Given that he launched the Tesla Model S earlier this week, it makes sense that Tesla founder Elon Musk would be in high spirits. So high, in fact, that he has said today that within 20 years, the majority of new cars sold will run entirely off of electric batteries.

Recently Bloomberg ran a report stating that Toyota is on track to sell over 250,000 Prius-branded vehicles in the United States in 2012. If you live anywhere on the coasts or in any urban and/or quickly gentrifying area, you might think Toyota has hit that saturation point already. Toyota wants more from the Prius than the standard "Liftback" and the family cruiser Prius V (for versatility). Now, with the introduction of the Prius C - the C is for City - Toyota has created a smaller, less expensive, entry level Prius for the masses. Beware all other compact cars, hybrid or not: the gauntlet has been thrown down.

When you can fill your car up with petrol AND pay for it in a couple of minutes, the half hour charge times common on many electric cars can get old pretty fast. A Canadian utility company with money to burn is already working on the problem, thankfully, by designing a system that can do the same job in five minutes.

In a neat twist, Japan is in the midst of an interesting energy trial that involves powering buildings from a rather unlikely source - the battery pack of a Nissan Leaf.

Before Electric Blue sped across Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats at 280 kilometres an hour late last year, no one had made an official attempt to set a speed record for battery-powered racecars weighing less than 500 kilograms. Other groups have been racing on the Salt Flats for years in electric cars with heavier batteries and larger motors. But Perry Carter, a professor of manufacturing engineering technology at Brigham Young University, wanted a car that could hit high speeds without so much weight.

Early this year, when it became clear that the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf had missed their 2011 sales targets, critics declared the electric-car revolution over. Yet at Detroit's annual North American International Auto Show in January, plug-in cars abounded. BMW displayed its forthcoming i3 electric city car, along with its i8 plug-in hybrid sports car. Acura unwrapped a hybrid concept version of the NSX supercar. Tesla Motors brought its all-electric Model S sedan. But the most important car on the show floor might have been one that, on the surface, seemed much less exciting: the new Ford Fusion, which will be available in gasoline, hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions.