Electric or hybrid vehicles are easy to dream up, prototype and get enthused about. Yest the cost of getting a decent vehicle in a showroom near you is enormous.

We now see names that we never heard before, like Fisker or Tesla enter the motoring fray but for all these young startups the initial costs are horrendous.

From our friends at GIGAOM the following details on the good Karma from Fisker.

The A3 e-tron -- an entry-level Sportsback  -- shoud be available in 2013 and after that it only needs 11 seconds to reach 100k/hr with max speed at 160.

Two lithium-ion batteries should give it about 150 clicks range for which it needs a nine-hour charge. No word yet on how much you need to invest to drive the e-tron...

Last year we had the concept at the Geneva Motor Show and now it seems to become reality. If you have the moolah of course... But we can have a look at what the well-heeled (or is that well-tyred?) elite can expect: Powered by a 500 hp V8 assisted by two electric motors, no more than 918 (oh really?) units of the new two-seater supercar will be made with production slated to begin in September 2013. The asking price: US$845,000. (Told you it ain't cheap!) Except when you're driving it with 3L/100... (How much do you allocate for tyre wear??)

Here's a bit more info from Ferdinand's Press Corps:

Would it lessen your guilt if the ultimate luxury vehicle, Rolls Royce, would come out with an all-electric Phantom?
Probably not but the irony of the 102EX experimental vehicle is that it will be showcased to primarily the oil-rich sheiks of the Middle East...

Anyways, the 102EX will be shown in Geneva on March 1, and will tour Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America this year to evaluate the opinions of its key stakeholders.
Here's the official Rolls-Royce press release:

Finally a hybrid vehicle with enough electric range and a very frugal 1.9 litres/100kms!
What's more, it's nearly ready for production.
This Plug-In hybrid will debut at the Geneva MotorShow.
More details below.

Good news from the Volvo front! I must say that I'm a little bit biased towards the Swedish car maker, having owned half a dozen Volvos in my life...
Volvo is set to enter the all-electric vehicle (EV) market with the electrified (and maybe electrifying?) C30 three-door compact. An electric concept based on the C30 was first seen in 2007 and last year the C30 Electric was taken to the Paris and Los Angeles Motor Shows. Now Volvo has announced its plans to begin production of this 160km range EV with the first ten cars off the production line heading to Swedish energy provider Göteborg Energi in the coming months.

Here are the specs and some more details.

Lots of interesting news gets announced at CES and the latest hybrid Ford offerings do not disappoint.
This is the essence of it - more details in the Press Release.
The C-MAX is a European market compact MPV, that'll comfortably seat five but not seven.
The plug-in version, is called the Energi and promises to deliver a total range of 500 miles. MPG is not known at this stage.
Click for more.

Ford's Auto Start-Stop system will be added to conventional cars, crossovers and SUVs in North America from 2012. Hopefully the Australian line-up will not be too far behind...
My own Ford Falcon uses precious resources when idling and everytime I'm coasting. Totally unnecessary with today's technology.
Read below some more details from a Gizmag article.