Australia and New Zealand

In 2008 Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 started producing its first commercial all-electric vehicle. Originally called the Blade Runner, its name was changed to Electron, and is already being exported to New Zealand with one purchased by the Environment Minister Dr. Nick Smith. The Electron is based on the Hyundai Getz chassis and has proven popular with government car pools.

Canada

British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 is the only place where it is legal to drive a LSV electric car on public roads, although it also requires low speed warning marking and flashing lights. Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 is allowing LSVs in a three year pilot project. These cars will not be allowed on the highway, but will be allowed on city streets.

China

The Chinese government adopted a plan with the goal of turning the country into one of the leaders of all-electric and hybrid vehicle

Hybrid vehicle

A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that uses two or more distinct power sources to move the vehicle. The term most commonly refers to hybrid electric vehicles , which combine an internal combustion engine and one or more electric motors.-Power:...

s by 2012. The government's intention is to create a world-leading industry that will produce jobs and exports, and to reduce urban pollution and its oil dependence. However, a study found that even though local air pollution would be reduced by replacing a gasoline car with a similar-size electric car, it would reduce greenhouse gas

Greenhouse gas

A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...

 emissions by only 19%, as China uses coal for 75% of its electricity production. A 19% reduction is, however, a substantial reduction and all cars being electric would be a larger incentive not only for more investment in renewable electricity generation, but also make a home solar system more economical.

The government is providing subsidies for electric car research and also subsidies of up to $8,800 US for each hybrid or all-electric vehicle purchased by taxi fleets and local government agencies in 13 Chinese cities. Electricity utilities have been ordered to set up electric car charging station

Charging station

An electric vehicle charging station, also called EV charging station, electric recharging point, charging point and EVSE , is an element in an infrastructure that supplies electric energy for the recharging of electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric-gasoline vehicles) or semi-static and mobile...

s in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

 and Tianjin

Tianjin

' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...

. China wants to raise its annual production capacity to 500,000 hybrid or all-electric cars and buses by the end of 2011, from 2,100 in 2008.

As intercity driving is rare in China, electric cars provide several practical advantages because commutes are fairly short and at low speeds due to traffic congestion. These particular local conditions make the range limitation of all-electric cars less of a problem, especially as the latest Chinese models have a top speed of 100 kilometre per hour and a range of 200 km (124.3 mi) between charges.

As of May 2010, Chinese automakers have developed at least 10 models of high-speed, all-electric cars with plans for volume production.

Croatia

A small city car

City car

A city car is a small car intended for use primarily in an urban area.City cars are sold worldwide and most automotive industry manufacturers have one or two in their line-up. In North-America city cars are often referred to simply as "subcompacts" alongside the superminis. These kind of cars...

 called XD

DOK-ING XD

The DOK-ING XD is a small Croatian three-seat electric city concept car created by DOK-ING. The name XD comes from oddly shaped rear lights and "D" beginning letter of the company's name. XD can travel over 250 km on a single charge with lithium iron phosphate batteries. The car has a low...

 assembled by Croatian company DOK-ING

DOK-ING

DOK-ING d.o.o is a large Croatian producer of unmanned multi-purpose vehicles established in 1992. DOK-ING is also developing a small electric city car called the XD.-Mine Clearance Vehicles:*MV-4*MV-10-International Users:-External links:* *...

. The name XD comes from oddly shaped rear lights ("X" shaped) and "D" beginning letter of the company's name. The XD

DOK-ING XD

The DOK-ING XD is a small Croatian three-seat electric city concept car created by DOK-ING. The name XD comes from oddly shaped rear lights and "D" beginning letter of the company's name. XD can travel over 250 km on a single charge with lithium iron phosphate batteries. The car has a low...

 can travel over 250 km on a single charge with Lithium-ion batteries. Car's base-cost will be only 10.000€. Serial production is predicted to start mid-2012.

Finland

There is a lot of knowledge about electric cars in Finland, with companies such as Valmet Automotive

Valmet Automotive

Valmet Automotive is a Finnish car maker. The majority of company is owned by Metso . Valmet Automotive is a contract manufacturer of specialty automobiles.-Production:...

