Electric Cars

Indiana drivers get the quickest returns on electric-car purchases, a new study says.

No matter how fast a car is, there's always someone who'll want to make it faster. That's why you'll find as many companies tuning high-end cars as there are modifying pony cars or basic subcompacts. And it's why Saleen is developing its own hot-rodded version of the Tesla Model S electric sedan...

Nine U.S. national parks will deploy clean vehicles as part of an ongoing green initiative.

They're not here yet, but in less than two years, U.S. buyers will have a choice of at least three plug-in hybrid SUV models to choose from. Now, we've driven a prototype version of one of them: the BMW X5 e-Drive, which will be shown as an updated concept car at this week's New York Auto Show...

The 2012 Coda Sedan electric car had a long, troubled gestation and a brief life before joining other failed automotive startups in the history books. But at least few hundred cars were built, all told, and now some of them are for sale as rolling "gliders," without their battery packs. If you...

The 2014 Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive will be the first Mercedes-badged electric car sold in the U.S.

Most of the world's truly significant cars have been striking, even polarizing, designs. But some unusual, even polarizing, designs have been colossal failures. And it remains unclear which category the 2014 BMW i3 will fall, in the different global markets in which BMW is selling it. DON'T MISS...

There are two types of green vehicle fans in this world: Those who wish you to know they've picked the latest green vehicle, and those that don't. Anyone who chooses Austrian firm Johammer's electric motorcycle will peg themselves firmly in the former category. It is, by quite a margin, the...

Kansas City-based Smith Electric Vehicles has become the latest electric-vehicle building startup to cease operations--though the company says it isn't shutting its doors for good. The firm builds electrically-powered commercial vehicles both in the U.S. and abroad, but hasn't yet turned a profit...

If you've never lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, you may not have heard of "Mr. Roadshow," the nickname of San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary Richards. Nor will you know how important his columns are, covering traffic, congestion, freeways, law enforcement, cars, and all the other topics...

When I first heard last week that Tesla was offering Model S owners a free retrofit that would install its new underbody shield and deflector plates, I called my local Tesla Motors service center almost immediately. It seemed like a no-brainer. The titanium shield and two aluminum deflector plates...

It was one of the thorniest issues facing the powerful California Air Resource Board: Did the ability to swap electric-car battery packs qualify for "fast fueling" incentives meant to prod carmakers to build zero-emission vehicles that could add 300 miles of range in no more time than filling the...

National Electric Vehicles Sweden, the Chinese-Swedish company behind the re-launch of Saab, has started production of its first electric Saab models. The electrically-powered 9-3 sedans are built in Sweden, but the first cars will actually be sold in China. According to Auto Motor & Sport...

In theory, convertibles are the perfect way to enjoy electric motoring. What better way to experience your zero-emissions car than with the roof down--enjoying the silence, the sounds of nature and the wind in your hair? Tesla's first car, the Roadster, offered just such an experience--and one...

A Nissan Leaf puts its regenerative brakes to good use traversing Hawaii's Haleakala volcano.

Many among the Detroit auto media were skeptical of Tesla Motors for years, correctly noting just how hard it is to start a car company and build a genuinely appealing product--electric car or not. But as Tesla continues to sell Model S electric luxury sedans, expanding into Europe and China as...

Leaking air-conditioner refrigerant may be increasingly contributing to global warming.

Over the last few years, China has experienced some of the highest city pollution concentrations anywhere on earth--with concentrations of pollutants climbing far past dangerous levels on official scales. Roughly a quarter of that is due to heavy traffic, and it's prompted legislation to clean up...

New jobs and plant updates by carmakers often get little attention outside the towns involved, but sometimes they telegraph information about future models. The Detroit News said Saturday that GM is expected to announce it will update its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, spending $450 million and...

The Fomm Concept One is an electric car designed to take on a tsunami.