Electric Cars
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Put them side by side, and they could be vehicles from two different planets. The new 2011 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car is GM's green halo car, its foray into the future of electric drive vehicles, and the focus of a huge marketing and publicity effort. The 2011 Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid is a big, old-fashioned, body-on-frame full-size sport utility vehicle that happens to have a Two-Mode Hybrid transmission behind its V-8 engine. Two-Mode DNA Nonetheless, it turns out the Volt has more than a little Two-Mode Hybrid in its DNA. Chevy will release more details this morning, but we...
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2011 Chevrolet Volt: Electric Drive ImpressionsIn one light, it was nothing more than a drive in a new car on a sunny autumn afternoon. But in another, it meant taking the wheel of the most radical new car since the 1997 Toyota Prius—perhaps more significant yet—and driving it on public roads for the first time. After almost four...
John Voelcker -
What Do YOU Want To Know About the 2011 Chevrolet Volt Electric Car?After just shy of four years, two distinct body styles, much disbelief, and more press releases than we can count, the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car is here. We'll be driving the 2011 Volt this week, and we have a lot of questions about what the car is like. But we expect you do...
John Voelcker -
From The Fastest To The Greenest: BMW F1 Expertise For EVs"Racing improves the breed". So said the late Soichiro Honda, believing that the lessons learned on the racing cars and motorcycles could be used to improve the marque's road vehicles. The evidence is plain to see. Technologies such as anti-lock brakes, traction control, unibody chassis...
Antony Ingram -
Curiouser and Curiouser: Tesla's 'Gay' Electric Car ConnectionOh, what a tangled web we weave in the insular little world of electric car advocates. Take the news earlier today that Universal Pictures has agreed to a request from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation that it pull a trailer for a new Vince Vaughan movie in which the B-list star...
John Voelcker -
Hey Ron Howard: So Electric Cars Aren't That 'Gay' After All?The news came via a Facebook status from another automotive journalist: "Interesting. Phrase 'Electric cars are gay' pulled from Ron Howard movie." To which we could only respond, huh? [UPDATE: Turns out that there's even a Tesla angle too.] Turns out the upcoming movie The Dilemma, starring Vince...
John Voelcker -
Every political or social movement has its cross to bear. Every trend has a stereotype from which to break free. So it seems time to ask, is the public image of electric cars and other plug-in vehicles being damaged by those who maintain that a huge and evil global conspiracy exists against the EV? We’re happy to see more and more interest in electric cars among the general public. But we also hear certain groups of existing EV owners getting shriller. They seem awfully keen to keep alive a healthy mistrust of any mainstream automaker developing an electric vehicle. A little history In...
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Bad News For Electric Cars: Consumers Don't Understand ThemDespite the hype and the near-ubiquity of the Toyota Prius (pictured), most Americans remain leery of buying alternative-fuel vehicles. That’s probably because they don’t have the basic knowledge to understand it, according to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive. The survey...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
Kia Working On Range-Extended Electric VehiclesNow ranked as the world’s fifth-largest automaker in conjunction with its Hyundai sister brand, Kia is making strides to build a product line that reflects its status among the world’s top manufacturers. And for the South Korean automaker it means being a leader in the field of green...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Toyota Smart Center Benefits Home Efficiency, Not Just CarsWe've seen Onstar from General Motors. We've heard about iPhone apps that allow you to keep tabs on how your 2011 Nissan Leaf or Smart Electric Drive are charging too, and some energy companies are wanting to develop services that keep you updated on the status of your EV. Smart-Grid technology is...
Antony Ingram -
New York Power Authority Embraces Ford's Electric FutureNew York City has one of the best mass transit systems of any major metropolis. But the City itself is still noisy, polluted and congested. The first two may soon be eased, thanks to continuing work from New York’s Power Authority (NYPA), which showcased a range of all-electric and hybrid...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2011 Chevrolet Volt Could Join Feds' FleetThe White House wants to walk green while it talks green, which is why the government's purchasing department is now placing an order for 100 electric cars to be distributed through agencies later in the year. The New York Times reports the Obama administration's executive order from October 2009...
