Electric Cars
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Strewth. The halls in Detroit are still buzzing with the world's press, and Infiniti is already teasing us with a car it's set to display at March's Geneva Motor Show. It's not just any old car though - Infiniti has plans to unveil an electric range-extended sports car concept, a year after parent Nissan brought us the stunning all-electric ESFLOW concept at the same show. Should you be excited? Yes and no. Yes, because from the teaser images its styling is giving us all the right signs. Wide rear haunches, slim head and tail lights and some large wheels all look promising. Yes also, because...
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AMP’s Converted Electric Jeep Will Cost Same As Tesla Model SGot enough money to buy a 2012 Tesla Model S, but want something a little more rugged? If the answer is yes -- and you can’t wait another few years for the 2014 Tesla Model X Crossover SUV to debut -- you can now spend your hard-earned cash on an all-electric Jeep Grand Cherokee. You...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Smart For-Us Electric Pickup Concept: 2012 Detroit Auto ShowWe'd be tempted to say that Smart is playing to stereotypes by unveiling a pickup concept at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). However, there's nothing stereotypical about a small, all-electric, city-car based, convertible pickup. In fact, the Smart For-Us Concept we previewed a...
Antony Ingram -
2012 Coda Sedan Electric Car Gets Smaller Battery Pack OptionWith only one month to go before Californian electric automaker Coda is due to commence sales of its $39,900 Sedan, you’d expect available options and specifications to be set in stone. But at yesterday’s 2012 Detroit Auto Show, Coda announced it had made the decision to offer customers...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Nissan e-NV200 Electric Van Concept: 2012 Detroit Auto ShowOkay, so an electric van isn't as exciting as a hybrid supercar like the Acura NSX concept, or even a fuel-efficient, sporty compact like the 2013 Dodge Dart - but it's still an important vehicle. That's because the regular Nissan NV200 is soon to be servicing New York City as the official...
Antony Ingram -
Analyst Calls Tesla Model X Electric Crossover “Fast, Roomy”Tesla [NASDAQ:TSLA] may have just confirmed the date of its unofficial unveiling of the 2013 Model X crossover SUV, but it appears some lucky stock analysts at Barclays Capital research have already their own private preview of the much-anticipated car. In a recent stock analysis posted online at...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
It wouldn't be an auto show without concept cars, and the Detroit Auto Show this year has its share. From Volkswagen comes a new take on a familiar shape: the Volkswagen E-Bugster, an all-electric two-seat coupe version of its iconic Beetle. Volkswagen isn't unveiling the car until the show opens, but with sites violating the maker's embargo, we felt you deserved to see the car too. First, the styling, which blends a flat windshield, a low roofline with shallow windows, and a close-coupled hardtop to create a sporty coupe body. It's rather like the new 2012 Mini Cooper Coupe, although (to our...
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NHTSA: Chevy Volt Battery Pack Fix OK, Ends InvestigationOfficials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have said they are happy with the proposed safety enhancements for the 2011 and 2012 Chevrolet Volt designed to minimize the risk of battery pack fire following a major impact. In an interview yesterday at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2012 Detroit Auto Show: Green Car Preview--Concept CarsWhile the bulk of our green car coverage from the 2012 Detroit Auto Show will concentrate on production models, concept cars can be just as exciting. With wild styling, untested powertrains and flashy colors they might not seem too relevant, but many of the cars we cover today began as concepts and...
Antony Ingram -
Five Reasons Why Google Gets Plug-In Cars Before You DoJust before the holidays at the end of last year, Google welcomed the first 2012 Ford Focus Electric to roll off the production lines into its ever-expanding G Fleet of plug-in and hybrid cars. Google’s G Fleet now includes the 2012 Nissan Leaf, 2012 Chevrolet Volt, and various Toyota Prius...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Animation Shows Chevy Volt Crash Safety Updates: VideoAn animation released by General Motors depicts the modifications to Chevy Volt that will be performed by dealers to strengthen the battery compartment.
Kurt Ernst -
Tata Emo Electric Concept: Is It Really that Depressing?If you’re of a certain age, the word Emo evokes images of sulking, depressed teenagers with jet-black hair metaphorically drowning in a world of sorrow, complex poetry and dark, emotional music. So you can understand our amusement when Indian automaker Tata decided to name its latest electric...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Next week's Detroit Auto Show promises to be the busiest and most influential in several years. With the auto industry continuing to recover slowly from its 2008 meltdown and Chinese sales rising, both U.S. and overseas automakers will launch new models and show off gleaming concept cars. And green cars will be right at the forefront. The largest contingent will be standard gasoline cars with smaller, more efficient engines that deliver better gas mileage while providing about the same power as the larger, lazier engines they replace. Gasoline direct injection, turbocharging, and other...
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Tesla CEO: 2013 Model X Crossover SUV Will Be Unveiled Feb 9For some time now, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said its new vehicle, the upcoming Model X crossover electric car, would be unveiled int he first quarter of 2012. We just didn't know when, until now. In an interview with In an interview with Gigaom’s Katie Fehrenbacher, Musk confirmed that the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Can Owning Solar Panels Buy You A Chevy Volt? Sort OfWhat comes first, the electric car or the solar panels to charge it from? And can you use the money you save from one to pay for the other? We’ve already told you about the benefits you can get from owning both an electric car and installing a photovoltaic solar array on the roof of your...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Chevrolet To Offer Volt Modifications Against Battery Fire RiskGM announced today that it would offer a "customer satisfaction" initiative that provides modifications to roughly 12,400 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric cars to reduce the chance that the battery pack could catch fire days or weeks after a severe accident. The safety "enhancement" is meant...
John Voelcker -
Plug In America Announces Online Electric Car Advocacy SeminarIf you’re already drive a plug-in hybrid or electric car then the chances are you’ve spent at least some time standing in a parking lot somewhere answering questions from a curious passer-by about your car. Or perhaps you've experienced a curious neighbor asking questions like the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Via Motors To Use A123 Lithium-Ion Cells In Electric TrucksVia Motors, the extended-range electric truck conversion company with GM legend Bob Lutz on its board, announced today that it would use lithium-ion cells from A123 Systems in its battery packs. The startup company will show its full lineup of electric-drive pickup trucks at next week's Detroit...
John Voelcker -
With the first sales of the 2012 Ford Focus Electric registered last month, Ford's battery-electric compact hatchback enters the market to compete with the Nissan Leaf and other plug-in cars. Unlike the Leaf, though, the Focus Electric is an adaptation of a high-volume gasoline-powered car. And Ford is proud of the fact that it's built on the same assembly line in its Wayne, Michigan, plant as every other Focus. The line workers omit several steps and add a few others to build a Focus Electric amidst dozens of gasoline Focus models. It starts with a different floorpan stamping, though the...
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Electric Car Sales For 2011: Modest First-Year Numbers Hardly A SurpriseLast year, the electric-car revolution became real. After a late-Nineties false start, much gnashing of teeth, and years of promises, carmakers delivered more than 17,000 plug-in vehicles in the U.S. market during 2011. December sales numbers are being announced today. The relevant figures: Nissan...
John Voelcker -
Want To Tow With Your 2012 Nissan Leaf? Now You CanIf you own a 2012 Nissan Leaf alongside a regular gasoline car, the chances are you’ve already taken to driving your electric car as much as possible, using it for everything from the daily commute to weekend trips to the dump. But while Nissan’s mass production electric car beats a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Volvo XC 60 Plug-in Hybrid Concept Heads To 2012 Detroit Auto ShowVolvo might have already started production on its first plug-in hybrid wagon -- the 2012 V60 Diesel Plug-in Hybrid -- but as we’ve told you before, the Swedish automaker doesn’t think the U.S. is ready for a diesel plug-in hybrid yet. But at next week’s 2012 Detroit Auto Show...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2013 BMW i3 Electric Car iPhone App Screenshots Teased: 2012 Detroit Auto ShowWe’re less than a week away from the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and that means automakers are eagerly dropping hints about what we’ll be seeing next week. For BMW, that means posting six screenshots from its unreleased iOS smartphone application for the 2013...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Leaf-Shaped Charging Station: Ultimate Nissan Leaf Accessory?So often in the world of Industrial design, form follows function. Then once in a while, a design comes along that turns a mundane object like an electric car charging station into something a little more artistic. Enter the leaf-shaped Lotus solar-powered electric car charging station. Designed by...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield