electric

  • Volvo C30 Electric

    If you're one of our European readers who's had his or her sights set on leasing a Volvo C30 Electric, we have good news and bad news. First the good news: Volvo has announced plans to start producing the C30 Electric for European customers this fall. The bad news? The company is only making 250 of the models, and most of those will be leased to businesses, government agencies, and "authorities". You might remember that our own Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield had the opportunity to test drive a Volvo C30 Electric back in February (for ten minutes, anyway). Her impressions were a mixed bag, and...

  • Why Buy Electric Cars? Iraq Vet Says: For National Security

    Most Nissan Leaf owners are passionate about their electric cars, especially the earliest ones who've already taken delivery. But not all of them have served three tours of military duty, including service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tim Goodrich was posted to Afghanistan as an avionics technician...

  • Tesla Model S Alpha build
    2012 Tesla Model S: More Factory Photos Released (Gallery)

    It seems that people just can't get enough of the 2012 Tesla Model S, the all-electric luxury sports sedan that SIlicon Valley startup Tesla Motors says it will put on sale in little more than a year from now. The factory has now released a whole set of new images, showing slight tweaks to the...

  • GE Solar Park
    More Sites Install Solar Carports For Electric-Car Charging

    It's the green ideal: Charging an electric car or plug-in hybrid using electricity generated purely from the sun. But it's not fiction; a handful of large, multi-space solar carports are popping up in areas as diverse as Silicon Valley, New York City, Detroit, and Tennessee. The latest one...

  • Protoscar Lampo3 electric prototype
    Protoscar Lampo3: Best Electric Sports Car You Can't Buy Yet?

    Protoscar isn’t new to designing and building electric car prototypes. The Swiss firm, who specializes in design and engineering, has previously revealed the Lampo and the Lampo2, both prototypes for electric sports cars. For 2011, the firm has taken a new direction with the Lampo3...

  • Assembly of Think City electric cars, Elkhart, Indiana, Jan 2011
    New Management, Structure, Cash For Electric-Car Maker Think?

    Back in January, we toured the Think electric-car assembly facility in Elkhart, Indiana, "the RV capital of the world." We got some striking photos of hundreds of the City electric two-seater cars that Think was gearing up to sell, assembled in the U.S. out of kits shipped from the manufacturing...

  • Aptera 2e development prototype at company offices in Vista, California

    One of the most remarkable--and most delayed--of the promised new generation of electric cars is the three-wheeled Aptera 2e. The unusual, highly aerodynamic vehicle was designed by a startup automaker in Southern California. The resin-bodied car was a finalist at last year’s Auto X-Prize competition despite early handling concerns. Like many startups, Aptera has struggled with management turnover, funding concerns, and an uncertain future for two years now. The company's application for low-interest loans from the Department of Energy has not been approved (unlike Tesla in June 2009...

  • Miata EV conversion
    Tesla Fun For THINK Prices? The EV Mazda Miata Conversion

    If we said you could own an electric car that offered four-fifths the fun of a 2012 Tesla Roadster 2.5 for less than a fifth the price, you might think we'd been illicitly inhaling gasoline fumes on the side. What you might not know is how close we are to the truth, and one that comes in the shape...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt charging port
    Need To Recharge An Electric Car? Check The Charging Station First 

    One of the liberating benefits to owning an electric car is the ability to plug in and charge up wherever there happens to be a purpose-built charging station, or indeed a standard domestic power outlet. But while most of the electric cars on sale in the U.S. today comply with the J1772 standard of...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf at quick-charging station
    U.S. Carmakers To Japan: Don't Need Your Stinkin' Fast-Charge

    So you bought a 2011 Nissan Leaf, and paid for the optional $700 quick-charge connector. Now you're able to get an 80-percent battery recharge in just 30 minutes, albeit from very few places right now. Promising, right? Not so fast, sonny. It appears that U.S. makers of electric cars are likely to...

  • Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson
    Top Gear: Doing Another Silly, Deceptive Electric-Car Stunt?

    Uh oh, here we go again. Or not? The crew of the British car show Top Gear have been spotted in the British town of Lincoln, traveling in a pair of electric cars, the 2011 Nissan Leaf and a Peugeot iOn (which will be sold in the States as the 2012 Mitsubishi 'i'). Hosts Jeremy Clarkson and James...

  • 2011 Volkswagen Bulli Concept live photos
    Concepts To Make Electric Cars Cool: VW Bulli, Nissan Esflow

    The 2011 Geneva Motor Show in March brought a number of new models out of the closet. But for the green car fan, two concepts were the gems of the show: the return of the legendary Volkswagen Microbus, and an electric sports car from Nissan that just might be affordable. Bulli for the Microbus The...

  • 2012 Ford Focus Electric Microsite

    The 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt had better watch out. The Blue Oval’s contender in the zero-emissions segment, the upcoming 2012 Ford Focus Electric, is edging closer to production. This week it gained a new microsite on the official Ford website. We already had a look at the car earlier this year at its official world debut at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show, and again at a special presentation in New York, but now many of the upcoming car’s specs are open for Joe Public to ogle. Visiting the site, we noticed immediately that Ford is keen to underscore the...

  • Earth Day: Eager Electric-Car Advocates Meet Unaware Public

    Three weeks ago, in a suburban park in Roseville, California--just outside the state capital, Sacramento--a community celebration of Earth Day served as a gathering of the greenest cars now available. Both participants and random park-goers were drawn to the cars, providing a chance for eager...

  • 2010 Jaguar C-X75 Concept live photos
    The Fastest, Coolest, Sexiest Supercars Now Come With Plugs

    Supercars: sleek, blindingly fast, ultra-expensive objects of lust for 14-year-old boys and sober-suited executives alike. For decades, supercars were powered solely by gasoline. But now there's a new gang in town, and they've upended all the rules. The newest, coolest, most jaw-dropping supercars...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf, Nashville, October 2010
    Is GM’s U.S. Boss Scared By The 2011 Nissan Leaf Electric Car?

    You’d hardly expect Mark Reuss, the North American President of General Motors, to be a fan of the primary rival to the company's 2011 Chevrolet Volt. But in a recent interview with the Nashville Business Journal, the man responsible for starting the GM Performance Division took his dislike...

  • Delta Motorsport E4 Electric Coupe, launch event at Silverstone race course, U.K., May 2011
    Delta Motorsport E4 Electric Coupe: LIVE PHOTOS From U.K. Launch

    It's not every day that a brand-new electric sports coupe is launched, much less at a fabled race course. So we're delighted to bring you these live photos from Silverstone race track in the U.K., where the Delta Motorsport E4 Electric Coupe is about to take to the tarmac. The sleek electric...

  • 2009 Mercedes-Benz S Class 5.5L V8 AWD
    Five Reasons Why Mercedes Should Make an All-Electric S-Class

    Earlier this week Motor Authority reported that bosses at German automaker Mercedes-Benz were unwilling to confirm or deny the rumors that it was considering an all-electric version of its luxury S-Class sedan. The automaker has confirmed that a facelifted 2013 S-Class will hit the streets late in...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf at dealership after software upgrade, May 2011, photo by George Parrott

    Nissan's new electric car, the 2011 Leaf, is rolling out slowly. Recently, it came to light that early-delivery vehicles are failing to start after the air conditioning has been used under certain circumstances. Nissan has developed a software update to fix the problem, and will install it in all affected Leafs for owners who bring in their cars. The update is supposed to take only about 60 minutes at Leaf-authorized Nissan service centers. But when I took in my Leaf (VIN #320) yesterday for a 9 am appointment, after 90 minutes the service manager came to the waiting area to tell me that "the...

  • John Duncan takes delivery of one of the first 2011 Nissan LEAF EVs, near Portland OR, 12/15/2010
    April Electric Car Sales: Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf Steady

    Sales of plug-in electric cars continued at a steady pace in April, with 493 Chevrolet Volts and 573 Nissan Leafs sold during the month. That brings yearly totals of the cars to 1,703 and 1,025 respectively. There were also 326 Volts and 19 Leafs sold last December, the month in which each car...

  • 2011 Wheego Whip LiFe at 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show
    Tough To Be Wheego: Germany Crushes Electric Car From 'Hand-To-Mouth' Startup

    It's hard to start a car company. Really, really, really, really, really hard. Which is why little Wheego Electric Cars is having a tough time of it at the moment. Last week, CEO Mike McQuary told industry trade journal Automotive News that the company was "living hand-to-mouth" and that its first...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt drive test, March 2011
    Chevy Volt Goes North For 2012, Priced At C$41,545 In Canada

    With Chevrolet on track to complete its rollout of the 2011 Volt range-extended electric car to all 50 states by the end of this year, the carmaker is turning its sites to other countries. And it's starting next door in one of the two closest foreign countries to the U.S., one right on our border...

  • Traffic in China
    China In 2050: 350 Million Vehicles, Many Electric Cars...And Gasoline Exports?

    The big unknown in global efforts to reduce carbon emissions is China. It is industrializing at a rapid pace, and a burgeoning middle class has savings galore to spend on its first automobiles--including luxury European brands. By some estimates, the world's current 800 million vehicles will grow...

  • Scenes from dedication of electric-car charging station at Creekside Inn, Palo Alto, CA
    Electric-Car Warning: Check Your Utility Bill Carefully!

    It is apparently quite possible that the local utility company that provides the power to charge your new electric vehicle may not have "all its ducks in a row" when it comes to charging you properly for that electricity. I recently bought both a 2011 Nissan Leaf and a 2011 Chevy Volt, and well...

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