Electric Cars

The 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show officially opens to the press tomorrow, but already the private parties and launch events have started. Sunday night, Audi officially unveiled its pair of two-seat electric concept cars, known jointly as the Urban Concept vehicles. One is a coupe, with a hatch over the...

A common misconception of electric cars and hybrid vehicles is that at the end of a short battery life, the remainder is dumped in landfill and contributes ever more pollution to the Earth. Of course, we know this to be incorrect. Not only are the more common lead acid batteries the world's most...

Losing a loved one is never easy. Neither is planning a funeral afterward. Now a firm in the U.K. claims it can help provide an appropriate form of transport for electric car owners looking for a green way to make their final journeys. An engineering firm with several years of experience with...

Price increases on electric cars seem to be the rule these days. First the 2012 Nissan Leaf got a $2,420 increase (for more standard equipment), then the 2012 Chevrolet Volt got a price reduction that actually proved to be an increase in disguise (comparing similarly equipped models). Not wanting...

When El Rey -- the final Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle to ever be made -- rolled off the Mexican production line on July 30, 2003, many Volkswagen fans around the world mourned the end of a 60-year production run. And with over 21.5 million original Volkswagen Beetles made, the VW Bug still holds the...

It's been the official policy of the Chinese government-industrial complex for a while now that the country wants to dominate the electric-car business. While only a handful of highway-capable plug-in cars are sold today in China, the country's industrial overseers are nothing if not ambitious...

We've got used to carmakers using the letter "i" to describe their products, but isn't that a little selfish? Volvo clearly thinks so which is why its latest design study, due at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, is called the Concept You. The unusual name comes from the Swedish maker's new brand...

With the Frankfurt Motor Show launching in less than a week, the concept cars are starting to come thick and fast. The latest is a small two-seat electric urban car from Opel, the premiere European brand operated by General Motors. It's one of several tiny urban electric concepts, joining the Audi...

While dozens of supercars will be revving up their engines ready for the start of Ireland's upcoming Cannonball Run, the ESB ecars team will be off to a much quieter start. The ESB team's 2011 Nissan Leaf is the first electric car to participate in the Cannonball Run which starts this Friday...

A 2011 Nissan Leaf is providing transportation through the city for the team that's building new power conduit tunnels throughout central London.

Late last week Audi released some teaser sketches of its A2 concept car due at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, now less than a week away. Due to be positioned between the A1 minicar and upcoming Audi A3 Sedan compact car, the new A2 is spiritual successor to the original A2, an aluminum-bodied...

The 2012 model year has brought some subtle changes to the 2012 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car, despite "decontenting" that makes a comparably equipped 2012 Volt cost more than the 2011 model.

Imagine the scenario: You’re heading to a meeting and leave your shiny 2011 Nissan Leaf electric car plugged in at the local charging station, confident that it will have enough charge to get you back home when you return in a few hours. Then you return to find another electric car owner has...

For as long as electric cars have been on the roads of the world, people have needed to find a place to plug in. So what happens when a company obtains and publishes details of several hundred addresses and contact details for a privately-run and moderated peer-to-peer charging network?...

A few weeks ago we told you that the FIA governing body had announced its call for entrants for its new all-electric race car series, Formula E -- and now we’re starting to see interest from potential competitors. Among the first we’ve seen is not a racing team -- but a design for a...

Imagine, plug-in electric cars can survive hurricanes just like they survive snow, sleet, rain, and car washes!

Electric car owners aren’t necessarily known for their love of hunting -- and those who hunt aren’t usually known for their love of electric cars either. After all, gun-toting, gas-guzzling, Russia-spying, former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin loves to hunt -- and her motto of...

California's electric-car advocates are often "true believers," and they can be single-minded in the pursuit of what they believe is right. But the nuts-and-bolts experience they've gained during the state's 15 years of electric-car use can be invaluable--which is why policy-makers and car...

At the end of March this year, I took delivery of our very own 2011 Nissan Leaf. After the first week, we shared with you the good and bad side of Nissan’s first all-electric hatchback and even reported on a mammoth 520-mile two-day trek utilizing the U.K.’s dealer network of D.C. rapid...

We brought you news last year of a horrific accident, in which a woman was killed when her G-Wiz neighborhood electric vehicle, a model not sold in the United States, was struck by another vehicle. An inquest into the accident has now ended and the verdict has been given as accidental death. Last...