A Finnish forerunner in the field of electric vehicles, a new concept for infotainment applications for EV charging stations and a potential solution to range anxiety will be in the focus of today’s report from the International Motor Show 2010.

As there are so many new electric concepts, premiers and projects at this year’s Geneva Motor Show the article series is continuing with more highlights from the ground. This time cars21.com will put the spotlight on some suppliers and specials followed by the last article next week where innovative projects and companies from Geneva’s “Green Pavilion” will be presented in detail.

Valmet - from urban EVA to premium Karma

The service provider for the automotive industry with Finnish roots is normally involved in manufacturing the Porsche Boxster and Cayman models. However, now it is going more and more electric by engineering and manufacturing the forthcoming plug-in hybrid electric Fisker Karma. As their portfolio also includes the series production of the THNK City electric, both cars are being showcased at the Valmet booth at Geneva. In addition, the company unveiled the Eva, a three-door 2+2 hatch powered by a fully electric power train. So far, it is still a concept car but planned as the new urban electric vehicle for environmentally conscious people it has a range of 160 km and top speed of 120 km/h.

RWE - EV “fuel-up” with videos, music and navigation data

The German electric power public utility RWE presented together with Harman International the first infotainment application specially designed for electric cars. This application allows the EV driver to use the charging cable to download straight to the vehicle the latest podcast, videos and other data, or to hook up with a high-speed internet connection.

cars21.com spoke with a RWE representative and he confirmed that the infotainment system for EVs will be available soon at RWE charging stations that are public as well as for the home charging. Moreover, the company is heavily expanding the German charging network powered by 100% renewable energy sources. In Berlin alone, the company is planning to increase the number of charging points to 500 by the end of 2010.

NLV Quant - when electric dreams come true

Presented last year at the Koenigsegg stand, the 4-seater electrical car concept Quant came back to get a further technical boost by NLV Solar. A company’s representative confirmed to cars21.com that the new features would revolutionise the car market. A special thin film of pyrite that is transparent and covers the whole car converts sunlight into energy. This again supplies power to the operating electronics as well as the battery and is meant to solve all range anxiety problems of electric vehicles.

The power for a top speed of 377 km/h and to go from 0-100 km/h in 2.8 second comes from four electric motors. One motor in each wheel producing 800 horse powers combined complete the impressive list of technical highlights. A full carbon chassis and carbon body lead to only 1680 kg in weight. According to NLV Solar the concept has a range of over 450km and can be turned into reality over the next 12 months and be ready for production.