SHAH ALAM, Malaysia -- Sep 28 - Virginian - Pilot

A Dutch-based company announced plans to produce affordable electric cars by the end of 2009, promising they would be much more powerful than existing models and have zero emissions.

Detroit Electric is in negotiations with Malaysia's national automaker, Proton, to produce the car in this Southeast Asian nation and also is talking to a German and a U.S. carmaker, said the company's chief executive, Albert Lam. He declined to name the companies.

"We believe in affordable electric vehicles for the public ," Lam told a news conference before journalists test drove a sports car, a sedan and a subcompact car fitted with Detroit Electric's technology.

Lam said the car would use lithium ion batteries and a motor developed in-house.

An Associated Press journalist who drove the sports car felt it zoom from 0 to 62 mph in less than five seconds, comparable to gasoline-powered sports cars.

Most electric cars are quite a bit heavier than regular cars, weighed down by their battery and motor, which limits their acceleration.

Existing models were used for the demonstration - the sports car was a modified Lotus. But the company will create its own designs and market the vehicles under the Detroit Electric brand - named after a now-defunct U.S. company that produced electric cars in 1907.

Lam bought the rights to the name to restore its historical legacy.

Detroit Electric's chief scientist, Frits van Breemen-Schneider, who invented the motor, said it is four to 12 times lighter than existing motors and has a much higher power-to-weight ratio.

The $24,000 price tag of the car will make it more expensive than conventional vehicles in Malaysia, though the additional expense would be offset by fuel savings. The car battery will have a life span of 125,000 miles .

The company is majority owned by Lam, a British citizen, and has entered into a partnership with several Dutch, American and Malaysian investors with an investment of about $300 million over the next five years.

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