As the auto industry throws its weight behind clean, oil-free transportation as never before--with every major manufacturer planning to produce Electric Vehicles--EVWorld.com marks its tenth year of delivering the latest global electric-drive information to an audience of 15,000 unique viewers a day.
Launched in January 1998 by pastor-turned-journalist, J. William (Bill) Moore, the pioneering website quickly became a reliable resource by providing informed coverage of technological, economic and political EV industry developments and relating them to broader issues of global interest such as climate change and peak oil.
EV World has "been at the cutting edge of explaining how we should move away from oil dependence for a decade," said former Central Intelligence Agency director R. James Woolsey. "As each day goes by and we see $100-barrel oil, terrorist threats growing in the Middle East, misbehavior by Messrs. Putin, Chavez, Ahmadinejad and other oil-empowered dictators, and growing concern about climate change, we should all realize how prescient EV World has been."
EV World covers a range of electric-drive technologies, from electric bicycles to hybrid cars to fuel cell submarines with a mix of breaking news, features, conference reports and expert commentaries.
Today, EV World offers the Internet's largest searchable database of electric-drive news story links and press releases with a total of nearly 17,000 entries and counting. The site has generated more than 1,250 of its own feature stories, including interviews with industry leaders and policy makers. It also posts scores of MP3 audio files, available free through iTunes and RSS syndication, and a comprehensive hybrid car buyer's guide.
Moore launched his venture during a time of auto industry upheaval. Celebrities such as Jack Nicholson, Mel Gibson and Ted Danson were taking delivery of their leased General Motors EV1 electric cars, and Toyota had just introduced the world's first production hybrid-electric car, the Prius. Ford and GM were feuding over inductive versus conductive EV charging systems, and California's Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate was under fire. It required large car makers to sell tens of thousands of EVs in the state each year, a regulation automakers desperately wanted rescinded.
"EV World was born just about the time I got my first EV in 1997," said Chris Paine, director of the award-winning documentary, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" "Since then, Bill and crew have reported on electric car technology, advocacy and politics with expertise and flair. Congratulations on ten years!"
To commemorate its 10th anniversary, EV World plans a series of special projects including the electric conversion of a light duty pickup truck and the production of a documentary about the biofuel crop, Jatropha, with North Sea Films, which recently completed shooting "Lovely Still" with Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn. The site will also present the first "EV World's Best Electric Vehicle" award from among an increasingly crowded field, said Moore, publisher and editor-in-chief of the enterprise he founded.
"With oil at $100 a barrel and projections for it to go higher, researchers, engineers and entrepreneurs both inside the auto industry and out are rushing to develop affordable alternative fuel technologies, and electric-drive systems are an exciting part of the race," Moore said. Among the car companies large and small planning to manufacture battery electric cars by 2012, he noted, are California's Miles Electric Vehicles, Norway's Think Global, and Japan's Subaru, Mitsubishi and Nissan.
Meanwhile, ElBil Norge in Norway already offers a three-passenger runabout, and two French companies are vying to provide Paris with EVs for its proposed car-share program. Some 900 electric cars, many imported from India, are now operating in central London, avoiding the city's congestion charge.
"The development of powerful, lightweight lithium-ion batteries, coupled with exciting programs like the Tesla Roadster and GM's Concept Chevy Volt has helped ignite a resurgence of interest in electric cars, including hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery-powered vehicles," Moore said.
"At EV World, we have been tracking the steady, if sometimes lurching progress of electric-drive vehicles for a decade now and we've not seen the same level of excitement and, even better, political and industry support for this super-efficient, clean propulsion technology, which promises to dramatically reduce our dependence on oil. From the pace of announcements, it seems obvious that we're moving rapidly towards an 'EV World.' "
About EV World:
EV World (evworld.com) covers a wide range of EV platforms, from electric bicycles to fuel cell submarines. It is supported by advertising, corporate sponsorship and subscribers and serves roughly 15,000 unique viewers from all around the globe exploring up to 60,000 pages daily. As its name implies, it provides global coverage of EV-related topics. In October 2007, the New York Times recognized EV World as one of "Top Ten No-Hype" websites dedicated to hybrid and related electric drive technology. EV World is based in Papillion, Nebraska, voted the sixth-best community in which to live in America by Money magazine in 2007. For more information, go to www.evworld.com.