Electric Cars

  • 2012 Nissan Leaf winter test

    The nights are getting longer, children are starting to get ready for Halloween, and in certain states, you’ll have already had the first fall frost. If you’re approaching your first winter of plug-in car ownership, however, you might be in for a shock as the mercury starts to drop. Like you, your plug-in car won’t want to travel as far per charge when it’s cold. It isn’t a case of premature battery degradation, either. Lithium-ion battery packs, like humans, have a pretty narrow band of tolerance to temperature. Like their drivers, plug-in car battery packs...

  • 2013 Ford C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid
    2013 Ford C-Max Energi, Fusion Energi Join California HOV Lane

    Californians wanting to gain single-occupancy access to the state’s high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes now have twice as many eligible cars to choose from when buying their next vehicle. Yesterday, Ford announced that its 2013 C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid has met the standards set out by the...

  • Tesla Model S Alpha build
    2012 Tesla Model S: Most Important New Car Since Ford Model T?

    There's no denying that the Ford Model T is one of the most important cars of all time. It jump-started the auto industry as we now know it. But Tesla is looking to change the automotive industry, and the new 2012 Model S just might be the most important new car since the Model T. Let's start with...

  • Ottawa resident Ricardo Borba takes delivery of the first consumer Nissan LEAF in Canada
    Congratulations! You’ve Bought Your Electric Car: Now What?

    Like an increasingly large number of Americans, you’ve decided that paying nearly $5 for gasoline isn’t your idea of a good time. So, with all the due care and attention that goes with car buying, you’ve swapped your old car for a brand new electric car or plug-in hybrid. Now...

  • 2013 Fiat 500
    2014 Fiat 500E Electric Car To Be Launched At LA Auto Show

    Organizers of the Los Angeles Auto Show have confirmed that Fiat will launch its electric 500 at the show. The 2014 Fiat 500E ditches the regular car's 1.4-liter gasoline engine, in favor of a battery-electric drivetrain. Beyond that, we don't know many details about the 500E. Fiat and Chrysler...

  • Scenes from dedication of electric-car charging station at Creekside Inn, Palo Alto, CA
    When Will Electric-Car Charging Stations Exceed Gas Stations?

    The topic of public charging stations for electric cars isn't necessarily well understood. The release of Electric Vehicle Charging Equipment, a report by Pike Research on deployment of charging infrastructure, led us to wonder: When will the number of public charging stations for electric cars in...

  • 2013 Chevrolet Volt, Catskill Mountains, Oct 2012

    Yesterday, General Motors announced it will be running a ‘customer satisfaction program’ for some 4,000 2013 Chevrolet Volts to fix a software glitch that could cause the car’s electric motor to power down while driving. In other words, GM is asking all 2013 Chevy Volt owners to visit their local dealer to have a software update applied to their car in order to fix a software bug. It just isn’t a recall, OK? As The Detroit News reports, the problem seems to only affect 2013 Chevrolet Volts whose owners have made use of the Volt’s delayed charging function. In a...

  • Mitt Romney
    Romney Slams Tesla, Fisker Again In Final Presidential Debate

    The CEOs of Tesla and Fisker may have thought they were home free--but it was not to be. Both startup electric-car companies were named at the very end of last night's third and final presidential debate. Republican candidate Mitt Romney didn't repeat his charge that Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] and...

  • 2012 Vauxhall Ampera
    2012 Chevrolet Volt (Vauxhall Ampera) Drives From U.K. To France, Underground

    Last week, the Chevrolet Volt became the first production car to drive from the U.K. to France, using the service tunnel of the Eurotunnel underwater railway line between the two European countries. What’s more, the stunt was orchestrated by Top Gear Magazine, the more measured, printed...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf: One Year Drive Report
    2011 Nissan Leaf Long-Term Update: 25,000 Miles, No Woes

    Back in March 2011, we took delivery of a U.K. spec Nissan Leaf as our principal family car. Since then, we’ve kept you up-to-date with the car’s long-term progress, including reports after driving 5,000 miles in it, after covering the 11,000 mile mark, and after one year of ownership...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S Signature
    2012 Tesla Model S Signature Series: Is It Worth The Premium?

    The first 1,000 or so 2012 Tesla Model S electric sport sedans to be delivered to U.S. customers will be fully-loaded, limited-edition "Signature" cars. But as delivery dates slip due to early production snags, some owners of Signature cars--called "Sigs" within the Tesla clan--grumble that they're...

  • Tesla Supercharger fast-charging system for electric cars
    Tesla Free Supercharger Network Now Officially Open, Ready To Use

    Just under a month ago, Tesla Motors held a gala event at its Hawthorne, California design studio to mark the switching on of its proprietary Supercharger rapid charging network. On Friday, Tesla held official ribbon cutting ceremonies at four of its six initial Supercharger locations, making them...

