2012
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Earlier this week Ford hinted on the social media network site Facebook that it had plans to unveil an all-electric car at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. From the shots it released, we guessed the announcement would include an all-electric Focus. As suspected, Ford CEO Allan Mulally has just pulled the veil off the first of five all-electric production vehicles planned by Ford to be released during 2012/13: the 2012 Ford Focus Electric. Ford Focus, Electrified Based on the newly designed 2012 Ford Focus Hatchback, the Focus Electric features five seats, a special version of...
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BREAKING: Ford Takes On LEAF With All-New Focus Electric and Half the Charging TimeThe all-new 2012 Ford Focus Electric has already been buzzing with the release of pictures on one of the Ford Facebook pages earlier this week (see our report). That is just the prong of the proverbial extension cord. Ford official announced the all-new 2012 Ford Focus Electric today and some...
Jonathan McGrew -
2012 Ford Focus Electric: Full Production Details Unveiled At CESAs yet another sign of the gap being bridged between consumer electronics and cars, Ford decided to unveil not only the interface inside its upcoming Ford Focus Electric at the sprawling Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, but the production version of the car itself. For those who have...
Bengt Halvorson -
Smart Grid’s Silver Spring To Unveil Prius Charging TechnologyIn the latest example of the opportunities created by the rollout of electric vehicles, smart grid networking player Silver Spring Networks announced it will unveil a prototype tomorrow of a charging station enabled with its technology for the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid (pictured). The...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
MyFord Mobile App 'A Key Component' In Focus Electric OwnershipIn advance of the official introduction of the 2012 Ford Focus Electric, the automaker has unveiled a new MyFord Mobile app that, Ford says, will be "a key component" in vehicle ownership. The feature, exclusive to Focus Electric owners in North America, will allow owners of the new EV to monitor...
Bengt Halvorson -
Tegra For Tesla: 2012 Model S To Use Nvidia Graphics TechThe Tesla Motors company goes hand-in-hand with high technology. Their current 2011 Roadster 2.5 uses cutting edge aluminum and carbon-fiber construction and offers supercar-rivalling performance from its electric drivetrain. We've known about the upcoming 2012 Tesla Model S electric sedan for a...
Antony Ingram -
While the styling of Buick’s new compact sedan has been known for some time now (a version of the car was unveiled last year in China as the Excelle GT), we finally get a look at the North American model, which will be making its official debut next week at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show. Set to go on sale in the fourth quarter of the year as the 2012 Buick Verano, the new compact sedan is Buick’s smallest model in decades and its first in the emerging compact luxury segment. Despite its entry-level positioning in the Buick lineup, however, the Verano will come very well equipped. No...
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Toyota Prius Ad We'll Never See: Animals Worse Than HybridsSome of the first emissions regulations in the world came about because of the way the Los Angeles Basin is shaped. Reports of smog in southern California started with the Conquistadors, and by the Sixties, LA was notorious for its foul air. California began regulating auto emissions before the...
John Voelcker -
BMW Launches ActiveE Electric Car Forum, Mobile App, Extends MINI E LeasesBMW made a step towards its electric car future today by launching its ActiveE electric car forums. In its final Plugged-In newsletter to all its current MINI E Lease participants, BMW announced that the new website will form the backbone of BMW’s next electric car program. In addition, BMW...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Tesla Employee: Model S Alpha Prototype Up And RunningHas Tesla completed their first Model S prototype? A Tesla manufacturing team employee, commenting on Engadget, appears to confirm this, though Tesla has not formally announced anything. “I just got to see the 1st Alpha proto run…. And, boy, did that thing run! The production vehicle...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
Ford Teases All-New 2012 Focus Electric With Facebook PhotosThe automotive industry can be like a good telenovela—lots of teasers and to be continued endings. That is exactly what we have on our hands right now with the latest images released by Ford. What do they depict? The all-new 2012 Ford Focus Electric. What do we know for sure? Only tidbits...
Jonathan McGrew -
Can Electric-Car Clubs And Shows Really Bring In Buyers?As an electric car enthusiast or recently-converted gearhead, you'll no doubt be aware of the huge variety of clubs out there for virtually any make and model or automotive scene you can think of. For many people, a thriving scene and great social network might be the difference between choosing...
