Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield, Contributing Writer
Articles
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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...
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Sierra Club Weighs In On Plug-In Cars, With Humor
Here at Green Car Reports, we aim to give you a comprehensive run-down of what each car is like to drive, how far it can realistically travel per charge, and the ins and outs of purchasing it. But what does each plug-in car say about you as a person? The Sierra Club, most famous for its grassroots...
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Having Your Gas Car Serviced? Here, Borrow A Nissan Leaf
These days, most mainstream dealers and garages give you a courtesy , or loaner car while your own vehicle is being worked on. If you’re lucky, you’ll be given a reasonably new demo car, or perhaps even a car comparable with your own. More often than not, you'll end up with the garage's...
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Hybrid Battery Inventor Stanford Ovshinsky Dies At 89
Unless you’re deeply into the history of electric and hybrid electric vehicle technology, the chances are you might not recognize the name of Stanford Ovshinsky. But if you’ve ever driven a Toyota Prius Hybrid, or any number of all-electric cars with nickel-metal hydride battery packs...
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Forget Range Anxiety, Chevy Volt Owners Have Gas Anxiety
When General Motors launched the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid back in 2010, it chose to emphasize how it differed from electric cars by highlighting how its gasoline engine meant folks didn’t suffer from range anxiety. Now, almost two years after the Volt launched, charging data by a...
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AMP Electric Vehicles Stops Car Conversions, Focuses On Trucks
Ohio-based AMP Electric vehicles will no-longer convert gasoline cars to electric, it announced yesterday. Instead, the company announced on a conference-call yesterday, it aims to focus on converting medium-sized commercial vehicles to all-electric operation. “People told us how surprised...
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There was a time when anyone who drove a hybrid car--especially a Toyota Prius--was viewed with distain by the majority of other road users.
They were seen as aloof, over-privileged, and perhaps,...
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Want To Trade Your Tesla Roadster In For A 2012 Model S? Now You Can
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...
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Five Turbocharged Green Cars You Need To Drive
There was a time when a turbocharger under the hood meant one thing and one thing only: that the car you were driving was a performance-oriented, sporty beast with that oh-so-addictive turbo whine. Today, the turbocharger has become the biggest thing in green car technology since the hybrid...
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Forget Free Gas: 2012 Coda Sedan Comes With Free Electricity
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...
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Even Better Gas Mileage For Plug-In Hybrids? Look To Heat Recovery
When compared with traditional gasoline cars, plug-in hybrids, like the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid and the 2013 Chevrolet Volt are already capable of astonishing gas mileage figures. But how do you make plug-in hybrids even more efficient? One answer is to add a larger traction battery pack...
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A123 Electric Car Battery Plants Saved From Bankruptcy By Auto-Parts Maker
Despite filing for bankruptcy protection yesterday, lithium-ion battery firm A123 Systems has said the factories where it makes electric car battery cells will be saved, thanks to a $125 million deal with automotive parts maker Johnson Controls. Already a huge Tier One global automotive parts...
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Few states in the U.S. can match California’s generosity when it comes to clean vehicle rebate programs.
In fact, back in September, the California Air Resources Board and the Environmental...
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2013 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid Gets EPA Rated At 45 MPG All-Round
At one time, if you wanted a green, luxury sedan with great gas mileage, you only had a handful of cars to choose from from automakers like Lexus, Infiniti, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. Now there’s another car to add to your list: the 45 MPG combined, 2013 LIncoln MKZ. Fresh from its official EPA...
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SAE Finalizes New Electric Car Fast Charging “Combo Connector”
After months of planning, the next-generation J1772 electric car charging standard has been approved by the Society of Automotive Engineers. As expected, it is based on the current J1772 Level 2 charging connector found on cars like the 2012 Nissan Leaf and 2013 Chevrolet Volt, but adds direct...
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2013 Toyota Prius, Prius V, Prius Plug-in Hybrid Pricing Announced
The 2013 Toyota Prius Liftback and 2013 Prius V wagon will cost buyers between $100 and $200 more than comparable 2012 models, Toyota announced yesterday. The pricing increase, which comes into effect immediately, means that those buying the 2013 Prius Liftback will find themselves paying $200 more...
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Fisker Atlantic Plug-in Sedan Delayed Until At Least Late 2014
Less than three weeks ago, Fisker Automotive announced it has successfully closed its latest round of funding, netting a total of $100 million more in funds to develop its next plug-in hybrid car, the mid-size Atlantic Sedan. Hopes of driving one any time soon were dashed yesterday, however, when...
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Judge 'Charged' With 'Theft' For Plugging In Chevy Volt Electric Car
For centuries, the role of Judge has carried with it a solemn duty to uphold justice, the law, and to ascertain which facts are true, and which are not. So when a journalist in Carmi, Illinois spotted a Second Circuit Judge charging his electric car at Wayne County Courthouse, they ran a story...
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Back in 2010, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency was awarded a $7 million regional grant to oversee a fleet of 61 electric taxi cabs, complete with four battery sapping stations.
Two...
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2013 Chevrolet Spark So Popular, GM Boosts Imports
There was a time, not so long ago, when most Americans would laugh at the idea of buying a car just a bit longer than 12 feet. But now one minicar--the 2013 Chevrolet Spark--has sold so well in its first two months on the U.S. market that Chevrolet has had to increase imports. Currently made at a...
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Toyota Dealers Not Interested In Selling Electric Cars, Prefer Hybrids
Thanks to its ever-expanding range of hybrids, including the well-known Prius liftback, Toyota Toyota dealers have a wide range of green cars to sell. You may think that would make them more receptive to selling all-electric cars, but a recent survey from AutoRetailNet (via plugincars) suggests...
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Nissan Leaf Gets Remote Charger Timer With Leaf Link iPhone App
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...
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High Gas Prices, High Incentives Boost Electric Car Sales In CA
If you drive a regular gasoline car in California, you’ll know that the past week has been far from easy, with gas prices peaking at over $5 a gallon in places. But while many car drivers were suffering unbelievably high gas prices, plug-in and electric car dealers across the state have...
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How CA Drivers Handle High Gas Prices: Hybrids, Walking, Out-Of-State Gas
While gas prices in the state of California are finally dropping following last week’s Southern California peak of more than $5 per gallon, the financial and social implications of such high gas prices are still being felt by its residents. As The LA Times reported earlier this week...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield