Electric
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What'll she do, mister? With electric cars, the response would more often than not usually be relating to the range. With Don Wales' Electric Bluebird, the answer might instead be 150 miles per hour. Maybe even 175 miles per hour. If the name Bluebird is familiar to you, then you'll probably associate it with the legendary Sir Malcolm Campbell, one of the early land speed record pioneers. In his various Bluebird vehicles he set a series of Land Speed records, and indeed water speed records. Don Wales is one of Sir Malcolm's grandchildren (and the nephew of the late Sir Donald Campbell, who...
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Toshiba Li-Ion Batteries To Appear In Honda's Electric CarFollowing years of claims they weren't interested in developing a battery-electric vehicle, Honda backtracked earlier this year and decided that they would produce one, with the 2012 Honda Fit EV concept finally revealed at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show last month. Now, Honda has announced that...
Antony Ingram -
2011 Think City Becomes 2+2 in Europe, Still OverpricedWe can’t think of many times when an automaker suddenly doubles the number of seats in a car without making the car bigger. But that’s just what the Norwegian car maker Think has done with its diminutive city car. Originally designed as a 2 seat city car, the all-electric A segment car...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Ding-Ding-Ding! Electric Cars Likely To Be Made Noisier By LawIn one particularly hilarious scene in the TV show Weeds, Mary-Louise Parker’s soccer mom/drug dealer character inspires a scary drug lord to buy several Toyota Priuses after he successfully carries out a drive-by shooting while riding in hers. The selling point? The quietness of the hybrid...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
The Missing Electric Car Segment: Minicars At $15,000 Or So?For the past few years, we’ve witnessed the success of low-volume, high-priced, highway-capable electric vehicles in the Tesla Roadster. We’ve also just recently seen the advent of medium-volume, medium -priced highway-capable electric cars like the 2011 Chevy Volt and 2011 Nissan LEAF...
Jason Hendler -
Triac Electric Car - Three Wheels, 100 Miles And $25,000With the focus naturally going towards some of the big electric car launches we've had this year or established players like Tesla Motors, it's all too easy to forget that there are a wealth of smaller companies out there producing their own, unique take on electric transport. One such company is...
Antony Ingram -
We know. You’ve put the deposit down, agonized over the charge station installation and felt a pang of jealousy when you discovered your 2011 Nissan LEAF won’t arrive for another four months. But while all hopes that Santa is bringing that new electric car may be lost you can at least pass the time with the LEAF iPhone app. That is of course, if you own an iPhone. Quietly uploaded to Apple’s app store last weekend to coincide with the first customer delivery of the 2011 Nissan LEAF, the iOS application allows LEAF owners to communicate with their car via Nissan’s...
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2012 Tesla Model S All-Electric Sedan: Progress and ScheduleIt's been a while since we checked in on the car that will likely make or break Silicon Valley electric-car startup Tesla Motors: the Model S, a five-door midsize sports luxury sedan it hopes to launch somewhere toward the end of 2012. Tesla hasn't said much about the Model S lately, but a number...
John Voelcker -
What Do Nissan Dealers Pay To Prepare For Leaf Electric Cars?The 2011 Nissan Leaf, at first glance, looks a whole lot simpler to service than conventional gasoline cars; there's no flammable liquid in the tank, no motor oil, no complicated multi-speed transmission either. That said, some dealers are probably feeling a little daunted by the idea of taking a...
Bengt Halvorson -
And We're Off! Electric Cars Are Here; Now They Need a ChargeIt’s official: Electric cars for the mass consumer crowd have arrived. The first all-electric Nissan Leaf was sold last week to a man in California, and more are trickling in. And the first Chevrolet Volts (pictured) — GM’s model that can go up to 50 miles on battery power before...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
Want Electrons With That? McDonald's To Charge Electric CarsAs many industry analysts will tell you, the switch to plug-in cars by the general public requires an increased support network of public charging stations. But while we’ve seen charging stations popping up at shopping malls, electronics retailers and even banks the fast food industry...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Volt-Based 'Amp' Due In Detroit: Wise Move By Chevrolet?The Voltec powetrain used in the 2011 Chevrolet Volt has never been meant for just the one vehicle. Restricting a new technology developed at great expense to a single niche vehicle makes poor economic sense. The prediction by Car and Driver of a Volt-based Chevrolet Amp, thought to be close in...
