2012
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While the company didn't make its self-imposed deadline for first customer deliveries in February, Coda Automotive has a different reason to celebrate today. At 10:25 am Pacific time, the first production 2012 Coda Sedan electric car is set to drive off the assembly line at its plant in Benicia, California. According to the company, the event "kicks off ... delivery of the first shipment of the clean-tech company's electric vehicles to Coda dealers across California, and ultimately to Coda reservation holders from San Francisco to San Diego." That will undoubtedly be a relief to Coda...
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Lexus RX 450h Drive To Geneva: What (MPG)'ll She Do, Mister?
Before we were handed the keys to the 2012 Lexus RX 450h AWD, we were advised that although the luxury SUV would be a comfortable companion, freeway driving isn't the best test for a hybrid vehicle. Or is it? After all, we already know that hybrids work best in city driving, but low tailpipe...
Antony Ingram -
2012 Ford Focus Electric: 105 MPGe, 76-Mile Range...10 Sales
It's the first battery-electric car from a global automaker, a compact hatchback eagerly awaited for years and touted by some as a revolutionary vehicle that will change the way we drive forever. It's not the Nissan Leaf. It is, instead, the 2012 Ford Focus Electric, which earned a higher...
John Voelcker -
2012 Tesla Model S: Would YOU Drive It At Just 55 MPH?
We've had a ride in a prototype 2012 Tesla Model S electric luxury sport sedan, and it was impressive. The car was smooth, quiet, and relatively fast at speeds up to 95 mph on the test track surrounding Tesla's assembly plant in Fremont, Cailfornia. Intrepid test driver (and Lotus racer) Joe Nuxoll...
John Voelcker -
Dead Fisker Karmas: One May Be A Fluke, But Is Two A Trend?
First off, just to be clear, the photo above is NOT a dead Fisker. It shows the 2012 Fisker Karma we road-tested three weeks ago parked at a Tesla Motors dealer in Los Angeles. But while our Fisker was running fine that day, Consumer Reports was not so lucky this week. The magazine bought a Fisker...
John Voelcker -
GM CEO Akerson: We're Staying The Course On The Chevy Volt
If the Chevy Volt is a sales failure, you'd never know it from the guy who runs General Motors. At a meeting of Volt owners in San Francisco yesterday, GM's CEO Dan Akerson said unequivocally that the company was standing behind its halo plug-in electric car. "We are not backing away from this...
John Voelcker -
Unless you’re the kind of person who likes spelunking, the chances are you don’t spend much time in caves. For PBS, the underground caves of Cumberland Caverns, Tennessee form the perfect acoustic music venue for the latest season of its Bluegrass Underground show. But how do you get musicians, instruments and television equipment some 300 feet underground to the venue? By Nissan Leaf, of course. Above ground, the duties of transporting instruments, equipment and band members to a gig normally fall to a minivan, tour bus or truck. That’s fine when exhaust gasses can easily...
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Mitsubishi MiEV House: 2012 Geneva Motor Show
However efficient combustion engines are getting, they're still more suitable for powering vehicles than they are for powering your house. In that respect, as storers of large amounts of electrical energy, electric cars are more suited to the task, and to prove it, Mitsubishi has brought its "MiEV...
Antony Ingram -
2012 Opel Ampera (Chevy Volt) Wins European Car Of The Year
The 2012 Chevrolet Volt -- along with its European twin -- have just been chosen as 2012 European Car Of The Year. Beating the Volkswagen Up, Toyota Yaris, Fiat Panda, Range Rover Evoque, Ford Focus and Citroën DS5, the plug-in range extended electric vehicle becomes the second plug-in car to...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Chevy Volt Production To Halt For 5 Weeks Due To Oversupply
Late Friday afternoon, Chevrolet announced it would idle production of its Volt range-extended electric car for five weeks, from March 19 to April 23. The story was first reported by the Detroit Free Press; GM informed the 1,300 assembly-line workers at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant of the shutdown...
John Voelcker -
Why I Bought A Prius Plug-In, Not A Volt Or Leaf: A Reader's Choice
Last month, Toyota said that it had 2,100 pre-orders for the 2012 Prius Plug-In Hybrid. Now, with first sales of that car being logged this week and dozens of them delivered to dealers, we have a third viable, high-volume plug-in car available to U.S. buyers. Consumers can now buy a pure battery...
