Selling green

Phoenix Motorcars, based in Ontario, Calif., will sell its electric pickup trucks and SUVs by the end of 2008. Its 4,800-pound truck can go 100 miles on a five-hour charge from a home outlet or on a ten-minute one at a special charging station. Its electric pickup will cost $47,500, about $10,000 more than the price of a comparable conventional pickup. PG&E, the California utility, has ordered four of the vehicles. At first the company will lose money on each truck it makes, but it is counting on California clean-energy subsidies to keep it rolling until the price of its battery technology falls.

Think Global, a Norwegian startup that bought what was once Ford's electric-vehicle program, has sold about 1,800 of its Think City, a tiny electric commuter car, in Norway. So far the company has raised $95 million from investors, including General Electric. The two-seater, which comes in convertible and hardtop, will sell for about $25,000 and go 100 miles on a few hours' charge. The firm aims to sell some 30,000 in the U.S. in 2010.

Read on for more about Think Global's U.S. plans.