Edited by Pramod de Silva

Future special:

The future is closer than you think

Today we bring you the future. Yes, it is all about electric, hybrid and fuel cell cars. Chances are you will be driving similar cars in say, 2025. But the most exciting part is that some of these cars are already on the roads in other countries. There are a few examples of the Prius even in Sri Lanka. So the future is closer than you think. With oil running out, they are the future. Watch this space for more on these developments.

The FCX: Honda's newest Fuel Cell Vehicle

The FCX is a mix of carbon fiber construction, bleeding-edge technology and a smaller fuel cell stack that turns hydrogen into electricity, which in turn drives the FCX's 95kW AC synchronous motor.

The FCX on the track is silent - with just the sound of the motor spooling up - and quick, with all the torque delivered at low rpms. A bonus: the only emission coming out of the tail pipe is good old H2O, which looks cleaner than the water that comes out of the faucet.

While this may all seem perfect, hydrogen being a big buzzword these days, a few obstacles stand in its way, namely, the infrastructure to produce and deliver hydrogen that powers these types of vehicles. A few other hurdles besides infrastructure: the size of the fuel cell and the powertrain package, the short mileage range and cold weather durability.

But look at Honda's first FCX from 2002 and the new model side-by-side and you can see the giant steps taken in the last six years alone.

"Honda's position is that there is not one silver bullet to the solution. We see a hydrogen fuel cell as part of the solution - zero emissions and in theory, in unlimited sustainability," says Sage Marie, a Honda spokesman.

When asked what he predicts is coming in the next decade, he replies, "Hydrogen is our vision and it will become a larger part of the model mix than today. Ten years from now, I'd expect more diesels in the line up as well as more hybrids.

You'll see an expansion of today's alternative fuels like diesel and natural gas. In our vision, hydrogen will be a part of that mix too." While clean-burning diesel vehicles and gas-sipping hybrids are a handy alternative to internal combustion engines, it's electric power, while not the magic bullet, that can help us go long way to fixing not only the problem of foreign oil reliance but also lessen our greenhouse gas emissions.

A large portion of the EV vehicles on the road today are what's called Neighbourhood EVs, meant to be driven at speeds under 25 miles an hour. But future highway-speed vehicles are coming soon due to high consumer demand. Why?

A large portion of the buying public these days are looking for a change from their gas-powered cars and only drive from 25-50 miles a day to and from work. A perfect scenario for an EV vehicle.

Also, they look pretty darn cool. It's the coolness factor that makes people take a closer look at what electric vehicle technology has to offer because these vehicles aren't very fast, are very expensive and, without a long driving range or an easy way of refilling the batteries, somewhat impractical.

Think of these EV vehicles as Cars 1.0 and yourself as a lucky beta tester. While the technology is not there yet, you can make sure you'll be there when it does. Just wait for the hardware and software upgrades.

Here is a short list of both the here and now and what's on the horizon for the future of electric vehicles.

The future is here

Gasoline/electric hybrids combine two disparate powerplants - an internal combustion engine and an efficient electric-drive motor - to bring the best possible efficiencies to a small but growing number of models.

They do so seamlessly and in ways that do not require anything extraordinary from a driver. There's no need to plug in a hybrid or calculate how far it can go before batteries must be replenished. In fact, unlike the battery-electric vehicles of the 1990s, there is no plug to be found. Hybrids charge themselves while driving, and range is determined by the amount of gasoline in the tank, just like any other vehicle.

Early models, like the two-seat Honda Insight hatchback and first-generation Toyota Prius sedan, blazed the hybrid trail with amazingly high fuel economy, up to 70 mpg in the case of the Insight. But these smallish vehicles offered quirky designs and largely appealed to techies and early adopters who embraced their unique look and feel. That all changed as later hybrid models have become more mainstream and aim squarely at a broader range of buyers.

For instance, when it emerged as an all new four-door hatchback model in 2004, the second-generation Toyota Prius grew larger, more stylish, more accommodating and more powerful than its predecessor.

It also features some of Toyota's best new technology. This model became so popular during the early stages of rising gas prices that an unprecedented backlog of 24,000 orders piled up, causing Toyota to increase production and scramble for components unique to its hybrid model.

Honda took a different strategy and brought hybrid power to its volume models - the Civic and Accord. The recently introduced all-new 2006 Civic Hybrid is better than ever. With SUVs being such hot sellers in recent years, it was only natural for manufacturers to apply power to these popular vehicles.

Ford responded with the first hybrid-powered SUV, the Escape Hybrid, and followed by bringing its Mercury twin, the Mariner Hybrid, to showrooms a year earlier than planned due to growing hybrid sales. Toyota introduced the Lexus RX 400h, a hybrid variant of its popular RX 330 SUV, with a Toyota Highlander hybrid on its heels.

One of the only highway-speed EV vehicles available on the road today, the Phoenix Motors SUT, is a full-size pickup truck that seats five comfortably, has a top speed of 95 miles an hour and uses safe UltraNano battery technology to power the high-torque electric motor.

With the forthcoming quick charge system, Phoenix says you can fully charge the battery in less than 10 minutes. The only catch, it's only available to fleets until 2009 when the consumer version launches.

The Chevrolet Volt was shown to much acclaim at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. What makes the Volt so special is its E-Flex Propulsion system. Basically, the Volt's power plant - a rechargeable electric drive system that can be configured to run a variety of sources from electricity to gasoline, E85 or bio-diesel - increases the range of the electric vehicle to numbers not usually associated with the word EV.

If James Bond drove an electric car instead of his Aston Martin, it would look and drive like the Venturi F‚tish. Each F‚tish, which is limited to an edition of twenty-five, are hand built in Monaco from a design by famed Parisian designer Sacha Lakic.

The space-age carbon fiber constructed two-seater has a top speed of 100 mph and features an electric motor with the equivalent of 250 horsepower and a 0-60 time of about 4.5 seconds. But all this comes at a very steep price starting at $460,000.

Built in the heartland of America - Tallmadge, Ohio - the Myers Motors NmG (No More Gas) is a fully enclosed three-wheel all-electric vehicle with a top-speed of 70 miles an hour. The NmG sports a 156 Volt DC Motor, good for 20 plus horsepower and has a range of about 30 miles, perfect for tooling around town.

While the NmG is technically classified as a motorcycle and the laws of motorcycling apply, the power windows, heater and CD player make up for the lack of a fourth wheel. At a price just under $25,000, could the NmG be more fun to drive?

Tom Hanks just took delivery of his eBox, which takes an existing Scion xB, pulls out the engine and drive train and replaces it with AC Propulsion electric drive system. AC gives 0-60 times of 7 seconds, a top speed of 95 mph and a charge rate of 30 minutes for 20 to 50 miles.

The range is somewhat small at 140-180 miles and it's somewhat pricey - $55,000 plus the purchase of the new Scion, but you can buy one tomorrow. Well, maybe not tomorrow, the AC Propulsion eBox is available as a California-only vehicle. At Santa Monica's AltCar Expo in 2006, there was a line three-deep just to sit inside this custom Scion.