UK electric car company Nice has gone into administration amid reports that electric car sales in the first 9 months of the year have fallen more than 50% compared with last year, selling only 156 cars.

Though they are much cheaper to run, the tiny number of charging points and the lack of incentives to switch could have a lot to do with it. In London, where most of the UK's 1,100 electric cars are, the City of London has reversed a decision to exempt electric cars from parking charges which could cost their owners £4000 per year.

I was looking forward to a Nice dealership opening up near me so I could try one out and let you know how it feels, but though that's not going to happen, I did find an electric car owner who has test driven a range of electric cars.

But it's not all bad news for the electric car market across Europe - Nissan and Renault have unveiled plans to launch electric cars in Portugal in 2011. Hopefully that will give the Portuguese government time to get the infrastructure in place. If all goes well they'll have quick charging stations in Porto and Lisbon and some motorways where you'll be able to top up in 20 minutes, allowing a quick rest stop for you and your car to recharge batteries and get back on the road.

Italy is diving into the electric car market too. Energy company Enel SpA has done a deal with Daimler and will help bring electric smarts to Rome, Pisa and Milan in 2010.

It's also in talks with other car makers across Europe.

Enel SpA does claim to be an active player in the renewable energy sector, with "expertise in geothermal, hydroelectric and photovoltaic energy", and say they are "making very strong developments in wind power." so that's a step in the right direction. Much better than EDF who think that "nuclear power has a key role to play" and have teamed up with Renault to develop a large-scale electric car project starting in France.

Even BMW are getting in on the electric bandwagon - they unveiled an electric version of the Mini, imaginatively called the MiniE. It promises to perform more like the petrol version, with a top speed of 95 mph and a range of 150 miles between charges.

And finally, even the US army is getting in on the act - they've planning on leasing 4,000 electric vehicles, which will save them 11.5 million galleons of fuel a year. And that translates to big cost savings too, on average instead of paying $2,400 a year of petrol, they'll have a slim electricity bill of $400. That's a $2,000 annual saving. Let's hope they cars will run on renewable energy and to make it add up to a sizeable saving for the planet.