Featured (was)
-
His party may be under increasing pressure from the Tea Party movement as it fights conservative attempts to stifle everything from healthcare reform to government spending, but President Obama is still keen to push the electric car revolution. Speaking at last night’s State of the Union Address, Obama clearly reiterated his desire to support the continuing innovation and development of fuel efficient and plug-in vehicles, echoing a campaign promise to get 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. Talking about technological revolution and citing the great inventions and...
-
Obama Doubles Down on Plug-In Cars, More Policy Tweaks ComingLast night, in his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama reiterated his support for expanding U.S. production and sales of plug-in cars that run on grid power. Today, according to the Detroit News, a slew of policy changes will be unveiled by Vice President Joe Biden to advance that...
John Voelcker -
Pre-Reserved a 2011 Nissan LEAF? Here’s What Happens NextWe know it may seem like an age since pre-reservations started for the 2011 Nissan LEAF, but unless you’re one of the lucky few who already either has a car or knows when to expect you probably don't know what should be happening after your first $99 has been taken to secure you a place in...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Nissan: 2011 LEAF Will Reach Full Production By MarchIf you’re one of the many thousands of would-be Nissan LEAF customers that have had their orders delayed due to a surprising lack of cars then you’ll be pleased to hear that Nissan has a plan to remedy the backlog. So far, around 3,000 LEAFs have been built at Nissan’s Oppama...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Rent A Tesla For $25/Hour, Just Plan Your Charging CarefullyThe all-electric Tesla Roadster is probably the world's best advertisement for electric cars. While crude, cramped, and expensive, its 0-to-60-mph time of 3.9 seconds will make a convert out of any electric skeptic. But thus far, Tesla Motors has built only 1,500 Roadsters, and the car was always...
John Voelcker -
How Chrysler's Hydraulic Hybrid Works: Energy From PressureChrysler has come out of hibernation with a bang, as far as green and more fuel-efficient vehicles are concerned. The company announced Wednesday that it would partner with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to build and test prototypes of a different kind of hybrid vehicle, one that...
John Voelcker -
If you're eagerly waiting for the first 2011 Scion iQ minicar to show up at your dealer, sit down and have a nice cup of tea. You're going to have wait a bit longer. Scion's parent, Toyota, is delaying the U.S. launch of the iQ, originally scheduled to happen by March of this year, to sometime this summer. tC in the spotlight Spokesman Greg Thome said the delay stemmed from prototypes from Japan being delivered "a couple of months" late. He also noted that Scion wanted to push the launch forward so it could focus its marketing efforts on the redesigned 2011 Scion tC sport coupe. That car was...
-
Audi Toys With New Electric Car, Pedals Future in NuremburgAfter initially appearing skeptical about the electric car, Audi has been busy over the past few years with a selection of plugin hybrid and fully electric-powered concepts, showing them off at prestigious events such as the Le Mans 24 hour race. But unlike the R8 e-tron, R4 e-tron spyder and A1...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Weekend Wheels: 2011 Nissan Juke--What Do You Want To Know?We like small cars, not only because they're fuel efficient but because they're usually more fun and engaging to drive than larger ones. But this being winter in the Northeast, we also need an all-wheel-drive vehicle on weekends, when we head up into the mountains. And that severely limits the...
John Voelcker -
Mitsubishi Switches On: 6 More Plug-in Electric Cars by 2015In case you didn’t know, Mitsubishi is in the midst of a dramatic corporate change of direction. While it may be more known for its pickup trucks, SUVs and rally cars, the automaker is planning to build on the success of its 2011 i-Miev electric car by unveiling at least six more plug-in...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2012 Mercedes-Benz C-Class: Half of Sales To Be High-MPG FoursMercedes-Benz likes to launch technologies and lead trends, but sometimes they follow along with the crowd. In this case, Hyundai's doing it. Chevy's doing it. Chrysler's going to do it. Even Porsche will be doing it. And now Mercedes-Benz has joined the gang: The luxury carmaker too will fit a...
