Electric Cars

If you’re still smitten with the design and styling of the Smart Fortwo, you’re probably going to be happier with the version that never needs a gas station. That’s the conclusion we emerged even more confident about, after the hour earlier this month we spent with the Smart...

Despite major reductions in air-pollution levels, the Los Angeles basin still has the worst smog problem in the nation. While you might debate over what exactly is the longer-term solution for reducing that smog, vehicles with internal-combustion engines are still contributing to problem. And it's...

Good news: Audi's off-again, on-again electric supercar--the R8 e-tron--is now confirmed for production. Bad news: You won't be able to buy one, as the company has decided to make just ten vehicles, all for research purposes only. The company confirmed to Autocar that it has produced ten R8 e-tron...

Today, California is generally accepted as the hub for electric car activity. Not only are high-profile electric car companies like Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] based there, but healthy incentives and clement weather make owning an electric car in the Golden State about as easy as anywhere else in the...

That battery-swapping electric infrastructure firm Better Place filed for bankruptcy at the weekend won't come as a surprise to many. The firm has struggled to find customers and suffered several setbacks over the past year, including the ousting of its CEO and delayed rollout in other countries...

The long-promised announcement from Tesla Motors on expansion of its Supercharger network has been delayed by the company's billion-dollar fundraising, and this week's payoff of its entire Department of Energy loan. But Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] still plans a rapid expansion of the network of...

The Nissan Leaf is no stranger to videogames. Last year, we had a little race between a Leaf and the Toyota Prius--albeit in the realistic but completely virtual world of Gran Turismo 5. But what you can't do in Gran Turismo is virtually charge your virtual Leaf with virtual solar panels--something...

It might not be going on sale to U.S. consumers, but the BYD e6 will eventually appear in the U.S. in commercial fleets--perhaps to a taxi stand near you. Taxi duties seem to be the e6's true calling, and it's already operating in China in just such a role. Now it's going on duty in Hong Kong too...

Owners of electric cars and plug-in hybrids enjoy plenty of benefits: tax breaks, lower fuel costs, and the satisfaction that comes from driving a low- or zero-emission vehicle, to name a few. In California, owners also enjoy easier commutes: they can apply for special stickers that allow them to...

Yesterday we reported that two companies, VL Automotive and China's Wanxiang Group, had put in a bid for struggling automaker Fisker Automotive. It's now become clear just how little the ailing plug-in carmaker is worth to investors and buyers, with Reuters revealing the VL and Wanxiang bid...

It's official: Cars really are getting more efficient. Not that there isn't a long way still to go, but virtually every month statistics emerge to suggest the average fuel efficiency of vehicles in the U.S. has gone up another few fractions of a percent. There are still winners and losers though...

One of the biggest hurdles for the proliferation of electric cars has been their high relative cost. While that is to be expected with any new technology, electric cars have received a lot of flak for being just too pricey for the market. That’s starting to change, however, especially now...

Two companies that make apps to let electric-car drivers locate nearby charging stations will merge, they announced today. Recargo and Xatori will combine their communities and unify their apps, creating a single directory of more than 20,000 charging points across the country. Recargo currently...

It may be that short sellers and naysayers aren't the only ones a bit surprised these days at the positive press received by electric-car maker Tesla. Yesterday, Germany luxury-car maker Audi issued a rather unusual press release in which it pointed out that it sells more cars than Tesla Motors...

Today marks my first anniversary driving a Better Place Renault Fluence ZE battery-electric car. So it seemed appropriate to summarize my experience to date with the Better Place service, which has had some challenges but is still very much in operation. I paid around $45,000 upfront for my car and...

A New Jersey senator's plan to drop gas tax and charge all vehicles a per-mile fee has already been scrapped, according to reports. Instead, Asbury Park Press reports the state is now looking towards a flat fee of $50 for electric vehicles. The state is one of several exploring ways to account for...

Many states offer discounts, rebates, and other incentives for the purchase of infrastructure improvements that encourage electric-car ownership. Washington is one such state, providing tax breaks on charging stations and similar EV-related devices. Unfortunately, Home Depot sales associates...

Making a battery for an electric car is more like assembling microelectronics than the kind of auto-plant scenes we think of, involving huge steel stamping presses and battalions of automated welding robots. Last month, in addition to driving a 2013 Nissan Leaf through the Tennessee countryside, we...

Tesla's Model S might be making all the headlines, but there's a smaller, more accessible electric car with equally high expectations placed upon it. That electric car is the Renault Zoe, sold only in Europe and tasked with making electric cars a usable proposition for the masses. And to a small...

With Chevy's Volt topping customer satisfaction surveys for the last few years running, it's no surprise to hear that other plug-in electric cars are also popular with owners. A new survey from the California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE) shows that over 9 in every 10 plug-in drivers reports...