Hybrids
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The latest disaster to hit Asia this year may have centered on Thailand rather than Japan, but Japanese automaker Toyota has announced that production volumes of its 2012 Toyota Prius hybrid will be directly impacted as its supply chains suffer the effect of the worst floods to hit Thailand for 50 years. While Toyota’s facility in Chachoengsago, Thailand -- where production of the popular Toyota Prius hybrid began in 2010 -- has escaped the majority of the flood damage, Toyota has halted production at all of its Thailand factories while the country copes with the aftermath of the...
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Plan On Crashing Your Plug-In Car? Volvo Will Keep You Safe
Cars of today are immeasurably safer than those even a decade ago, and manufacturers have been working very carefully to ensure that the different requirements of electric car construction don't mean taking a step back in safety. Volvo has always been known for safety and its plug-in cars are no...
Antony Ingram -
Police Spotted In Electric Car Charging Space: Nobody Charged
Many town and city councils across the U.S. are introducing legislation to enable electric car owners to park for free as a way of encouraging more people to make the switch from gasoline to plug-in cars. Normally, these free parking spaces include access to a suitable level 2 charging station...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Whoops: 2012 Toyota Prius C Compact Hybrid Shown In Brochure Leak
In the automotive industry, leaks about an upcoming product normally fall into two categories: genuine mess-ups, or a purposeful, pr-driven leak designed to give a new car extra attention. But we the latest leak from Japan -- an entire Toyota Aqua Hybrid sales brochure -- falls squarely in the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Fisker Planning Midsize Plug-In Crossover: Report
Fisker is planning to build a midsize crossover on its Nina platform, and the vehicle will be positioned against the upcoming Tesla Model X.
Kurt Ernst -
Five High-Mileage SUVs You’ll Want To Check Out For 2012
You’re an SUV owner looking to upgrade your current car, but you’re also getting tired of increasing gas prices and the way those hybrid and electric car owners look at you on the freeway. At the same time, you’re not about to downsize to a sub-compact in order to get good gas...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
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 are the models previewed that seem to take forever to hit the market. We've selected five green vehicles we seem to have been waiting on forever. Tesla Model S The Tesla Model S is gaining near-Bugatti Veyron levels of repeated delays and we're getting itchy fingers waiting for it. We know how great...
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2012 Toyota Prius, Prius V, Prius Plug-in Hybrid: Now With Spaceship Sound
When the original Toyota Prius launched over ten years ago in the U.S. as a nerdy sedan, it wooed many buyers with its low-speed, near-silent operation. Now the days of the whispering Prius are over, thanks to U.S. legislation requiring every single electric vehicle and hybrid car to fit an active...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Cheap Fuel Efficiency: Ten 40 MPG Cars For Under $20,000
For many people, the purchase of a fuel efficient car is usually made to save money on driving, as the cost of being a car owner rises further and further. That being the case, why buy an expensive car in the first place, potentially taking years longer to pay off the fuel savings? The good news is...
Antony Ingram -
VW Ditches Darth Vader, Goes All Yoda With 2013 Jetta Hybrid
If you remember Volkswagen’s Super Bowl advert from earlier this year involving a pint-sized Darth Vader, its 2011 Passat had a particular affinity with the dark side of the force. But as of 2013 the evil Pasatt will have a nemisis in the form of the 2013 VW Jetta Hybrid, complete with a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2012 Infiniti M35h Is The World's Quickest Full Hybrid
Kicking off the car's launch in Europe, Guinness World Records has certified the Infiniti M35h hybrid as the "world's fastest accelerating full hybrid."
Kurt Ernst -
Fancy An Electric Or Hybrid Rolls-Royce? It Might Just Happen
While Rolls-Royce may have hit the headlines earlier this year with its all-electric 102EX Phantom Concept, its large customer base hasn’t been quite as welcoming. Despite a strong customer ambivalence to anything other than a throbbing 12-cylinder engine underneath the hood of its hand-built...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Last month Ferrari Boss Luca di Montezemelo reiterated that his firm would never bring an all-electric car to market, declaring that he just didn’t believe in them. Instead, he said, the Italian automaker would bring out a gasoline-electric hybrid drivetrain in a few years time. However, Signore Montezemelo may want to revise that plan after a Ferrari 360 Spyder showed itself up in a race with a Volvo hybrid racing big-rig. The race, which took place at a recent Truck festival in Mantorp, Sweden, saw the $150,000+ sports car lose the 1/4 mile drag race by a hair’s breadth...
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What's Best For Old Electric-Car Batteries: Reuse Or Recycling?
A common misconception of electric cars and hybrid vehicles is that at the end of a short battery life, the remainder is dumped in landfill and contributes ever more pollution to the Earth. Of course, we know this to be incorrect. Not only are the more common lead acid batteries the world's most...
Antony Ingram -
2011 Volvo Concept You Will Debut At Frankfurt Auto Show
We've got used to carmakers using the letter "i" to describe their products, but isn't that a little selfish? Volvo clearly thinks so which is why its latest design study, due at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, is called the Concept You. The unusual name comes from the Swedish maker's new brand...
Antony Ingram -
NASCAR Stars Go Green In Chevy Volts... Off Track, At Least
Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon and five-time champ Jimmie Johnson might earn their living in gas-guzzling V8 Chevy Impalas, but on the roads it's a different story. In contrast to the champions' high-octane lifestyles, on a day off you're more likely to see them cruising around...
Antony Ingram -
2011 Kia Optima Hybrid On Economy Drive, 69 MPG So Far...
We've learned to take official EPA gas-mileage ratings with a pinch of salt in the past. They're useful for comparing model to model, but not always representative of the figures real people out in the real world will achieve. That's not to say that the EPA's fuel efficiency numbers can't be...
Antony Ingram -
China's Electric Car Plans Unrealistic, Focus Now On Hybrids
China appears to have abandoned its plans to gain an early advantage on Western carmakers by beating them to the market with mass-produced electric vehicles. As China develops more and more as a nation the demand for cars is increasing at a huge rate. The Chinese government had initially intended...
Antony Ingram -
A new Lincoln MKZ and MKZ Hybrid will be launched next year, and the 2013 MKZ Concept will debut at next year's Detroit Auto Show.
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Formula One Boss Ecclestone: "Electric F1 Could Kill People"
F1 television rights boss Bernie Ecclestone has never been one to mince his words, and now his ire has turned towards the 2014 Formula One rules that will require pitlane travel to be entirely electric. Adding to comments made about the lack of sound produced by regular electric vehicles, Mr...
Antony Ingram -
Ford Hybrids Prove Durability By Racking Up Most Taxi Miles
Ford has issued data showing remarkable reliability among the battery packs and electric motors in its hybrid vehicles, not the least of them the ones used in grueling taxi service in cities like New York and San Francisco.
John Voelcker -
2012 Plug-in Toyota Prius: What Do You Want To Know?
Toyota may have started the hybrid revolution with its original Prius, the first mass-produced gasoline-electric hybrid car and the vehicle which quickly became the eco badge of honor for celebrities and city dwellers alike. But ten years after the first Prius rolled into the U.S., Toyota is now...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Is A Ferrari California Hybrid Model In The Works?
Based on recent spy photos, Britain's Autocar believes that Ferrari is testing a hybrid drivetrain to be launched on an upcoming version of the Ferrari California.
Kurt Ernst -
Are There Too Many Battery Packs Being Made for Electric Cars?
According to a report from gigaom earlier this week, the electric auto industry will soon be producing battery packs at a rate far greater than the number of electric cars being built. Caused in part by a slower uptake of electric cars by consumers than was initially hoped, the article warned that...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield