You know electric cars are serious when even Rolls Royce is considering ditching fossil fuel for electrons. The maker of luxury cars renowned the world over for their opulence is seriously considering having an electric version of its luxo-bargo Phantom on the road as early as next year… just in time for the 2012 Olympics being held in its native London.

But will an electric Rolls work?

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One major obstacle on the road to widespread acceptance of electric cars is reliability. Electric cars are still relatively new ground, and anybody who has ever gotten a cellphone wet or left a laptop in a car during a hot summer day (guilty on both counts) knows that electronics are very sensitive to the elements. Apparently, they are also sensitive to potholes.

One of the “lucky” few who were given an Electric Mini to test out—the founder of GM-Volt.com found out just how sensitive when the Mini came to a dead stop in a construction zone after hitting one such pothole.

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BMW’s Simple concept–which kinda looks like a Stealth Bomber with training wheels–is a hybrid trike that gets around 120 mpg.

The Simple (which stands for Sustainable and Innovative Mobility Product for Low Energy consumption) does 60 mph in just under ten seconds and has a top speed of 125 mph. The car weighs just over 900 lbs and has a super low drag coefficient of 0.18.

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I’ve been happy with all the recent efforts by European auto manufacturers to bring fuel-efficient diesels back to the States. From Volkswagen to Mercedes, diesels seem to be the new attempt at pleasing the US “green” crowd with classy, low-emissions fuel-sippers.

Reading that last sentence over, it seems funny to call them a “new attempt” because these high mileage diesels have been available to Europeans for a LONG time — but that’s another story.

So, while it’s debatable whether a gasoline-powered Prius at 40 mpg is more “green” than a diesel-powered Jetta at 40 mpg — it all has to do with how much of each type of fuel comes out of one barrel of oil — It’s a fact that having these new clean diesels as an option is certainly something the US has been lacking for a long time. And I appreciate having that option, I really do.

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BMW’s new ActiveHybrid X6 promises to be the world’s most powerful hybrid with 480 hp (358 kW) and 575 lb-ft of torque (780 N·m).

The ActiveHybrid X6 will hit 60 mph in just under 6 seconds all while providing a 20-percent fuel savings according to the EU test-cycle. The EU also gave it a CO2  rating of 231 g/km.  EPA numbers aren’t yet available.

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For some reason, gearheads and greenies (that is how I refer to you, deal) don’t really seem to get along. There is this huge gap between people who like to go fast and people who are trying to reduce their carbon footprint. I admit, many vehicles with speed as a primary concern are far from eco-friendly, but more so than ever, individuals are modifying their own cars for their own purposes. Whether that is going fast, or going green, turning a wrench is still turning a wrench.

That is why I love this little luxury item (which incidentally costs more than my house). A 500 horsepower super-quad equipped with BMW’s V12 engine that runs only E-85 fuel.

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Designed for the BMW Motorrad Innovation Contest, the Halbo turns saving the planet into an extreme sport.

Conceived by designer Pierre Yohanes Lubis, the electric bike is much more planet friendly than say a petro-based vehicle. But, if the concept were to become popular it’s just unsafe enough to thin the herd.

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LA County Sheriffs stuck driving Crown Vics are about to be left feeling tragically un-hip. Their Board of Sups just approved a deal with BMW to lease 17 fully electric MINI Coopers.

Approved on Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will lease the MINI Es for only $10 a month. With a market lease rate of $850, automaker BMW offered up the bargain price in exchange for deputy’s feedback.

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I’m only slightly miffed that I wasn’t selected to test-drive the car for a year but I’ll get over it. In the meantime, the rest of us can follow Peter through his blog “Plugged-In With Peter’s MINI E,” which can be viewed at http://www.petersminie.blogspot.com/. Yes, his blog is a marketing tool but I can’t resist and I will be following him. Maybe we’ll even be able to get him to write a special piece for us at Gas 2.0.

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Just a few hours after General Motors called for a standardized EV plug, one has been created!

Caroline Reichert, a spokeswoman for the Germany energy company RWE, said leading automotive and energy companies have reached an agreement for a standardized plug for electric cars. Some of the automakers include in that agreement are Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Fiat, Toyota and Mitsubishi.

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With one of Nissan’s senior EV project engineers sitting next to me, it felt like I was being expectantly doted on by a protective parent as I drove Nissan’s EV-02 electric test car around a closed course Monday. Given that the EV-02 is only one of two such cars in the world, the reaction was perhaps understandably warranted.

Earlier in the day Nissan had held a joint press conference with Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski, Portland Mayor Sam Adams, and representatives from Portland General Electric, to further affirm Oregon’s burgeoning relationship with Nissan to be one of the first and premier locations for the company’s late 2010 electric car launch.

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Germany has hit upon a plan that for the moment is keeping domestic sales afloat by giving away 2,500 Euros or $3,143 to new car buyers that trade in an old car. The government has said that this will not only give the German auto industry a boost in sales but will also put more fuel-efficient cars on the road while removing older more polluting cars.

Germany’s plan reflects a choice other countries face as well. As global car sales and exports plummet around the world each country has to decide on its own strategy to keep their auto manufacturers afloat. But this raises a question: is it better to support traditional car companies that produce cars based on fossil fuel sources or give support to up-and-coming electric and hydrogen powered car companies. Also, are these new incentives aimed to just keep the main German carmakers in business or will they stipulate that their main automakers BMW and Daimler begin producing electric cars to meet their goal of 1 million electric cars by 2020?

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Austrian car company Magna has showcased a concept vehicle that gives the strongest clue yet about the design for BMW’s secretive Project i electric car.

Magna, collaborating with the German car giant on future electric car technology, unveiled the the MILA EV at last week’s Geneva Motor Show. The concept is a lightweight three-door hatchback featuring a detachable power module that includes batteries and electric drive motors. The MILA also boasts integrated solar cells in the glass roof to provide supplemental energy generation (see another picture of the MILA EV after the jump).

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German car giant BMW has announced plans to attach radioactive heat-collectors to the tailpipes of future models, in a move predicted to slash fuel use and reduce carbon emissions by around 5 per cent.

The massive fuel saving is bigger than the three per cent achieved by the two current key Efficient Dynamics technologies - stop-start and brake energy regeneration.

The revolutionary technology, originally designed to power space satellites, captures waste heat transferred down the tailpipe and converts it to electricity via a radioactive ‘thermolelectric generator.’

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At the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, Audi announced that their Clean Diesel A3 TDI would be available in US by early 2010.

The Audi A3 is by far one of Europe’s cleanest and most fuel-efficient cars, and Audi is hoping the car will kick some major Prius butt. Pitching the car as a hybrid-fighter, Audi is pairing it off against both the Prius and the Honda Insight.

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New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced that BMW is giving the city a fleet of MINI Es as part of a feasibility test. In fact, BMW will be testing 500 electric MINIs worldwide. Other cities included in the program are Los Angeles, London and Berlin.

MINI E is the first product from BMW’s Project i program. Project i takes aim at vehicle and transportation strategies for the world’s mega-cities. The cars will be loaned to both customers and the cities for a full year.

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With the onslaught of electric concepts and announcements coming out of the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, you’d think that the entire world is about to junk their old jalopies and rush out and buy electric cars tomorrow.

But, alas, as much as millions of Americans would love to pay 3 cents a mile on their daily commutes, our choices for electric cars are, at the moment, severely lacking.

Although the promise of the 2009 Detroit Auto Show reeks of desperation, it’s not all smoke and mirrors. Believe it or not, there are a bunch of noteworthy electric cars, both all-battery and extended range plug-ins, reaching US production sometime in the next two years.

So, if you’ve got the time to wait and you find yourself longing for the cheapest, quietest, and most earth-friendly commute you could imagine, take a gander at this list… electric bliss is closer than you probably thought.

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BMW has launched its greenest car yet! The 116d is 2.0-liter, four-cylinder diesel engine delivering 115hp and has a fuel consumption of 54 mpg. It is BMW’s most fuel-efficient and least polluting car yet, and only available in Europe.

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The sweeping plan includes a large amount of funding for advanced battery development, investment in an electric car charging infrastructure, and tax credits for the adoption of electric cars and plug-in hybrids. Conceived by four separate German agencies — the departments of Economics, Transport, Environment, and Education/Research — the plan is on track to be signed into actual law at the beginning of the next German legislative session.

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