Hang on - what about the Tesla Roadster?

http://www.teslamotors.com/media/press_room.php?id=841

It's completely electric and does 0-60 mph in 4.0 seconds!

Alex, Norwich,

Green electricity is possible now, we just have to shift government subsidies from coal and oil to other sources of electricity generation. Obviously, nuclear would be the first step. The only 'green' substitute for petroleum cars is biofuels, which directly starve the third world, and are driving basic food prices up everywhere. At least with plug in cars, we have the option, if we can only find the will, to switch to green electricity. If we stay on petroleum, we are not moving forward, we are not moving anywhere.

Jody Simm, Revelstoke, Canada

If I remember the basic physics I was taught in high school, I seem to remember a law which had something to do with "conservation of mass and energy". I have a feeling that, at least for now, the electricity from a plug-in source has to be generated using CO2 generating fuels. I would be more likely to accept this technology if I saw details of the cost in terms of CO2 produced for each unit of energy from the plug-in electricity grid compared to CO2 produced for the same unit using an efficient and self-contained engine.

W. P. Dias, Katy, TX, USA

electric and hybrid cars are a good first step, however the small size, lack of performance, SAFETY, battery disposal, and PRICE are issues that need to be addressed before I trade in my petrol guzzling, oil lubricated, room for 5, and Safe vehicle.

Do any of you feel that your family is safe inside a mini traveling on a highway with speeds of 65mph and up.

CR, denver,

5) Electricity is CHEAP compared to petrol. You'll probably be spending less than a pound for 50 miles of driving.

Erm I get 62 miles of driving for a pound in a car that costs £2400
which has heating/cooling a radio/cd player 5 useable seats a capacious boot and a range of 550 miles.

This car is nothing but a fad for wealthy people with no understanding of global warming.

I have to agree however that completely electric cars with acceptable performance, range and longevity are what's needed, Obviously supplied by nuclear power stations.

Kieran, St Andrews,

Two, please.

Andrew Waldron, Bournemouth, UK

Hold on everybody!
Why are we so hysterical about this subject?
Is it that we are scared of any change therefore willing to subscribe to any notions that justify the status quo no matter the relevance? Or, we know the future demands change and are willing to defend new innovations whether we understand the science or not?
Now for the story above, we know that this technology exists and also know that General Motors and Toyota are spending vast fortunes on research within this field with the hope of bringing it to market in the very near future so we have to ask ourselves what is the most effective way to recharge the batteries overnight?
With all new technologies we have to appreciate the useful technologies that we have already and be willing to invest in new ideas that can overcome problems that exist in the current infrastracture. Desire to create and invent will bring us from the petroleum age into the twenty-first century proper. Here's to the future!

Richard Tucker, Cotter, Arkansas

I have never seen anybody explain how you heat or cool the inside of these electric cars. It can be done but it would certainly decrease how much is available for driving.

B. Miller, toledo, USA, Ohio

Echo comments here on electric power generation, battery life, etc, and also ask the glaring question of HOW BIG IS FUEL TANK, and why haul around 1 years worth of fuel at a time?

Gene, Denver, USA

"Who is going to pay for the missing road taxes when fuel is not used. Road taxes build etc the highways. The rich will get a free ride on your roadways."

Don't worry Richard, I'm sure the governmental thieves will find a new way to steal our money. As far as the "rich" getting a "free ride" on our highways, well the "rich" pay Most of the taxes.

Wipe the drool off your chin.........duh

Dana, Tampa, FL

I don't understand how people think using less petrol is going to help the environment? What do you think happens when UK consumers use less petrol? Demand goes down and so does the price of oil (if marginally). The lower the price of oil, the more people in the developing world can afford it. What we have to understand is that some countries survive almost entirely on oil, and so will never stop selling it, and developing countries need oil, and demand for it there will only increase. The only way we can decrease the burning of oil is to ban the sale of it, which is impossible. Therefore it is fruitless to save petrol by buying a more efficient care, in fact perversely we should go the other way, and use as much as we can!! At least in the Western world cars have catalytic converters and other filters, it is ironically greener to use petrol in an SUV here than it is to let it be burnt inefficiently in the myriad mopeds of Delhi!!!.

George, Leeds, England

Wow. There are many, many astounding misconceptions in the comments:

1) Electric cars pollute less, even if using the most dirty form of electric generation, 1950s-style coal power plants. Do the research.

2) Electricity CAN BE MADE AND BURNED cleanly. Petrol is not clean and will never be clean.

3) Lithium ion batteries enhanced by nanotechnology have a 10-year predicted cycle life. This is NOT your laptop battery.

4) With enough electric cars on the road, recharging points will be everywhere, whether you have a garage or not. This is an incredibly easy problem to solve.

5) Electricity is CHEAP compared to petrol. You'll probably be spending less than a pound for 50 miles of driving.

6) Electric cars are, frankly, one of the bright hopes we have for getting off petrol. Let's hope the Karma and others make it into production soon.

Brent, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Who is going to pay for the missing road taxes when fuel is not used. Road taxes build etc the highways. The rich will get a free ride on your roadways.

Richard J. Olcott, Scottsboro, Alabama, USA

The power-to-weight ratio of a conventional electric battery is roughly 1% that of petrol. If the new wonder battery is 10 times better than that, it will still be only a 10th of where it needs to be. Not only that, but when the battery is providing the power it's dragging the engine round as dead weight, and when the engine's providing the power, the battery is effectively dead weight. The figures have never added up - get a grip.

Ken Leyland, Liverpool, U.K.

All this nonsense about using power station energy is idiotic. The reason power is so cheap overnight is because you can't just turn off a huge coal-fired powerstation overnight and start it up again in the morning. You have to keep running it and it produces electricity that is unused. Having a few thousand of these cars storing that energy will make no difference to the emissions of our power stations whatsoever.

Ian, nottingham, nottinghamshire

Only needs refueling once a year as long as you remember to charge it overnight?

That means it needs refueling every day its just the oil is burnt in a power station instead of the engine...

Tony, Hull,

Oh great, i´ll just pop the car on my bedside table next to my mobile and charge it overnight.

Ben Francis, Barcelona,

Kenneth B. Smith, Wilmington, U.S./ DE,

One of the turbine cars was on display at the headquarters of Domino's Pizza in Michigan.

I'd venture they failed for the same reason turbines are no longer used in railroad locomotives: noise and excessive fuel consumption. Union Pacific had a fleet of them at one time, and they were very powerful (as much as 8500 HP), but very inefficient and utterly ear-splitting.

Greg M, Cleveland, USA

Peter (Liverpool) claims that "someone buying such a car would likely go on a Green tariff so all their power would be from renewables. "

Someone has been reading too much green publicity again! Remember that Californians define a Zero-Emissions vehicle as "one using electricity generated out-of-state".

There is a finite amount of 'Green' electricity available (even when the 'right' wind IS blowing) - and our laws state that it has to be given priority over conventional power stations. Thus ANY additional use, for electric cars or otherwise, is provided by using fossil fuel - frankly all Green Tarifs are a confidence trick, even if they are useful for boasting to the neighbours!!

MIke Bibby, St Albans, England -not EU

Mmmm, This very day $80,000 is exactly 40,000 pounds but it will go on sale in the UK for 55,000 pounds. Interesting.

RIP OFF BRITAIN!!

And just wait till you get your electric bill. Strange how they don't mention that when talking about fuel.

John, Out there, Escaped

A fabulous point:
"Does anyone know how much UK housing stock doesnt have on site parking?

It seems quite a problem, unless you have a garge, a plug in car is just impossible to use..."

I doubt the government will finance the building of charging stations and even then I bet we will be taxed heavily on them once the initial change over sweetners have expired.

The power to charge the battery overnight is still going to come from polluting power stations - nobody seems to addressing this yet.

Juno Boris, Edinburgh,

A Hummer runs forever on zero charge.

Oh, the petrol? We'll just gloss over that.

Greg M, Cleveland, USA

Editor: In 1965, Chrysler Motors designed and built 50 five3 passenger, four door sedans, with turbine engines, that would operate on any low viscosity, flammable liquid:ie. kersosine, paint thinner, alcohol,
and myriads of combined flammable liquids. They
loaned these automobiles to volunteers, to drive for six months, as a test program. My neighbor had one, and was very enthusiastic about it When the six months expired, Chrysler removed these cars from the market, and we never heard from the company again on this subject. I'm of the opinion that these cars would be the answer to the fuel shortage, today.
Any one know what's become of these cars, and why the company took them off of the market?

Kenneth B. Smith, Wilmington, U.S./ DE

Why don't governments insist on cars being able to produce at least 100 mpg? I'm sure this would easily be possible if we stopped the obsession with speed and power, and would probably make driving more pleasant too. Half the time we are just grateful to be moving anyway, and speed is relative to that of other vehicles so if we all had slow cars nobody would notice.

Neil Hughes, Birmingham, U.K

This is not the only series drive electric transmission vehicle that will be launched on the market in 2009. Many will have a 250 mile range on battery, with very good performance figures.

The best design so far is based around a BMW Mini, to show what can be done today. This car has a 400 mile range on battery and 900 miles with the small onboard generator running. 0 to 60 mph is 4.5 seconds top 150mph.
80 mph with generator running and still carries 4 people & luggage.

The secret is in wheel electric motors that are also the brakes
except for parking so recover 85% of the energy when braking.

New tectnology Litium batteries are coming on line that are fast charge and higher capacity, think of a laptop that can run for 24 hours on batteries can be charged to 80% in 10 minutes, 25000 times. Based on Silicon nano wire anode, not carbon. The direct drive vehicle is dead, just the main car makers don't know it yet see Volvo for an example.

Brian, Old Windsor, uk

Does anyone know how much UK housing stock doesnt have on site parking?

It seems quite a problem, unless you have a garge, a plug in car is just impossible to use...

Dominic, Manchester, UK

Check out another incredibly efficient electric called the Tesla Roadster - teslamotors.com

This car has a 250mile range on lithium ion batteries and a new high efficiency electric motor . 0 to 60mph in 3.8secs, Top speed 150mph, Range 250miles on one charge. It looks incredible and the price isn't much different to the karma.
The only problem is it is not scheduled for sale in the uk anytime soon!

Martin, Linlithgow, UK

My word, someone designs a car that apparently doesn't do the same level of environemental damage, is cheaper to run and lasts as long as regular petrol cars, and yet the only comments on this page are complaints about how much it costs, how much of a liar Mr Fisker is or what constitutes fuel. Nice. Your cynicism astounds me, pat yourselves on the back and take the bus.

Regardless i think it's a step in the right direction and having spanked roughly £120 on petrol over the weekend (granted a 700 mile round trip), it will be nice not be bled dry on the Esso forecourt. Good luck to the Fisker Karma!

Robin, London,

To all the doubters: this is a first step. Of course it's expensive. Of course it may not be all things to all men. Of course we doubt the battery life. This kind of thing is an essential technology which will form part of a greener future.

Surely the rational thing for all us two-car families is to have a traditional car for long journeys and weekends and an electric car for day to day, work, school run etc. The cost will come down, and combined with a big increase in nuke power it offers a genuine alternative. Or would you prefer the eco-zealots to stop us travelling altogether?

To David Williamson - the performance figures are for the battery. The article says it's always powered by t he battery. The petrol engine only provides a battery top-up, like a diesel electric train.

Martin Tomlinson, Birmingham,

France is way ahead of Britain with about 75% of its electricity nuclear power-station generated with more to come. With adequate nuclear power supplies so Europe is independent of the fossil fuels, hydrogen, which needs electricity to be manufactured, will be viable with its 100% clean exhaust emissions when used in vehicles. It can even be manufactured in a household garage by a machine about the size of a fridge. We can also get rid of the country-side ruining monstrosities that the wind generators are and no more having to worry about the disposal of millions of toxic batteries in the future form the hybrid cars that are only more efficient in town, not on the open roads as proven in the USA.

Nuclear waste can be stored in safe places and eventually at some time in the future, other uses for it will be discovered by our scientists.

B J Deller, Marbella, Spain

Never mind the technology, it looks great!

Roger, Milan, Italy

Totally pointless. If you only have a radius of 25 miles in which to drive the damn thing you'd be so much better of with a bicycle. Less polluting too.

Russ, Reading, UK

Wise remarks Jon cooper. You can also include the hydrogen hoax (which has to be produced from some other energy source).

We need to plant wind turbines like daisies and build nuclear power stations.

There's also the wave power with "Pelamis" and other alternative energies.

Mike Donald, Aberdeen, Scotland

The usual nonsense and ignorance from the commentators.
The UK gets 20% of its electricity from nuclear. Also someone buying such a car would likely go on a Green tariff so all their power would be from renewables. Likewise with overnight charging you are using off-peak power.
Please also check up on relative efficiencies Jon. Way off the mark again. Can I refer readers to various websites to get accurate information e.g. www.evworld.com.

Peter, Liverpool,

The "free overnight charge" comes from a hydrocarbon fueled power station which has a lower fuel efficiency than the petrol or (better) diesel cycle.
So plugging it in at night is actually worse for the planet (if you think in those terms) than running it on straight gasoline.

Peter Melia, La Colle sur Loup, France

Please take noe that 'fuel' can take many forms. Petrol, diesel, and yes..... electricity. So to say that it does not need re-fuelling is completely misleading. And a 10 year battery life-span? What a joke. I can't wait to hear the on-the-road reports regarding that piece of nonsense. Day 1, it manages 50 miles before needing a recharge. By the end of the first year the battery has deteriorated to such a level that it barely manages 40 miles, and before the second year is up it'll barely do 30 miles before a re-charge. I'll bet that less than 5 years into it's 10 year lifespan, the battery will hold so little charge that it'll be virtually unusable. Bet get a extra long extension lead.

Regjstra Karamna, Luton,

Fuel or fool? Misleading headline. If electricy is not fuel, what is?

David L Anderson, Crawley, West Sussex

$80,000 huh? I guess if you want economy it's gonna cost ya.

warren, calgary,

Oh please. So you need to plug it in but it is 'fuel-free'? So this would be plugged in to the fairy dust network then?

Electricity is generated by fossil fuels almost exclusively. WIth an efficiency of ~30%at best. Then this is converted by the car into motive power at far less than 100% efficiency. Result? Not the green panacea you seem to be implying...

jon cooper, herts, UK,

I doubt that any Lithium Ion technology can be made crash safe. Lithium after all is a highly reactive element.

Claiming "over 10 year life" is highly amusing. Bet they won't back that with a warranty....

Andrew, Doncaster,

I notice that the performance figures when driving just on the battery are not quoted but I guess this is a hint of what is to come. Nuclear Powerstations to provide non-fossel fuel power and plug in cars.

David Williamson, Northallerton, UK