Electric Cars

We have to hand it to Tesla Motors. Over the past year the Californian-based automaker responsible for the fast, sexy 2011 Tesla Roadster 2.5 and 2011 Tesla Roadster Sport 2.5 has experienced a pretty good year. Not only has the Palo Alto firm survived its initial public offering, generating over...

Electric car start-up Tesla Motors currently only sells one model, the high-performance--and high-pricetag--Roadster, but the company is currently working on a new sedan model dubbed the Model S that’s due to hit the streets in mid-2012 with a base price around the $57,400 mark. However, to...

Imagine what a city totally switched onto electric cars would be like. Discount parking, HOV lane access and perhaps even free charging is what might come to mind. But just how many chargers should you expect in a city switching on to the benefits of all-electric motoring? 200? 600? 1000?...

Shop owners in the sprawling Japanese industrial town of Hamamatsu are worried: They see a future where their day jobs are under threat, and even worse, by the very companies they are in business to support. What is this great thread? Globalisation? Copyright infringement? Neither - their business...

As we rapidly approach the end of 2010 there are really only two mainstream plug-in cars stealing the limelight - the 2011 Nissan Leaf and the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. But while there will only be a few choices for those wishing to go electric at the end of 2010 in a few years’ time there will be...

Attending a conference in Detroit a couple of weeks ago, we had the chance to drive a converted "Amp'd Chevrolet Equinox" crossover, offered by AMP Electric Vehicles. Based in Cleveland, the company hopes to sell electric conversions of "best of class" vehicles in several segments to early adopting...

If you listen to the ad executives trying to sell the 2011 Chevrolet Volt there’s one big problem with electric cars: they don’t go as far on a charge as a gas car can on a tank of fuel. While it’s true that electric cars like the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Coda Sedan may provide...

Electric vehicle development is quickly proving to be a worldwide effort, with companies and research institutes from across the globe and in varying industries and fields forming partnerships and alliances in order to accelerate the roll out of zero-emission electric vehicles. The latest...

Just over a week ago we discussed the aspect of electric car safety, specifically that of Neighborhood Electric Vehicles or NEVs, after 47-year old mother Judit Nadal was tragically killed in her Reva G-Wiz in an accident in London, U.K. Our earlier story was based on initial reports that Mrs Nadal...

If you look at the 2011 Chevrolet Volt and malign its on-board gasoline-powered range extending engine then you’re unlikely to be a huge fan of general motors at the moment. But that could all change, if you’re lucky enough to be in Seoul, South Korea later this month. While...

Electric cars are kind of the like fall collection of the Fashion world, there are always people who will get in line to be early adopters and some of the designs may make it mainstream, but only time will. Our partners over at GreenCarReports.com ran a story at the end of last week that asked if...

In recent months we've been lucky enough to get our hands on several different and important electric cars, be they range-extended EVs such as the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, electric family cars like the 2011 Nissan Leaf or even the 2011 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive, a compact electric microcar most at...

Yesterday, there was a piece on MSNBC.com talked about electric car rivalry and the potential for that to distract buyers. The writer cites GM and Nissan both taking potshots at each other’s electric vehicle offerings. In the worse case, “In the end, the public could wind up mistrusting...

Urban taxi service may be the equal of any proving-ground torture test. Taxis are driven hard, up to 20 hours a day, and must handle both bad roads and bad drivers. Those that survive without falling apart should do fine in civilian duty. Which is why Better Place chose Tokyo to test out its...

What do you do when a major publication publishes an expose on the firm you’d crowned winners of a competition you’d been running, asking if the winner was even eligible to take part? That’s the problem facing the team behind the Progressive Automotive X-Prize after an article in...

General Electric, the conglomerate that produces everything from power-plant turbines to television shows, wants to jumpstart the electric-vehicle market. To do that, said CEO Jeffrey Immelt yesterday in London, it will place the "largest order in history" for electric vehicles, numbering in the...

While General Motors is focusing its U.S. electric-drive efforts solely on the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, a range-extended electric car, elsewhere in the world it's experimenting with full battery electric vehicles. Now the company has said it will unveil a Chinese-built electric subcompact in the Indian...

Working at Tesla Motors must be a lot of fun for many reasons. There's the chance of driving a lightning-fast 2011 Tesla Roadster Sport 2.5, for one. Then there's the chance that you'll be privy to hearing your CEO say something untrue. Or just wacky. Our latest example: On the sidelines of Tesla's...

We've been waiting eagerly for more details of the modified U.S.-spec 2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car. Now, Mitsubishi has started the long tease. The company tweeted a sketch this morning that shows a wider, slightly more angular i-MiEV that still preserves the now-familiar shape of the...

There was a time when an electric car could be plugged into just about any electrical outlet its owner could find. With a little bit of ingenuity and forward planning, any electric car could plug-in just about anywhere. We’ve heard stories of National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA)...