We've been wanting to start a series about the entire auto-manufacturing industry and its relationship to the health of the planet, and now we've finally foud a jumping off point - the parntership of Tesla Motors, Inc. with Toyota Motor Corp to generate the technology to build electric cars.  The investment include a $50 million dollar price tag from the hurting Toyota Corp, still reeling from their PR disaster of allowing unsafe cars to be on the road.

So far, a lot of the hub-bub has been about the business side of things, which is exciting in its own rights - jobs created, industry starting up in a serious way, manufacturing - but we're of course excited about the green potentials.  Toyota's commitment to "sustainable mobility" is being touted by the likes of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who helped incentive the union by creating tax breaks for the two companies.

The electric car is not a pipe dream and has been around for a while, with Tesla being a major player in providing them.  However, the expense has always created a serious barrier to entrance.

We're going to talk a bit about what "electric car" actually means and, over time, we're going to dig into aspects of the vehicles.  Electric cars are commonly powered by on-board battery packs, and sometimes are referred to as battery electric vehicles (BEVs).  One misconception is that electric cars are not fast and do not accelerate well, which is false - electric cars give good acceleration and have acceptable top speeds.   There is conversation about electric cars having poorer energy capacity batteries when compared to the way that the burning of fossil fuels energize your car.  Because of this, the electric car is discussed as having relatively poor range between charges, and recharging can take significant lengths of time.   But that's about long journeys - for everyday use,  electric cars are very practical forms of transportation and can be inexpensively recharged overnight by just plugging them in at home.

The electric car has the potential of significantly reducing city pollution by having zero tail pipe emissions.  The greenhouse gas emissions that are created or save will depend on how the electricity is going to be generated.  We've read that an estimated 30% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions would be experienced in the U.S based upon the way the energy mixes. Given the current energy mixes in other countries, it has been predicted that such emissions would decrease by 40% in the UK[9], 19% in China[10], and as little as 1% in Germany.  There is also a concern about the increased battery production and how that will affect the environment and what will be done for disposals or refreshing.

There is a lot of conversation that has already occured and will continue regarding many aspects of electrical car production - manufacturing, emissions, infrastructure, cost, distribution - and we will be keeping up on those topics over time. 

The first car to roll of the production line will be Tesla's Model S electric sedan which costs around $57,400. While Tesla will still be late to the game when compared to the LEAF or the Volt, this amps up the company's reputation ten-fold. For a recent study just named Toyota as one of the top three companies consumers would buy an EV from.