Tesla has breathed new life into the recently shut down NUMMI plant in Fremont, announcing its plans last week to team up with Toyota to start making its $50,000 electric Model S at the NUMMI plant.

That means they will be hiring 1,000 workers, and possibly creating 10 times that number of jobs down the road. Resurrection of NUMMI auto plant by Tesla and Toyota lifts spirits all over Fremont From the article: After being sucker-punched first by the recession and then by the closure earlier this year of the NUMMI plant with its nearly 5,000 auto-worker jobs, the Bay Area's fourth-largest city is suddenly coming to — buoyed by last week's news that electric-car maker Tesla will jump-start NUMMI.

"All Nissan Leafs (Leaves?) will come with a cellular data radio built in. While the vehicle is at a charging station, it'll be able to send updates to your phone, telling you when it's finished suckling go-juice." Here is the full text of the article, in case the link goes bad: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20005062-1.html Nissan Leaf electric car gets iPhone control



The Nissan Leaf electric hatchback is on its way, and it's bringing iPhone integration with it. You'll be able to use a special app to communicate with and control some of the vehicle's features, Nissan has promised. All Nissan Leafs (Leaves?) will come with a cellular data radio built in. While the vehicle is at a charging station, it'll be able to send updates to your phone, telling you when it's finished suckling go-juice. Before heading back to the car, drivers can remotely adjust the Leaf's climate control to specify what temperature they want the cockpit to be when they climb in.

"Investors, too, are excited. Electric-car ventures made up nearly 40 percent of $1.9 billion invested in 180 green-technology companies worldwide in the first quarter of 2010, according to a study by the Cleantech Group and Deloitte. Yet in the United States and China, automakers' caution, weak price incentives, and concerns over the electrical grid are slowing the electric car's introduction. If electric cars can't break out of niche status in the world's two largest passenger car markets, then a transition away from gasoline-powered vehicles could be delayed. And many would-be buyers are likely to be frustrated by the lack of available cars. "There is undoubtedly going to be a backlog, where demand exceeds production for the next few years, due to the trepidation of the automakers that the electric car is not something consumers want," says Marc Geller, co-founder of the advocacy group Plug In America." 

Here is the full text of the article, in case the link goes bad: 
Interest in electric cars is surging:

•Nearly 52,000 people were wait-listed as of mid-April for General Motors' electric model, the Volt, due in November. As of March, almost 56,000 people had signed up to reserve Nissan's all-electric Leaf, due in dealerships by December.

•In China, leading automakers BYD and Chery have announced plans to roll out their own electric models within the next two years.

•Investors, too, are excited. Electric-car ventures made up nearly 40 percent of $1.9 billion invested in 180 green-technology companies worldwide in the first quarter of 2010, according to a study by the Cleantech Group and Deloitte.

Yet in the United States and China, automakers' caution, weak price incentives, and concerns over the electrical grid are slowing the electric car's introduction. If electric cars can't break out of niche status in the world's two largest passenger car markets, then a transition away from gasoline-powered vehicles could be delayed. And many would-be buyers are likely to be frustrated by the lack of available cars. "There is undoubtedly going to be a backlog, where demand exceeds production for the next few years, due to the trepidation of the automakers that the electric car is not something consumers want," says Marc Geller, cofounder of the advocacy group Plug In America.

Take the 56,000 people who have signed up for a Leaf. Nissan is planning to start deploying it in only five states. Total cars initially available: 4,700.

Other automakers are also proceeding cautiously. Bob Lutz, the outgoing vice chairman of GM, has said the company will produce about 8,000 Chevy Volts in 2011. BMW's Mini is rolling out its electric car in three phases.

In 2008 the company released a test fleet of 450 Mini-E vehicles and is getting ready to announce its second phase. The third phase will be released around 2015.

Similarly, in China, the sheer size of the auto industry and the country's ambitious clean-energy goals suggest a potentially huge market for electric cars. China overtook the US last year as the largest auto market in the world.

Still, Chinese auto-makers hesitate to mass-market their electric models domestically. BYD's all-electric e6 production line at the company's base in Shenzhen was "ready for manufacturing" in March, but was only producing the gasoline-powered F6, according to Yang Binbin, who writes for Caixin magazine, a business publication based in Beijing.

In the meantime, the company is focused on government-funded mass- transit projects, which guarantee investment returns. In March, BYD chief executive officer Wang Chuanfu announced that in the first half of 2010 the company will sell only 100 e6 cars, to a taxi company in Shenzhen.

Chinese green-car subsidies on hold
The uncertainty surrounding Chinese demand for electric cars is tied to subsidies, Mr. Yang says. The government-run newspaper China Daily reported on April 8 that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had postponed its plans to launch incentives for private purchases of new energy vehicles in March.