  • Nissan Leaf-To-Home power station

    Eighteen months after the earthquake and tsunami that devastated parts of Japan, electric cars are viewed there in a whole new light—as portable sources of emergency energy. Now Nissan has taken that usage to a new level, with the Leaf-To-Home energy station that it announced in May and put on sale in August. The owner of a Nissan Leaf can plug the battery-electric car into the station via a cable that connects to the car’s CHAdeMO DC quick-charging port. The Leaf-To-Home station converts the high-voltage direct current from the car’s lithium-ion battery into the 100-Volt...

  • Rimac e-M3 'Green Monster' electric drag car
    Fastest Electric Cars: 'Green Monster' Vs. 'White Zombie'

    Once a speed freak, always a speed freak: That's the tale behind Mate Rimac, creator of the Rimac Concept_One electric supercar. The striking supercar appeared from nowhere to us, but Rimac himself had prior experience with fast EVs--a BMW 3-Series known as 'Green Monster' (via Gizmag). The 'Green'...

  • The Sierra Club's Humorous Electric Car Guide
    Sierra Club Weighs In On Plug-In Cars, With Humor

    Here at Green Car Reports, we aim to give you a comprehensive run-down of what each car is like to drive, how far it can realistically travel per charge, and the ins and outs of purchasing it. But what does each plug-in car say about you as a person? The Sierra Club, most famous for its grassroots...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf SL
    Having Your Gas Car Serviced? Here, Borrow A Nissan Leaf

    These days, most mainstream dealers and garages give you a courtesy , or loaner car while your own vehicle is being worked on. If you’re lucky, you’ll be given a reasonably new demo car, or perhaps even a car comparable with your own. More often than not, you'll end up with the garage's...

  • 2012 Chevrolet Volt Charges
    Forget Range Anxiety, Chevy Volt Owners Have Gas Anxiety

    When General Motors launched the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid back in 2010, it chose to emphasize how it differed from electric cars by highlighting how its gasoline engine meant folks didn’t suffer from range anxiety. Now, almost two years after the Volt launched, charging data by a...

  • 2012 Fisker Karma during road test, Los Angeles, Feb 2012
    Fisker Karma Boosts Hollywood Image With Cameo In Thriller

    Some might say that luxury carmaker Fisker's story is a bit of a thriller itself. Whether tales of fires and frozen loans will measure up to the new Harrison Ford thriller Paranoia is a different matter, but Fisker's range-extended luxury sedan makes a cameo appearance in the film. According to USA...

  • Amp Electric Jeep Grand Cherokee

    Ohio-based AMP Electric vehicles will no-longer convert gasoline cars to electric, it announced yesterday. Instead, the company announced on a conference-call yesterday, it aims to focus on converting medium-sized commercial vehicles to all-electric operation. “People told us how surprised they were that our Mercedes SUV performed every bit as good as the original vehicle - except quieter, quicker and surprisingly refined,” Stephen Burns, AMP’s CEO said. “However, it became apparent that the short-term market for passenger car EVs did not grow as quickly as forecasters...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S beta vehicle, Fremont, CA, October 2011
    Want To Trade Your Tesla Roadster In For A 2012 Model S? Now You Can

    If you’ve ever purchased a car, the chances are you’ll be familiar with the concept of trade-ins: giving the dealer your old car-- and the equity contained within it--as a down-payment on a newer model. Now electric automaker Tesla Motors is offering a similar trade-in deal for owners...

  • 2013 Scion iQ EV hits the U.S.
    2013 Scion iQ Electric Car Hits U.S., Campus & Car-Sharing Only

    It may not be going on sale, but Scion's iQ EV has now arrived in the U.S, following the first production cars leaving the line in September. Toyota killed plans to sell the iQ EV earlier this year, but promised a limited run of the four-seat, 50-mile electric car would still hit U.S. shores...

  • Nissan e-NV200 electric van prototype, Oppama, Japan, Oct 2012
    Nissan e-NV200: Driving Nissan's Prototype Electric Minivan

    Small delivery vans are a new category in the United States, but Nissan has big plans for its small NV200 delivery van--and among them are an all-electric version. The prototype Nissan e-NV200 electric minivan was one of several vehicles available to drive on the test track at Nissan's GranDrive...

  • 2012 Coda Sedan
    Forget Free Gas: 2012 Coda Sedan Comes With Free Electricity

    How many times have you gone car shopping to hear the salesman promise to give you free gas for a few weeks or months as a deal sweetener? In the days of $4-a-gallon gasoline, those kind of deals aren’t as common as they once were, but now Californian electric automaker Coda Automotive has...

  • 2013 Chevrolet Spark minicar, New York City, Aug 2012
    Ultimate Guide To Gas-Sipping Minicars On Sale In The U.S.

    Which side are you on? Bigger is better? Or perhaps 'No replacement for displacement'? Or do you think more along the lines of 'small is beautiful' and 'good things come in small packages'? If it's the latter, then you may also be a fan of the smallest cars manufacturers have to offer. And if you...

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