Electric Cars

The Automotive Task Force assigned by President Obama, has come under fire for its findings regarding electric vehicles and the impact they will have on the car market in the next few years. According to the task force, electric vehicles are too costly to be competitive with gasoline powered...

The all new Lexus RX 450h Hybrid makes news for reasons that you can't see by looking at or driving the vehicle.  The 450h is manufactured in unheard of conditions and with attention to detail that is simply astounding for a vehicle produced today.  In fact, pockets are not allowed in the factory...

The joint venture between Honda Motor Company and GS Yuasa has been recently announced.  The joint group called Blue Energy has set out to produce lithium ion batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles.  To that end, they have begun production on a lithium battery plant in Fukuchiyama, Kyoto This...

High voltage jobs could be the jobs of the future according to words going around at the SAE World Congress in Detroit. Apparently, engineers, mechanics, and electricians that are knowledgeable in working with hybrid and electric vehicles are in short supply and the demand for experienced workers...

Tesla is determined to make electric transportation a mainstream reality. Exhibit A: this Smart Fortwo outfitted with their Roadster's powertrain. Doug King, of the Tesla Motors Club took a short ride in the Fortwo and was kind enough to post numerous photos and a video of the quick trip. This...

Lexus has announced pricing for its 2010 RX 450h hybrid cross-over, which will go on sale here in the U.S. later this spring. The front-wheel drive model will have a base price of $41,660. The all-wheel drive model will start at $43,250. These figures actually reflect a slight decrease in...

Honda has something that Toyota doesn't and it just might be want Honda needs to outgun Toyota in the hybrid war between the two companies.  What is this little something that Honda has?  The 2011 Honda CRZ Hybrid. The Honda CRZ is a two seat hybrid disguised in a sports car body or a sports car...

According to Quattroruoute, an Italian magazine, Fiat has begun work on a hybrid powertrain for small vehicles and would likely share its design and engineering with Chrysler if a merger occurs. The hybrid powertrain will likely go in the small Fiat 500 and maybe even the yet to be released...

Is a Toyota RAV4 hybrid in the works? Probably, yes, at least in China. According to Koei Saga, Toyota's Managing Officer of Hybrid System Development, "Toyota needs to accelerate the 2020 goal to hybridize all the Toyota models." He also said that, quite specifically, Toyota plans to bring the...

Ford makes an impressive claim that they can travel 1,000 miles on a single tank of gas in the new Fusion Hybrid, and this weekend they will put it to the test. 1,000 miles on a single tank is an impressive achievement.  Given the size of the Fusion's gas tank, the drivers will have to average 57...

The people powered car company makes another debut just in time for Earth Day 2009. HumanCar, a company with an inspiration to make and sell electric cars that are supplemented by human power, has released their new design the Imagine PS. The Imagine PS is classified as a NEV.  The vehicle will be...

For now, Honda has decided to end the price war between their Insight and Toyota's Prius.  Honda has stated that they will not lower the price on its Insight to outsell the new Toyota Prius. In a price war that's been going on for a few months now, Toyota has progressively reduced the price of...

Fox News commentator, show host, and radio talk show host Bill O'Reilly has been challenged to live up to his words regarding purchasing a hybrid vehicle. Last year, O'Reilly claimed that he and everyone else should do their part to clean up the environment.  He even commented that he would buy a...

  EEStor is a company in Texas that has been working for several years to develop a proprietary new device called an electric storage unit (EESU). The devices relies on a special formulation of a powdered form of barium titanate that is alumina-coated and is so-called composition modified barium...

Today on Earth Day Chrysler unveiled 4 all-electric Town and Country minivans that are intended for US Postal Service fleet use. Chrysler also announced it will request a Recovery Act grant to allow it to demonstrate a fleet of such vehicles to be used in mail delivery. The US postal fleet already...

It appears as though Chrysler has finally made the decision as to which concept  EV will be released first.  Chrysler has previously displayed four different types of electric cars that make up their ENVI program. This includes the 2-seat Circuit Roadster as well as an extended-range Minivan...

Nissan has decided to stay away from hybrid power trains in its compact vehicles and instead employ electric only power trains in the compact and subcompact class of cars. Though Nissan does make hybrid vehicles, the company intends to reserve hybrid power trains for mid-size and full-size vehicles...

Toyota has announced a price cut for its upcoming third generation 2010 Prius . The new price will be $21,000, $1000 less than the initial target was intended to be. The price cut comes as competition from the all new Honda Insight is expected to cut into predicted sales volume. The Honda Insight...

As mentioned before on this site, Chinese battery maker BYD aims to be a front runner in production of electric cars.  In order to accomplish their goals, they have taken a new approach and are currently entered in talks with U.S. and European automakers to supply power trains to other automotive...

The upcoming 2010 plug-in Prius will be able to travel just over 12 miles on electric power only.  Though 12 miles is well short of the 40 plus miles of the upcoming Chevy Volt, the costs associated with the hybrid system should also fall well short of the Volt's costly power train. The plug-in...