Electric Car Blogging

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Legislation and Policy, USA

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California may just pass Maryland as the first State to require hybrid and electric cars to have a minimum sound level. While the East Coast state has created a task force to study the issue, the Senate in the far-left State has just now approved a bill which would establish its own committee for the same purpose. The bill will now be passed on to The Governator, Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger himself, who has apparently not taken a stance as of yet on the politically-charged issue. Although Cali is just the third-largest State by land area, it is the most populous and has a huge collection of hybrids and electric vehicles due to its strict emissions requirements, and we all know how important California’s auto legislation is for setting the stage across the country.

While many may argue over whether or not legislation is really required for cars being too quiet, the technology certainly exists to take care of it. Lotus, for example, has already demo’d its Safe and Sound system.

[Source: AP via San Jose Mercury News]

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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Green, Autoline on Autoblog

THE DOWN SIDE TO LITHIUM BATTERIES

Uh-oh. In the pell-mell race to develop lithium-ion batteries for plug-ins, EV’s and hybrids, has any automaker taken a hard look at where all that lithium is going to come from? Guess what? Not only are global lithium supplies pretty tight, prices are about to skyrocket.

Today, the United States imports almost all of its lithium. We get most of it from Chile, then Argentina, and a little bit from Canada and Zimbabwe. The only producer in America is actually a German company, Metallgesellschaft, which has a mine in Nevada. Yet, even though we import most of our lithium, the United States is the world’s largest processor of the material.

John McElroy is host of the TV program “Autoline Detroit”. Every week he brings his unique insights as an auto industry insider to Autoblog readers. Follow the jump to continue reading this week’s editorial.

Continue reading Autoline on Autoblog with John McElroy

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