans to roll out its first electric entry in Japan in late 2010. The LEAF can go up to 100 miles on a single charge. Nissan also is being coy about the price, but the company has stressed that it is working on “the world’s first affordable, zero-emission car.”

The Tesla Roadster, an electric car, but not for the masses

If you are ready to go all-electric today, you have an option: The Tesla Roadster. It can reach speeds up to 125 miles per hour and can go more than 240 miles on a single charge. The slight drawback: A sticker price of $109,000, which might explain why only about 900 of them had been sold in the U.S. through the end of 2009.

Tesla Motors has announced, though, that it will be producing a more affordable, family-friendly car, the Model S. The California-based car company is taking reservations for the four-door Model S, which clocks in at a base price of $49,900.  So it’s maybe not for every family.

Hybrids? Plug-in hybrids? All-Electric (EV) cars? Or, the same, old stuff we’ve been driving all these years?

Who should prevail by the time 2020 arrives?

That depends on your vantage point regarding the debate:

• If you are concerned about emissions and global warming and saving the planet, electric is probably the best choice, even if it isn’t without problems.
• Weighing cost, longer-range capabilities and a more developed technology against environmental concerns? The electric-gas hybrid may be the best compromise.
• Own an oil company? Well, what’s so wrong with those darn Hummers, anyway?

With more people thinking about greenhouse emissions and general air quality issues, major players in the automobile industry are at least looking at getting away from the conventional internal combustion engine, whether they are happy about it or not. And, while there is no question that an electric car is more environmentally friendly than any of its rivals, several obstacles stand in the way of becoming a nation of electricity-powered shoppers, commuters and soccer moms.

The LEAF, an all-electric vehicle charges to market...ahead of the charging network

Making electric cars viable will require an extensive new infrastructure. As Toyota President Akio Toyoda told the Japan National Press Club, “What electric cars have a problem with is lack of a network of charging facilities like the current gasoline stations.”

If those power stations are built, how will they work? Early estimates on Volt anticipate a charge time of up to six hours when plugged into a 110 volt outlet, about half as much if you bump up to 220. Either way, that’s quite a bit of time to kill while someone is juicing your ride. Others suggest stations where you would switch out batteries, but developing smaller batteries will have to happen first.

Some companies are moving ahead, despite the uncertainties. California-based Coulomb Technologies has already opened four charging stations in the San Francisco Bay Area in addition to pilot ventures in Iowa, Denmark and Vancouver.

Elsewhere, car manufacturers are partnering to help insure a market for the new technology.  In Arizona, alternative energy company ECOtality is working with Nissan to provide charging stations in the Tucson area. In Oregon, both Nissan and Mitsubishi have announced initiatives to partner with the state to establish a network there.

One reason people keep driving old-fashioned, CO2-spewing automobiles is that it’s awfully easy to find a gas station.

The LEAF on display in Phoenix (Photo: Clint Williams)

Widespread adoption of emission-free plug-in electric cars – the kind that run solely on battery power – has been hampered by a classic chicken-or-the-egg conundrum: no wants to drive an electric car until charging stations are widespread and no one wants to build a network of convenient charging stations until there are enough electric cars on the road to make it pay off.

The EV Project directed by ECOtality, Inc. of Scottsdale, Arizona is bringing the chickens and the eggs to key markets in five states by the end of the year. This summer more than 6,500 public charging stations – the chicken, or is it the egg? – will pop up in public and commercial locations in Phoenix, Tucson, San Diego, Portland, Eugene, Salem, Corvallis, Seattle, Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga. In December, Nissan LEAF zero-emission electric vehicles will be on dealer showroom floors in those cities ahead of a widespread launch in 2011.

Partners in the project emphasize that this is a practical alternative to the internal-combustion engine, starting with the LEAF.

“The LEAF is a real-world vehicle,” says Paul Hawson of the Nissan LEAF product planning team. “You can get a ticket in it, the top speed is 90 mph.”

The LEAF seats five adults and has a range of 100 miles. The average driver travels about 40 miles a day, Hawson says (according to government statistics). The car has zero emissions and saves as much as 436 gallons of gasoline a year, assuming 12,000 miles a year.

