Japanese electric car goes 180-miles on single charge

This 4-passenger electric car gets a reported 180-miles on a single charge

Japanese developers have unveiled an electric car they said can travel more than 180-miless before its battery runs flat.

Electric vehicle specialist SIM-Drive, which hopes to take the car to market by 2013 but gave no projected cost, said its four-seater "SIM-LEI" had motors inside each wheel and a super-light frame, allowing for 199.8-miles of motoring on one charge in a test.

Its designers say they hope the prototype, a joint project among 34 organizations including Mitsubishi Motors and engineering firm IHI, will be sold to car manufacturers for mass production.

Automakers such as Nissan, which launched its all-electric Leaf last year with a 100-mile range, are gambling that electric cars with zero tailpipe emissions will catch on and, some time in the future, start to drive traditional petrol-guzzlers off the road.

Electric cars still face key hurdles such as costly batteries and the lack of conveniently-located recharging points, which limits their operating radius. However, that's only because our government is not aggressive enough in getting the necessary infrastructure in place for electric motoring, such as recharging stations at all commercial establishments. That would take foresight, but instead they prefer to fill their accounts with big oil lobby money to ensure they get re-elected.