Electric Cars

The Cash for Clunkers Bill which in effect rewards car buyers for trading in old inefficient vehicles towards new more efficient vehicles has finally passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. Information about the bill, which we have covered several times previously, can be found here House Bill...

The Better Place battery swapping system that we have previously covered here has now completed 1,000 battery swaps without any problems or complications. Last week the company announced that its automatic battery swapping station has swapped out 1,000 batteries.  The entire system is designed to...

The new battery lab at the General Motors Tech Center in Warren, Michigan is now fully operational after undergoing a huge expansion over the course of the last 10 months. GM CEO Fritz Henderson officially announced the opening of the new lab called the Global Battery Systems Lab on Monday in front...

People still remember the aggressive sporty design of the original Chevy Volt concept. The car was redesigned to be more practical and especially to be more aerodynamic.  GM unveiled the redesign at their 100 year anniversary in September of 2008.  The redesign upset some people but many remain...

A few weeks back,  Bob Lutz took to the stage at the Late Show with David Letterman.  His appearance was much anticipated as there was an uproar last time when Letterman invited Tesla CEO Elon Musk on the show.  Read about it here (Letterman Rips on Volt and Tesla CEO Elon Musk) Letterman could...

After months of avoiding bankruptcy like the plague, a new advertisement from General Motors tells us it's not so bad after all. The "Reinvention" commercial (see the video below) pairs nationalistic imagery with a message of a company determined to sell better, more relevant cars. "There was a...

Over two dozen Tesla Roadster owners hit the streets of L.A. on Saturday to recognize the San Carlos, California, based electric car company's 500th delivery. Sixty miles of driving and one Malibu barbecue later, some impressive videos of the event appeared on YouTube. This was no ordinary car...

Today, Yardney Technical Products and Coda Automotive announced that they have entered into a joint venture, called Coda Battery Systems, to design and produce automotive lithium-ion battery systems.  Coda Battery Systems has already been busy: on May 19th, they submitted a proposal under the...

The MINI E is currently being delivered to 450 lessees in the state of New York and California.  For now, MINI E drivers will have to make due with charging from a 110 volt outlet until the Underwriters Laboratories approves the 220 volt charging cable. In a slight mix up, MINI was not capable of...

The Chinese are eager to become worldwide leaders in new vehicle technology with much of the focus being directed towards electric cars.  Recently, a Chinese company called New Power developed what they claim is the first production ready, electric car with a range similar to a conventional...

With the release of the new Toyota Prius in Japan, Toyota regains the top spot as the best selling vehicle in the month of May. Honda had previously held top honors for April with the introduction of the new Honda Insight, but their supremacy only lasted a month as Toyota knocked them back down the...

What now for GM?  With the bankruptcy announcement, many are wondering what will become of the General.  GM wrote a letter to customers that states the Volt is here to stay and we reported on an interview with GM's own co-creator of the Volt Jon Lauckner who also states that the Volt is here to...

Today, on World Environment Day, Mitsubishi unveiled their new-generation (production model) i-MiEV, set to go on sale to the public in Japan next April. Notice the hyphen in i-MiEV, used to delineate the advance experiment from the production model. According to Mitsubishi, this vehicle is the...

As EVs begin to hit our roads, the questions remain.  Will the charging infrastructure be in place to support such a vehicle?  Without a charging infrastructure, will owners be willing to make certain sacrifices such as hunting down suitable outlet to receive a charge, or sidetracking from their...

Earlier this week, we posted a review by the Detroit Free Press which was as some would say overly critical of the new Honda Insight.  We have received several comments regarding the article and the vehicle, most of which were praising the Insight.  Owners chimed in stating that their gas mileage...

Tesla Motors has confirmed that they will open seven new regional sales and services centers this summer. The new stores will be located in New York, Seattle, Chicago, Miami, London, Monaco and Munich. The New York, Chicago and London locations will all open within the next few weeks. The electric...

Monaco, a small country in Europe situated on the Mediterranean coastline, aims to be a world leader in the adoption of electric cars.  Their prince has signed agreements with auto companies in the past and now can be seen taking a test drive in the electric Venturi Volage.  This drive marks the...

Valence Technology Inc., a battery manufacturer, is eyeing a production facility in the state of Texas to meet the demand of the U.S. hybrid and electric vehicle market. Valence is a leading overseas producer of lithium iron magnesium phosphate batteries, but they are hoping to expand production in...

On Thursday June 4th at its main plant in Okayama Japan, Mitsubishi Motors has become the world's first automaker to begin mass production of an electric car. The vehicle that has begun rolling off the assembly line is the Mitsubishi iMiEV, a pure electric car with 100 miles of driving range and...

Coda Automotive is a brand new car company that has been formed under the stewardship of Miles Rubin of Miles Automotive. On June 3rd the company unveiled itself as well as a new all-electric car that it plans to introduce to the California market in 2010. The company is headquartered in Santa...