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Mon dieu!

Toyota says it will sell 10,000 Yaris Hybrids in France after reporting a 46-percent jump in hybrid sales in the country, Technologic Vehicles reports, citing an interview with Toyota France CEO Pascal Ruch. Such sales volume would be about double what Toyota forecast for the Yaris Hybrid for this year.

Earlier this year, Toyota debuted the Yaris Hybrid at the Geneva Motor Show. The model, which has about 100 horsepower, delivers fuel economy of about 67 miles per gallon – on the slightly more lenient European driving cycle, at least.

In the US, Toyota has doubled hybrid sales through September compared to 2011 to almost 248,000 units. More than two-thirds of those are variants of the Prius.

Well, that's one way to cure range anxiety.

Electric-vehicle charging-station maker AeroVironment unveiled a version of its EVSE-RS home charger that lessens the need for hardware and can plug directly into a 240-volt outlet.

More importantly, the 10-pound (without cables) charger can be lugged around. That means EV drivers can bring the chargers with them on weekend jaunts, provided that they have access to another 240-volt outlet.

The charger, which is compliant with the SAE-J1772 charging standard, retails for $1,099 either directly through AeroVironment or on Amazon. in other words, it's getting easier and easier to get plug-in ready these days. Check out AeroVironment's press release below.

Highway etiquette states that slower moving vehicles stay to the right. Those slowpokes may want to stay off California highways altogether this Friday.

That's because Tesla Motors has declared October 19 as "Supercharging Day," when the electric-vehicle maker's first six fast chargers will be opened to the public, according to Hybrid Cars. Tesla announced the news via an e-mail to car owners.

The company's Superchargers, which fact charge at 90 kW and 440 volts, can put 150 miles into a top-of-the-line Model S 85-kWh battery in about a half-hour, or about as long as it takes from a Model S driven by a deranged owner to get from Palo Alto to San Francisco.

Earlier this month, Tesla said it's getting $10 million from the state to help prepare its Fremont, CA, factory to one day start making the Model X SUV there. That model is expected to see the light of day in 2014 and will be Supercharger-capable.

Toyota dealers are just fine with hybrids, but they're not quite ready for electric vehicles.

That's the gist of a new survey from AutoRetailNet, which found that most Toyota dealers think the Japanese automaker made the right decision to delay any kind of largescale launch of its Scion iQ electric vehicle, because of what's perceived to be limited sales potential.

About 85 percent of those dealers said EVs are more than five years away from generating substantial sales, according to Plug In Cars. And more than eight in 10 said Toyota was right to delay mass production of the Scion iQ EV. Still, almost two-thirds thought the EV would be produced in the future.

Toyota said last month that it would make only about 100 iQ EVs in the U.S. and Japan, a smaller batch than what was previously planned.

A few short weeks ago we learned that Toyota is shrinking its overall plan for the Scion iQ EV down to an "extremely limited release." During its Future Mobility Seminar in Denver, CO this week, Toyota announced the small details for its diminutive electric vehicle (EV) program.

The teeny 2013 Scion iQ EV will deploy in slight fashion in car-sharing programs on campuses and in urban environments later this year, but only "approximately" 90 of them. Yes, the entire fleet of Toyota's petite iQ EV could fit in one big warehouse. And you can't buy or lease them, you can just rent them for the short term.

The iQ EV itself has decent numbers for a city EV, including a 13.5-foot turning radius thanks to its diminutive 78-inch wheel base. It seats four (well, if two people are itty-bitty) and has a top speed of 78 miles per hour. It uses a 47-kW (63 horsepower) electric motor and a 12-kWh battery to achieve a range of up to 50 miles per charge. That charge takes around three hours using a Level 2, 240V charger and there's an interesting additional feature: a timer that matches "charge completion time with the time the vehicle will actually be driven, to help reduce battery degradation." The iQ EV also has three driving modes – D, B and S – that each emphasize a different aspect of the car. D minimizes power usage in city driving. S gives better acceleration (from zero to 60 in 13.4 seconds). B improves the efficiency of the regenerative brakes.

