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Con men are well known for their ability to sell their victims fake goods, extract money or even con them out of their homes. But con men traditionally prey on individuals, concentrating on the vulnerable, naive or greedy. So just how did con men convince an automotive giant to hand over nearly $380,000 in exchange for details of alleged industrial espionage in which electric vehicle secrets were being sold to competitors overseas? Honestly, we can’t begin to answer that question. But that’s exactly what joint Nissan/Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn has to do under increasing pressure...
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(VIDEO) Film Premiere, Earth Day: Electric Car Gets Revenge in New YorkIt was the film that many electric car advocates cite as the reason they drive electric, but now electric car “who done it?” documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? has a sequel: Revenge of the Electric Car. And as the film’s director Chris Paine tells us on the ROTEC website...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2011 Nissan Leaf Leaves Owners Stranded: What Really Happened?Every new car has a few teething problems, but a few reports of Nissan's all-electric Leaf running out of charge prematurely hasn't helped the age-old stereotype that electric cars will leave their owners stranded without power. But are these incidents as rare as the reports suggest and what...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Saturn Vue Returns As Chevy CaptivaThe shuttered Saturn brand is quickly fading from memory, but now GM plans to bring back one former Saturn model to live on in a new incarnation. But even if you're a Saturn fan, you won't be able to buy one--unless you're a business. Vue redux The compact crossover that sold for only two years as...
John Voelcker -
Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami Delay 2011 Leaf Production (UPDATED)Nissan has announced that as a consequence of Friday's devastating 9.0 earthquake and Tsunami in Japan production at all of its factories will remain halted until it has fully assessed the damage sustained to its factories, equipment and parts suppliers. Although Nissan's factories have been spared...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
What Ever Happened To...? 5 Electric Cars We Should Have by NowNissan may have got heat recently for its long, drawn out and significantly delayed rollout of the 2011 Nissan Leaf, but it isn’t the only company struggling to fulfil its own sales figures for 2011. Over the past two years there have been a whole barrage of cars which were promised to the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Think car buyers understand what a hybrid is, or a plug-in electric car? Think again. A new survey conducted by research firm Synovate finds that many of almost 1,900 new-car "buyers and intenders" don't understand how hybrid vehicles work. Worse, most of them don't seem to understand how conventional hybrids--which have now been sold in the U.S. for a decade--differ from cars that plug in. Survey data shows that most consumers consider buying fuel-efficient cars to save money, not for altruistic or environmental reasons. But we suspect unfamiliarity with these types of cars is bound to deter...
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You'll Pay $700 More For Gasoline This Year (If You're Average)According to the Department of Energy, the average U.S. household will pay $700 more for gasoline this year than it did in 2010. In a weekly review of the oil market, the department's Energy Information Administration noted that prices will rise at least 10 cents more over the current national...
John Voelcker -
Build Your Dream, or Disaster? Wikileaks, Buffet & Electric Car WoesAn open policy of reverse engineering, doors that fall off and shady sales practices are hardly the things you’d expect of an automaker trying to make it into the U.S. market. But as newly surfaced diplomatic cables published on Internet whistle-blowing site WikiLeaks show, the battery firm...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Fill Your Cart and Your Car: Supermarket Charges Electric CarsIn the past few years we’ve seen electric charge stations pop up everywhere from gas stations to electronics stores and banks. But now electric car owners in the Pacific Northwest have a new place to charge: the grocery store. Enter Fred Meyer Store. Based in Portland Oregon, the firm has...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
How Much Does a Tesla Model S Battery Pack Cost You? We do the MathYesterday Tesla Motors Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Ownership Experience George Blankenship wrote an update on the upcoming Model S electric sedan on the company blog. Alongside an update on the alpha testing of Tesla’s much anticipated seven seat sedan, Blankenship outlined the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2011 Chevy Cruze Eco Gas Mileage: We Get 34 MPG--Which Is FineWith political uncertainty in oil-producing states, and the rising gas prices that brings, you can expect to see a lot more headlines saying "40 MPG!" We just did a quick overnight road test of a 2011 Chevrolet Cruze Eco with the six-speed manual transmission, which the EPA rates at 28 mpg city and...
