Honda will start selling an electric vehicle as well as a plug-in hybrid in 2012 in the U.S. and Japan, joining the race to manufacture green cars in which rivals have already taken slight leads.

The plans were disclosed by Honda Motor Co. President Takanobu Ito at the Japanese automaker’s facility in a Tokyo suburb Tuesday.

“Honda has no future unless we achieve significant reduction in CO2 emissions,” he told reporters. “The next 10 years will be a true test for Honda’s survival.” (more…)

Tesla Motors and Toyota Motors announced that they have signed an agreement to begin making an electric version of the Toyota RAV4. It is due to go on sale in 2012. Tesla developed a prototype that is being tested and they plan to produce more this year. (more…)

The Nissan LEAF an acronym for Leading, Environmentally Friendly, Affordable, Family Car has finally made its appearance in public. Nissan decided to first launch the car in Hawaii due to Hawaii’s strong commitment to clean energy. Starting in early 2011, Leafs willing be whizzing around Hawaii’s streets. (more…)

A little more than a year ago, the Porsche tuning specialist at Ruf unveiled their first electric car, the 911-based eRuf. That first iteration was definitely not ready for production, but the crew at Ruf are not known for taking half measures. A few months after the eRuf was shown to the world, the second iteration with more power and lighter batteries appeared as the Greenster at the Geneva Motor Show. Ruf has said it plans to build that car in limited numbers.

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Mitsubishi will be showing its new plug-in hybrid system in its new Mitsubishi Concept PX-MiEV next month at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show. (more…)