Saturday, September 3, 2005

Subaru maker teams with power company on electric cars

Associated Press

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TOKYO -- Japan's biggest power company said Friday it will team with the maker of Subaru brand cars to develop environmentally friendly electric vehicles that can travel up to 50 miles on a single charge.

Subaru parent Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. will provide Tokyo Electric Power Co. 10 vehicles based on its R1 minivehicle, and TEPCO will develop a recharger that works in about 15 minutes, the companies said.

The cars will be developed under a one-year contract.

TEPCO plans to use the new experimental electric vehicles as company cars. If they operate well, TEPCO aims to replace about 3,000 of its company vehicles with electric vehicles as early as 2008, the companies said.