Martin Padgett -
It's debatable whether Tesla Motors should even be called a startup. It's five years old, it has almost 1,400 cars on the road, and it has 700 people working for it globally. Yesterday, in a bid to reinforce its credentials as a real automaker--the kind that can design, engineer, test, and build a car for global sale--Tesla invited a dozen or so journalists to tour its new Palo Alto headquarters building. Teslas, but Smart too Starting in the "showroom," which housed not only a silver 2011 Tesla Roadster 2.5 and a burgundy Model S prototype, but also a Smart Electric Drive and a Mercedes-Benz...
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2012 Ford Focus Electric: 120-Volt Charging 'Convenience Cord'Electric cars need to be recharged, obviously. How car companies choose to provide the all-new equipment to do that varies significantly among makers. For its upcoming 2012 Ford Focus Electric, Ford just jumped out ahead of the car to announce that it will provide what it calls a "convenience cord"...
John Voelcker -
2011 Nissan Leaf Tested On An Island Amongst The TreesWe love cars here at AllCarsElectric, but sometimes there's nothing better than heading out of the cities and away from civilization to enjoy all that nature has to offer. The last thing we'd want when we got there would be to find our favorite retreat filled with motor vehicles and the fumes they...
Antony Ingram -
Nation-E Reveals All-Electric HUMMER H1 'Angel Car'The HUMMER H1 is often the vehicle people picture first when they think of the most environmentally unfriendly thing on four wheels. So what better vehicle to demonstrate the diversity and flexibility of the electric car revolution than one of its main antagonists? That’s exactly what the...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
After Top Gear, Ben "The Stig" Collins Digs Electric CarsWhat happens when mysterious masked racing driver of the U.K’s most famous car-based entertainment show reveals his identity? Contrary to the opinions aired on the testosterone-filled, gear jamming show he actually quite likes electric cars, and he's not been afraid to share his admiration...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
AllCarsElectric Launches E-mail Subscription And Improved RSSWe know you love checking out the latest news on green cars, especially the very best in electric car news, reviews and buying advice. But we also know you’re busy. Sometimes it’s nice when the news comes to you, not vice versa. Many of our readers have asked us to improve the way we...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Cape Town in South Africa has just hosted the end of a journey of almost 2,500 miles on solar, hydrogen or electric power. The race, the South African 2010 Solar Challenge, was won by Japan's Tokai Challenger, a solar-powered vehicle with a top speed of 100mph which has previously won the 2009 Solar Challenge. The solar cells powering it are more often found on satellites and the Tokai Challenger certainly has more than a hint of spacecraft about it. Perhaps that's why traffic police in the region managed to pull it over twice. It can't be often they see a shiny, silent, three-wheeled car...
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Tesla Plays Cautiously, Recalls 439 Roadsters Over Potential Fire RiskTesla Motors, manufacturers of the all-electric Tesla Roadster and Tesla Roadster Sport has decided to recall 439 of its sexy sports car, over a potential fire risk. The Palo-Alto based automaker has often been in the news this year, from its roller coaster initial public offering back in June...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Going On Two Wheels? Your Introduction To The 2011 Brammo Motorcycle RangeAs major automakers and electric specialists battle it out to become the number one electric vehicle maker, a small Oregonian company is slowly sneaking into the lead in the world of electric motorcycles. Featured in The Wall Street Journal Blogs this weekend, Brammo motorcycles likes to think of...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2011 Chevy Volt Customer Advisory Board: More Than A Publicity StuntWhen long-time EV advocate and former GM EV1 salesperson Chelsea Sexton talked to us a few weeks ago and told us she had some exciting news, we knew something fun was about to happen. Did she have news about the up-coming sequel to Chris Payne’s docudrama Who Killed The Electric Car? Was she...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Auto X-Prize Winners Finalize Plans To Bring Unique 2-Wheeler To MarketLet’s face it. We haven’t been particularly nice about the Automotive X-Prize. While the multi-million dollar competition was originally designed to seek out new engineering talent and encourage automakers to go green, the event became a holding pen for the misfits of the automotive...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Lance Armstrong Takes Delivery Of His 2011 Nissan LeafAnticipation for Nissan's 2011 Leaf electric car is beginning to reach boiling point but for those who've put down deposits in the last few months, waiting for the car brings a mixture of frustration and excitement, like a kid on Christmas Eve trying to get to sleep before Santa arrives. Our own...
Antony Ingram