Electric

 International research consultancy firm McKinsey has just released the latest of its reports on electric cars, placing the U.S. ahead of other countries when it comes to electric car adoption. Taking into account nine variables likely to influence investment in the electric car sector such as...

Headers. Cams. Pistons. Liners. Ports. Carbs. Crankshafts. Filters. Mufflers. Are these all words we'll start to see disappearing from the tuning magazines of the future? Mankind has always wanted to go faster, whether that's in a car, an aircraft, a boat or even on a horse. Tuning is an essential...

Are electric cars being held back by a lack of convenient charging points? Or do more electric cars need to be produced in order for a demand for electric vehicle charging points to be large enough to justify installing them? And should charging stations be ones offering a 240V, 30A top-off charge...

Automakers often do comparison ads showing how their features or specs are better than their competitors', but they don't generally trash other makers' designs in public. Like so many conventions, this one doesn't seem to apply to Elon Musk, CEO of venture-funded startup Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA]...

Last October, Simon Hackett and Emilis Prelgauskas set a new distance record for a production battery-powered vehicle: a hugely impressive 313 miles in a 2008 Tesla Roadster. That's around 70 miles more than the EPA's rated range for the world's best -known EV. Unfortunately for them, not even a...

As predicted, Tesla Motors posted higher losses for the second quarter during its earnings announcement today — its first as a public company. The electric vehicle maker says it brought in $28.4 million revenue, but lost $38.5 million ($5.04 a share), up from the $29.5 million lost last quarter...

We wrote about the 2011 Coda Sedan and Coda's EV cost calculator not too long ago, and described the cars as a "Chinese-built sedan" with a battery pack "containing Chinese-made lithium-ion cells." The Coda, we said would be "the first Chinese-manufactured passenger car sold in the U.S. when it...

We've been watching it roll closer for years, and now it's all but here: A new era of electric cars. Just three or four months from now, the first highway-capable electric vehicles sold in volume by global automakers will appear in showrooms in California and other regions. By the end of 2011...

Think of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt and very little seems conventional about it. With a range of 40 miles per charge and a range-extending gasoline engine used to provide extra power when the battery pack is depleted, Chevrolet is keen to push the car’s green credentials. Built at the Hamtramck...

General Motors announced today that it will invest in startup Bright Automotive, which hopes to start final production engineering of its Idea plug-in hybrid delivery van design later this year. GM Ventures, the automaker's venture investing arm, already provided funds to Bright this week; formal...

The flurry of activity in hybrid and electric supercars has led to several concepts being approved for production, but BMW still hasn't publicly committed to a date for its high-tech green performance car. Mercedes-Benz has its SLS AMG E-Cell; Audi has the E-Tron; even Porsche gave the green light...

 Will video and time kill the Aptera star? Will Detroit? Or will the Auto X-Prize pull the final punch? As the field has been whittled down from 136 to just 9 contenders for the chance to win part of the elusive $10 million prize fund, we've watched electric vehicles dominate the event. For one...

Sometimes it's hard to keep track of small electric-vehicle companies, most of whom are likely to vanish without a trace within a few years. But T3 Motion, an EV startup in Costa Mesa, California, has a gimmick: It uses an Apple iPad to provide driver and passengers with audio, video, games, and...

Just days after Nissan announced its 8 year, 100,000 mile warranty option for the 2011 Leaf, we've had a chance to do our second test-drive of the week in Nissan's $33,750 electric baby. Earlier this week, Nissan gave us some time behind the wheel of the Leaf in San Jose, California. We had a great...

There's no better time to make a public announcement than when you have the President of the United States with you. Today,President Barack Obama visited the Detroit-Hamtramck plant where GM is building its 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle. And the company took full advantage of...

Green conscience and new technology are both laudable, but getting extra money in your back pocket is nice too. Now, after all those years of paying taxes on your hard work, you can finally get some of it back. Consider it a tax refund for buying an electric car. Now that we know the purchase and...

Elon Musk leads a complicated life, from Tesla Motors' recent IPO to an ongoing and nasty divorce battle, not to mention questions about his veracity, but the seemingly subdued Tesla CEO remains firmly in the public eye. He took the time to go on the latest episode of The Colbert Report, where he...

There's been a lot of discussion and consideration given to the topic of public charging stations for electric vehicles. The old "chicken verses egg" conundrum is called to mind as auto makers and politicians seem to fumble around without really knowing what to do and where to allocate funds. Will...

How fast, how far, and how long? These are the three most important questions asked of any electric car coming to market. Just like their gasoline counterparts, drivers want to know their first electric car won't leave them foundering at the lights, stranded on the freeway, or taking forever to...

The automotive world is tilting on its axis, and electric cars are about to become reality. Have you bought in, drunk the Kool-Aid? In other words, are you ready to drive a rechargeable car, something as mind-blowingly, reassuringly all-new as the 2011 Nissan Leaf? If you've hung in there through...