Electric Cars

It's been rumored for a while that the next-generation Chevy Volt electric car would get a new, smaller, three-cylinder engine as a range extender. Now we've seen what that engine could be, in the guise of a 1.0-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine unveiled by GM's German arm, Opel, at this...

Speculating on what will happen to Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] can be endlessly entertaining, and the discussions have taken up terabytes of server space already. But last week, a Forbes contributor suggested an intriguing notion: Should search giant Google buy Tesla? The conventional wisdom has been...

New York's food vendors are going electric, thanks to a pilot program that replaces generators with a connection to the grid.

Every so often, electric-car skeptics will attack the idea of using grid electricity to power a car by bringing up coal. "Yeah," the argument goes, "but you're just burning coal instead of gasoline in your electric car--so how's that any better?" There is, of course, a fair amount of science that...

The fate of Fisker Automotive has been hanging for months, but now an offer for the company has been "signed" and is "on the table." At least that's the word from Ingo Voigt, who with Fritz Nol is one of a pair of German investors who want to buy the company. "I am proud to tell you that we just...

Both the Porsche 918 Spyder and Nissan ZEOD RC are taking the track. The Porsche set a record lap at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, while the Nissan is set to do a demonstration at Fuji Speedway, as Nissan prepares it for the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Electric cars have been on sale almost three years now, which means that some of them are starting to show up on used-car lots. To alleviate concern over the unknown future life of a used electric car, Nissan has now added its Leaf to the company's Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles program. Starting...

As a group, German automakers have not been at the front of the move toward plug-in electric cars. Nonetheless, Volkswagen Group will be the world leader in electric and hybrid cars by 2018. It says. The bold claim came not from an offhand comment by an executive at this week's Frankfurt Auto Show...

Volkswagen's second electric car debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show was the e-Up, a plug-in version of its European-market Up micro machine.

BYD Auto hasn't been in the news much lately, but the largest privately-owned Chinese carmaker hasn't backed away from its ambitious plans. According to China Car Times, BYD will launch a new plug-in hybrid model next year, to be called the Tang, to be followed by an electric supercar. Both...

eVgo is bringing its electric car charging stations, called Freedom Stations, to California to capitalize on the Golden State's enthusiasm for plug-in cars.

Last spring, a map on Tesla's website promised that 18 new "Superchargers"--the ultra-fast charging stations for its Model S electric luxury car--would be activated around the U.S. during "Summer 2013." Though summer's not technically over until September 21, most of us have put away the sunscreen...

In July, we tentatively crowned the Tesla Model S as the top-selling plug-in electric carmaker in Canada, reasoning that the Muskmobile would top the 42 nationwide sales reported by the Volt and the Leaf. And we were right -- by the skin of our teeth. Government registration records showed 43 new...

The Nissan e-NV200, an electric version of the company's small van and New York's "Taxi of Tomorrow" will go from concept to production in 2014.

The recent $5,000 price cut for the 2014 Chevrolet Volt has dropped the range-extended electric car into a significant price bracket. That group is the "$35,000 and under" club--occupied by every plug-in car on sale right now except for the Tesla Model S and the Toyota RAV4 EV. It makes us wonder...

Detroit Electric's first sports car will be a little less Detroit than first intended, it seems. The company has announced that the first of its SP:01 electric sports cars will be built not in Southeast Michigan, but in a factory in Holland, owing to delays in its plans to start production in Wayne...

The BMW i3 and i8 are both impressive technological exercises, but will anyone actually want to buy them?

In writing about green, fuel-efficient, and advanced technology cars, it's important to understand who buys them--and why. Volkswagen, for instance, found that diesel and hybrid buyers are separate groups with little crossover. Now Toyota suggests that the supporters of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles...

Located in the Irish sea between Great Britain and Ireland, the Isle of Man plays host to one of the racing world's most famous circuits--the Isle of Man TT course. Every year thousands of motorcyclists from across the world pile onto the island to watch events like the Tourist Trophy and Manx...

Plugging in your electric car to recharge the battery is simple if you have your own garage, carport, or driveway. If you park on the street, it's a little harder; there just aren't that many curbside charging stations yet. So electric-car owners can get very, very resourceful. We said it more than...