 (Fisker Karma

Fisker Karma

The Fisker Karma is a plug-in hybrid luxury sports sedan produced by Fisker Automotive and manufactured at Valmet Automotive in Finland. The United States Environmental Protection Agency rated the Karma's combined city/highway fuel economy at equivalent in all-electric mode, and at in...

 and Garia A/S electric golf cart production) and also agreement of Think City car production), Fortum

Fortum

Fortum Oyj is a Finnish publicly listed energy company, which focuses on the Nordic and Baltic countries, Poland and the north-west of Russia. After acquisition of Russian energy company TGC-10 in year 2008, Western Siberia has become an important operating area for Fortum. The head of the company...

 (concept cars and infrastructure), Kabus (hybrid buses; part of Koiviston Auto Oy), BRP Finland (part of Bombardier Recreational Products

Bombardier Recreational Products

Bombardier Recreational Products or BRP is a Canadian company that traces its roots back to the year 1942 when Joseph-Armand Bombardier founded L'Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée in Valcourt in the Eastern Townships, Quebec.In 2003, Bombardier Inc...

), Lynx (snowmobile)

Lynx (snowmobile)

Lynx is originally a Finnish brand of snowmobiles, currently owned by the Canadian company Bombardier Recreational Products.Lynx is a snowmobile brand in Europe and has made many unique inventions in snowmobile technology....

, Patria

Patria (company)

Patria is a Finnish company which produces a wide range of defence, aviation and aerospace technology. It carries on the firearms tradition of Valtion Kivääritehdas and the aerospace tradition of Valtion lentokonetehdas.-Patria Aviation:* NH90* Mini-UAVs...

 (military vehicles), European Batteries (Li-ion battery plant in Varkaus

Varkaus

Varkaus is a Middle-Savonian industrial town and municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Northern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is .The municipality is...

), Finnish Electric Vehicles (battery control systems), ABB, Efore, Vacon

Vacon

Vacon is a manufacturer of variable-speed AC drives, or frequency converters. AC drives can be used to control of the rotation speed of electric motors or to help generate power from renewable sources. Vacon has R&D and production units in Finland, the United States, China and Italy, and sales...

 (electric motor technology production), Ensto (production of charging units), Elcat

Elcat

ELCAT is an battery electric vehicle manufacturer based in Järvenpää, Finland.Elcat Automotive was owned by an electricity producer called Fortum until production decreases in the early 21st century. Elcat began working in 1974 to design electric cars for Nordic climate...

 (electric vehicle production since the 1980s), production of electric car accessories, Suomen Sähköauto Oy (produces small electric cars), Oy AMC Motors Ltd. (produces and designs small electric cars), Raceabout (specialist electric sport car with very few sales), Gemoto skooters from Cabotec, Resonate's Gemini and Janus Scooters, Moto Bella Oy, Axcomotors, Randax, Visedo.

Research related to electric cars is in progress at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is largest multidisciplinary research organisation in Northern Europe. It provides high-end technology solutions and innovation services...

 and Tekes.

Electric Motor Show

Sharing knowledge is also in progress: in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

 the Electric Motor Show wil be held from 10 to 12 September 2010. The show will feature only cars, motorcycles, scooters, mopeds and microcars and components for them. Year 2010 is second year for Helsinki Electric motor show.The plan is to hold the show annually.

Infrastructure

Basic charging infrastructure is already available all over Finland, used for engine pre-warming in the cold winters. Because of its climate – cold winters and warm summers – Finland is considered a convenient "test laboratory" for electric cars and many companies have made field tests in Finland. It has been said in Autobild 08/09 magazine that Fortum is developing the high-speed charging system. With a new kind of three-phase

Three-phase

In electrical engineering, three-phase electric power systems have at least three conductors carrying voltage waveforms that are radians offset in time...

 charging method electric cars can be charged in four minutes. A commercial product should be ready by 2011.

There are also mines and metal refineries for lithium

Lithium

Lithium is a soft, silver-white metal that belongs to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. It is represented by the symbol Li, and it has the atomic number 3. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly...

 alloy in Finland. At the moment there are several mining projects under way such as the Keliber project.

