Starting with their showing at SEMA, Phoenix Motorcars has been making headway on getting their Sport Utility Truck concept car some attention.

What they are claiming:

• 100+ miles per charge
• Speeds of 95 m.p.h. carrying five passengers and full payload
• High torque: 0 to 60 m.p.h. in 10 seconds
• Long battery pack life: 250,000 miles/12+ years
• Off board charger: 10 minutes to recharge to 95% capacity
• On board charger: 6 hours to recharge from 220V plug-in
• California Air Resources Board (CARB)-Certified
• 2 Available configurations; Mid-Size 4-Door Pickup (SUT), Mid-Size SUV

Besides taking a different tack from the other fledgling EV companies by concentrating on a truck platform, this vehicle is special because it looks like it will be the place where the Altair Nanosafe(tm) battery technology will be tested (and hopefully proven).

As I see the trucks delivering things around the university campus where I work in my day job, I often wonder why those suckers have to be dumping fumes on me and the rest of the pedestrians on the walk ways. Somebody has finally answered my prayers! I wonder if I can get campus transportation to take a look at these... [grin]

Smith Electric Vehicles is going to produce a full sized delivery truck that is all electric!

The Smith Newton is powered by four large 278v batteries positioned on the underside of the truck that can propel the vehicle up to 50mph. Fully charged, the vehicle has a range of 130 miles. It can be re-charged on board or through domestic mains or a standard three-phase socket. As well as being zero emission, the Newton’s body panels are built from an ultra light, state-of-the-art fully recyclable composite material manufactured by Omnia. This substantially reduces body weight and increases the payload capacity of 4,000kg.

Some links:

http://www.venturi.fr/

French producers of the Fetish, the Eclectic and the astrolab

http://www.vectrixusa.com/

Producer of a new electric scooter that should be capable of going up to 60 mph with a range of 68 miles.

http://www.tropicaev.org/

Ah what might have been. This site details the story of the demise of Renaissance Motors. They were going to sell the Tropica for $20,000. But it wasn't to be...