Electric Cars

Elon Musk doesnt pull any punches, and has made many remarks that draw attention, and well he's at it again.  He now questions the idea that a Prius is a true hybrid. Musk has snuffed at the high tech Prius in the past, and in most automotive circles, the Prius is synonymous with environmentally...

In a long term study, the Hymotion Plug-in Prius conversion returned worse than expected gas mileage. The study was conducted by the Idaho National Laboratory, and 115 Hymotion converted Priuses were evaluated.  They were divided into two separate groups and monitored over the course of a long...

The New York Department of Sanitation has taken delivery of two prototype diesel electric hybrid trucks from two of the biggest names in the industry. Mack and Kenworth each delivered a diesel hybrid truck to the New York service for extended evaluation in real world conditions. Mack delivered the...

BMW is currently leasing 450 electric MINIs outfitted with a 205 HP AC propulsion drivetrain and 35 kwh lithium-ion battery.  This author is one of the "pioneers" involved in the field test.  BMWs plan is to take back the cars at the end of the one-year lease and dismantle them to learn how they...

He who makes a bold statement must be willing to admit when he is wrong.  Texas Governor Rick Perry recently stated that Texans need their pickups truck because you simply can't fit a bale of hay into a Prius.  Or can you?  As Perry said, "It don't work." Well John Kelso of the Austin American...

According to the newsletter AutoBeat Asia, China will also be home to a production facility for the Chevy Volt's to be sold in the Chinese market.  The newsletter goes on to state that all Volts built in China will be sold within the country with no plans for exports of Chinese made Volts...

A while back we wrote an article about the Zap Xebra recall.  In the article, we incorrectly stated that the NHTSA issued a recall on the vehicle mentioned.  After getting in touch with Public Affairs official Eric Bolton who works for the NHTSA we learned some interesting bit of info and thought...

Japan's Best Car magazine recently released a new artist rendition of the upcoming Honda CR-Z hybrid.  The vehicle's depiction differs only slightly from the prototype version but some new info on the vehicle has been reported. The magazine implies that Honda will go with a modified version of the...

A few day ago, we released news about DOE funds going to Nissan, Tesla, and Ford.  Well when you get money, you have to come up with a way to spend and Nissan has done just that. Nissan intends to use portions of their $1.6 billion in funds to increase total EV capacity at their plant in Tennessee...

Just two days ago, we noted that Nissan was granted $1.6 billion of Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loans by the US Department of Energy. It plans to use the money to retool its Smyrna, Tennessee, assembly plant to build electric cars. Now we learn that the 2012 Nissan EV may be unveiled...

Recent news reports speculated that Tata plans to produce a hybrid and a full electric version of the Nano and it looks like that will turn out to be true as the company has told management personnel of its decision to go ahead with both vehicles as planned. The statement came in the form of a...

The first pre-production Chevy Volt has now officially rolled of the line ahead of schedule and GM has released a video showcasing the vehicle in the hands of the Chevrolet Volt Vehicle Chief Engineer Andrew Farah.  View the video above.  Follow up with more of the story after watching the...

You can't bring a Fisker Karma Sunset home yet, but it can already be dubbed "award-winning." That's because the eagerly anticipated plug-in hybrid hardtop convertible was named the 2009 North American Production Preview Vehicle of the Year on Tuesday. The award is reserved for vehicles based on an...

Nissan who has spoken at great lengths about its family sized, moderately priced EV expected to enter into production soon and now has come forth with numerous details about the vehicle including a production schedule and official unveiling dates. The  unnamed EV from Nissan will be on display...

According to Daimler AG, parent company of Smart, an electric version of the Fortwo will go into production some time next year. The Smart Forwto Electric Drive has gone through successful trials in the UK and Daimler AG has agreed to give it the green light for production.   The production will...

Last week, we wrote that the smash success of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV is leading the company to plan five additional electric cars. We've now driven electric-car prototypes from a number of automakers: a 2011 Chevrolet Volt mule, the 2012 Nissan EV prototype, the 2012 Ford Focus EV prototype, and the...

You know a revolution has truly taken hold when one of the world's largest oil companies decides to launch its own electric car program. And today that is exactly what happened. In Baltimore, ExxonMobil has announced it will be sponsoring a new electric car sharing and rental program called AltCar...

Bob Lutz commented at great lengths in the Washington Post in a recent article related to the Detroit automotive industry.  Throughout the article, he touched on many aspects of the industry including the American car buyers' desire for a throaty V8 and sexy styling in a car.  But Lutz also...

Later today, Energy Secretary Stephen Chu is expected to announce the recipients of DOE loans aimed at helping to develop fuel efficient vehicles.  The total program brings up to $25 billion in funds to various automakers.  The official announcement will take place in Dearborn, Michigan. Ahead of...

Information is scarce, but the source is reliable as Mitsubishi announced at its annual shareholders meeting yesterday in Tokyo that they intend to sell a plug-in hybrid version of the i-MiEV in 2013. According to the company, the vehicle is in the plans at this point.  Why a plug-in version? ...