2012

  • 2012 Infiniti M Hybrid, at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show

    First previewed at last year's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, we've been hearing about the 2012 Infiniti M Hybrid for more than a year. Now, finally, Infiniti has officially unveiled the M35h, its very first hybrid-electric vehicle, at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show. First of many? It's the first of a number of vehicles from Infiniti (and perhaps Nissan as well) to use the new Direct Response Hybrid system, first previewed in the Infiniti Essence concept introduced at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show. The M35h offers electric-only running for a mile or more (Infiniti says 1.2 miles) at speeds up...

  • Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid prototype, tested in November 2010
    Toyota Starts Sharing Its Prius Plug-in Prototype

    Over the Thanksgiving holiday the team over at GreenCarReports.com were lent a Toytoa Prius Plug-in Prototype to test. The plug-in Prius is one of those cars Toyota enthusiasts have been waiting for and speculating for quiet some time—some even call it a super Prius. Now that our sister site...

  • 2012 Ford Focus
    2012 Ford Focus Wears Some Jeans On the Inside

    How do you like your jeans? Skinny…Straight-leg…Loose Fit? The 2012 Ford Focus likes it’s jeans in a slightly different form—as recycled content for the interior. It may seem strange to take used jeans and use them in the interior of a new car, but Ford has some compelling...

  • 2000 Toyota Prius
    Hybrids Don't Cost More To Repair or Run, But Payback Debatable

    It's a concern that comes up over and over: If I buy a hybrid car, won't I have to spend thousands of dollars to replace the battery pack in a few years? The answer is, No. Not only are automakers required to warranty the high-voltage battery packs in hybrid-electric vehicles for 8 years/100,000...

  • Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid prototype, tested in November 2010
    2010 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid Prototype: Drive Report

    The main thing to understand about the Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid is that it's not an "electric car" as many people use the term. Yes, it plugs in to any electric socket to recharge the 5.2-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack. And, yes, its Hybrid Synergy Drive system uses electric torque...

  • U.S.-spec Mitsubishi i-MiEV
    Move Over THINK: Mitsubishi i Highest Selling Electric Car (For Now)

    A few months ago we reported that the diminutive Think City had snatched the top spot as the world’s best-selling city EV with over 2,500 vehicles now on the road. But that claim is now dwarfed by Mitsubishi, which last week celebrated the 5,000th i-Miev electric car to roll off its Japanese...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf

    Over the past couple of months AllSmallCars.com and our sister sites have published a lot about electric vehicles. In fact, AllCarsElectric.com is completely dedicated to electric car news, events and reviews. Earlier this week, I reported on the 2011 Nissan LEAF and the official EPA rating in terms of MPGe (Miles Per Gallon Equivalent). Our partner site, GreenCarReports.com and senior writer John Voelcker also reported on it, but with a slightly different spin—one that asks why the EPA felt the need to relate mpg to an electric vehicle when they could have kilowatt-hours per mile...

  • 2010 Honda Fit EV Concept
    Geeks Get Fitted For Electric Cars Via Google GFleet

    Let’s face it: Google loves its green cars. Its also home to some of the best tech-savvy engineers in the world. Engineers who love their tech and love to innovate. So what better way to put a new electric car through its paces than make it part of Google’s GFleet - a pool of cars the...

  • Stuck in traffic, by Flickr user SMercury98
    Why Texas May Be A Better Electric-Car State Than California

    When power plant heavyweight NRG Energy announced yesterday that it would invest $10 million in the rollout of the nation’s first privately-finance electric vehicle charging network it also revealed that the city it would debut in would be … Houston, Texas. Um, what? Houston (pictured)...

  • 2011 Coda Sedan, final production version
    Why Startup Coda Thinks It Can Compete Against Big Auto

    I just spoke to electric car startup Coda’s interim CEO Steven “Mac” Heller, who is stepping in since former chief executive Kevin Czinger stepped down. Heller talked to us from Los Angeles Auto Show, where Coda is showing off its all-electric sedan — and where automotive...

  • 2012 Mitsubishi "i" electric car, powered by MiEV, launch event at 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show
    2012 Mitsubishi 'i', Urban Electric Car: Blessing Or Curse?

    After several years of taunting and many months of speculation, the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show is finally the venue chosen for Mitsubishi to show off their U.S.-specification 'i' electric car to an expecting public. We've featured the Japanese-spec 'i' several times, as the company has shipped...

  • 2011 Coda Sedan, final production version
    Everybody Hertz Sometimes: CODA Lifts Mood With Rental Contract

    You have to feel a little sorry for CODA automotive. A few months ago the Santa Monica firm was striding towards a December launch of its 2011 Sedan. Then as a prequel to announcing its first all-electric car would be delayed by nearly 9 months its Senior VP of Sales and Marketing left, closely...

