Electric Cars

Range Anxiety. Two very familiar words, but their coming together is more recent. It's the fear of running out of electricity in an electric car, compounded by typically short ranges and long recharging times. And it's contagious: A potential customer could drive under 30 miles per day and use a...

The big news in plug-in car sales for March was Tesla's statement that it delivered "more than 4,750" Model S electric cars from January through March. That news early Monday not only sent stock in Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] soaring, it also cued up an interesting three-way horse race. Those sales...

We didn't expect the fluorescent green, that's for sure. But it probably helped us on our half-hour drive around crowded midtown Manhattan in the new 2013 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive, the latest all-electric version of the little two-seat Smart car. With the lithium-ion battery pack in the sandwich...

Let's assume for a moment that you're interested in electric cars. (Not a far-fetched idea, since you're reading a blog called "Green Car Reports".) You're intrigued by the growing number of options in extended-range vehicles like the Chevrolet Volt, but most of all, you're interested in fully...

Well, that didn't take long. Yesterday, just before 5 pm Eastern time, Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] released details of its new "lease-like" financing product. The general consensus in the media (we read a lot of Tesla coverage here, folks) has been that it's smart for Tesla to offer financing for its...

You might think high gasoline prices are a problem now, but at least it's relatively easy to get hold of. The same couldn't be said in Japan after the end of World War II, when the country's gasoline supplies were limited under Allied occupation. Transport was still vital, which led Nissan and...

Given millions of years of adaptation to conditions, it's no surprise that nature is pretty good at doing what it does. Each leaf on a tree, and indeed the shape of a tree's canopy, is the work of refinements over millenia to capture the most sunlight possible to ensure the tree's growth. Why not...

"But what if I want to drive across the country?" ask people who never drive across the country, when discussing the subject of an electric car's range. In a way, they do have a point. Unless you have time on your side, or a Tesla Model S and a string of Superchargers between yourself and your...

In our experience, owners of electric vehicles are also rather keen on green energy. Where appropriate, many fit solar panels to supply some of their energy needs, and others use green energy tariffs and similar. As it turns out, marrying the two is a good way of enticing people into electric...

Prepare yourselves everyone--more electric cars have caught fire. This time, Japanese automaker Mitsubishi has reported two battery fire incidents in Japan, related to two of its plug-in products--the Mitsubishi i electric car, and Outlander plug-in hybrid crossover. A press release from Mitsubishi...

Home-converting a car to electric power would be so easy were it not for all those inconvenient drivetrain parts you have to remove. It's like carmakers didn't think of what people might want to do with their cars--engine, gearbox, exhaust, filters, fuel tanks--they're all just lumps of metal...

When the news is good, you want to get it out there. Last night, Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] released a statement saying that it had delivered more than 4,750 Model S cars from January 1 through March 31 of this year. The statement came before the first quarter of 2013 had even technically ended...

The picture kind of says it all, don't you think? This is a 2011 Nissan Leaf owned by the Stith family, as dressed up for last year's Easter Parade in Campbell, California. Being a zero-emission vehicle, the Leaf makes an extra-friendly Easter Bunny, since it's quiet and emits no exhaust. As Paul...

Storm clouds continue to gather over troubled luxury electric-car startup Fisker Automotive. We reported on Thursday that Fisker had put its entire U.S. staff on a "temporary" furlough to conserve cash. Later that day, a Wall Street Journal article reported on what may be the logical next step...

Austrian motorcycle and automobile maker KTM is known worldwide for its slightly crazy but hugely fun vehicles. With arms competing in top-level motorcycle racing, off-road enduro style events and the dramatic X-BOW sports car on its books, we'd have to wonder what they'd achieve with an electric...

Mercedes-Benz doesn't yet offer a front-wheel drive model in the U.S, at least until the new CLA Class lands. In Europe however, it's gone through three generations of A Class and it's now on the second-gen B Class, a spacious family hatchback. The 2013 New York Auto Show sees the debut of an...

Carlos Ghosn is a busy man. In charge of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, his remit includes the diverse product lines of each company and most recently, each carmaker's electric vehicle range, too. Speaking to Leaf owners at a jamboree at Kansai University, Japan, Ghosn is still positive about each...

Here's the situation: You've bought, or are planning to buy an electric car. You've done the math, figured out the vehicle you want, and know that 80 percent of your charging will be done at home. But what about the other 20 percent? Luckily, finding those electric car charging stations isn't as...

Mention snow and ice in relation to electric vehicles, and many people will first think of the impact of cold weather on driving range. It's true that driving range will decrease in cold weather in most electric vehicles, but the way the car drives is important too. For the Tesla Model S driver in...

If at first you don't succeed, try again. It's a positive, optimistic attitude that can go a long way when presented with challenges--such as your first electric car company disappearing after several years of optimism and hype. That's what happened to Aptera, builders of a tadpole-like, two-seat...