The hype these days when it comes to transportation is about the new South African Electric Car that impressed everyone during the Paris Motor Show. Dubbed The Joule, the six-passengers car is incredible. It goes 250 miles with one charge, does 0 to 60 in like 4.8seconds and is estimated to cost some from $22,000 to $28,000 when released somewhere in 2010.

South Africa’s domestic car market won something, when Keith Helfet joined the staff at Optimal Energy after designing Jaguar’s F-type concept and the XK220. His experience speaks for itself, and the fact that he’ll use it on the local market is a big advantage.

Back to the Joule, it’s going to be built in South Africa mostly from domestic pieces and will include two potential drivetrains. First one and the most likely to be used, is an electric motor turning the front wheels, while the second option includes individual electric motors turning the rear or all four wheels. For these, it will pack one or two lithium-ion batteries that should keep it running for either 125 or 250 miles.

With a “simple, elegant lines and [a] self assured stance”, with regenerative brakes and “all modern safety features such as side impact protection, ABS and airbags”, I’m pretty sure the Joule will be a hit when released on the market. – via Wired (images copyright : Optimal Energy)

I’m not sure about you, but I must say I wasn’t really happy with how the first models of Prius looked like. But as an environmentalist that I am, I wanted to believe that Toyota is going to make from Prius their best selling vehicle, with a new more attractive design. That didn’t happen and the 2010 Toyota Prius is kinda boring, like its predecessors. At least that’s what I see when I look at these leaked images which have been endorsed already by the Japanese manufacturer. There aren’t many new things between the old one and that one. Should we be disappointed, because it actually brings up something new: more interior room and better fuel economy. via WCF

We have been hearing promises from car manufacturers that we will soon drive fully electric cars, and it seems we are getting closer to seeing those promises come to life. The Tesla, Zap and Six50 are rumored to come out and burn rubber on the streets next year, while GM’s Volt will be a litle slower and will come out a year later.

Nissan is planing also to launch an electric car of their own, by 2010. They recently delighted our eyes at the New York Auto Show with an electric version of their Cube and it seems they EV’s will be made mostly for the US. Why wouldn’t they bring it to South Africa, we don’t know. All we know is that the market would probably buy it …

DetNews

Volkswagen is testing a new electric-engine car that it hopes will be available for consumers in about two years.

The electric engine – TwinDrive – can be powered by gasoline to get more miles out of a charge, um, fill up. And this is different from a hybrid how?

So far, the car is good for about 50km (31 miles), about the distance of a fair training ride on a bicycle.

VW has a long way to catch the Japanese car makers in electric engines, no?

source