Electric Cars
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If you drive a plug-in car or a hybrid, the chance are you’ll be familiar with the concept of regenerative braking. But although regenerative braking might be the preferred way to slow down a plug-in or hybrid car, it could mean that your car’s traditional friction brakes don’t get used as much as they should. According to BMW ActiveE driver Don Louv, that means you should go out and exercise your car’s friction brakes once in a while to keep them operating at peak efficiency. But before we explain why this is a good idea, we need to examine how regenerative and...
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Nissan Leaf Goes Underground In The Name Of Bluegrass MusicUnless you’re the kind of person who likes spelunking, the chances are you don’t spend much time in caves. For PBS, the underground caves of Cumberland Caverns, Tennessee form the perfect acoustic music venue for the latest season of its Bluegrass Underground show. But how do you get...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Hyundai i-Oniq Plug-In Hybrid Coupe Concept: Geneva Live PhotosThere are many types of plug-in cars; some makers go for battery electrics, others for plug-in hybrids or range-extended electric vehicles. At the Geneva Motor Show yesterday, Hyundai unveiled a concept coupe showing how it might package an electric car offering a 75-mile range with a...
John Voelcker -
Renault ZOE Electric Car Debuts At Geneva: Live PhotosFrench carmaker Renault chose the Geneva Motor Show to launch the ZOE, the final model in its four-car Z.E. electric vehicle range. Joining the Fluence sedan, Kangoo van and Twizy city car, the ZOE is a B-segment electric car, similar in size to a Ford Fiesta. Unlike the Fluence and Kangoo which...
Antony Ingram -
Infiniti Emerg-E Plug-In Sports Concept: Live Photos, Geneva Motor ShowImages of Infiniti’s much anticipated Emerg-E range-extended electric sports concept car might have leaked onto the Internet long before its 2012 Geneva Motor Show unveiling -- but now we know the sexy sports car isn’t all looks. Officially unveiled this morning, we’ve learned...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Honda EV-STER Concept Live Photos: 2012 Geneva Motor ShowHonda's EV-STER electric sports car concept is no stranger to the auto show stands, having debuted at the 2011 Tokyo Auto Show. The car has now made its European debut at Geneva, accessible to all rather than placed high on a turntable - so we've got some more live shots for you. Though the EV-STER...
Antony Ingram -
However efficient combustion engines are getting, they're still more suitable for powering vehicles than they are for powering your house. In that respect, as storers of large amounts of electrical energy, electric cars are more suited to the task, and to prove it, Mitsubishi has brought its "MiEV House" to the Geneva Motor Show. Houses don't normally appear on Green Car Reports, but since Mitsubishi's concept house is powered by an example of its diminutive "i" electric car, we'll make an exception. The concept behind the MiEV house is that power use in the house can be shifted between grid...
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2012 Opel Ampera (Chevy Volt) Wins European Car Of The YearThe 2012 Chevrolet Volt -- along with its European twin -- have just been chosen as 2012 European Car Of The Year. Beating the Volkswagen Up, Toyota Yaris, Fiat Panda, Range Rover Evoque, Ford Focus and Citroën DS5, the plug-in range extended electric vehicle becomes the second plug-in car to...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Chevy Volt Production To Halt For 5 Weeks Due To OversupplyLate Friday afternoon, Chevrolet announced it would idle production of its Volt range-extended electric car for five weeks, from March 19 to April 23. The story was first reported by the Detroit Free Press; GM informed the 1,300 assembly-line workers at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant of the shutdown...
John Voelcker -
All-Electric Monotracer, X-Prize Winner, Enters ProductionRemember the Progressive Insurance Automotive X-Prize -- the $10 million prize to find the next big thing in green transportation? While the X-Prize -- not to mention many of the companies who took part -- have long been forgotten, one of the competition winners wants you to know its revolutionary...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Why I Bought A Prius Plug-In, Not A Volt Or Leaf: A Reader's ChoiceLast month, Toyota said that it had 2,100 pre-orders for the 2012 Prius Plug-In Hybrid. Now, with first sales of that car being logged this week and dozens of them delivered to dealers, we have a third viable, high-volume plug-in car available to U.S. buyers. Consumers can now buy a pure battery...
John Voelcker -
Justin Bieber Given Sexy Plug-in Fisker Karma For 18th BirthdayUnless you have children, or religiously follow the cult of celebrity, you might have never heard of a Canadian teen pop sensation by the name of Justin Bieber. Under most circumstances, we’d envy you -- but it turns out hours of listening to tweens enthuse about this particular star have...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
This is no ordinary Mitsubishi 'i' electric car. The bodywork is a bit of a giveaway really - adding another third to the length of Mitsubishi's jellybean-like electric car and making it look twice as wide suggests that this electric car isn't really designed for popping to the mall and back. Instead, the i-MiEV Prototype has been entered into the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The car will be driven by Dakar Rally legend Hiroshi Masuoka, who previously scored Dakar victories in Mitsubishi's Pajero and Pajero Evolution models. Despite first impressions, the i-MiEV prototype really...
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BREAKING: Audi Confirms Plug-in Hybrid A4, Q7 e-tron ModelsTesla’s CEO Elon Musk might have quipped that his 2011 Audi Q7 SUV wasn’t as good as the 2013 Tesla Model X when it came to interior space, but now it turns out the difference between the Model X and the Q7 isn't that large after all. You see, starting in 2014, Audi will offer the Q7 as...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2012 Geneva Motor Show: Plug-In Car PreviewIt's only a matter of days now before the 2012 Geneva Motor Show opens to the press on March 6, and we'll be there to cover all the greenest new metal from the show floor. In the meantime, we've compiled a list of some new faces and more familiar shapes, all of which have one thing in common - a...
Antony Ingram -
2012 Tesla Model S Electric Sedan: Industry Analyst Weighs InAfter a flurry of press events last October that included rides in 2012 Tesla Model S prototypes, Tesla Motors went mostly silent until it unveiled its Model X crossover last month. But the electric crossover won't generate any cash for the Silicon Valley startup carmaker over the next year or two...
John Voelcker -
February Plug-In Car Sales Rise: Leaf Drops, Volt SoarsU.S. vehicle sales soared in February, and so did sales of plug-in cars. A drop in the number of all-electric Nissan Leaf sales was more than offset by a rise in sales of the range-extended electric Chevrolet Volt. At least 1,500 plug-in cars were sold last month, with totals for the Mitsubishi 'i'...
John Voelcker -
2012 Nissan Leaf: Now Available To Order Nationwide, Deliveries By SummerThe all-electric Nissan Leaf may have been on sale in some parts of the U.S. for 14 months -- but for residents in 21 states, today is the day Nissan will email them saying they can start the ordering process for the $35,200 hatchback. When the 2011 Nissan Leaf launched, Nissan restricted rollout...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Korean automaker Hyundai has revealed the first image of an electric concept due to hit the show stands at Geneva next week. Rather than a pure battery-electric vehicle though, the "i-oniq" concept uses a gasoline range-extending engine to keep the vehicle moving when the batteries die. The i-oniq looks like being more efficient than larger range-extended vehicles like the Chevy Volt and Fisker Karma though. Its relatively small size means only a 1.0-liter, 3-cylinder gasoline engine is required to generate power, and lithium-ion batteries power a 108-horsepower electric motor. In electric...
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2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid: Brief Drive ReportIn the world of plug-in cars, the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt may get all the attention, but a new arrival will make it very much a three-car race. The 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid is just now arriving at Toyota dealers in California plus a dozen or so other states. While it may look just like a...
John Voelcker -
It’s The Last Day Of February: Where’s The 2012 Coda Sedan?Once every four years -- with a few odd exceptions -- February gets an extra day. That’s probably a good thing, because Californian automaker Coda promised earlier this year that it would deliver its first all-electric 2012 Sedan by the end of this month. Even with an extra day, Coda looks to...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Is Stock Market Betting On Tough Times To Come For Tesla?Only two major plug-in car startups have made it to the point of building and selling cars globally, and lately, Fisker is the one that's been in the news. But Fisker's not the only company whose long-term survival may be at issue. As Bloomberg pointed out a couple of weeks ago, Tesla Motors...
John Voelcker -
Obama: I’ll Buy A Chevy Volt After My Presidency EndsEver since Barack Obama became president in 2008, he hasn’t been given much chance to drive a car, let alone own one. But when his presidency ends, Mr. Obama knows exactly what car he wants to buy as his post-presidential ride -- a plug-in Chevrolet Volt. “Five years from now when...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Startup Bright Automotive Shuts Down, Slams DoE Loan ProcessStartup plug-in vehicle maker Bright Automotive announced today that it is closing down. While General Motors had invested $5 million in the company, Bright had relied on the hope that the U.S. Department of Energy would grant it low-interest loans under the advanced-technology vehicle...
John Voelcker