EV

Is the new MINI E sold out? If by "rented through," yes, it looks like you may have missed your opportunity to be a beta tester for BMW's new electric Cooper.

BMW is leasing around 500 of the diminutive hatchbacks at a cost of $850-a-month (including insurance) for one year in the New York/New Jersey metro area as well as Southern California, and according to a new Bloomberg News story, applicants for the program have outnumbered the cars by more than a 4-to-1 ratio, though there is always the possibility that not all of the cars have been doled out yet.

Nissan wants to reshape the way we make our way around Gotham, and the Nuvu concept is a means to that greener end. Built atop a new platform measuring around three meters long and featuring an electric drivetrain, Nissan claims that the 2+1 concept is the perfect city car for a better tomorrow.

var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/autos/VIDEO_The_iPod_inspired_interior_of_the_2011_Chevy_Volt'; General Motors' goal for the exterior of the 2011 Chevy Volt is to create as much pizazz as possible with superior aerodynamics to ensure the least amount of parasitic loss for the electric drivetrain. The interior, however, is all about how the driver interacts with the vehicle. And with the Volt, GM designers attempted to pull off a Buck Rodgers meets Apple iPod theme.

Toyota is the undisputed leader in the hybrid space, and the Japanese automaker is looking to expand its kingdom by adding an all-electric vehicle to the mix. While there are few details available, Toyota has said the EV would likely be an urban city-type vehicle that will be available in the "early 2010s". Hopefully it will be more accommodating than Toyota's last attempt at an EV: the eCom (above), which used the innards of the RAV4 EV to achieve a top speed of 62 mph and a range of just 60 miles. Toyota's new EV, however, will be preceded in 2009 by the arrival of the brand's first plug-in Prius hybrid.

[Source: Bloomberg]

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Somewhere, our pal Mike Bumbeck is smiling, because Mitsubishi has produced yet another vehicle worthy of its classic "Super Potential" slogan. No, there's no new-fangled Starion, unfortunately, but there is now an i MiEV police car. Mitsubishi has supplied one of the teensy EVs to the Kanagawa Prefecture police, who will test it through March of next year. Sure, it's not particularly intimidating, but it is (ahem) arrestingly cute. As mentioned at AutoblogGreen, we'd have had that battery pack power a set of on-board tasers, too. Talk about missed opportunities...

BMW's MINI brand already produces some of the most efficient vehicles for sale in the US, and sources say the pint-sized cars will soon go emissions free, at least in California. BMW is planning to lease 490 Minis in California, with an additional 10 vehicles planned for show car duty. The emissions-free MINIs will be silver with a yellow roof, which should stand out nicely in the land of fruits and nuts.

There are no details at this point pertaining to EV range or date of availability, but BMW claims it will make an announcement regarding electric vehicles later in the year. With all the talk of game-changing vehicles coming in the near future, we're getting the feeling that the upcoming auto show season could be one of the more memorable on record.