John Voelcker -
It may be the first full scale, all-electric production car from a major automaker to be sold in the U.S. but Nissan hasn’t exactly been quick to get it into the hands of customers. That should change however with the announcement that the Japanese factory responsible for making the five-seat family hatchback is set to double production over the next month. At the moment, one in every six cars coming off Nissan’s Oppama production line is a Leaf. By the end of March, Nissan has promised every third car will be a Leaf. Just like its rival the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, the 2011 Leaf is...
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2011 Nissan Leaf vs 2011 Chevy Volt: Strengths & Weaknesses, By The Man Who Owns BothMany comments are appearing on the internet taking enthusiastic positions for either the new 2011 Chevy Volt or the 2011 Nissan Leaf. It seems most readers are in one "camp" or the other. In our household, after studying the technical strengths and features of both cars as they moved from concept...
George Parrott -
Social Networking for Your Electric Car? Crowd-Source a PlugWe all know cars like the 2011 Nissan Leaf feature smart GPS systems capable of locating the nearest official electric car charging stations, but what happens when you combine the power of a social network with the need to plug your electric car in? Enter PlugShare, a new crowd-sourced way to find...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Photo Gallery: Think City Assembly Plant Tour, Elkhart, IndianaDuring the Detroit Auto Show in January, we visited the Think electric-car assembly plant in Elkhart, Indiana. It's not necessarily a place you'd expect to find electric cars being put together, but the rows of electric two-seat hatchbacks in blue, red, and black turned out to be surprisingly...
John Voelcker -
Do Businesses Need an Electric Vehicle Experience? GE Thinks SoVehicle tours, the de facto way of getting a new electric car in front of the people most likely to buy it, are pretty much an accepted stage in any electric car rollout from a major automaker. So why is General Electric, a company which doesn’t even make an electric car embarking on its own...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
With Green Cars, A License To Drive More?Sweden has, for several years, led the world in per-capita green-car ownership. And it's managed to strengthen economically without increasing industrial carbon emissions. But it's emitting more from its tailpipes. Swedes are driving more—enough to wipe away any the gains from greener...
Bengt Halvorson -
This year's Geneva Motor Show was absolutely crammed with concept cars. But amidst all the outrageous styling and one-of-a-kind features, several important production cars showed up as well. Not all of them were called production cars, mind you. Toyota, Ford, and Audi all showed off new models thinly disguised with the "Concept" label stuck on the back. But make no mistake. Every car shown here will go into production, offering new, more fuel-efficient entries in segments not previously identified as green. Ford B-Max Compact Minivan While technically Ford calls this the "B-Max Concept,"...
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2011 Geneva Motor Show: VW Microbus Brought Into 21st CenturyThere are very few vehicles so instantly recognisable world-wide as Volkswagen’s iconic VW microbus. But while examples of the rear-engined classic have unofficially been receiving electric drivetrain transplants for decades courtesy of electric vehicle devotees, we haven’t seen an...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Video: Rolls-Royce 102 EX Phantom Electric, Geneva Motor ShowAn all-electric Rolls-Royce Phantom. Just think about it: If the engineers do their jobs properly, the occupants should sense absolutely no difference in the near-silent, creamy smooth surge of power that wafts them from estate to yacht, or factory to mansion. And now we have video, courtesy of...
John Voelcker -
Charge Anywhere: Zero Launches 2011 XU Electric MotorcycleImagine the scenario. You want to ride an electric motorcycle but your apartment is on the 28th floor, there are no power sockets or reserved parking in your apartment garage and the idea of dragging your ride up to your apartment in the lift isn’t an option. So just how do you get to run...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
BYD-Daimler Electric Car Partnership Approved: Who Gets What?Cooperation between automotive brands is hardly new, but on the face of it the latest joint automotive project between the owner of luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz and an upstart Chinese battery firm best known for missing its own deadlines isn't that obvious. Peel back the layers however and it...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Toyota to Launch Home Electric Car Charger, Jumping into a Crowded MarketToyota, maker of the hybrid Prius and the upcoming plug-in version of the Prius, will launch its own home electric car charger, jumping into what is shaping up to be a crowded market. Major companies and startups alike have surged into the electric car charging segment. GE launched the WattStation...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat