Electric cars have gaining in popularity for a while now. Today you can find electric cars by almost all leading automobile manufacturers. With their growing popularity and technological innovations there are many different types of electric car models for you to choose from. Basically an electric car is one that is powered by an electric engine compared to the conventional fuel one. An electric car should however not be confused with that of a hybrid model which combines both the engines and runs on fuel as well as electricity.

One of the most famous electric automobile companies is the Coda. This company has constantly been in the new electric car news because of its constant technological innovations. This company solely produces electric car models which have a zero rate of emissions. This company has been making waves in the electric car industry with its line up of cars. Breaking Coda electric news is that they recently appointed the former International Executive of General Motors Philip Murtaugh as their Chief Executive Officer.

The company which is a leading developer when it comes to Lithium-ion battery systems as well as electric vehicles announced the appointed of Philip Murtaugh as their CEO. Philip is an experienced and industry veteran who has experience in large scale manufacturing as well as sales and marketing experience.

Another addition to their Board of Directors was that of James P. McGinnis as well as Lord John Browne. James served as the MD of Harbinger Capital Partners where he focused on investments relating to power, energy and utility industries. Browne meanwhile served as the MD of Riverstone Holdings where he had a leadership role and advised as well as executed infrastructure as well as energy strategies for many different financial services companies.

Today the company has a capital of $200 million after the inclusion of the Series D investment round which added another $76 million. This funding will be utilized in the initial production of the Coda Sedan which is the company's flagship vehicle as well as to support the sales and marketing efforts of the company for the year 2011.

Another leading company which has been in the new electric car news for a while now is the Toyota Company. This company managed to pave the way for the growth of electric cars with its hybrid version known as the Toyota Prius. While this model is not exactly an all electric car model it did help to overall fuel based car buying population to take a cleaner engine alternative via the hybrid engine.

One of the major components used in the production of electric motors is that of rare earth metals like neodymium to make the ultra strong magnet which is present in the motor. As these metals are rare they also getting expensive due to the rise in demand for electric car models. China which has one of the biggest mining project of neodymium is keen to hike the prices by providing unpredictable supplies.

The recent Toyota electric news is that they are working on an electric engine prototype that does not require the use of such rare earth metals. This would help to dramatically bring down the cost of production and therefore by association the price of electric automobiles too.

While the project won't exactly be ground breaking it will still make a significant amount of difference and is a good piece of new electric car news. The rare earth metal like neodymium helps to increase the power of the engine while at the same time allowing it to be smaller in size as well as weight, because of which it is popularly used in drag racing electric vehicles.