  • Toyota Prius driver slams into police car, in reverse, during traffic stop. Video: Break.com

    For all the grief Toyota Prius hybrid drivers get, you'd think they were some deranged combination of green storm troopers and mentally defective traffic impediments. But every now and then, a Prius driver does do something jaw-droppingly idiotic. Take, for instance, the unidentified (and possibly inebriated) driver of this black 2010 2004-2009 Prius. He was filmed during a traffic stop at 11:20 pm last Saturday night by the video camera mounted inside the police car--into which the Prius slammed, moving backwards. The driver is shown getting out of the car, and then jumping back in when he...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt test drive, Michigan, October 2010
    2010 Los Angeles Auto Show: Guide To Electric Vehicles

    We took a look a few weeks ago at the five electric cars we reckoned you should do your best to see at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show. Our list included the 2011 Nissan Leaf, 2011 Chevrolet Volt, 2011 Coda Sedan, the 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV and the 2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Our opinion hasn't changed -...

  • 2011 Fiat 500 launch event at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show, November 2010
    2010 LA Auto Show: Photo Gallery, 2012 Fiat 500 Launch

    The 2012 Fiat 500 minicar is the first all-new car to be sold as part of Fiat's takeover of Chrysler. It's also a very cool and stylish little vehicle that won numerous awards in its first year on the market ... and it's the kind of car conventional wisdom says will never, ever sell in the U.S...

  • Ford Focus EV
    Ford Announces Markets For First Focus Electric Sales

    This is a busy week for the automotive industry with the opening of the Los Angeles Auto Show, one of the most anticipated shows in the automotive industry. It is also a busy week for Ford with their announcement on Monday of the first markets that will see sales of the company’s first...

  • 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV powered by Tesla, at 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show
    2010 LA Auto Show: 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV Powered By Tesla

    As they say, everything old is new again. Fourteen years after it launched its very first RAV4 crossover at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Toyota returned to LA to launch an all-electric version of its latest RAV4. And this one is, as the logos in a teaser photo released earlier said, "powered by...

  • 2012 Ford Focus ST
    Ford Takes The Lead With Most 40-MPG Vehicles

    The Ford Motor Company has created a lot of great history in its 107 years in business and they have come a long way from the Model T. The innovation however hasn't changed over the company’s long history, a fact proved by the most recent press release to hit the automotive wire this morning...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf

    One week after our sister site GreenCarReports announced the contenders for the 2011 Best Car To Buy Green award, the judges have crowned an all-electric car the winner. Beating the other nominees, including the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, 2011 Honda CR-Z, 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and 2011 Lexus CT200h, the all-electric 2011 Nissan Leaf came out top. With a 100 mile all-electric range, five seats and excellent road manners the 2011 Nissan Leaf easily won the green title. We loved its easy-to-read gauges, no-nonsense approach to combating range anxiety and practicality. When the Nissan Leaf arrives...

  • Ford Focus EV
    Ford Announces 19 Launch Markets For 2012 Focus Electric

    Ford's first all-electric passenger vehicle, the 2012 Focus Electric, has just received its list of initial launch markets. Totaling 19 cities in all, the vehicle will roll out across the country with Nissan LEAF-like targets for range and performance. Ford says the Focus Electric will be shooting...

  • Buick eAssist Hybrid Technology
    GM Resurrects Mild Hybrid System For 2012 Buick LaCrosse

    As we first reported more than a year ago, a beefier version of GM’s mild hybrid system, the kind that was on the previous Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid, is coming next year. Set to debut on the 2012 Buick LaCrosse, GM’s new “eAssist” mild hybrid system is said to improve fuel...

  • Plug In America Public Service Annoucements
    Plug In America: EV Public Service Announcements

    We've covered Plug In America before on AllCarsElectric. The group is at the forefront of the EV movement in the U.S. and aims to promote usage of electric vehicles and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Now, the group has released a series of humorous "Public Service Announcements" (PSAs) written...

  • Renault Fluence EZ concept, 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show
    EV Vs Gas Vs Diesel: Breaking Down The Costs

    Thanks to the limited availability of electric cars on the market thus far and lack of parity between EV models and their gasoline or diesel counterparts, comparing the relative costs of the three isn't the easiest of tasks. The human race wouldn't have got very far if we'd only ever done what was...

  • Nissan Smyrna Tennessee
    Nissan Will Build Leaf Electrics Among Altima, Maxima Gas Cars

    It's one of the most radical cars ever to be built in this country, the first all-electric vehicle to go on sale in many decades. So you'd expect that when the Nissan Leaf enters production in Smyrna, Tennessee, late in 2012, it would have its very own production line, right? Nope. Not at all. Far...

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