Electric Cars

eTec, a subsidiary of ECOtality, announced that it has finalized its agreement and signed a contract to receive a grant of $99.8 million from the  U.S. Department of Energy to kick off the largest deployment of EVs and their related infrastructure in U.S. history. Officially called The Electric...

Fisker will release the much anticipated Fisker Karma about one year from now if everything stays on track.  The company, including founder Henrik Fisker believes that plug-in hybrids represent the future of automobiles and he believes that public charging stations will be unnecessary as consumers...

  Suzuki says that their cars are as much fun as their bikes. Now they're trying to make one model just as fuel efficient. The Japanese automaker plans to unveil a plug-in hybrid version of the Swift hatchback at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show. Suzuki's subcompact already has a loyal following in...

Since Nissan unveiled the Leaf EV back in August, response has been extremely positive.  22,000 people have contacted the company in regards to the vehicle.  Nissan is responding by officially taking reservations for the car next spring, prior to its launch next fall. Here's the official...

Mitsubishi is introducing two new concept vehicles at the 41st Tokyo Motor show this month but of the two, it's only for the i-MiEV CARGO that the company is actually taking orders.  Both concepts, the PX-MiEV hybrid crossover, and the  i-MiEV CARGO are derived from the company's i-MiEV electric...

We follow EEStor developments closely because if their technology comes to fruition it would radically and rapidly revolutionize the electrification of the automobile. Their unique technology capacitor-based battery, in theory, is far more energy dense and low weight than lithium ion , is cheap to...

According to Honda, the CR-Z hybrid will be the world's first hybrid sports car and will take on numerous other sports car when it launches next year. New pictures have been released showing an updated version of the CR-Z concept.  The concept vehicle will be on display at the Tokyo Motor Show at...

 Honda will unveil the EV-N electric vehicle concept at the Tokyo Motor Show later this month.  The vehicle draws inspiration from the Honda's N360 dating back to the 1960's. The vehicle is about the size of the SmartForTwo, but has seating for four.  It's powered by a lithium-ion battery and...

According to Governeor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, South Korean based CT&T, makers of NEVs, will build a production and distribution facility here in the states. CT&T is known for their various short distance neighborhood electric vehicles that offer low speed and mid speed capabilities. ...

Bob Kruse, who formulated General Motors' long-term electric vehicle plans and whose team helped develop the Chevy Volt, has resigned, ending his 31-year career with the company. The 50-year-old Rochester Hills, Michigan, resident has served as GM's executive director of global vehicle engineering...

On September 25, 2009, the Venturi Buckeye Bullet 2 team from Ohio State University, broke the landspeed record for a hydrogen vehicle in their hydrogen fuel cell powered Venturi Buckeye Bullet 2 vehicle.  In two consecutive runs in opposite directions, they achieved an average speed of over 300...

After weeks of speculation about the fate of Vectrix Corporation, a premiere brand of electric scooters, "Vectrix has filed a voluntary petition for relief under chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code", and Vectrix's "assets will be sold pursuant to a sales and procedures order that is...

Nissan North America will open pre-order sales for the Leaf EV next spring and they anticipate at least 20,000 of the vehicles to be sold before their official release next fall.  According to Carlos Tavares, Nissan's American Chairman, "We are confident we will have 20,000 reservations for the...

Better Place has set the ground work for their vision of the future of EVs.  They are currently working on inductive charging, battery swapping stations, pay as you go plans, battery leasing, charging station installation an so on.  They believe their view will be adopted by others and have found...

Toyota has issued a safety advisory which will be followed by a recall regarding the all weather floors mats of many models dating back to 2004.  The company will begin sending formal safety campaign notices next week and is working to solve the problem, but strongly urges driver's of all...

Japanese tuning firm, Tommy Kaira, has released a modified Toyota Prius that actually looks like it would be fun to drive. Unfortunately, it appears that the modifications are mostly visual, so if you were dreaming of a faster gas sipper, dream on. The pimped-out Prius certainly looks meaner, with...

On Sept. 28, 2009, Tesla Motor's Vice President of Business Development, Diarmuid O'Connel, made a post on the Tesla Motors blog regarding their recent DOE loan award of $465 million, which was announced on June 23, 2009. Perhaps as a response to confusion between the loans to GM and Chrysler...

California-based Fisker Automotive was recently awarded a $529 million government loan from the DOE to be used for the design and production of plug-in cars. Most of the funds are earmarked towards what Fisker is calling its Nina program. Nina refers to one of Christopher Columbus' ships and is...

Yesterday, Coulomb Technologies announced the successful installation of the first ChargePoint station in Norway. Along with the help of European sales partner 365 Energy Group and Norwegian energy supplier Eidsiva, the ChargePoint system is installed, operational, and ready for use.

GM's next generation hydrogen fuel cell system weighs in 220 pounds lighter than its first attempt and takes up the space of a four cylinder engine.  Contained within the system is GM's 5th generation fuel cell stack which could see commercial use by 2015. Additional advancements for the new...