As for looks, two exterior colors are available, Silver and Super Red, with the top half, rear hatch, battery cooling inlets and front headlamps all accented in black. The charging port is up front, with a charge door where lesser cars have an upper grille. There's even a leather-wrapped seat, so when you hop into one of these rare, shared EVs for a few minutes, you can feel like you're borrowing someone's upscale EV.

The pros and cons of the auto bailout and concerns about the rising price of gasoline have been a political football throughout this election season. So, it should come as no surprise that the auto industry was brought up more than a few times in last night's heated presidential debate.

Roughly a minute into the debate, the subject was raised by President Obama when asked a question about unemployment. The President's answer: "I want to build manufacturing jobs in this country again. Now when Gov. Romney said we should let Detroit go bankrupt, I said we're going to bet on American workers and the American auto industry and it's coming back."

Romney countered by pointing out that Obama followed the Governor's advice offered in his New York Times editorial "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" from 2008. Romney stated that the President did, in fact, let Chrysler go bankrupt, and pointed out, "My plan was to have the company go through bankruptcy... and come out stronger." Obama retorted that Romney's view of taking the automakers into bankruptcy did not provide them with any way to stay open, and would have lost a million jobs in the process.

The candidates also spoke on energy and oil production, primarily in response to questions of recently spiking gas prices. The President pointed out that oil production on federal land is at its highest in 16 years and natural gas production is at its highest levels in decades. Romney responded by saying that overall oil production is down 14 percent as a result of cutting licenses for drilling. Additionally, Romney criticized Obama for blockage of the Keystone oil pipeline.

Surprisingly, yesterday's bankruptcy filing of A123 Systems was not brought up, though Republicans, including Romney, have criticized the Obama administration's investment in electric cars as well as grants and loans for battery makers. If Tuesday's Chapter 11 filing was not mentioned last night, it will most certainly come up in the days and weeks to come.

As fast-charging standards go, it looks like the Atlantic's finally covered.

SAE International said this week that it has finalized technical standards for a DC fast-charging system that's is being supported by both American and European plug-in vehicle makers.

SAE said its J1772 Combo standards were developed "in a consensus environment," and that they would help lowering typical electric vehicle recharging times from eight hours to as little as 20 minutes.

This standards release is the most recent chapter in the ongoing battle between two competing fast-charging standards. Japanese plug-in vehicle makers such as Nissan and Mitsubishi are supporting the CHAdeMO standard, which both the Nissan Leaf (pictured) and the Mitsubishi i can use. Critics of the SAE Combo fast charging standard call it "the plug without the cars."

See SAE's press release after the jump.

Electric-vehicle maker Coda Automotive is offering buyers a free year (roughly) of recharging, which sounds good no matter how you slice it. Specifically, Coda is giving a $552 rebate for folks who buy Coda Sedans this month.

The Los Angeles-based company came up with $552 as an estimate for how much it costs to recharge the car and then go 10,000 miles. When compared to California high gas prices, drivers can be looking at savings of around $2,000 during that first year, as is explained in Coda's press release below.

Coda, which sold its first cars in March, got a single-charge rating from the EPA of 88 miles (about 15 miles more than the Nissan Leaf). The company has said it's looking to boost both production and sales as it widens its dealer network to about 30 outlets next year.

A recent column by Leo Hickman in The Guardian set off a wave of debate over the true merit of electric vehicles (EVs) compared to internal combustion engine vehicles (EVs). Hickman used a study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) called Comparative Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Conventional and Electric Vehicles that explored a variety of factors involved in the lifecycle of the car – from materials used to vehicle emissions to the source of energy moving the metal – as a starting point. The problem, as we'll see, is that the study uses some dubious assumptions to badmouth EVs.

The study sends something of a warning signal in its finding that the production and lifecycle of EVs makes them not as great as proponents have been stating. Specifically, the technology is more energy-demanding during production and can actually bring more CO2 emissions than conventional vehicles.

The study doesn't outright condemn EVs. At its conclusion, the report authors said that the production phase of EVs is more "environmentally intensive," but it does bring with it substantial overall improvements for GPW (global warming potential), TAP (terrestrial acidification potential) and other positive impacts if powered by appropriate energy sources. That being said, it's counterproductive to push for EVs in regions where electricity is generated by oil, coal, or lignite (coal in its early stage) combustion.

As for recycling of the EVs, Guillaume Majeau-Bettez, one of the paper's authors, wrote,
"Hopefully, subsequent 'waves' of electric cars would be made with a higher fraction of recycled metal (ecars made from ecars, cradle-to-cradle...), but the industry is not there yet."

Several readers left comments on Hickman's article saying the report overstated the downside of EVs. And criticism is growing. Fully Charged's Robert Llewellyn wrote an important article drawing connections between the report authors and the oil industry (hint: there are many). He also points out some egregious assumptions the authors make, for example, "Their calculations were for a 1,000 kg motor, the motor in the Nissan Leaf weighs 53kg. As you can imagine, an error of this magnitude could skew the figures rather badly. "

Earlier this year, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released a report analyzing emissions and costs for both EVs and gasoline-powered vehicles. The study provided a well-to-wheel (drilling, refining, burning for gas and mining coal, making electricity for EVs) comparison and found greater benefits coming from EV technology than that determined by NTNU. In a new blog post directly analyzing the NTNU article, UCS' senior engineer of clean vehicles, Don Anair, references the earlier work and then writes:

The numbers show that even in the worst case, on the dirtiest grid and assuming EV vehicle production creates twice the number of global warming emissions as a gasoline vehicle, an EV still has a slight (6%) emission advantage compared to the average new compact.

It's well worth the read. In fact, any time there's a study purporting to decimate arguments against plug-in vehicles, it's worth investigating the back story.

A few years back, Mate Rimac replaced the internal combustion drivetrain in his 1986 BMW E30 with an electric one and dubbed it the bi-moto EV – it was originally intended it to have two motors. Then, in a quest to build the fastest electric car ever, he reconfigured that original setup four more times.

His patience and hard work paid off and the old Bimmer became a 600-horsepower, battery-powered monster capable of slingshotting from a dead stop to 60 miles per hour in 3.3 seconds. Indeed, it was fast enough to fulfill its maker's record-setting dream and, after taking about 17 months to dot i's and cross t's, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) has officially recognized it as the quickest electric car in the world in its Category A, Group VIII (electric vehicle), Class 3 (above 1000 kilograms). Its respective 1/8 and 1/4-mile times of 7.549 and 11.808 seconds displaced the former record holder, the very lovely Peugeot EX1.

If the Rimac name rings a bell, you'll be well aware that the young Croatian has not been waiting for the FIA paper work whilst resting on some beach alongside the Adriatic, leafy laurels between his buttocks and the time-worn sand. No, he has taken what he's learned from that first project, started Rimac Automobili and built the (even faster) glorious Concept_One.

Scroll below to watch both of these cars in tire-smoking action as Rimac celebrates its latest achievement.

When the Fisker Atlantic was revealed in April, no one was saying anything about production dates. Even in recent interviews and statements, Fisker has remained coy about when it might start building the smaller cousin to the Karma.

Given Fisker's financial difficulties and questions about where it will build the car, none of this was a surprise. It's also not at all shocking that reports now say Fisker might not start making the Atlantic until 2014 or 2015. Reuters says that was "the first time Fisker disclosed a production timetable for the Atlantic," but way back in 2009, the official timeline said the Atlantic (then called Project Nina) would start production by the end of 2012.

Fisker representatives used the new 2014 date in slides presented to investors. It was also revealed that a lot of the work on the car is done, since "about 90 percent of the parts in the Atlantic have been engineered." Should the Atlantic still be built in Delaware, as originally planned, suppliers might use some of the large factory that Fisker bought from General Motors. Of course, with the news that one of Fisker's main suppliers for the Karma – A123 Systems – might go bankrupt, we'll see how long the 2014 date holds firm.

If it works for passenger cars, it can certainly work for passenger buses.

