Electric
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BMW might be working hard to encourage drivers to become electronauts in its Active E electric car trials due to start in the next few months, but the German automaker has already started to drip-feed details of its 2014 i3 electric car to the press. Just last month, BMW unveiled its latest concept i3 at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, confirming its 7.9 second 0-62 mph time, electronically limited top speed of 93 mph and range-extender engine option. Now consumer reports has detailed more about BMW’s first production electric after it got chance to chat with executives at a BMW event in...
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Tesla's 2012 Model S Charging Equipment. Redesign For Redesign's Sake?
Last weekend, Tesla released more details about its up-coming 2012 Model S all-electric luxury sedan at an exclusive reservation-holder and media Model S event in Fremont, California. While some of the new information -- like the sub-4.5 second 0-60 time of the new Model S Sport variant -- got us...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Largest Electric-Car Charging Site: Would You Believe Houston?
UPDATE: To answer the question posed in our headline: No, we do not believe Houston has the largest electric-car charging site. See below. When we think of Texas, we think of many things: open roads, desert landscapes, Beyoncé. And of course, we also think of oil, since Texas is one of the...
Richard Read -
2012 Tesla Model S: First Ride Report
On Saturday, exactly one year after it took ownership of the former Toyota NUMMI facility in Fremont, California, Tesla Motors [NASDAQ:TSLA] held a series of test-drives aimed to show off the latest Model S Betas to the press and Model S reservation holders. We’ve already told you about some...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Pininfarina BlueCar Makes Debut In Paris Rental Scheme
Whether electric cars are suitable for the wider market yet is still a topic undergoing heated debate, but several companies have found a use to which they're very much suited - inner city rental. This is the case for French billionaire entrepreneur Vincent Bolloré. Having commissioned the...
Antony Ingram -
How Would You Sell An All-Electric ATV? A Killer Wasp, Perhaps?
Historically, electric vehicles haven’t had an easy time of it thanks to the old stereotype that they are slow, boring and can’t cope with the real world. We all know that isn’t true -- but what would you to to convince the general public that your new electric off-road...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Last year Tron: Legacy, the remake of the 1982 classic film Tron hit cinemas around the world. Following the story of Sam Flynn as he tries to find his lost father who disappeared twenty years earlier, Tron: Legacy received mixed reviews from fans and critics alike. But while the reboot of the pioneering Disney classic may not have been to everyone’s tastes some elements of Tron: Legacy have proven very popular among fans, causing Parker Brothers Choppers to recreate its Light Cycle as a full-sized, working, electric motorcycle. According to Autobloggreen, the all-electric replica has a...
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Tennessee Gas Station First To Offer Rapid Electric Car Charging?
Over the past few months we’ve seen an increase in the number of rapid charging stations getting installed in areas where the 2011 Nissan Leaf is being sold. So far, we’ve seen rapid charging stations get installed everywhere from Walgreens to Cracker Barrel and Washington state’s...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Solid State Electric Car Batteries Still 10 Years Away
Solid state batteries could be seen as everything we're looking for from an electric car battery, improving on all the fundamental characteristics needed for electric mobility. Unfortunately, we probably won't be seeing them any time soon. The latest estimations reported by Automotive News...
Antony Ingram -
Just Build It Already! 5 Green Cars We're Still Waiting For
The concept car has a lot to answer for. They appear at motor shows around the world to preview what we can expect from future models, but invariably the production model ends up about half as interesting to look at and without most of the technology, thanks to cost constraints. Even worse though...
Antony Ingram -
Tesla Promotes DOE Loans, Asks For More Money
Electric automaker Tesla Motors posted a blog post on its website earlier this week detailing how the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Program had helped it expand and prepare not just one but many electric cars for the market. The blog post was designed...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Chelsea Sexton Meets Pikes Peak Champion, Takes HER For A Spin
Former EV-1 saleswoman, electric-vehicle advocate and electric car celebrity Chelsea Sexton recently learnt that despite what some may say, size isn’t everything. Sexton, who works tirelessly within the auto industry to help electric cars make it to market got a little reward recently for her...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Remember Apple’s popular Mac Vs PC adverts, in which John Hodgman’s haggard PC was constantly bettered by Justin Long’s smug Mac? After a while, Microsoft -- the firm to which the Get A Mac campaigns were so obviously targeted against -- chose play off Apple’s criticisms and producing the less popular, but cleverly marketed I’m a PC adverts to celebrate the benefits of using its operating system. Now the automotive world has witnessed the equivalent, with Chevrolet hitting back at Nissan’s Gasoline-Powered Everything ad campaign with a humorous benefit to...
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Can An Electric Car Cut Solar Panel Payback Time? Yes, But...
If you’re a homeowner with a suitable home and enough money to invest in a set of photovoltaic solar panels for your roof, you can easily power your home cheaply and cleanly. But while some states offer Feed In Tariff (FIT) schemes to let you sell back any excess power your solar panels...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Electronauts Only Need Apply For 2012 BMW ActiveE Electric Car
Over the years automakers have used a huge array of techniques to entice members of the public to become test drivers in their electric car test programs. Often however, high lease fees combined with the requirement that lesses give back the prototype or limited run electric car at the end of the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
What Part Of 'No' Does Electric-Car Maker Li-Ion Motors Not Get?
A little over a year ago, a relatively unknown electric automaker called Li-Ion Motors Corp. won the $2.5 million Alternative Side-By-Side Class in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X-Prize. Since then, Li-Ion Motors has been putting out regular press releases and information about its two...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Woman Buys Two, 2012 Chevy Volts, Gives One Away
When the second ever 2011 Chevrolet Volt made rolled off the production line at General Motor’s Detroit Hamtamck facility last year, it was destined to be auctioned off in order to help raise funds for the public school system in Detroit. In that particular auction, a brand-new Chevrolet Volt...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Coda Secures More Funding, Continues March Towards 2012 Sedan Production
Californian electric automaker Coda Automotive might have recently opened its first showroom and signed a deal to open a final assembly plant in Benicia, California where it plans to install the electric drivetrain in its 2012 Coda Sedans -- but it has only just closed an eight-month funding round...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
A few weeks back we brought you news that a team entered into the famous Cannonball Run, this year held in Ireland, would be doing the trip in a 2011 Nissan Leaf. We missed the end of their journey as the excitement of the Frankfurt Show got in the way, but we're pleased to report the ESB ecars team made it to the finish at Kilkenny with no problems, nestled amongst Ferraris, Corvettes and all manner of other exotica. The route took in more than 600 miles of green Irish countryside and was visited by more than 100,000 spectators. The team's aim was to promote electric car travel in Ireland by...
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Electric Car Charging: Coming To Central Parking Garage Near You
Central Parking, a nationwide parking garage company responsible for 1.1 million parking spots -- and its Tennessee-based subsidiary USA Parking Systems -- will soon host electric car charging facilities at 2,220 of its parking garages. Under an agreement signed earlier this week, the Car Charging...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Gordon Murray Announces New Teewave AR.1 Electric Sports Car
Gordon Murray may need little introduction among gearheads following his work on the McLaren F1 supercar back in the 1990s, but his most recent projects, the T.25 and T.27 minicars, certainly raised a few eyebrows. Sports car fans need not have feared however, as today Gordon Murray Design (GMD)...
Antony Ingram -
Best Electric-Car Cargo Space: 2012 Nissan Leaf, 2012 Toyota Plug-in Prius
When you’re researching your next new car it’s likely that you research not one but many different cars, comparing them on everything from fuel economy and features to reliability and interior space. Electric and plug-in hybrid cars are no different -- but the practicalities of cargo...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2013 Fisker Surf Station Wagon: Teaser Video Copies Tesla
In the automotive world nothing puts a new car in the spotlight faster than a well-edited, cleverly produced commercial. So when the Fisker Automotive, the electric automaker known for using a model in swim-suit and high-heels to sell is 2012 Karma Sedan, announced its 2013 Fisker Surf...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2011 Frankfurt Auto Show: Electric Two-Wheelers All The Rage
It isn't just the cars that are going electric at the Frankfurt Auto Show, currently open to the public until September 25. Two-wheeled electric vehicles are popular too. Frankfurt show is very much focused on urban mobility - and having driven through the city during the press days last week...
Antony Ingram