John Voelcker -
2012 Tesla Model S Oozes Class in First Official Road VideoIt was announced nearly 3 years ago and we’ll not see it on the roads for another year, but Tesla’s Model S has made another important step towards production: the obligatory drive-by road video. As our John Voelcker reported yesterday over at GreenCarReports, the all-electric...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
The converted Audi A2 electric car which hit the headlines back in October last year by apparently driving 375 miles on a single charge has been destroyed in a warehouse fire in Berlin. While the German police investigate the cause of the fire, no official statements have been made about the fire, although DBM energy has released a statement saying its ultra-high capacity Hummingbird Lithium-polymer based battery was not in the vehicle at the time of the fire. When DBM Energy’s CEO Mirko Hannemann drove the converted A2 from Munich to Berlin last year his company attracted a lot of...
-
Now We Know: This Will Be The New 2012 Ford Escape HybridFord was clearly one of the stars of last week's Detroit Auto Show, launching green vehicles and concepts across a wide range of fuel-saving technologies. The company unveiled just a single concept, the Vertrek crossover, but it's an important one. The production version of the Vertrek will be the...
John Voelcker -
Life After Top Gear: “The Stig” Goes Electric, Joins EV CupWhat happens when the masked marvel of the highly popular and highly anti-electric car BBC Show Top Gear leaves? He starts racing electric cars, of course. Since his fiery departure from the prime-time entertainment show after he unveiled his identity, racing driver and stuntman Ben Collins has...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Toyota Seeks To Ditch Rare Earth Metals from Electric MotorsAs hybrid cars and electric vehicles increase in market share, rare earth metals like neodymium - a soft metal which is used to create the ultra-strong magnets used in electric motors - are becoming increasingly expensive and sought-after. But it’s not just demand causing a rise in prices...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Hybrids Redux: Chrysler 300 Hybrid Sedan To Launch In 2013Chrysler's got bigger problems right now than whether or not it builds hybrid cars. After quickly spiffing up of its line of aging, unappealing cars and crossovers for 2011, the company's engineers are deep into designing modern, fuel efficient compact and midsize Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep vehicles...
John Voelcker -
Do High Electricity Tariffs Make CA Electric Cars Costly?California might be considered the U.S. spiritual home of the electric car, but according to a new study by Purdue University in indiana the cost of charging electric cars in California may be higher than anywhere else in the U.S. Or is it? According to the university’s Wally Tyner, the James...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
If Tesla Motors had a single message to convey at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show, it was this: We're a real car company. Rather than show a completed prototype of its Model S all-electric luxury sports sedan, scheduled to launch by the end of 2012, the company showed the car's shell. That allowed other carmakers to look it over, see that it wasn't based on any other company's platform or structure, and pass their own judgment on the structural engineering, suspension design, and of course the slimline battery pack that forms the floorpan. And visit they did, including no less a luminary than...
-
Why The 2011 Chevy Volt Won North American Car of the YearEarlier this week the judges in the North American Car of the Year announced that the 2011 Chevrolet Volt had won the coveted NACOTY prize. At the press conference kicking off the start of the 2011 Detroit Auto Show, the NACTOY team announced that the 50 or so automotive journalists representing a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Next Dodge Caliber To Go On Sale In Jan 2012, But As A SedanThe new, post-bankruptcy Chrysler Corporation is busily renovating every model in its lineup under the direction of its soon-to-be owner Fiat. While it had buffed up its Dodge Caliber compact hatchback for 2010, the company is hard at work on an all-new replacement for the Caliber. And it's likely...
John Voelcker -
Washington State Pioneers Electric-Car Scenic Tourism RouteThe Pacific Northwest is a remarkably scenic corner of the continental United States. The striking coastal ranges of Washington and Oregon offer dramatic vistas, temperature (if often damp) weather, and dozens of outdoor activities within a few hours' drive. Now those drives can be done in electric...
John Voelcker -
Range Anxiety? Brit Proves Electric Cars Can Go The DistanceYesterday we covered the unexpected electric car challenge from a Tesla fan to the BBC journalist driving the 400+ mile trip from London to Edinburgh in a prototype 2009 MINI E David Peilow, a regular at TeslaMotorsClub.Com, took some time off from his work to prove that not all electric cars were...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Tesla Fan Drives Epic Electric Car Trip To Prove BBC WrongThe British Broadcasting Corporation, considered to be the center-pin of television and radio in the U.K., has always had a cautious view of the benefits of electric vehicles, often choosing to illustrate the limited range of electric cars in articles rather than the positive benefits. In typical...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield