future
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It should be fairly obvious, but apparently it isn't: Plug-in electric cars are not going to sweep the marketplace overnight. Their sales will grow slowly and steadily from a low base. U.S. plug-in sales in 2012 tripled over the previous year, and most projections are that they'll double again this year. Now comes a new article from Edmunds, entitled, "Why the Internal Combustion Engine Is the Future." In it, engineering editor Jason Kavanaugh makes the points that electric cars are still pricier than equivalent gasoline-engined cars, and that battery-electric cars are range-limited. Indeed...
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Edison2 Unveils Next Iteration Of Very Light Car
It seems like fairly recently that Edison2 walked away with the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE, but it was actually back in 2010. Since then, the company has been hard at work developing the latest version of its Very Light Car (VLC). The name may not be imaginative but it is at least...
Antony Ingram -
Solar Roads: Is The Future Of Energy Under Our Feet?
Whatever the future energy mix, it's becoming apparent that coal and gas are both hugely consumptive and not entirely great for the environment--even if they provide large swathes of the world with their energy. Renewable energies like solar, wind and hydro on the other hand supply only a small...
Antony Ingram -
What 2013 Looked Like For Greener Cars, Back In 1988
The rate at which technology develops makes predicting the future incredibly difficult, but people get it right sometimes. They get it wrong sometimes too, and you'd have found a mixture of both in the April 3, 1988 issue of the Los Angeles Times Magazine, which peered 25 years into the future--to...
Antony Ingram -
Next Kind Of Electric Transport: Solar Electric Aircraft?
In utopian visions of the future, we won't have to burn anything to get anywhere. No fossil fuels, no coal, no burning of any sort. For some, that future is already here--plenty of electric car owners run their cars using solar electricity generated from panels at their home or place of work. It's...
Antony Ingram -
New Lithium-Ion Battery Tech Could Appear In Next Few Years
New battery technology is five years away, and always will be. Well, that's the impression you might get whenever new technology is announced. Some of it is very, very clever indeed, but much of it is only theoretical, and the rest has rarely been tested on suitably large scales. Silicon...
Antony Ingram -
Solar power and electric cars go hand-in-hand, and many owners equip their homes with solar panels to ensure the electricity they're charging with is as green as possible. That isn't always the case when charging away from home, but it would be if your local parking spot had a 'V-Tent' system. The work of Hakan Gursu of Turkish design studio Nobis (via DesignBoom), the V-Tent is a way of charging and protecting your electric car at the same time. It may look odd, but there would be plenty of benefits. First and foremost, solar charging keeps that electric car of yours green. But parked in a...
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Audi Urban Future Initiative: Smaller, Smarter, Autonomous, Linked Cars
Put a group of urban planners, architects, and sociologists on a panel to discuss transportation in the cities of the future, and you may find they don’t spend much time talking about cars. Instead, you get statements like, “The megacity of the future desires to be a generous knowledge...
John Voelcker -
Hoping For Hyundai Electric Cars? Won’t Happen, Says Executive
Last week at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show we saw lots of new plug-in hybrid and purely electric concept cars from many different automakers. But mysteriously bucking the trend with not a single electric concept was South Korean auto group Hyundai Kia, choosing instead to represent electric...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Gasoline Engines Will Be With Us For Many Decades Yet, Really
We write a lot about electric cars here, and we cover clean diesels and efficient gasoline cars. But it's probably time for a little reality check. Gasoline engines are going to be with us throughout the lifetime of anyone reading this article. They may represent far less than the 90-odd-percent of...
John Voelcker -
Raging Grannies Protest Tesla's Possible Use of Toxic Dump Site For Future Model S Plant
A group of concerned activists is raising questions about one potential location for Tesla's future Model S assembly plant. The Raging Grannies spent last Saturday in front of the Tesla dealership in Menlo Park, California, asking why the electric vehicle company might build their future plant...
Robert Scardino -
Rumormill: Next Gen Nissan GT-R Going Hybrid (Godzilla Goes Green)
According to a report in Best Car magazine out of Japan, the next generation Nissan GT-R will come with a hybrid powertrain. A 160 hp electric motor and a 440 hp gas engine will team up for a combined 600 hp. That's a number truly deserving of the car's nickname: Godzilla. The current generation...
Robert Scardino -
Lo and behold, the New York Times got it right. Four days ago, we highlighted a story in the Times about an all-electric Volvo C30 hatchback. Today, Autocar has confirmed that the Swedish automaker is indeed working on a drivable electric C30 for its Innovation for Life event, which will take place after the Frankfurt Auto Show in September. Volvo has no immediate plans for a production version of the electric C30, but they're leaving the door open for future consideration. According to Autocar's source, the zero-emissions hatch, "...is an evaluation concept. It’s being worked on and is...
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Jaguar Extended Range Hybrid Two-Seater In The Making
Jaguar has been undergoing a transformation. They've changed parent companies, they've produced new, attractive designs targeted to younger buyers, and they've improved vehicle quality. And like most other carmakers, they're positioning themselves to go green (or at least improve their corporate...
Robert Scardino -
Rumormill: Electric R8 Coming to Frankfurt?
Any worthwhile discussion of today's best supercars mentions the Audi R8. It's a car that looks like it was sent to Earth from an alternate, more advanced (but clearly benevolent) dimension. The interior is as luxurious as they come. Not to mention the performance, which rivals that of Ferraris...
Robert Scardino -
2011 Ford Focus To Be Built in Michigan--Including Electric Version
Ford will invest $550 million in a former truck plant to build its Focus global compact car, including an all-electric model developed with Magna International
John Voelcker