No one knows if Nissan planned to start “dropping” Leafs as the Northern Hemisphere enters the fall months, but we hope they did—the irony works for us. Today, Nissan announced the National Market Roll-Out Plan for their brand-new zero-emission Nissan Leaf.

Customers in 5 states can place firm orders for their new EV starting in August, and take delivery in December 2010. After that, Nissan plans to roll market by market until the nation is covered in Leafs by the end of 2011.

Read the long-winded press release here.

By definition, the recently unveiled Bloodhound SSC land-speeder is a hybrid. Now, it’s not the kind of hybrid we normally discuss here at the DiscoverHybrids blog, but a hybrid none-the-less. Designed to smash the current record of 763 mph and hit 1050 mph, the Bloodhound SSC is powered by 3 very different motors—thus the “hybrid.

The first engine, a Eurojet EJ200 jet engine, starts the rolling. Then the second, a purpose-built rocket engine takes over and sends the car into the four-digit stratosphere. And the third, a V-12 800 hp gasoline-burning race engine supplies auxiliary power for the rocket’s oxidizer pump and hydraulics.

Check out the whole thing in-depth at the Bloodhound SSC website.

Source: The Car Insider

It’s a slow news week here at DiscoverHybrid’s, so what do we do when it’s a slow news week? We either A, wax nasty about whatever green celebrity gal has caught our fancy that week. B, forward your traffic to automotive retailers schlepping Toyota Prius Floor Mats & Liners. Or C, surf the net looking to gravy-train someone else’s journalistic efforts. This week, it’s C.

The green crew over at TechnoHugs.com has put together this pictorial of green cars, real green cars. In fact these cars are so green, they actually produce oxygen. Check out the green scene right here.

Employing a new kind a hybrid technology that mates an electromagnet with a permanent magnet, the Tokyo-based Axle Corporation says this futuristic motorbike of theirs can be charged right at home in 6 hours.

And that’s not all. If you can get over how horrifyingly dorky this thing looks, it can run noiselessly for over 110 miles and reach speeds of over 90 mph. Watch the video above, it does look rather exciting.

And when the video gets to the Japanese-speaking parts, just know that in translation they’re saying, “DiscoverHybrids blog is number one!”

Going straight for the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf jugular, the new Smart ForTwo Electric Drive promises to heat up the impending EV wars. Set to hit the streets in October, the 2011 Smart ForTwo aims to grace the paid parking slot for every fashion-tastic urbanite across this land (or at least this land’s blue-tinged perimeter).

Of course, at a lease-only price of $599/month ($29K total), it’s probably a smart move that Smart plans to only import 250 of these electro-runabouts. But of course, with the eco-cache that the Smart brand commands, you can bet all 250 are accounted for by those aforementioned urbanites.

Source: Smart USA

A couple of weeks ago we ran a report about the Nissan Leaf and its $2,200, electrician-installed home charging system. Well, not to be outdone, General Motors announced today that the first 4,400 buyers of the much-anticipated 2011 Chevy Volt get a FREE home charging system.

No news yet on whether either home charging system goes to 11.

Source: ABC News

California GOV. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced yesterday that Toyota and Tesla are teaming up in a joint venture to produce electric vehicles. And the big news, they’re gonna do it California.

The details are sketchy, but it looks like Tesla will produce they’re new model S sedan and badge it as a Tesla, and rebadge it as a Toyota as well.

Even crazier, the joint venture may produce an all-electric Prius (finally!), but badge that as a Tesla. We don’t care either way, as long as the full electrics keep coming. So by this time next year consumers could have 4 or 5 major manufacturer electric vehicles to choose from.

One question—will the new Tesla-Yota models be equipped with sudden unintended acceleration?

Source: SFGate

A few weeks back we reported on the White Zombie, a home-built all-electric Datsun 1200 that regularly clocks sub-12 second ETs in the quarter mile. At the time, we thought it was the fastest all-electric vehicle in the world. Well, White Zombie, meet the Black Current 3.

This home-made creation from the other side of the pond boasts similar quarter-mile run times and the exact same 114 mph top speed through the traps, which, for the uninitiated, is wicked fast. The only thing the Black Current has over the White Zombie is one very special notch in its belt—it beat a Tesla Roadster and it did it on video. Here’s the proof.

Preparing for the next inevitable gasoline crisis, the hoons at Jalopnik put together a list of the top 11 fuel-sipping Sports Cars. Their point, contrary to our beliefs here at Discover Hybrids, is that hybrids are boring and gas is going to eventually cost too much whether you have a hybrid or not, so let’s have some fun while it lasts.

The list includes some damn fun cars, each with about 30 mpg highway, which is darn close to those abominable hybrid SUVs out there cluttering our cause. Best yet, the Tesla Roadster made the list. Check the entire post out right here.

Source: Jalopnik

The dream of plugging your electric vehicle in for the night is getting closer, but it’s not as easy as a Glade Plug-In. It seems that that the new breed of electric vehicles won’t just plug into our home outlets along with the toaster or the alarm clock.

Because of this, Nissan announced that all future Nissan Leaf owners are required to have a Nissan-certified electrician visit their home before purchase. The electrician will survey the home and declare whether or not it’s up-to-snuff to handle the $2,200 (on top of the $32K car price) charger installation. If the home doesn’t meet standards, the electrician will provide an estimate for upgrade costs.

Nissan has yet to decide whether they’ll charge for the visits, but we figure with the 50% federal tax credit for component installation, and the $7,500 electric car credit, and never going to the gas station again will definitely outweigh the difference.