Electric Cars

Some curious vehicles have emerged on the electric vehicle market over the years, and few have been more curious than the Triac. We first wrote about the Triac three-wheel electric vehicle back in 2010. Made by Green Vehicles of Salinas, California, it touted a 100-mile range, an 80 mph top speed...

Just how do you keep occupants of an electric car warm? That’s the question that automakers have been tackling for many years, as they bring mass-produced plug-in cars to market. Now BMW thinks it has the solution to keeping occupants warm in the middle of winter: infrared heating. The use of...

Home to automakers like Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive, California has been at the heart of every launch of every major plug-in car to go on sale to date. That’s because of the state’s generous incentives and support of plug-in cars, combined with tough air quality legislation...

If you live in a busy city and don’t use a car on a daily basis, making use of a car-sharing service like ZipCar is certainly one of the greener ways to get behind the wheel of a car when you need to. It’s no surprise then, that ZipCar’s fleet already includes some of the greenest...

Have Nissan Leafs in hot states suffered premature battery aging, or is the apparent loss in capacity down to a malfunction in the Leaf’s dashboard display? That’s been the question on the lips of Nissan Leaf owners worldwide after some owners in Phoenix, Arizona, began reporting that...

Citroens haven't been sold in North America since 1974, but in many ways their 'forbidden fruit' status makes them even more desirable. The French maker's current DS range doubly so--inspired by the elegant and beautiful DS that ran from the 1950s until the 1970s, each current DS exhibits typical...

BMW might have a reputation for producing performance cars and sport sedans, but there's no denying that the company is also taking electric and plug-in vehicles seriously too. First came the electric MINI E, followed by the ActiveE, and the i3 and i8 plug-ins have been wowing auto show crowds for...

When legendary hillclimb champion and 40-year motorsport veteran Nobuhiro ‘Monster’ Tajima entered into the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, it was the first time he had raced in an all-electric car. Sadly, Monster was forced to retire from the event, but last week, he got to...

What are you doing this Sunday? If you're an electric-car advocate or fan, you probably already know that Sunday is the second annual National Plug-In Day. And if you're considering the purchase of a plug-in electric car--or just interested in learning more--you should definitely make a note to...

Along with the news that Tesla expects to build 80 Model S electric cars this week, CEO Elon Musk also released a few more details of the company's plans for additional models in 2016. Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] has already said that it will launch the Model X crossover within the next year or so...

The 2012 Tesla Model S all-electric sport sedan is now in a race with time. The first production Model S was delivered in June, and Tesla has cautiously been ramping up production numbers while trying to keep initial quality high. But the company has said repeatedly it will sell 5,000 of its new...

For those of you who like fast, expensive, all-electric sports cars, next year will be big. The Audi R8 e-tron will launch first, but it will soon be followed by the Mercedes-Benz SLS E-Cell, the all-electric conversion of its expensive gull-wing sports coupe. Now, Motor Authority has some spy...

Is this the most aggressive-looking Smart concept car yet? With a longer wheelbase, coupe-like roofline and frowning eyebrows over the headlights, it's certainly a step up from the usual squat city cars, and it gives us yet another indication of what the next generation ForTwo might look like...

Well, that didn't take long, did it? It's not unusual to see rare and exclusive cars pre-sold to buyers before cars are delivered--the practice has been going on for decades, every time the latest supercar hits the streets. We didn't expect to see a 2012 Tesla Model S sold so soon, though--and with...

As one of the most highly anticipated new electric cars of 2012, the Toyota RAV4 EV combines the practicality of an SUV with an all-electric, Tesla-engineered drivetrain for impressive performance. When we drove the 2012 RAV4 EV back in August, we already knew Toyota was planning on selling it in...

It’s a well-known fact that President Obama is a fan of the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid. In fact, Obama has pledged to buy his own Chevrolet Volt when he leaves office, whenever that takes place. As Commander in Chief however, Obama will be pleased to see that the U.S. military isn’t...

It's been a little more than 100 days since I drove away in my first electric car, a Renault Fluence ZE, as one of the first 100 private paying customers of the Better Place company in Israel. Here's the rundown of how I've used the car, including my likes and dislikes. In 113 days, I've covered...

If you drive an electric or plug-in car and drive to work every day in it, you’ve probably given the topic of workplace charging stations some thought. Convincing your boss to shell out company cash for a charging station might not be that easy, but now charging station provider ChargePoint...

It's been a long time coming, but the 2012 Coda Sedan is now on sale at a handful of dealers in California. Six months after the very first Coda compact electric cars were delivered to buyers, the company is gearing up a major publicity push to sell the electric sedan--which we've now driven. Our...

If you've not yet driven an electric car, we think you're really missing out. Even if you consider yourself an electric car cynic, it's worth having a drive in one, experiencing the smoothness and silence, and the surprising acceleration available even in less powerful models. Whether you're a...