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Nissan Leaf EV to Have Ultra-Cheap Battery Pack BY Ariel Schwartz Wed May 5, 2010 Over 8,200 people have made online reservations in the past month for the upcoming Nissan Leaf EV, and for good reason. The $33,000 vehicle, set to be released later this year, is the first affordable all-electric vehicle from a major auto manufacturer. It's an early adopter's dream. Now Nissan has revealed the secret behind the Leaf's reasonable price: an ultra-cheap battery pack. While most lithium-ion batteries cost $1000 to $1,200 per kWh, the Leaf's 24 kWh battery pack costs just $9,000 to produce, or $375...

In the latest example of the government’s failure to protect the nation from criminal illegal aliens, a man responsible for the atrocious murder of a California infant has turned out to be a drug-addicted illegal immigrant deported after a felony conviction. Somehow the violent criminal, Juan Sanchez, sneaked back into the U.S. and lived under the radar in the southern California community of Rancho Cucamonga about 50 miles from Los Angeles. He recently beat his girlfriend’s 8-month-old son to death after the infant’s nose was “mistakenly” wiped with the methamphetamine-laced cotton swab Sanchez used to clean his pipe. Fearful that...