Chevy Volt

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...

The 2012 model year has brought some subtle changes to the 2012 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car, despite "decontenting" that makes a comparably equipped 2012 Volt cost more than the 2011 model.

Imagine, plug-in electric cars can survive hurricanes just like they survive snow, sleet, rain, and car washes!

New-car sales overall weren't great in August. The economy continues to be shaky, consumer confidence is down, and Hurricane Irene kept buyers away from dealerships. But electric-car sales last month improved on July's numbers, although they were far from their spring heights due to continued...

Las Vegas is better known for its excess than its frugality, but city bosses are turning that image around by trialling a fleet of electric cars, the first of which is GM's range-extended electric vehicle, the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. The trial will make the city the only government agency in the state...

The 2011 Chevy Volt is a remarkably complex automobile, so crash damage is likely to cost more to repair than with a conventional automobile. This difference in price, however, is likely less than you think.

The good folks over at Consumer Reports are the ultimate rationalists when it comes to testing and buying cars. They don't use media-fleet cars, but buy their test vehicles anonymously. Their rigorous assessments make hard-nosed fleet buyers look like flighty schoolgirls in comparison. In the...

When the Cadillac ELR extended-range plug-in car goes on sale, probably in 2013 as a 2014 model, it's a given that it will cost more than the 2012 Chevy Volt. But how much more? In the spate of reports late yesterday covering GM's announcement yesterday that its 2009 Cadillac Converj concept would...

According to a recent research article by CNW Marketing Research, the 2011 Chevrolet Volt isn’t as cool as it once was. As reported by USA Today, the research firm claims that interest in Chevrolet’s plug-in hybrid electric car is at an all-time low. CNW blames the car’s high...

Consumer Reports conducted a wide array of use tests on its 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car to determine its costs of operation. The answer? It depended on how the car was used.

Earlier this week, Cnet published a story claiming that the European version of the Chevrolet Volt, the 2012 Vauxhall Ampera, was no more environmentally friendly than an ordinary gasoline car. Aiming to debunk Vauxhall's miles-per-charge and fuel economy claims, the article cited British blogger...

After a one-month hiatus, Chevy has begun production of the 2012 Volt. Thanks to the retooling, the Hamtramck assembly plant now has three times the build capacity.

By now, you may well have seen short video clips of crudely animated people talking in monotonous tones, with more than occasional mispronunciations and odd rhythms. They're Xtranormal animations, created by feeding your dialogue into a website that animates them based on the author's choices of...

It's been known among electric-car advocates for years that so-called "range anxiety" is somewhat overblown. That's despite, we might add, advertisements by a large U.S. company that sells a range-extended plug-in car that highlight its ability to let you drive it across the country on the spur of...

Two early customer satisfaction issues on the 2011 Chevy Volt are being addressed by dealers: a front air dam that's too low, and intermittent blank displays on the instrument cluster.

The Leaf generates massively more and constant high frequency sound feedback

After several months of using a 2011 Chevy Volt and a 2011 Nissan Leaf as our sole family transport, we have a better understanding of both cars than we did in March, when I first wrote about how they compared. First to arrive at our West Sacramento home was a beautiful crystal red 2011 Volt. We...

Despite media attempts to conjure a "sales battle" between the 2011 Chevy Volt and the 2011 Nissan Leaf, both companies are selling every car they can manage to get into the showrooms. Now Chevrolet has released its first look at who is actually buying its Volt range-extended electric cars. The...

For its second year of production, the 2012 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car will come down $1,000 in price and be offered with several new features and two new colors. The list price of the 2012 Volt, including an $850 destination fee, is $39,995. That compares to $41,000 for the 2011...

For the first time in 80 years or so, major automakers are building and selling plug-in electric cars in the U.S. How are they letting people know about their new cars? Advertising, of course. Our colleague Richard Read looked at four electric-car TV ads, analyzing what made them work and what...