2012

It's becoming an awkward, unfortunate routine. Somewhere, somehow, a Fisker Karma catches fire, and the company rushes in its inspectors and engineers to analyze the incident. A few days later, Fisker Automotive issues a statement explaining that the battery of the range-extended electric car isn't...

The biggest question facing tiny Tesla Motors right now is whether it can ramp up production of its Model S all-electric sport sedan and deliver enough of them to paying customers that it can generate the income it needs to keep going. On the quarterly Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] earnings call this...

For luxury automaker Fisker, things just go from bad to worse. While hurricane Sandy has caused more pressing issues for the East coast and its residents than a few submerged cars, images of sixteen destroyed Fisker Karmas will do nothing to ease nerves at the troubled firm. Worse still, the images...

For a time, the 2012 Mitsubishi i was the cheapest electric car on sale in the U.S. When smart announced its third-generation Electric Drive would retail from $25,750 for the coupe model, it made the $29,975 Mitsubishi look a bit expensive. Even if it does have two extra seats. Now, Town &...

Larger-than-life TV presenter Jay Leno is known for his love and obsession of cars--and not just those fueled by gasoline. To prove it, he tests one of the hottest electric cars around in his latest video--the 2012 Tesla Model S. The comedian even counts a 1909 Baker Electric among his personal...

Tesla Motors is often frustratingly opaque about the company's progress in getting its 2012 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan up to mass production. Hard numbers come only from quarterly reports filed with the SEC--and sporadic tweets from Elon Musk, its CEO. According to one of those tweets...

It might be a compliance car, built by Toyota for the sole purpose of meeting California’s regulations for zero-emission vehicles, but the 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV is one of the most highly-anticipated plug-in cars of 2012. The anticipation is with good reason. Combining the practicality of a...

There's no denying that the Ford Model T is one of the most important cars of all time. It jump-started the auto industry as we now know it. But Tesla is looking to change the automotive industry, and the new 2012 Model S just might be the most important new car since the Model T. Let's start with...

The first 1,000 or so 2012 Tesla Model S electric sport sedans to be delivered to U.S. customers will be fully-loaded, limited-edition "Signature" cars. But as delivery dates slip due to early production snags, some owners of Signature cars--called "Sigs" within the Tesla clan--grumble that they're...

Just under a month ago, Tesla Motors held a gala event at its Hawthorne, California design studio to mark the switching on of its proprietary Supercharger rapid charging network. On Friday, Tesla held official ribbon cutting ceremonies at four of its six initial Supercharger locations, making them...

Some might say that luxury carmaker Fisker's story is a bit of a thriller itself. Whether tales of fires and frozen loans will measure up to the new Harrison Ford thriller Paranoia is a different matter, but Fisker's range-extended luxury sedan makes a cameo appearance in the film. According to USA...

If you’ve ever purchased a car, the chances are you’ll be familiar with the concept of trade-ins: giving the dealer your old car-- and the equity contained within it--as a down-payment on a newer model. Now electric automaker Tesla Motors is offering a similar trade-in deal for owners...

How many times have you gone car shopping to hear the salesman promise to give you free gas for a few weeks or months as a deal sweetener? In the days of $4-a-gallon gasoline, those kind of deals aren’t as common as they once were, but now Californian electric automaker Coda Automotive has...

The 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid is the second best-selling plug-in electric car in the U.S. today. It outsells the Nissan Leaf and is bested only by the Chevrolet Volt. But if you view it as an electric car, it’s an odd duck indeed. The car’s plug-in hybrid powertrain adds a...

Ever since Nissan launched its Leaf electric car in late 2010, it has offered owners the ability to remotely start charging, using its Carwings telematics system and smartphone apps. The Nissan Leaf also has a feature letting owners pre-program a start time for charging and pre-heating, but only...

There’s no denying that electric cars have lots of torque from standstill, meaning they can out-accelerate most cars in the stop-light derby to 30 mph. But what happens beyond that? Could a car like the 2012 Tesla [NASDAQ:TSLA] Model S Performance beat the sporty, race-bred 2013 BMW M5 in a...

If you're looking to reduce your driving costs, should you buy an electric car? It's a question many have asked in the past, and the results tend to vary depending on the electric car selected, and the cost of driving in your area. As gasoline prices hit $5 per gallon in some areas of California...

Plug-in electric car sales are growing in the U.S., with the Chevy Volt in particular going from strength to strength. The 2012 Nissan Leaf, however, is not doing so well. Despite being one of the earliest electric cars on the market, it's been outsold three to two this year by the Toyota Prius...

One big advantage of electric cars is reduced maintenance. With no internal combustion engine, there is no oil to change, no exhaust system, no transmission, no myriad of moving parts to break or wear out, and no air or fuel filters to clog up. With regenerative braking, brake pads last virtually...

Ever since a handful of Nissan Leaf owners in Arizona noticed that their cars had started to suffer from premature battery aging, Nissan has been criticized for its apparent lack of transparency on the subject. Just over a week ago, Nissan announced it had asked electric car advocate Chelsea Sexton...