Antony Ingram -
Well, that was quick. Just one month after it unveiled the electric Fit EV prototype at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Honda is about to put the first of its electric subcompacts into daily use in southern California. Amusingly, it's in Torrance, where rival automaker and hybrid leader Toyota has its U.S. headquarters. The city of Torrance will receive a Honda Fit EV to test early next year, and then in 2012, a Honda Accord sedan fitted with Honda's new plug-in hybrid powertrain as well. Stanford University and Google will also receive their own Fit EV test cars. In Torrance, the cars will be...
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Moving On Up? Volkswagen Considers Producing Electric TaxiWhilst the 2013 Volkswagen Golf Blue eMotion might be responsible for many of the company's EV headlines, their smaller Up concept is possibly even more intriguing. The Wolfsburg maker has just revealed the third in a trio of electric taxi concepts. Following Berlin and Milano versions, the latest...
Antony Ingram -
Electric Car Company Think Starts U.S. Production Of City MinicarThink is a Norwegian based manufacturer of electric cars and is the same company behind the original ‘Th!nk’ electric car that went on sale in the U.S. during the late 1990s. Back then Think was owned by Ford, which sold it in 2003 to Swiss company Kamkorp Microelectronics. In 2006...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Why Leaf, Not Volt? Here's What One Of The First Leaf Owners SaysThe 2011 Nissan Leaf electric car is now officially on sale. Over the past several days—beginning with the first delivery in San Francisco we covered this past weekend—Nissan has begun making actual deliveries of the Leaf. Not just to company fleets, public utilities, or those in...
Bengt Halvorson -
World's Two Top Electric-Car Makers Agree to CooperateYou may not realise it, but automakers often work together on shared projects, vehicles or technology improvements. But when the top two electric car makers in the world agree to work together, even we find that interesting. Enter Mitsubishi and Nissan. Both poised to start selling their own...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Charging Station Incentives Sneak Into Tax Cut Extension BillAs recently as last week, it became apparent that the current federal 50 percent incentive towards the cost of installing an electric car charging station would expire on the 31st December this year. This would be particularly bad news to the vast majority of upcoming EV owners, many of whom...
Antony Ingram -
It’s well documented that Ford is planning an all-electric version of its new global Focus--heck, we’ve even test driven a very early prototype based on the previous generation car. But what isn’t that well known is that there will be two other electrified versions of the new Focus: a gasoline-electric hybrid and a more advanced plug-in hybrid. In a world first, Ford has now revealed that all three electrified versions will be built at the same Ford assembly plant located in Wayne, Michigan. Not only that but the regular gas-powered model will be built there as well. The...
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1985 Electric Volkswagen Golf To Return To Factory of its BirthWhen I met last month with Volkswagen to ride inside a prototype 2012 Golf Blue e-motion, I was eager to experience this all-electric version of its popular 2011 Golf hatchback. It will go into production as a 2013 model. But I also knew something the VW public relations corps didn't: the location...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Electric Vehicle Collaborative To Help Introduce EVs in CAIf you were to draw up a listof places least in need of encouraging towards the use of electric cars, California would probably be right up there. As well as being the home of companies such as Tesla Motors and Coda Automotive, many EV manufacturers usually pick at least one city in the State to...
Antony Ingram -
Needed Or Not, Electric Car Noisemakers Are Going To Be LawAlthough the relative silence of electric cars and hybrids was originally touted as one of their key beneficial attributes, alarmists have been less than enamored with the perceived difficulty involved in hearing one coming, especially advocates of the blind and the seeing impaired. While critics...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Latest BYD Update: We're Still Coming Next Year, ReallyWho needs soap operas when you’ve got the auto industry? One Chinese automaker is providing enough gossip, misdirection and sneaky dealings to keep script writers happy for years. Despite officially killing off its F3e electric car last week, Chinese battery firm turned electric vehicle...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2011 Think City Electric Car Approved For Sale in CaliforniaAdd another entry to the growing list of electric vehicles going on sale in the next year or so. Think North America, maker of the two-seat City electric car, announced that its 2011 Think City had been approved as a zero-emission vehicle by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The approval...
John Voelcker