Antony Ingram -
Does the future of electric cars lie in the gadget world? Ford thinks so. So much so, it will launch an electric car at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Friday. How did it announce this? By posting some teaser photos on social networking site Facebook, of course. From the photos, we think the CES audience will be treated to the first public appearance of Ford’s 2012 Electric Focus. There’s nothing official yet, but the curves of the car shown in the teaser shot looks enough like a Focus to convince us and it’s no secret that Ford has been working hard on an...
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Counting Down To 2011: Top ASC Article for April 2010To close out first quarter of 2010 we turn to April on the calendar. Now April is a busy month for the Rocky Mountain Region, where yours truly is based, because it is the time that the Colorado Auto Dealers Association puts on the Denver Auto Show. In fact, the first part of the month on...
Jonathan McGrew -
Will Trucks And Buses Beat Cars In The Electric Race?Right now, six companies are vying to win a contract that would provide 100 electric vehicles to the government’s General Administration services 214,000-strong fleet. One of them is Ford; the other, a relative newcomer called Smith Electric. But the government isn’t looking for...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
2012 Ford Focus To Become Part Of Company Custom Graphics ProgramThe 2012 Ford Focus has a lot to offer consumers like the torque vectoring control we wrote about yesterday. However, Ford isn’t just offering functional features for the all-new Focus, they are also going to offer vehicle tattoos. For those who aren’t familiar, vehicle tattoos are the...
Jonathan McGrew -
Top Of Its Class: 2012 Ford Focus Offers Class-Leading Cornering ControlYesterday Ford announced another feature on the 2012 Ford Focus that is not only exclusive to the Focus in its class, but also positions Ford as a leader in safety. Borrowing from the Ford press release, Ford says the 2012 Focus ‘can carve through turns like a downhill skier” with the...
Jonathan McGrew -
Could Waste Oil Power Your Range-Extended Electric Car One Day?We're suckers for new kinds of combustion engines. Ever since we first saw and wrote about the Cyclone external-combustion engine, we've been intrigued by it. Now we have an automotive angle: Suppose you could power a Chevy Volt-like range-extended electric car on nothing more than used motor oil...
John Voelcker -
Start-stop systems, which shut off car engines when the vehicle comes to a stop, have been offered in Europe for several years. But until now, no automaker other than Porsche has offered them on U.S.-market cars. That's about to change. Ford said yesterday it will offer the systems on some of its cars, crossovers, and sport-utility vehicles sold in North America, starting in 2012. That makes it the first major automaker to commit to start-stop technology here. Europe, but until now, not the U.S. The Auto Start-Stop system is offered on Ford's highest-mileage ECOnetic models in Europe, and is...
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Will Charging Infrastructure Be Speed Bump For Electric Cars?This year — and next — will be a busy one for arrival of electric cars. The Ford Focus Electric and Coda’s sedan are slated for launch by 2011. The Nissan Leaf is slowly making its way to buyers in the U.S. and Europe, the Wheego Whip and LiFe are on sale in New York, and the...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
New Toyota Prius Concept To Debut At Detroit Auto ShowThe Toyota Prius is expected to have some company in the model line up soon with the anticipated debut of the Prius Plug-in Hybrid (PHV) and the yet named compact minivan. However, today news hit the wire that there might be an additional surprise concept vehicle at the Detroit Auto Show in January...
Jonathan McGrew -
Video: Toyota Previews 2012 Prius MPV Ahead Of Detroit ShowThe 2011 Detroit Auto Show holds promise for Prius-lovers, with the first addition to the ubiquitous hybrid brand's family: an MPV, or multi-purpose vehicle. Americans may want to call it a wagon, or a hatchback, or something else, but whatever it's named, it's a longer, larger version of the...
Nelson Ireson -
Quentin Willson: “The 2010 Mitsubishi i Has Changed My Life”History has a way of repeating itself. Just as the many tearful original EV1 lease drivers bade farewell to the electric car in the mock funeral that started Chris Paine’s docufilm Who Killed The Electric Car, a select group of electric car lease drivers in the U.K. gave a suitably British...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Japanese Market Vitz Previews New 2012 Toyota YarisThe new 2012 Toyota Yaris isn’t expected to hit showrooms until late next year but its Japanese twin, the Vitz, has just been unveiled. Showing a much sportier and edgy design, the new model will be slightly bigger than the current car with an extra 2 inches in the wheelbase and extra 4...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran