Electric Cars

Sam's Club has expanded their repertoire beyond seven pound cans of Nacho cheese to electric super cars; and why not? It might be the only store where you can get a vending machine and fifteen dozen eggs in one stop. There's just one problem with the electric super car bit: it doesn't exist yet...

According to yesterday's Washington Post, all those Priuses Toyota has been selling aren't making them much money. Rumor has it that those touted hybrid SUVs General Motors has been parading aren't turning profits either. What about the Chevy Volt? In June, GM Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz, said that the...

  Shrek is going green(er). Universal Studios announced today that they will replace their fleet of 300 gas powered golf carts with solar-electric hybrid models. Sarasota, Florida based Cruise Car, Inc. will supply the hybrids, which will have range of 50 miles on a full charge. The vehicles will...

By offering a set of tax, financing, and convenience incentives, the government of Portugal announced Saturday that it will partner with Renault and Nissan to ensure that at least 20% of its public fleet vehicle purchases be zero-emissions vehicles by the year 2011. The centerpiece of the plan is...

Fisker announced Friday that they've chosen GM's turbocharged 2.0 liter, 4-cylinder Ecotec engine to extend the range of their plug-in hybrid performance sedan. The Fisker Karma has an electric-only range of 50 miles. After that, the Ecotec will kick in to generate more electricity. This is the...

Ford has just announced pricing on its 2010 Fusion Hybrid which is expected to go on sale in 2009. The vehicle uses a 155 hp 2.5 L engine running on the Atkinson Cycle and married to a parallel electric motor capable of propelling the car at speeds up to 47 mph. It also features a SmartGuage unique...

For decades, California has been a hot-bed of environmental innovation. So it's not surprising that state and local government there has partnered with A Better Place, a privately-funded Silicon Valley company that will plan and install a $1 billion infrastructure, focused around the San Francisco...

The Renault-Nissan Alliance strikes again. This time it's an agreement with Monaco to expand and improve their existing charging networks for electric vehicles. Additional incentives will be provided to consumers and businesses to encourage the purchase of EVs and educational programs will be...

Hyundai Sonata Remember that South Korean automaker with a reputation for producing the cheapest econoboxes ever? These were the people who brought us the deplorable "Excel" in the early 90s . That was Hyundai then. This is Hyundai now. This is the company that channeled the Lexus RX with the...

The Nissan Renault Alliance has entered into yet another public-private partnership for the advancement of sustainable mobility. Today the company announced an agreement with the state of Oregon to supply zero-emissions vehicles (ZEVs). Nissan will work with Oregon and Portland General Electric to...

BMWs Mini has been discussing the launch of a new street-legal electric car that will be launched in North America in Jaury 2009. It is basically a retrofitted MINI that has an electric motor and drivetrain supplied by A/C propulsion. It will house a 35 kwh lithium-ion battery that will replace the...

Chevy announced pricing for the 2009 Silverado Two-Mode Hybrid pickup today. The 2WD model starts at $38,995 plus a $975 destination charge and gets 21 mpg in the city and 22 mpg on the highway. The 4WD model will get 20 mpg city and highway and likely add about $3,000 to the price. "For customers...

The Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported Friday that Toyota will postpone US production of the Prius. Toyota has not confirmed the report, but has asserted that all future products are being reviewed. The Prius is currently made exclusively in Japan and the 2010 model goes on display at the Detroit...

Remember when ethanol was going to save us all from our dependence on foreign oil and help us clean up our dirty carbon footprint, too? Those were the days...before food prices skyrocketed because many midwest farmers stopped growing corn for food, and focused on the much more profitable...

 Dodge EV        Chrysler ENVI president, Lou Rhodes, believes a good product can save Chrysler. By the looks of these drag races (middle of the page) in Pasadena, he might be right. After committing to having 100 EV and range-extended vehicles on the road for testing by next year, Rhodes...

Mention to most people that you plan to but an electric car, and one of the first concerns they will mention is battery life. Really, they will say, I can't keep the battery in my dinky little cell phone charged for longer than a day or so...so how will a car be any different? What if the battery...

The MINI brand is synonymous with fuel efficient cars that are fun to drive. MINI is about to take fuel efficiency one step further. As part of a pilot program to study electric vehicles, MINI will release 500 "MINI E" pure electric cars powered by lithium ion batteries. Select MINI devotees will...

Auto enthusiasts have plenty of questions about electric sports cars, not the least of which is how to replace the satisfying rumble of an internal combustion engine. Thankfully the German auto tuners at Brabus have that covered. They've incorporated a "space sound generator" into a modified Tesla...

Think plug-in hybrids are cutting edge? Get a load of this: the technology gurus at Nissan are studying ways to get that future electric car of yours to charge itself while you're driving. Gasoline and wall outlets never seemed so passé. Senior Vice President of Nissan's technology department...

Toyota has just opened the curtains on a new dedicated website for its upcoming 3rd generation Prius. The successor to the very popular car which has sold over 12 million units worldwide is expected to be unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show in January, although pictures have been leaked. It is...