Support organizations

There are several electric car organisations in Finland, such as the Electric Vehicle Association of Finland and Electric Vehicles Finland.

Electric Cars - Now!

There is also a non-commercial electric car conversion organisation called Electric Cars - Now! that converts standard Toyota Corollas into Li-ion battery-powered electric cars. As of August 2009, more than 1,700 pre-orders for conversion Toyotas have been placed. The speciality in the Electric Cars - Now! project is that it is an open source project: anyone can start similar production anywhere they want, the benefits for the customer being open-source spare part coding and so on. The ideas and design are freely available from the Electric Cars - Now! organisation.

France

France's largest energy provider, EDF

Électricité de France

Électricité de France S.A. is the second largest French utility company. Headquartered in Paris, France, with €65.2 billion in revenues in 2010, EDF operates a diverse portfolio of 120,000+ megawatts of generation capacity in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.EDF is one of...

 is currently working with Toyota to develop charging stations throughout France. Toyota is also leasing a fleet of 100 plug-in hybrid vehicle through selected partners in France.

Iceland

2012 - New beginning; A group in Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

 is planning to convert all vehicles in the country to electric by 2012, the first to do so.

Israel

Shai Agassi

Shai Agassi

Shai Agassi is an Israeli entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Better Place, which has developed a model and infrastructure for employing electric cars as an alternative to fossil fuel technology. Agassi was President of the Products and Technology Group at SAP AG...

, CEO

Chief executive officer

A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 of Better Place, has reached agreements with Renault-Nissan and the government to begin the first phases of the company’s efforts to make Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 the world’s first integrated electric car network. Better Place will start importing and distributing Renault's first passenger electric vehicle - the Fluence ZE, five-seat sedan - to Israel in the first half of 2011. The battery for the Fluence ZE can be re-charged by means of a standard charge in four to eight hours or switched for a charged battery in under five minutes.
Better Place, whose aim is to reduce global dependency on oil by creating an infrastructure to support the implementation of a worldwide network of electric vehicles, was started in 2007 with the encouragement of President Shimon Peres

Shimon Peres

GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...

. Israel is considered a viable site for this ground breaking endeavour due to the country’s relatively small size and the fact that approximately 90% of the nation’s car owners drive less than 40 mile a day.

Israel has enacted policies that create a tax differential between zero-emission vehicles and traditional cars, to accelerate the transition to electric cars.

Agassi has designed an infrastructure consisting of 500,000 charging stations and almost 200 battery-exchange stations. In December 2008, Better Place revealed its first plug-in parking lot in Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

. Additionally, in May 2009, the company unveiled its patented battery swap system, which is designed for drivers taking longer road trips who lack the time needed to recharge their own battery.

Better Place has currently opened 17 of the 150,000 charging stations planned for Israel by 2011.

Ireland

In November 2008, the Department of Transport announced the Electric Transport Plan which calls for 10% of all vehicles to be electric by 2020. Government officials reached agreements with French car maker Renault

Renault

Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...

 and its Japanese partner Nissan to boost the use of electric cars. Eamon Ryan

Eamon Ryan

Eamon Ryan is an Irish politician and leader of the Irish Green Party. He was a Teachta Dála for the Dublin South constituency from 2002 to 2011, and served as Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources from 2007 to 2011....

 Ireland's Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has repeatedly emphasised the importance of the electric car within the Irish context. The Electricity Supply Board

Electricity Supply Board

The Electricity Supply Board , is a semi-state electricity company in Ireland. While historically a monopoly, the ESB now operates as a commercial semi-state concern in a liberalised and competitive market...

 has actively supported this call and sees electric vehicles as a key part of its strategy with regard to wind power in the Republic of Ireland

Wind power in the Republic of Ireland

As of 2011, the Republic of Ireland has an installed wind power capacity of 1,428 megawatts. It is more than three times the total of 495.2 megawatts in 2005. In 2008 alone, the rate of growth was 54.6%, amongst the highest in the world. On July 31, 2009, the output from the country's...

. Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) is currently looking at a number of pilot projects. More information on incentives is expected to come to light in the 2010 Irish Budget

Japan

In mid 2009, Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi Motors

is a multinational automaker headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. In 2009 it was the fifth-largest Japan-based automaker and the 17th-largest in the world measured by production...

 and Subaru

Subaru

; is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Fuji Heavy Industries .Subaru is internationally known for their use of the boxer engine layout popularized in cars by the Volkswagen Beetle and Porsche 911, in most of their vehicles above 1500 cc as well as...

 respectively released electric cars for corporate lease in Japanese market, for price range of approximately US$32,000-34,000 (government tax relief and subsidy inclusive). Mitsubishi plans to extend it for consumer use in 2010. Nissan also announced its plan for the electric car "Leaf

Nissan Leaf

Nissan introduced its first battery electric vehicle, the Nissan Altra at the Los Angeles International Auto Show on 29 December 1997. The Altra EV was produced between 1998 and 2002, only about 200 vehicles were ever produced, and it was mainly used as a fleet vehicle for companies such as...

" in 2010.

Poland

Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 is developing charging station infrastructure in Gdańsk

Gdansk

Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...

, Katowice

Katowice

Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2...

, Kraków

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

, Mielec

Mielec

Mielec is a city in south-eastern Poland with a population of 60,979 inhabitants, as of June 2009. It is located in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship ; previously it was in Rzeszów Voivodeship...

 and Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

. Funds for the project come from the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

. The biggest organization in Poland in the area of electric vehicles is Klaster Green Stream.

The Polish company (3xE - electric cars) offer electric vehicle conversion

Electric vehicle conversion

An electric vehicle conversion is the modification of a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle to electric propulsion, creating an all-electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.-Elements of a conversion:...

s of small city cars such as the Smart ForTwo

Smart Fortwo

The Smart Fortwo is a rear-engined two-seater city car manufactured by Smart GmbH, introduced at the 1998 Paris Motor Show as the Smart City Coupé, and currently in its second generation...

, Citroën C1

Citroën C1

The Citroën C1 is a city car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën since 2005.The C1 was developed as part of the B-Zero project by PSA Peugeot Citroën in a joint-venture with Toyota. The Peugeot 107 is identical to the C1 other than the front bumper and front and rear lights, while the...

, Fiat Panda

Fiat Panda

The Fiat Panda is a city car from the Italian automobile manufacturer Fiat. The first Fiat Panda was introduced in 1980, and was produced until 2003 with only a few changes. It is now sometimes referred to as the "old Panda". The second model, launched in 2003, is sometimes referred to "New Panda"...

, Peugeot 107

Peugeot 107

The Peugeot 107 is a city car produced by French automaker Peugeot since mid 2005.The 107 was developed by the B-Zero project of PSA Peugeot Citroën in a joint-venture with Toyota; the Citroën C1 and Toyota Aygo are badge engineered versions of the same car, although the Aygo has more detail...

, Audi A2

Audi A2

The Audi A2 is a Compact MPV styled five-door four- or five-seat hatchback designed supermini, produced by the German automaker Audi AG from November 1999 to 2005...

. The converted cars have a range of about 100 kilometre, using lithium iron phosphate batteries

Lithium iron phosphate battery

The lithium iron phosphate battery, also called LFP battery, is a type of rechargeable battery, specifically a lithium-ion battery, which uses LiFePO4 as a cathode material.-History:...

 and brushless DC electric motor

Brushless DC electric motor

Brushless DC motors also known as electronically commutated motors are electric motors powered by direct-current electricity and having electronic commutation systems, rather than mechanical commutators and brushes...

s, and the conversion can cost less than €12,000.

Philippines

The first electric car in the country was launched at Silliman University

Silliman University

Silliman University is a private research university located in Dumaguete, Philippines. Established in 1901 as Silliman Institute by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, it was the first American private school to be founded in the country. The University is named after Dr...

 by Insular Technologies in August 2007. In some major urban cities in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 like Makati, E-Jeepneys or Electric Jeepneys are used as well as Electrical Tricycles (Rickshaws). Eagle G-Car a Philippine all-electric car was made available for purchase in the Philippines as low as $33,000-$66,000), the car is made out of fiber glass.
While E-Jeepneys are expected to be available in many other cities in the Philippines and hope to be revolutionize and made into an icon of the Philippines, it is a venture of Renewable Independent Power Producer Inc., which sprang from Greenpeace

Greenpeace

Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...

 and other groups, and Solarco, which in turn is a part of GRIPP.

Portugal

Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 has also reached agreements with French car maker Renault

Renault

Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...

 and its Japanese partner Nissan to boost the use of electric cars by creating a national recharging network.
The aim is to make Portugal one of the first countries to offer drivers nationwide charging stations.

Spain

On 8 September 2009 the Spanish Industry Minister Miguel Sebastián Gascón

Miguel Sebastián Gascón

Miguel Sebastián Gascón is a Spanish politician and economist. He is a current member of the Spanish cabinet serving as Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism.He has been Zapatero's personal economic adviser since 2004...

 announced that in late 2010 electric cars will be relisted in Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

 and Seville

Seville

Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...

 will provide charging points.

United Kingdom

Speaking at the G8

G8

The Group of Eight is a forum, created by France in 1975, for the governments of seven major economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1997, the group added Russia, thus becoming the G8...

 summit in 2008, former British Prime Minister

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

 Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown

James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...

 announced plans for Britain to be at the forefront of a "green car revolution". Mr. Brown suggested that by 2020 all new cars sold in Britain could be electric or hybrid vehicles producing less than 100 gCO2/km.

In preparation for the introduction of mass-produced electric vehicles to Britain's roads, trials of electric cars are taking place from 2009, with further trials in cities across the UK from 2010. Local British councils are being invited to submit bids to become Britain's first "green cities". One example is Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, where a Scottish consortium has been awarded more than £1.8m to run a pilot electric car scheme from 2009-11.

In January 2009, transport secretary Geoff Hoon said the British government would make £250m available for consumer incentives to bring electric cars to market in the UK.
Nissan's Sunderland plant — the largest car factory in the UK — has been granted a £380m EU-backed loan to develop electric car technology. This will potentially generate 4,500 jobs and make the North-East of England a major producer of electric cars.

London mayor Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...

 has also announced plans to deliver 25,000 electric car-charging places across the capital by 2015, in order to make London the "electric car capital of Europe". His target is to get 100,000 electric vehicles on to London's streets. Mr Johnson has also pledged to convert at least 1,000 Greater London Authority

Greater London Authority

The Greater London Authority is the top-tier administrative body for Greater London, England. It consists of a directly elected executive Mayor of London, currently Boris Johnson, and an elected 25-member London Assembly with scrutiny powers...

 fleet vehicles to electric by 2015. There has been criticism that although electric vehicles are available, places to charge them are not.

In April 2009, the UK Government set out plans to offer subsidies of up to £5,000 to encourage them to buy electric or plug-in hybrid cars. However, these subsidies are not expected to be available until there is a "mass market" in "around 2011". In a separate Budget

United Kingdom budget

The United Kingdom budget deals with HM Treasury budgeting the revenues gathered by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and expenditures of public sector departments, in compliance with government policy.Adjustment is achieved with the GDP deflator....

 initiative, in April 2009 the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer

Chancellor of the Exchequer

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...

 Alistair Darling

Alistair Darling

Alistair Maclean Darling is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament since 1987, currently for Edinburgh South West. He served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2007 to 2010...

 detailed a £2,000 subsidy for scrapping a vehicle ten years old or more and buying an electric or hybrid vehicle.

The car scrappage scheme ended up allowing anybody who had owned a car that was 10 years or old, after a certain period of ownership, be scrapped under this scheme - offsetting the possible environmental benefit.

On 30 April 2009, the Electric Car Corporation

Electric Car Corporation

The Electric Car Corporation plc is an electric car manufacturer and dealer based in Mayfair, London with an assembly plant in Flitwick, Bedfordshire. It makes and sells the Citroën C1 ev'ie, an electric car adapted from the Citroën C1...

 put on sale the Citroën C1 ev'ie

Citroën C1 ev'ie

The Citroën C1 ev'ie is an electric car conversion from a standard Citroën C1 by the Electric Car Corporation. The model was first released on 30 April 2009, with a 2010 list price of £19,860 this makes the C1 ev'ie a competitively priced electric car.The Citroën C1 ev'ie's body and fittings are...

, an adapted Citroën C1

Citroën C1

The Citroën C1 is a city car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën since 2005.The C1 was developed as part of the B-Zero project by PSA Peugeot Citroën in a joint-venture with Toyota. The Peugeot 107 is identical to the C1 other than the front bumper and front and rear lights, while the...

 intended for city driving. On that date, it had a list price of £16,850 ($24,989 US).

On 19 November 2009, Andrew Adonis, the Secretary of State for Transport

Secretary of State for Transport

The Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport. The role has had a high turnover as new appointments are blamed for the failures of decades of their predecessors...

, announced a scheme called "Plugged-in-Places", making available £30 million to be shared between three and six cities to investigate further the viability of providing power supply for electric vehicles, and encouraging local government and business to participate and bid for funds. Current bids from areas to be included in the "Plugged in Places" scheme include; London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...

 and North East England.

United States

Since the late 1980s, electric vehicles have been promoted in the US through the use of tax credits. Electric cars are the most common form of what is defined by the California Air Resources Board

California Air Resources Board

The California Air Resources Board, also known as CARB or ARB, is the "clean air agency" in the government of California. Established in 1967 in the Mulford-Carrell Act, combining the Bureau of Air Sanitation and the Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Board, CARB is a department within the...

 (CARB) as zero emission vehicle (ZEV) passenger automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

s, because they produce no emissions while being driven. By 2015, President Obama set a goal for the United States to have one million electric vehicles driving on the road. The CARB had set progressive quotas for sales of ZEVs, but most were withdrawn after lobbying and a lawsuit by auto manufacturers complaining that EVs were economically infeasible due to an alleged "lack of consumer demand". Many of these lobbying influences are discussed in the documentary film Who Killed the Electric Car?

Who Killed the Electric Car?

Who Killed the Electric Car? is a 2006 documentary film that explores the creation, limited commercialization, and subsequent destruction of the battery electric vehicle in the United States, specifically the General Motors EV1 of the mid 1990s...

.

The California program was designed by CARB

California Air Resources Board

The California Air Resources Board, also known as CARB or ARB, is the "clean air agency" in the government of California. Established in 1967 in the Mulford-Carrell Act, combining the Bureau of Air Sanitation and the Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Board, CARB is a department within the...

 to reduce air pollution

Motor vehicle emissions

Motor vehicle emissions are composed of the by-products that comes out of the exhaust systems or other emissions such as gasoline evaporation...

 and not specifically to promote electric vehicles. Under pressure from various manufactures, CARB replaced the zero emissions requirement with a combined requirement of a very small number of ZEVs to promote research and development, and a much larger number of partial zero-emissions vehicle

Partial zero-emissions vehicle

A Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle is a vehicle that has zero evaporative emissions from its fuel system, has a 15-year warranty on its emission-control components, and meets SULEV tailpipe-emission standards....

s (PZEVs), an administrative designation for a super ultra low emissions vehicle (SULEV), which emits about 10% of the pollution of ordinary low emissions vehicles and are also certified for zero evaporative emissions. While effective in reaching the air pollution goals projected for the zero emissions requirement, the market effect was to permit the major manufacturers to quickly terminate their electric car programs and crush the vehicles.
The chart and table are based on Department of Energy tables. (Table V1 and the Historical Data.) Figures for electric vehicles do not include privately owned vehicles, but do include Low-Speed Vehicles (LSVs), defined as "four-wheeled motor vehicles whose top speed is ... 20 mile per hour ... to be used in residential areas, planned communities, industrial sites, and other areas with low density traffic, and low-speed zones."
LSVs, more commonly known as neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs), were defined in 1998 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is an agency of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government, part of the Department of Transportation...

's Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 500, which required safety features such as windshields and seat belts, but not doors or side walls.

Electric Cars in the United States
Year	Number
1992	1,607
1993	1,690
1994	2,224
1995	2,860
1996	3,280
1997	4,453
1998	5,243
1999	6,964
2000	11,830
2001	17,847
2002	33,047
2003	47,485
2004	49,536
2005	51,398
2006	53,526
2007	55,730
2008	56,901
Average annual growth	26.0%