Electric
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Some of the loudest of the skepticism over Tesla's plans to design and build an all-electric luxury sports sedan have died down after the company showed an all-aluminum body-in-white at the Detroit Auto Show in January. Even Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda checked it out. Tesla is continuing its campaign to convince the global automotive world that it's a real and viable carmaker, rather than simply a group of Silicon Valley electronics geeks who've managed to have another carmaker build 1,500 copies of an expensive all-electric two-seat supercar. Toward that end, this week Tesla released several...
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VIDEO: Will Electric Cars Like The Chevy Volt Save You Money?The problem with shooting video is that there's always one thing you forget to say until the camera's gone. Especially if it's low-budget and done on the fly. That's when the onscreen talent tends to forget to qualify some of the things they say. Like, for instance, this discussion of the unlikely...
John Voelcker -
Kia Reveals Naimo Electric Crossover Concept, Announces Real-World TestsKia has taken the wraps off its third electrified concept car in the space of a year (the previous being the Pop and Ray), strongly suggesting that we’re at the start of what could eventuate into an electric car revolution within the South Korean automaker. The latest concept is the 2011 Kia...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Ford: We’ll Sell Electric Cars With Batteries, Not Lease ThemAt the start of the month, we examined just how much of the 2012 Tesla Model S sticker price was made up by battery pack costs. In order to make electric cars more accessible to the mainstream car buying public, Renault plans to sell consumers their electric car but lease them the battery pack. But...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Can Urine Rescue Hydrogen-Powered Cars?It's been a rough couple of years for cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells. As the drums beat louder for electric cars--the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, Nissan's upcoming EV, and more--the hydrogen chorus is waning. But perhaps there's hope. And perhaps it's as close as your nearest urinal. Or, more...
John Voelcker -
Electric Car Tax for Washington Gets One Step Closer to LawIf you’re a regular reader of AllCarsElectric then you’ll know that electric cars are much cheaper to run than gasoline cars once you’ve actually purchased them, but electric cars in Washington state are just about to get a little more expensive to run thanks to a proposed law...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Audi has taken the wraps off a sophisticated plug-in hybrid prototype that combines a number of leading green car technologies all in a single platform. Utilizing the shell of the luxurious A5 Coupe, Audi’s new A5 e-tron quattro prototype not only features a conventional power-split hybrid system but also a newer ‘through-the-road’ setup. A through-the-road hybrid drivetrain is just like a regular hybrid but instead of combining the respective gas and electric powerplants on a single driveshaft, they are used individually on opposing axles. In this fashion, a...
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Tesla Sues Top Gear For Libel Against All-Electric RoadsterAbout two years ago BBC’s Top Gear aired a test drive of the then relatively new Tesla Roadster. While this was seen as a major boon for Tesla, the light shone on its all-electric sports car by the popular show was somewhat less than flattering. In fact, it was rather downbeat. What makes the...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Want An Electric Car? Be Quick, Get Smart With ForTwo EVThe 2011 Nissan Leaf has a waiting list. So does the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, and as for the Tesla Roadster, well, it's probably too expensive. So what do you do if you want to drive around in a plug-in vehicle right now? You could always build one, but that seems like too much hard work. Instead, you...
Antony Ingram -
Can Think Really Sell Enough $41,000 City Electric Cars In U.S.?Electric cars are much on the minds of green buyers these days, despite limited supplies of the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt. But there's also a second tier of suppliers, beyond the major carmakers, that also offers or plans to offer buyers their own plug-in electric vehicles. One such...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Triumphs with Ten Million Miles Travelled Since LaunchTen million miles. That’s the achievement being celebrated by Tesla Motors after its customers have clocked up 10 million miles of low emissions, all-electric driving since the Tesla launched its two seat sportscar in 2008. Since delivering its first Roadster in 2008, Tesla has sold over 1500...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2011 Nissan Leaf: How Much Would YOU Pay to Jump the Queue?The U.S. rollout of the 2011 Nissan Leaf has been a bit of a disaster with some would-be Leaf owners still waiting to find out when their local dealer will stock the all-electric car nearly a year after pre-reservations started. So how much would you pay to jump the queue completely and get an...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
The 2011 Geneva Motor Show has come and gone and was a real treat for electric car fans. Not only could you get close to cars like the 2011 Nissan Leaf and smart fortwo electric drive, but some were even available to test. One of the cars attracting a lot of attention was the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. For much of the European press it was their first opportunity to have a good look at the car that has been making headlines in America and will soon be appearing on European shores both in its original form and as an Opel and a Vauxhall - GM's U.K. and European brands - as the Ampera. Earlier this...
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Electric Cars To Help 2050 Europe Goal Of Zero-Emissions CitiesWhen looked at in pure dollars and cents, there are many cases in which electric cars don't yet provide a payback. But other forces will boost their chances of adoption beyond pure payback. And government regulations are one of those forces. On Monday, the European Commission will issue a road map...
John Voelcker -
Better Place: First Battery Swap Station, Profit In 2 Years?Better Place, the ambitious program that's launching its electric-car service in Israel, opened its first battery-swap station there on Wednesday. At an event marking the opening, CEO Shai Agassi said the company would be profitable within two years of starting to provide mobility services to its...
John Voelcker -
FAIL: U.K. Meter Maid Tickets Electric Car While it ChargedPolice traffic and parking control officers have an important job: they help keep traffic flowing in major cities and also ensure that cars are parked legally and safely. But local authorities in the U.K. city of Coventry are under fire after one of its parking enforcement officers ticketed an...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Volvo C30 Electric: For Lease, At More Than $2,000 Per Month?Would you pay more than two grand a month to drive an electric Volvo? Apparently, the automaker thinks that there are at least a few people or businesses that will. Volvo Cars Special Vehicles president Lennart Stegland said that Volvo plans to offer the C30 Electric for lease—at a price of...
Bengt Halvorson -
Five Tips to Save You Money on Home Electric Car ChargingWe all know that once purchased, electric cars are much cheaper to run than their gasoline counterparts, but how do you make sure you’re not paying more than you need to for the privilege of charging up at home? We’ve given it some thought and come up with five top tips to help you pay...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
A little under two weeks ago Japan was hit by one of the biggest earthquakes ever recorded. Measuring in at 9.0 on the richter scale and causing a devastating tsunami which killed tens of thousands and lay waste to hundreds of miles of coastline, Japan is still in an advance state of emergency. Yet even now production is commencing at factories nationwide as the Japanese auto industry attempts to regain a semblance of normality amidst the chaos. Nissan, maker of the five seat all electric hatchback Leaf has fared better than some of its competitors in Japan. While many of its factories and...
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Leave Your 2011 Chevy Volt On Overnight? Not Much Bad HappensYou don't start the engine in a 2011 Chevrolet Volt. Instead, you "power up" the car by pressing a button with the universal computer power symbol on it. Once the Volt has gone through its bootup routine, complete with tones and chimes, the button glows blue and you're ready to roll on electric...
John Voelcker -
(VIDEO): Ancestral Electric Cars: What Came Before the 2011 Leaf?We all know about the latest electric cars to come from the likes of Ford, General Motors and Nissan. But while they may be the latest they are certainly not the first. In the first of a series of fun trips back in time, we’re looking at the ancestors of electric cars we see coming to market...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Renault: Electric Car Battery Swapping Too Costly For NowIf you listen to the enthusiastic founder and CEO of Better Place Shai Agassi, the ability to swap depleted electric car battery packs for fully charged ones at a dedicated swap station is an essential and much-needed part of electric vehicle infrastructure. But while the ultra-fast way of getting...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Electric Car Factory: Think Sets Up Shop In Indiana, RV-LandQuick, name the electric cars currently on sale. Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, and ... ummmm ... oh, yeah, Smart Electric Drive. Now name the ones built in the States. Hmmmm. Volt, right? Think about it Yes, but you've missed out on one--in both categories. It's the Think City, which is now being...
John Voelcker -
Look Ma! No Wires! Google Gets Wireless Electric Car ChargerLet’s face it: going wireless is cool. The humble phone lost its stuffy image when it lost that annoying cable, wireless computing has transformed access to the Internet and unlocking your car with keyless entry beats stumbling around in the dark for the key hole any day. So when software and...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield