Faced with increasingly onerous pollution legislation, manufacturers of on-road vehicles are finding that making their vehicles switch off if stationary for more than a few seconds is something of a quick win.

A large and increasing number of traction battery manufacturers are now offering what they call lithium polymer (LiPo) versions. Lithium polymer batteries are being eagerly adopted in a rapidly widening variety of applications. That includes in both pure electric and hybrid vehicles whether on land, in water or in the air. Battery manufacturers in Canada, the USA, Russia, China, Korea, Taiwan and elsewhere are involved.

Eco Marine Power Co. Ltd. (EMP) has just announced that it is proceeding with the development of the Aquarius Solar and Wind Marine Power System (Patent Pending) for ships and ocean going vessels.

China is expected to become the first nation to broadly commercialise electric vehicles for regular, personal use, a recent report suggests. With significant governmental support, vast lithium supplies and a rapidly growing economy, China is likely to beat the United States in the EV race.

Recent research conducted by a global management consulting firm predicts a sharp rise in electric vehicle purchases leading into 2012, expecting sales in New York to account for 16 percent of new buys. Hybrid and pure electric vehicles are also expected to account for 9 percent of new vehicles in Paris and 5 percent in Shanghai.

Michigan has become the home of the world's first sole fuel efficient and electric vehicle assembly plant as Ford Motors overhauls the previous SUV production facility at a cost of $550 million.

In 2010 the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) dispensed $5.43 million in contractual funding towards advanced battery technology for EVs, hybrids and energy storage.

In-wheel motors were popular in cars over 100 years ago because they did not intrude into passenger space. An example is shown below. However, they were expensive and they adversely affected the ride and steering. One motor seizing could sometimes lock a wheel.

Leisure aviation, special missions and the future commercial applications

This advanced battery technology has three times the energy density of current li-ion batteries, costing less than half the price per kilowatt-hour.

In 2008 a number of EV manufacturers turned their attention to France where a contract was offered for the production of 500 electric vans for the national postal service La Poste. One of the forerunners competing for the contract was PSA Peugeot Citroen with their pure electric vans based on the Peugeot Partner Origin and Citroën Berlingo First.

Marine electric craft have recently entered a phase of rapid market growth and radical change. A new IDTechEx report "Marine Electric Vehicles 2011-2021" is the world's first comprehensive report on marine electric vehicles with latest ten year forecasts and assessment of important new projects such as submarines that will fly.

The most recent financial investments offered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) aim to advance efficient vehicle-related technologies in order to encourage large-scale acceptance of hybrid and pure electric vehicles in industrial, commercial and public sectors.

Taiyo Yuden in Japan and others have recently announced lithium supercabatteries with improved properties. However, before considering these combinations of supercapacitor and battery technology it is worth tracking improvements in the basic supercapacitor technology.

We have waited 20 years for Automotive Thermoelectric Generators to be deployed in production vehicles but we may not have much longer to wait because they are more useful in hybrid vehicles than in conventional vehicles.

Volkswagen recently unveiled its new two-seater diesel-electric hybrid concept car at the Qatar Motor Show in Doha. The XL1 claims to be the world's most efficient car.

By a big margin, Toyota is number one in hybrid car sales and indeed in sales of electric vehicles overall thanks to such things as sales of its electric forklifts, where it is in the top three in most countries.

The Flying Fish unmanned aerial vehicle UAV vehicle, takes off and flies over the waves at distances of tens to thousands of meters

Green Technology Solutions, Inc. have announced that it has entered into a joint venture agreement with Rare Earth Exporters of Mongolia (REE) in order to procure rare-earth mining claims and operations in the developing Asian nation.