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1.7 kWp, 2000kWh per year. How many cars per annum can you charge at, say, 5KWh each? Better stick to bicycles and phones!

South Tyrol gets serious about solar mobility: The "E-Move Charging Station", a pilot project of the Bozen entrepreneur Valentin Runggaldier, is to supply electrically operated bicycles, scooters, cars and even mobile phones with the necessary "fuel" from the sun. The solar charging stations were designed by Michael Scherer from Brixen

The research shows that the U.S. economy has the potential to reduce annual non-transportation energy consumption by roughly 23 percent by 2020, eliminating more than $1.2 trillion in waste - well beyond the $520 billion upfront investment (not including program costs) that would be required. The reduction in energy use would also result in the abatement of 1.1 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions annually - the equivalent of taking the entire U.S. fleet of passenger vehicles and light trucks off the roads.

Toyota, the leader in hybrid cars, thinks that the high cost of the lithium ion batteries will keep electric cars from penetrating the mass market for another decade. Over the past three years, Toyota secretly tested lithium ion batteries as a potential replacement for the nickel metal hydride batteries now used in the Prius, according to a Bloomberg report In its tests, Toyota concluded that lithium-ion batteries were safe and reliable, but the higher cost doesn't justify a complete shift over for Toyota's hybrids, executives said. As a result, the company will remain with nickel-based batteries for most of its hybrid cars, according to the report.

For at least a decade, carmakers have been professing their deep and abiding interest in electric-drive vehicles whenever possible. But until recently, it wasn't always clear which of them were really sincere. Today every last one of them seems sincere. As this year's "Top 10 Tech Cars" package shows, ever more varied hybrids are going into mass production, along with-you betcha-a few all-electric cars. Some of the electric-drive machines aspire beyond mere greenness to heart-pounding performance, an aspiration that may seem strange to those taught to view electric cars as spacious, all-weather golf carts. But performance is indeed a logical goal, given the instant-on torque that electric motors provide. While electrons may now be a recurrent theme of our annual Top 10 automotive reports, we do not slight the internal-combustion engine, which has lots of life-and technological enhancements-to come. And for those who don't spend a whole lot of time worrying about whether they're treading lightly enough on the planet's roads, we include two ultraperformance German sports cars that run purely on gasoline and adrenaline. One can easily be yours. If you're willing to trade in your house for it.

Overcapacity rather than shortage of materials may be the problem for the battery sector in the coming years.

Talking about turning the world upside down.