“This vehicle was designed in the wind tunnel,” says Hawson, noting the design details to reduce drag: a flat, smooth undercarriage, headlamps that funnel the air.

The car’s headlights and taillights use LED lamps to reduce the draw on the battery bank. And you can run the air-conditioner, although heavy use will reduce the range 10 or 20 miles.

Nissan officials say pricing will be announced this spring and it is expected to be competitive with the top of the lineToyota Prius, which has a sticker price of about $27,000. Owners would qualify for a $7,500 federal tax credit, lowering the real total cost. (Follow LEAF developments by signing up for email alerts.)

The LEAF will have a cutting-edge navigation system as standard equipment, Hawson says. The map on the display screen will have a halo circling the “you-are-here” icon showing the current range of the car.

The location of public charging stations will be displayed on the navigation screen.

Another standard feature: remote access. Hawson says LEAF owners will be able to send commands to the car using the Internet or a wireless telephone. A driver, for example, could turn on the air conditioning of a car plugged into a charging station in a hot parking lot, cooling the interior before driving off.

Test driving Nissan's LEAF at Phoenix event (Photo: Clint Williams)

The first 4,700 LEAF owners in the test markets will get home charging stations installed for free as part of The EV Project. The EV Project will collect and analyze data from the home and public charging stations to characterize vehicle use in diverse topographic and climatic conditions.

Charging the car at home will take four to six hours and cost 50 cents to $1.50 a day, depending on local utility rates.

Operating costs of the LEAF compare favorably to even the most efficient hybrids, Hawson says. If you’re paying 11 cents/kilowatt hour, driving 100 miles will cost about $2.75. At $3 a gallon, it would take $6 of gasoline to travel that same 100 miles in a hybrid.

The EV project will install 260 fast-charge systems in the test markets.

“The fast charge stations provide a meaningful charge in 15 minutes,” says Colin Read, vice president of corporate development at ECOtality.

That 15 minute charge will add 80 miles to the car’s range, Read adds.

How drivers pay for power at public charging stations will vary from market to market, Read says. In some cases, a shopping mall or coffee shop may provide free charging stations to attract customers. Drivers may get a swipe card that allows them to buy electricity through their home account.

“All the electricity has to be paid for,” Read says. “We can’t depend on government handouts for infrastructure.”

A government grant is priming the pump, however. As part of the federal economic stimulus package passed in early 2009, Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), a subsidiary of ECOtality, Inc. was awarded a $99.8 million grant last August from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The EV Project is expecting to create 750 jobs by 2012.

The Nissan LEAF (Photo: Nissan)

From Green Right Now Reports

Nissan North America said it will debut the LEAF zero-emission, all-electric car in Los Angeles on Nov. 13. After Los Angeles, the five-passenger, five-door, gasoline-free car will go on a nationwide tour in the coming months.

The Nissan LEAF Zero Emission Tour will stop in 22 cities, in 11 states, the District of Columbia, and Vancouver, Canada, offering the opportunity for interested drivers, media, civic partners, businesses and university students to learn more about the Nissan LEAF and the benefits of zero-emission driving.

Get updates on the final schedule and sign up for more information at www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car.

Here are the scheduled stops for the Nissan LEAF:

Southern California

• Los Angeles: Nov. 13-17
• Orange County: Nov. 18
• San Diego: Nov. 19-21

Northern California

• Berkeley/Walnut Creek: Nov. 23-24
• San Francisco: Nov. 25-29
• Santa Rosa: Dec. 1
• Sacramento: Dec. 1
• San Jose: Dec. 3-6

Pacific Northwest

• Seattle: Dec. 8-12
• Vancouver, Canada: Dec. 14-15
• Portland, Ore.: Dec. 17-23

Southwest

• Phoenix/Tucson: Dec. 30-Jan. 5
• Las Vegas: Jan. 6

Midwest/East Coast

• Detroit: Jan. 11-13
• Knoxville/Chattanooga, Tenn.: Jan. 16
• Middle Tennessee: Jan. 19-21
• Washington, D.C.: Jan. 26-28
• Raleigh, N.C.: Jan. 29
• Orlando: Feb. 1-2

Texas

• Houston: Feb. 5-6

New York

• New York City: Feb. 9-14