Wireless charging is being tested in small batches in cars like the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf, but there's big work being done in Den Bosch in the Netherlands, where E-Moss is testing a 39-foot all-electric bus and induction charging panels. Unlike the BYD electric buses being tested in another part of Holland, the bus in den Bosch is a converted Volvo rig that has had its diesel heart ripped out and replaced with batteries and a Inductive Power Transfer wireless charging system from Conductix Wampfler. We're not sure which pack this bus uses, but E-Moss offers electric buses with 80-, 120-, 160- and 200-kWh LiFePo4 battery packs. E-Moss says the wireless bus uses both overnight wired charging and on-the-route wireless opportunity charges at bus stops "to run reliably for 18 hours, covering some 288 kilometers a day, without the need to stop for prolonged periods." Since the energy supplied is green, E-Moss says, operating the bus is "completely climate-neutral." The bus can carry just as many people as it could before its operation

There's another electric bus program with wireless testing going on in the US, at Utah State University's Energy Dynamics Laboratory. You can read all about that here and find the E-Moss press release below.

Last year, it was the BMW i8. Next year, it'll be the Fisker Karma. That's the recent progression of plug-in vehicles making an appearance in blockbuster films.

The Fisker Karma extended-range plug-in hybrid will play an important role in a scene in Paranoia, a corporate-espionage thriller starring Harrison Ford, according to USA Today. In the flick, which doesn't come out until next fall, a balding Ford hands the keys to a younger worker, played by Liam Hemsworth, as part of his "seduction" into the luxurious world of the one percent, according to the newspaper with the blue dot logo. Gary Oldman plays Ford's business mentee/opponent in the film.

The Fisker has already gained favor with other entertainment figures, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Cee Lo Green and Justin Bieber among those who drive the six-figure car. The Fisker isn't the only plug-in ride to hit the silver screen. Last year, the BMW i8 electric-concept vehicle was featured in the Tom Cruise hit "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol."

Let's start the day off with some less-than-encouraging news for anyone who's been rooting for A123 Systems: bankruptcy may be just around the corner.

In an Securities and Exchange Committee filing yesterday (download or view it here), A123 says it "does not expect to timely pay" the next payment due on the $143 million it owes on notes that will come due in 2016 and that it "does not intend to timely pay a 6% P&I Payment due today, October 15, 2012." It has thus defaulted on these loans and is "considering a broad set of strategic alternatives to address its liquidity constraints." Then there's this:

The Company may not have sufficient cash to fund operations and may need to seek the protections provided under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to, among other things, obtain access to new financing and facilitate one or more of the transactions it is contemplating. No assurance can be given that the Company will be able to avoid restructuring, reorganization, or a bankruptcy filing.

A123 has contracts with automakers like Fisker and BMW. A battery recall involving the Fisker Karma earlier this year is said to have cost A123 around $67 million. So, it's not like we didn't have any warnings that A123 was in trouble. In July, A123 filed an SEC report that said it "expects to have approximately four to five months of cash to support its ongoing operations." In August, Chinese company Wanxiang Group Corporation and A123 made a deal to give Wanxiang an 80 percent ownership stake for an investment of up to $450 million.

There is a decent chance that this will come up during the presidential debate tonight, since Republican candidate Mitt Romney attacked President Obama for giving money to green energy "losers" like Fisker Automotive and Tesla Motors in the last debate and A123 got a $249 million federal grant in 2009. Of course, A123, based in Waltham, MA, also received money during the Bush Administration (it was started in 2001 with a $100,000 Department of Energy grant and, in 2006, was given a $7.5-million award from the United States Advanced Battery Consortium) and said in 2009 it was "seeking rebates, tax exemptions, tax credits and financing that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has offered to support the expansion of our facilities in Massachusetts." Romney was governor of Massachusetts from 2003-2007, but we haven't yet found any proof he supported the company at that time. Anyone have any links to share on this topic?

*UPDATE: And, this morning, A123 did indeed file for bankruptcy and will sell its automotive assets to Johnson Control. See press release below.