Electric Cars

The latest figures from Autodata Inc. indicate that Ford Motor Company Hybrid vehicle sales have risen 73% this year in comparison with the same period in 2008. This contrasts with a slight decline in hybrid sales across the industry.  Ford attributes much of this growth to the popularity of the...

Mini has been on a roll this year, with a new Coupe concept to celebrate its 50th birthday and the much-publicized U.S. release of 200 Mini E electric conversions. Now, 40 Britons will be able to drive the electric Mini E as well, 20 of them members of the public chosen from more than 500...

The U.S Secretary of Energy is widely known for his straightforward comments.  Many of which make headlines from time to time.  Recent comments from Chu included asserting that electric vehicles are inevitable and even wildly stating that all cars should be E85 capable.  Additional ramblings...

Michael Donoughe recently resigned as Tesla Motors engineering chief, but he did not leave quietly.  On his way out, he revealed information about the upcoming Model S that has not been publicized before.  According to Donoughe, the Model S is designed to be capable of battery swapping. ...

A few years ago the British Columbia Transit put forth their plans to acquire efficient buses for use around the Whistler, B.C. area prior to and during the Olympics coming  to the area in the winter of 2010.  The plans included the eventual delivery of 20 buses. Earlier this week, the first bus...

Renault made a splash with several EV concepts displayed at the Frankfurt Motor Show.  For those interested in finding out more about the individual models, look no further than Renault's new web site devoted strictly to their lineup of electric vehicles. The site provides information about the...

Compact Power Inc.,a subsidiary of LG Chem and the company who won the contract to supply battery cell technology to General Motors for their upcoming Chevrolet Volt, is now searching for additional customers and will reveal the site of their upcoming U.S. plant soon.  According to the company, an...

Less than two months since Think exited bankruptcy, the Scandinavian electric vehicle maker has announced its new board of directors. The new Chairman, Reidar Langmo, is a founding partner and CEO of Novus Energy, an investment fund devoted to emerging companies in the "new energy" field. His...

With the unveiling of the Subaru Hybrid Tourer concept scheduled for next week at the Tokyo Motor Show, the company has kindly released several pictures of this model ahead of its official debut. Though a concept, Subaru has been working with Toyota to develop a production ready hybrid vehicle...

According to Better Place CEO Shai Agassi, the cost of the upcoming Renault Fluence ZE EV will be significantly less than the same model with a gasoline engine. The Renault Fluence ZE was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show.  It will become the first commercialized vehicle to utilize the Better...

The Volkswagen Golf TwinDrive Plug-in hybrid prototype, introduced in mid-2008, has recently been made available to selected automotive journalists for short test-drives.  It features a unique power train architecture which incorporates elements of both series and parallel hybrid...

Chrysler's ENVI electric vehicle program has spawned several possible vehicles that may one day reach showrooms.  However, the automaker has gone silent in regard to any upcoming EV projects leading speculators to believe that the program may be dead in the water. All is about to change though as...

With the release of the Nissan’s five-passenger battery-electric vehicle, the LEAF, a little more than a year away, municipalities in the initial launch states of Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, and Tennessee are scrambling to set up in-home and public-access charging stations. This...

As many countries vie for the lead in the production and use of EVs, France has decided to issue a set of commandments that are intended to guide them to the top. French minister for Environmental Affairs, Jean-Louis Borloo recently announced a list a 14 critical steps for the development...

Every year the Green Car Journal presents an award to the top Green Car of the year.  The award is decided by votes from a long list of people that include Jay Leno, Matt Peterson of Global Green USA, and Carl Pop of Sierra Club.  Last year's winner was the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI.  The...

Upcoming regulations in the state of California could force Honda to release an EV within the next few years.  California regulations will require automakers to sell a given number of zero emission vehicles within the state in the next decade forcing automakers to produce ZEVs or forfeit sales in...

Cracking down on crime while cracking down on CO2 emissions is the catch phrase used by Mitsubishi regarding the use of the i MiEV by police forces across the UK. The police spec i MiEV was showcased at the National Police Show in September and became a hit among the squads.  According to...

What type of EV infrastructure are we likely to see in widespread use in the coming decade?  Several options exists including fast charging stations, 230 volt curbside plug-in locations, battery swapping stations, inductive charging, and the list goes on and on.  So which one will likely dominate...

If Panasonic gets its way, your average laptop battery could be the electric vehicle power source of the future. The Japanese consumer electronics company announced Thursday that it has developed a method of binding standard lithium-ion batteries together (Tesla Motors style), for use in...

Due to generous subsidies from French President Nicolas Sakozy's administration, Daimler will produce the Smart ForTwo electric drive at its Hambach plant in the French region of Lorraine. From the source: "The initial series production will begin now with 1,000 vehicles, the first of which will be...