John Voelcker -
Justin Bieber Given Sexy Plug-in Fisker Karma For 18th Birthday
Unless you have children, or religiously follow the cult of celebrity, you might have never heard of a Canadian teen pop sensation by the name of Justin Bieber. Under most circumstances, we’d envy you -- but it turns out hours of listening to tweens enthuse about this particular star have...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
After a flurry of press events last October that included rides in 2012 Tesla Model S prototypes, Tesla Motors went mostly silent until it unveiled its Model X crossover last month. But the electric crossover won't generate any cash for the Silicon Valley startup carmaker over the next year or two. That role belongs to the Model S sedan. Tesla is working intensively on getting its all-electric luxury sport sedan finalized and ready for production, it says, with deliveries to paying customers sometime during the second half of this year. So now that the Model X design has been revealed, it's a...
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2012 Nissan Leaf: Now Available To Order Nationwide, Deliveries By Summer
The all-electric Nissan Leaf may have been on sale in some parts of the U.S. for 14 months -- but for residents in 21 states, today is the day Nissan will email them saying they can start the ordering process for the $35,200 hatchback. When the 2011 Nissan Leaf launched, Nissan restricted rollout...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2012 Lexus RX 450h To Geneva: What Would You Like To Know?
Tuesday next week marks the start of the 82nd Geneva Motor Show. Physically small in size, it's nevertheless one of the biggest events on the motoring calendar and the scene of major launches every year. This year, Lexus is lending us an example of its premium hybrid off-roader, the 2012 Lexus RX...
Antony Ingram -
2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid: Brief Drive Report
In the world of plug-in cars, the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt may get all the attention, but a new arrival will make it very much a three-car race. The 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid is just now arriving at Toyota dealers in California plus a dozen or so other states. While it may look just like a...
John Voelcker -
Obama: I’ll Buy A Chevy Volt After My Presidency Ends
Ever since Barack Obama became president in 2008, he hasn’t been given much chance to drive a car, let alone own one. But when his presidency ends, Mr. Obama knows exactly what car he wants to buy as his post-presidential ride -- a plug-in Chevrolet Volt. “Five years from now when...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Our Semi-Exclusive Interview With The Volt Gun-Rack Guy
John McDole, the inventor behind the Volt gun rack, shares his thoughts on the Volt, its critics and the politics surrounding the car.
Kurt Ernst -
California's high-occupancy vehicle lanes, which emptied out last July as 85,000 hybrids lost their access, are about to start admitting more cars. This week, Chevy dealers in California are receiving their first 2012 Chevrolet Volts fitted with the right emissions gear to give drivers access to HOV lanes. And they're being joined by 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid models, which are starting to arrive at California Toyota dealers. Both vehicles qualify for the coveted green stickers that give California drivers access to HOV lanes during rush hour with only a single occupant. $1,500 rebate...
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HOV-Lane Eligible Chevy Volts On Sale In California Next Week
Earlier today,General Motors confirmed that it has restarted production of the 2012 Chevrolet Volt at its Detroit Hamtramck facility. In addition, the automaker has confirmed that it is now producing Californian-market Volts, complete with a low emissions package that enables them to qualify for...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Truth-Telling Snopes Site Goes To Bat Over Chevy Volt E-Mail
Get any good e-mails lately? Maybe a chain letter that alleges how pathetically expensive the Chevy Volt is supposed to be? Well, there's one going around--it's called "Cost to operate a Chevy Volt"--and yesterday, the investigative site Snopes.com dived into the ugly politics around the Chevrolet...
John Voelcker -
20 Years Of Gas Mileage: All Cars Improving, But Hybrids Best
With conventional gas engines incremental improvements of the range of 20% are possible over a 20 year span, but for really large gains alternative technology seems to be necessary.
George Parrott -
Nissan Leaf Battery Warranty: What You MUST Do To Keep It Valid
Yesterday, we covered a story about several Tesla Roadster owners -- and one in particular -- who claim that Tesla caused them to turn their $109,000 cars into very expensive bricks. The owners in question claim that Tesla didn’t make them aware that leaving a roadster unplugged for extended...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Chevy Volts And Gun Racks: A Right-Winger's Perspective
Can a Republican firearms instructor also love the series-hybrid Chevrolet Volt? The author says yes.
Kurt Ernst