Electric Cars

Two More Companies in the Quest for an EV Solution

The new 2010 Toyota Prius is expected to hit showroom floors in June.  With the economic downturn, the new Honda Insight coming to market, and gas prices near $2, you may think that Toyota would be worried about sales of the new Prius.  However, Toyota execs are not worried.  Toyota believes...

 Today, March 2nd, Mitsubishi announced that it will work with Peugot on its upcoming electric car the i MiEV.  Mitsubishi plans to sell the i MiEV in European countries by the end of 2010 or the first quarter of 2011. The recent announcement of the planned partnership on this vehicle will...

According to Jim McDowell, chief of BMW of North America LLC's Mini Division in the U.S., the first group of lessees for the Mini EV will be named this month.  Though BMW had postponed the naming of the first lessees until April, the latest news to come forth indicates that they will be...

Nissan is planing the North American release of a 100 mile range 5-seat electric car in 2012.  These cars should have the capacity of collecting 80 miles of driving range in 30 minutes of charge time. To capitalize on that, apparently the automaker has plans to deploy a network of public charging...

Last week we told you about the unveiling of a new Chinese electric car.  Joining the BYD F3DM electric car already in production, Chinese automaker Chery unveiled its S18 EV. The 4-door 5-seat car is a highway speed capable all electric car that has a 93 mile driving range, and a top speed of 75...

Solar cars at this point are mostly science/engineering experiments and are not for public consumption.  However the progress they have made over the years since MIT first entered competition in 1987 is remarkable. The latest tenth iteration vehicle from MIT is capable of hitting 90 MPH, though it...

BEVs may struggle to compete with plug-in hybrids, study finds

Renault-Nissan will begin work with the UK based company Elektromotive.  Together they will work to install a network of vehicle recharging stations for use with plug in electric vehicles.  They term this the Partnership for Zero-Emission-Mobility. The goal of this partnership is to provide an...

The official unveiling of the Protoscar Lampo electric sports car takes place on March 2 at the Geneva Motor Show. The unofficial unveiling has already occurred on Protoscar's website where numerous teasers of the sexy convertible have surfaced. The all wheel drive Lampo has two electric motors...

There has been debate as to what is the next best propulsion technology for mass adoption. For years the hydrogen economy was touted and most automakers have been developing hydrogen fuel cell programs. Recently, GM and Honda have put hydrogen fuel cell cars on US roads and in customers hands...

Wired's Holl Liou shows us what the Tesla sedan may look like

An important sidebar to the story of the Chevy Volt extended-range electric car is its gasoline generator. This is used to generate electricity extend the car's driving range beyond the 40 mile capacity of its battery. When GM finally decided it would use a 1.4 L 4 cylinder engine for that role, it...

More details have emerged about Italdesign's latest hybrid supercar concept expected to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March. The numbers are staggering. Italdesign claims that the car will tear through 0 to 62 mph in under four seconds and achieve a top speed of 186 miles per hour. That's...

The Honda Insight hybrid which will go on sale in the UK in early April.  It is being reported that the entry level Insight LS will cost £15,490 which translates to about $22,438 USD.  In England this price is £2380 or $3500 less than the staring price of the Prius. The upscale model of the...

Tax credit of up to $7,500 in President Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan

I had the chance to take a Tesla Roadster in and around Manhattan for the day.  The car is a remarkable phenomenon. Fast as imaginable yet runs on pure electricity.  Built by Silicon Valley start-up Tesla Motors, there have only been 200 models delivered since the first one shipped in 2008, and...

Tesla Motors is the Silicon Valley start-up that has begun series production of its all-electric Roadster in 2008.  Over 200 cars have been delivered and 1000 are on back ordered for the year. CEO Elon Musk, founder of PayPal, has advised us that a new Model S sedan will be unveiled on March 23. ...

The name Fabrizio Giugiaro is synonymous with fast, stylish cars. The styling director at Italdesign knows how to make car fans drool. In 2006 there was the Giugiaro Mustang Concept with 500 horsepower, a glass roof and doors hinged at the bottom of the A-pillar that tipped forward when opened. At...

Porsche told the world it was planning a hybrid version of its Cayenne S SUV at the 2007 LA Auto Show. Since then, the automaker has made significant progress on the car. Test prototypes have been driven by journalists and a review was just published. Porsche expects the vehicle to hit dealer...