Remember all those visions of the future we were sold as kids? Underwater cities, vacations in outer space, nuclear powered kitchens and robot servants? How about personal jet packs and flying cars? Of all the lies Popular Science told us, it’s the jet packs and flying cars, or absence of these, that piss me off the most.

In preparation for what will likely result in the biggest media circus since the debut of the Chevy Volt, Nissan has announced the impending Leaf EV will embark on a 22 city, 11 state tour, replete with special stops in Washington, DC and Vancouver, Canada. The goal of the PR parade is to counteract the storm launched by Chevy Volt engineers and raise widespread awareness of what Nissan is calling “the first EV for the masses.”

While the Nissan Leaf EV’s official on-sale date remains just as vague as the Volt’s, Nissan is apparently hoping to circumvent that by allow customers to pre-order their Leaf as much as a year in advance. Quite lofty for a vehicle that only just recently hit the scene, Nissan expects to receive a whopping 20,000 initial orders for the 5-door plug-in, encroaching considerably on the Volt’s
premature market monopoly.

To see what all the hype is about, check out the Leaf EV’s official tour dates below and prepare for your inevitable crushing disappointment.

Last week, we broke the news that the very thinly disguised “concept” known as the Audi e-tron was approved for production, but there was a catch. Contrary to what all exterior cues would suggest, the Audi e-tron would not be a plug-in version of the R8 but rather a sporty EV placed somewhere in size between the famed R8 and the compact TT. Today, we have learned that the e-tron will not be a model unto itself but rather a badge denoting the type of powertrain (similar to what Toyota has announced they will do with “Prius) and the first vehicle to wear the e-tron badge will be known as the Audi R4.

In addition to the lithium-ion e-tron, the R4 will also be offered with at least two other standard gasoline powertrains, though Audi has yet to reveal which ones. However, because the R4 is intended to sit on Audi’s line-up as a premium vehicle roughly equivalent in price and attainability to the R8, it’s safe to assume that output will be impressive and we could even see a TT-RS transplant.

BMW Motorrad’s C1-E Concept unfortunately got lost in last week’s shuffle of press releases (read: it was boring, we forgot), which is why it’s making its official debut to the RideLust readership – all 4 of you – a few days late.

Primarily based on the short-lived BMW C1 enclosed scooter that enjoyed a limited run earlier this decade, the C1-E concept is an electric single-track personal mobility vehicle that features some rather avant-garde design language, to put it kindly. As is immediately obvious by its basic engineering principles, the C1-E was intended primarily for use in congested city areas as a safer alternative to motorcycling. As a matter of fact, the C1-E Concept was actually created in conjunction with Europe’s eSUM (European Safer Urban Motorcycling) project which should signal some sign of relief for Americans like ourselves who would rather chew glass than trade in a Ninja for a C1-E.

Today, proving our assumptions right and themselves totally incapable of convincingly playing coy, Audi has finally dispensed with the subterfuge and officially confirmed that the Audi e-tron concept is slated for production.

Initially unveiled last month at the Frankfurt Motor Show, no hints were given about the e-tron concept’s production potential until a few weeks after its debut when Audi introduced the Vertical Run video game for PS3, featuring the e-tron concept on center stage. When explaining the motivation behind the game, Audi marketing directors stressed the importance of reaching out to the new, digital generation, which would have been largely a waste of money had Audi intended to keep the e-tron in the concept garage but will ultimately prove to be a very strategic move. According to Audi of America president Johan de Nysschen, a completely production-ready model of the e-tron won’t be ready until at least 2012 but “running samples” could hit showrooms as early as 2011.

Maryland-based Genovation Inc. is rolling out their “new” “PHEV” car, the G1. I wish i didn’t have to use so many quotation marks, but there’s a reason for that. First of all, the G1 isn’t a new car – it’s a conversion based on the old Ford Focus. That’s not a bad thing, but it ain’t “new” by any stretch of the imagination – plus you’re supplying the accident-free Focus, and THEN forking over $22,000 for the conversion! Then there’s the issue of the PHEV – Genovation says that you’ll have a choice between a purely electric drivetrain or a hybrid gas-electric setup that’ll use your choice of fuels. Of course, no details are available as to what those auxiliary engine choices are, which to this skeptical car nut raises some red flags. Namely, if they aren’t talking specifics, it likely doesn’t exist yet and your pre-purchase deposit is probably being counted on to fund the R&D And we haven’t even gotten to the vaporware G2 yet … make the jump for more.

Vectrix, the first out of the gate in an electric two-wheeler market that is finally starting to take off, has perhaps raced off a little too enthusiastically, because now they’re bankrupt and in liquidation. Their zero-emissions electric scooter, the eponymous Vectrix, was a large scooter (a “maxi” in the strange scooter subculture lingo) assembled in Poland. It had pretty decent range (65 miles, claimed) and performance (0-60 in 7 seconds), but it was generally expensive and lacked the panache of, say, the Mission Electric motorcycle.

Apparently sourcing inspiration from a generic beige socket plate, the tuning experts from Deutschland have introduced to us the Brabus Ultimate High Voltage Concept. Underpinned by the comically compact smart fortwo and co-developed by the master electricians over at Tesla, the Brabus Ultimate High Voltage is the biggest performance upgrade on a city vehicle we’ve seen since that kid from the bike messenger shop down the street started wolfing down Power Bars.

Boasting a design scheme rivaled in its dearth of creativity only by the Velcro Stride Rite’s your Grandpa wears and featuring a similarly uninspiring 82-horsepower 206 lb-ft lithium ion battery pack, Brabus brags the Ultimate High Voltage is capable of sprinting from 0-35 mph in 3.7 seconds, and 0-62 mph in 9.8. To prevent any oblivious pedestrians from being mowed down by all that silent white-knuckle speed, Brabus outfitted the Ultimate High Voltage with an artificial sound generator designed to mimic the exhaust note of a snarling V8.

Forget about extended-range EVs or hybrids, Ford is going whole-hog in Europe with the Focus BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle), a straight-up electric Euro Focus, which is hitting the ground for a series of prototype tests in the UK. Several British utility companies and Strathclyde University will evaluate a total of 15 vehicles to see if the battery-tastic Focus is suitable for picky European market consumers. Apparently the Focus BEV will get an impressive 75 miles on a charge, is able to reach 85 MPH, and will charge up in 6 to 8 hours on a 230V outlet. Not shabby for a glorified golf cart! Press release and gallery after the jump.

Electric motorcycles are so new that it’s hard to put their performance characteristics into perspective. Mission Motors, one of the new breed of electrified two-wheeled manufacturers, has accomplished the mechanical equivalent of sprinting a couple of weeks after you’re born: breaking the 150 MPH mark (and unofficially breaking the electric motorcycle land speed record) less than two years after the company was founded. Mission’s baby took to the Bonneville salt and hit a two-way average of 150.059 MPH, with an earlier unofficial sprint of up to 161 MPH. The bike is still a prototype; however, it’s the same bike that took 4th place at the TTxGP “Green Grand Prix” at the Isle of Man earlier this year.