Oilmen Happy Over Conflicts Dividing Electric-Drive Vehicle Industry

PLUG-IN ELECTRIC CAR RACE GETS TENSE

Consumers can help pick the tomorrow's winners by completing the on-line "Join the Plug-In Revolution" survey.

PAPILLION, NE, April 17, 2008 - Electric sports car builder Tesla is suing electric luxury car builder Fisker, claiming the latter stole company trade secrets. GM and Toyota are sparing, directly and via surrogates over to the relative merits of their competing plug-in electric car strategies. The furor over California's supposed retreat on its Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate continues to spiral with "conflict of interest" charges against one of its Air Resources Board members.

At stake is a rapidly evolving, multi-billion dollar global market for the next generation of electric cars, which use little or no petroleum, promising to reduce the nation's dependence on imported oil. Propelled by intensifying concerns over national security, climate change and resource depletion, carmakers large and small are racing to develop and market three classes of electric-drive vehicles: Plug-in Hybrids, Extended-Range Electric Vehicles and Battery Electric Vehicles.

Plug-in Hybrids are essentially internal combustion engine vehicles that offer electric-only driving ranges from 10-30 miles. Vehicles in this class will include the next generation Toyota Prius and Saturn VUE, both in development and slated to be available sometime around 2010.

Extended-Range Electric Vehicles are predominately electric cars with onboard internal combustion engine generators that recharge the large batteries, giving the vehicles significant range beyond that of their battery pack. This class includes the Chevy Volt, Fisker Karma and Tesla Whitestar, that latter two now locked in the clinches of a legal boxing match.

Battery Electric Vehicles are traditional, battery-only cars that are charged exclusively by an external electric power source such as the grid or a home owner's solar panels. These vehicles include the Think city and Nissan Denke, the former available for sale in Europe and the latter to appear in America sometime after 2010.

Fortunes and careers are being wagered in this high stakes gamble to become the environmental vehicle leader of the 21st Century. Who will win with which technology is yet to be seen. At last count, there are nearly 20 different electric car programs currently in development by manufacturers in North America, Europe and Asia.

The Plugin.EVWorld.Com (http://plugin.evworld.com) on-line survey is giving consumers the opportunity to express their preferences and concerns about the cars of the future. The survey takes only a minute to complete and those completing the survey will be rewarded by a FREE downloadable Thank You gift worth $10. To date, more than 1,100 people have completed the survey.

"Join the Plug-in Revolution" is sponsored by EV World (http://www.evworld.com).

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Contact Information:
Bill Moore
EV World.Com, Inc.
Editor in Chief
P.O. Box 461132
Papillion, NE
United States 68046
Voice: 402.339.9877