Electric Cars

No one knows the ins and outs of electric-car usage like the early adopters, especially those who've already taken delivery of a 2011 Nissan Leaf or a 2011 Chevrolet Volt. (Or both.) So when a thread on required parking permits to recharge electric cars erupted in our recent article on the opening...

You may recall earlier this year we wrote about an iPhone app designed to help prospective electric car buyers figure out just how big a battery pack their new electric car should have. Allowing full customization of technical parameters such as drag coefficient and vehicle weight, iEV was also a...

It's taken as gospel by many of the people who have seen it since its 2006 release, and there's no denying its influence. "Who Killed the Electric?" seemingly stung General Motors enough that the company unveiled the Chevrolet Volt concept in 2007 and then, startled by its popularity, decided to...

We all know electric cars like the 2011 Nissan Leaf were designed to satisfy the daily driving needs of 90% of the population. For most cars, that translates to a life in or near a large metropolis, where daily commutes are between 10 and 40 miles. But with rapid charging capable of fast-charging...

Over the past year we’ve seen the 2011 Nissan Leaf win plenty of awards, including the accolade of European Car of The Year and even GreenCarReports’ Best Car to Buy 2011. But while its main competitor, the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, may have more awards to its name than Nissan’s first...

One of the challenges facing electric car owners wanting to venture further than the range their electric cars can provide on a single charge is where to find either an outlet or a purpose-built electric vehicle charging station to replenish their car’s battery pack. Until recently there was...

In the rulebook of product promotion, remembering to not say horrible things about your product has to be number one. It’s a shame BMW North America President and CEO Jim O’Donnell seems to have forgotten that fact while taking part in a public event. Speaking on Monday at an event in...

Blue light bathed the concept car in the corner before Nissan launched its 2012 Versa sedan at the 2011 New York Auto Show today. The images were so striking we thought we'd bring you a photo gallery of Nissan's electric race-car concept, just so you can see it from all angles, looking like nothing...

If you’re an electric car owner living within the many hundreds of publicly available electric vehicle charging stations installed by Coulomb Technologies then you may be interested in what the infrastructure company has planned to celebrate Earth Day 2011. As part of the celebrations...

It's been a long time coming, but by June of next year, the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid will go on sale in the U.S. If you're eager to be one of the very first on your block to own the world's most popular hybrid vehicle--but you insist on being able to plug it into grid power--now is your...

What links a 1985 novel about a drug-addicted rich boy with the 2011 Nissan Leaf? Nothing, or something? It turns out to be both. You see, the 1985 novel Less Than Zero, later dramatized in 1987 as a film featuring a fresh-faced 22 year-old Robert Downey Jr., has a remarkably similar title to...

The choices among electric cars just keep getting better, as BMW has now announced the lease details for the first stage of its evolution into BMW-branded electric cars. The ActiveE, an all-electric version of the 1-series, will be available for lease requests later this summer. It will be offered...

Electric cars, at the moment, cost more to buy than gasoline cars of similar size and with similar features, powertrain excepted. Leases on electric cars from mass-market brands like Nissan and Chevrolet are often a little more competitive. The 2011 Nissan Leaf is $349 a month, the 2011 Chevy Volt...

While AllCarsElectric posts are regularly written from at least three countries, occasionally we get to cover electric-car events in our own back yard--specifically, Palo Alto, California. On Friday, we attended a ceremony to inaugurate the first electric-car charger installed at any hotel in very...

It might be just three days away from its official unveiling at the 2011 New York Auto Show, but Nissan just can’t help sharing its latest electric vehicle a little early. Called the Nissan Leaf Nismo RC - that’s Racing Competition - the all-electric race-prepared car looks a little...

There’s something really wonderful about hearing the wind rush past your electric car accompanied by only the whine of an electric motor pushed to its very limit, tires squealing on the blacktop. If you agree with us you’ll be pleased to hear that drivers of everything from production...

Ford has identified the 25 most electric vehicle (EV) ready cities in the U.S., based on the company’s latest research. The 25 cities are dotted all over the country from Hartford to Honolulu. A previous Pike research report highlighted 6 cities expected to be early EV adopters: New York, Los...

It’s been two weeks since Californian electric automaker filed papers against the BBC’s Top Gear for libel in relation to a segment the popular entertainment show did on Tesla’s all-electric Roadster back in 2008. By now you’re probably familiar with the details of the case...

Generally accepted as one of the world’s toughest endurance races the 32-year-old Dakar rally is seen by many as the pinnacle of the automotive race calendar. The race, which has claimed the lives of more than 50 competitors and many local residents in its short history is traditionally...

What does $50 million buy you? We can think of plenty of good things we could do, but according to Californian electric car firm Coda Automotive, $50 million is how much it needs to bring its four door all-electric sedan to market. According to The New York Times, Christopher Rose, the...