Led by the Japanese and with Hyundai of Korea, the Europeans and the Americans coming up fast, we are in the decade of the hybrid vehicle, with much more being spent on them than on pure electric vehicles. This is because traction batteries alone cannot affordably provide sufficient range in most of the large applications by land, sea or air.

Earlier this month the British journal //Nature Geoscience// published an article revealing the discovery of rare earth mineral deposits by Japanese scientists on the Pacific Ocean seabed. The scientists estimate this discovery //could provide one-fifth of the current annual world consumption// of rare earth elements often used in green technolgies.

We attended the Plug In 2011 event in Raleigh North Carolina last week. In contrast to the successful IDTechEx event }}Electric Vehicles Land Sea Air | http://www.idtechex.com/electric-vehicles-europe-11/}} event in Stuttgart Germany, this had the more typical focus of cars. Organised by the Electric Power Research Institute and with many prestigious sponsors, it was a great success with over 600 attending on a given day excluding the public openings.

ECOtality, Inc., a leader in clean electric transportation and storage technologies, announced recently a partnership with car2go N.A. LLC, a subsidiary of Daimler North America Corporation, to provide electric vehicle charging infrastructure to support the first 100-percent electric car sharing program in North America. With plans for approximately 300 smart for two electric drive vehicles, the program in San Diego represents the largest fleet of EVs in the United States.

Lithium batteries have become ubiquitous in modern society. More than likely, every house has several in the different portable electronic devices it's equipped with. Although there's been tremendous performance improvements in recent years, lithium batteries are still not fully up to the demanding task of powering the next generation of electric vehicles due to low energy and power densities.

Based on the same theory that currently enables consumers to wirelessly charge toothbrushes and cell phones, EDL has expanded the technology to levels and efficiencies that are unprecedented.

The University of Texas at Austin has announced an agreement with Canada-based Hydro-Quebec for lithium-ion material technology invented and patented by Dr. John Goodenough, a world-renowned scientist at the university.

Fuel cells were originally considered to be replacements for internal combustion engines used in traditional vehicles and replacements for traction batteries used in pure electric vehicles. Unfortunately, they have proved woefully incapable of efficiently and economically supporting the frequent load changes of vehicle traction. Many of them had a troublesome start up time and problems of life and reliability as well. Thus building ever larger fuel cells was pursued from about 1991 to 2001 but it ended in tears.

Clarian Laboratories in Seattle USA is developing an internal combustion range extender that generates electricity despite having no drive shaft. It has other potential uses as a reliable small source of electricity running on a choice of fuels. In EV terms, this is something of a crossover product from piston engines used in second generation range extenders and gas turbines and fuel cells in third generation range extenders.

At the recent Paris Air Show French pilot Hugues Duval broke the world electric-powered aircraft speed record in his electric Cri-Cri MC15E //E-Cristaline//.

ACAL Energy announce recently they are partnering with automotive design experts Gordon Murray Design in a 12-month project to design a very low cost, durable fuel cell vehicle utilizing their innovative fuel cell technology. The 12-month project is funded by the Technology Strategy Board under its Low Carbon Vehicle programme.

IDTechEx is recruiting, and seeks a Technology Analyst, preferably with knowledge of the electric vehicle and/or smart grid sector. We welcome candidates to approach us.

Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc. announced that the U.S. Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) demonstrated the Clandestine Extended Range Vehicle (CERV) as part of special events ramping to the Indianapolis 500. The U.S. Army labelled the CERV as one of the "greenest technologies" and demonstrated how its advanced hybrid electric powertrain developed by Quantum and TARDEC saves taxpayer dollars and Soldiers' lives.

At the recent event Electric Vehicles Land Sea Air in Stuttgart Germany, there was strong coverage of electric boats.

AMP Holding Inc. a company engaged in the emission-free electrification of OEM vehicles through its wholly owned subsidiary, AMP Electric Vehicles, Inc., at a press conference at their Cincinnati, OH facility, presented the first AMP electrified Mercedes Benz ML to Gisli Gislason, Chairman and CEO of Northern Lights Energy (NLE) of Iceland.

This article shares some of the research in the new IDTechEx report, {{Range Extenders for Electric Vehicles | http://www.idtechex.com/research/reports/range-extenders-for-electric-vehicles-2011-2021-000276.asp}}. We are in the age of the hybrid electric vehicle which is strongly outselling the pure electric vehicle in market value though not in numbers over the next decade.

ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, announced earlier this month the acquisition of Epyon B.V., an early leader in electric vehicle charging infrastructure solutions focusing on direct current (DC) fast-charging stations and network charger software. The acquisition is in line with ABB's strategy to expand its global offering of electric vehicle infrastructure solutions.

At an event held recently in London, Gordon Murray Design unveiled their latest ultra compact city vehicle, T.27, claimed to be the world's most efficient electric car. Other claimants would argue with that.

Virgin Oceanic recently announced plans to take a solo piloted submarine to the deepest points in each of the world's five oceans - the first time such a feat has ever been attempted.