It’s official. Last week, German automaker Mercedes-Benz confirmed its intentions to build a fully electric version of the SLS AMG Supercar.

The AWD car will have separate transmissions for both axles and electric motors at each wheel. With a combined power output of 392 Kw–which packs 649 lb-ft of torque–the car will get a jaw-dropping 526 horsepower.

This will push the zero-emission car from 0 to 62 MPH in just 4 seconds! All of this is available the moment the motors turn. Are you drooling yet? I am.

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Editor’s Note: This is a 4-part series covering my trip to Michigan to test-drive the Chevy Volt. See also: 1. LiveBlogging from the opening of GM’s New Battery Lab, 2. Chevy Volt Test Drive: How GM’s Electric Car Works 3. Tour of GM’s New Battery Lab. Disclaimer: GM flew me out for this event.

“Remarkably Unremarkable” has been the phrase of choice when describing how the Chevy Volt prototype drives.

And that’s really a compliment, since the car was engineered for consumers who won’t accept compromise, even for a an electric car.

I got a chance to drive the Chevy Volt prototype on June 8th, and although the test model was still housed under a Chevrolet Cruze skin, it gave me a good feeling for what the final version will be like.

Chevy Volt Test Drive

The interior of the Cruze doesn’t do the car justice, at least in terms of space and aesthetics. The center divider seemed poorly fitted for the Volt’s T-shaped battery pack that runs the length of the car (which also precludes a 5th seat in the prototype and final versions). Frank Weber, who accompanied me on the the 45-minute drive, said that everything about the interior would change for production.

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More Media:

• David Letterman Slams Chevy Volt, Tesla CEO Agrees
• Realizing the Dream of a Luxury Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle with Henrik Fisker (interview)
• Better Place: Shai Agassi on Gavin Newsom’s Radio Show

The Chevy Volt lacks two of the characteristics typical to currently available or prototype electric cars: massive amounts of torque and a jarring amount of deceleration from regenerative braking. I found the Volt to have plenty of pickup (that’s compared to the overpowered Subaru I’ve been driving for the last year) and very smooth acceleration. But even with the equivalent of 160 hp and 236 lb-ft of torque from 0 rpm, it’s not going to do burn-outs like a Tesla Roadster.

Pulling my foot off the ‘gas’ did exactly what you’d expect: smooth and slow deceleration. Some electric car protoypes will actually pitch you forward due to automatic, battery-regenerative braking. To manage this, the Volt has two driving modes: normal and what I’ll call ’super-regen.’ Normal feels like any other car, but the regenerative mode kicks the car into an aggressive braking mode that’s remineiscent of shifting into low-gear (funny, because electric cars have no gears).

Note: GM’s other electric car, the Chevy Equinox (which I got to drive earlier in the day), has a power gauge that actually runs backward during braking to show you how much charge you’re sending to the battery. The Equinox is powered by a hydrogen-fuel cell and clearly demonstrates that—amazingly—GM is still tinkering with its $1 billion hydrogen fuel-cell program. The company has now logged 750,000 miles of on-road testing and claims that much of the knowledge gained by the program is being passed on to the Volt (such as re-gen braking), since the fuel-cell Equinox is also an electric car.

As I’ve discussed previously, once the Volt’s batteries drop to 30% charge, the gas generator kicks in to keep the car going (but the electric motor still drives the car). This feature was disabled for all test-drives because GM said they ‘wanted us to focus on the electric driving experience.’ It also has to do with the engine-compartment soundproofing that will come with the final version.

No big deal, since without the gas-powered ‘range-extender’ the car still drives like a fully electric car with a limited 40-mile driving range.

We did about six or seven laps around GM’s test center campus which you can see part of in the video. I got the tires to squeal, slammed on the brakes, and otherwise tried to put the car through the ringer (as much as I could and feel comfortable with Frank Weber sitting next to me).

My final verdict? It’s a fun to car to drive and the final version holds a lot of promise.

Is “Unremarkable” Good?

I’ve found that most people are surprised to learn just how powerful electric cars can be. 0-60 in 2.6 seconds? Yep. They can also be incredibly attractive (even if you don’t love cars).

That’s all fine and good for performance and luxury automobiles, which cost upward of $80,000, but GM is shooting for a car with mass market appeal. The question is, will normal consumers want to pay a premium for a car that feels exactly like a gasoline-powerd version, and how long will it take them to understand why this car is important?

Just getting behind the wheel, the average driver wouldn’t know that the Volt is an electric car. That’s a substantial departure from something like the Tesla Roadster, which combines outrageous aesthetics and high-performance.

It’s no question that consumer perception of the Volt, both in terms of practical quality and brand, will be key for GM. As Toyota’s “ugly chic” sloped roof gave the Prius a distinctive enough profile to become synonymous with environmental trendsetting, so too will the Volt have to capture public fascination to revolutionize the new GM.

You can see what the final version of the Volt will look like in the gallery (last two pictures), and decide for yourself. If GM’s new electric car is popular enough to get to Version 2—at which point battery price and size drop in half—the game could change dramatically. It’s impossible to project just how big the market share for this car will be, but everything seems to be on track, and the Volt could be a major contendor when it’s made available sometime in 2011.

Editor’s Note: This is a 4-part series covering my trip to Michigan to test-drive the Chevy Volt. See also: 1. LiveBlogging from the opening of GM’s New Battery Lab, 2. Chevy Volt Test Drive: How GM’s Electric Car Works 3. Tour of GM’s New Battery Lab. Disclaimer: GM flew me out for this event.

About 7 hours ago (even though pics were leaked a bit earlier), Tesla Motors finally took the wraps off their electric sedan, the Model S. 

The sedan—which will cost about half as much as the Roadster—is intended to be a more practical and affordable alternative to their $109,000 sports car. Tesla anticipates a base price of about $49,900 after taking into account the electric vehicle federal tax credit of $7,500. If you include the cost of buying gas (at $4 per gallon of course) the price drops down to about $35,000.

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Tesla Motors hopes to secure funds by applying to redevelop brownfields sites; previously-developed land that is now deemed hazardous or polluted.

Though Silicon Valley electric car maker Tesla Motors originally had plans to develop a ‘virgin’ site in San Jose to house the company’s headquarters and manufacturing plant for its yet-to-be released Model S, the intended location, an 89-acre strip of land in San Jose apparently no longer works because Tesla wasn’t able to raise the $100 million in venture capital it needed to build on it.

But the fact that the private capital has fallen through may be a blessing in disguise for Tesla. By applying to develop its new manufacturing facilities on environmentally-troubled brownfields sites, Tesla will not only improve its standing with the federal government, but will also improve land in the process.

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Gearing up for an offical public debut at the 2009 North American International Auto Show next month, Fisker Automotive has released photos of what they’re calling the final production version of the Fisker Karma luxury plug-in hybrid electric sedan set to start rolling of the production line at the end of next year.

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Last year, when the US congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), a $25 billion fund called the “Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Incentive Program” (ATVM) was established to help new and existing auto makers re-tool their operations to bring next generation car technologies to market quickly. Just this month, the program started accepting applications for funds from interested parties.

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Fisker Automotive yesterday announced (PDF) the opening of a 34,000 square foot Engineering and Development Center in Pontiac, Michigan, that will house up to 200 engineers and designers in support of Fisker’s much anticipated plug-in hybrid car, the four-door Fisker Karma.

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Being a member of the President’s White House staff is no easy task.  President Andrew Jackson actually had two cabinets to hold the union together.  One was the formal cabinet which met in the White House and the other was known as his “Kitchen Cabinet” which met after hours across the street.

The Secretary of Energy will not be an easy role to assume.  The price of gas may have fallen recently, but that does not make us immune to future shortages and overseas skirmishes over resources.  President-elect Obama has been a symbol of American progress.  I sincerely hope his choice for the head of the DOE will share his vision and make sure we are on the right path to energy independence.

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Tesla plans to move the company’s headquarters to the new site as well, which will ultimately employ about 1,000 people when it opens in 2010.

>>More on Tesla Motors at Green Options

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A senior economist at the Argonne National Laboratory has come to an interesting conclusion: vehicles that rely on internal combustion engines are superior to electric vehicles in terms of what consumers would buy and what would save significant fuel.

Even though Tesla is delivering their cars to consumers several years before the Volt hits the show rooms, from the perspective of Dan Santini, you and I are more likely to get our hands on Volt-style vehicles first.

Some of the main obstacles that stand between us and pure EVs were identified at the 1st International Conference on Advanced Lithium Batteries for Automotive Applications, sponsored by the Argonne National Laboratory (where Dan Santini works).

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Tesla engineers developed the specifications for the new gearbox and provided them to BorgWarner. The new powertrain delivers about 30% higher motor torque on a single gear ratio, and it achieves a 10% higher EPA combined range.

The Roaster torque will be increased to 280 foot-pounds, while the EPA rated range of the car will increase to 244 miles, up from 221 miles. The quarter-mile time for the car is now in the 12.9 second range.

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As reported by the New York Times yesterday, the two leading manufacturers of electric cars in the US are involved in a serious quarrel over alleged theft of vehicle design and trade secrets.

Tesla Motors, who recently began production of their electric Roadster, claims that Henrik Fisker took on an $875,000 design contract with Tesla in order to access confidential design information. After producing “inferior work,” Fisker launched his own company, Fisker Automotive, and released an $80,000 competing vehicle—the Fisker Karma—less than a year later.

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