Featured (was)
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As we count down the months before the first 2011 Chevrolet Volts arrive at dealers in California, New York, Michigan, and Washington, D.C., it's time for the latest reboot of the Chevy marketing machine to kick into action. Chevrolet said in a press conference last week it would start running ads for the 2011 Volt extended-range electric vehicle this week. Right on schedule, a variety of ads has now hit the New York market. The company ran a full-page ad in NYC-market copies of The New York Times on Independence Day, when its Freedom Drive Austin-to-New York City road trip wound up at the...
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Japanese Firm Lets EVs Refill Faster Than a Gas CarWhat can you do in three minutes? Boil a egg? Buy a Coffee? Check your Mail? Visit the bathroom? Thanks to Japanese based JFE Engineering, you can now add half-charging your EV to the list, courtesy of its ultra-fast charge station. Designed to comply with the CHAdeMo standard developed by Tokyo...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
World-Record Gas-Mileage Champ For Sale, From 1959, For $425K. Ahem.It's the Friday before a long holiday, which means most of you aren't around to read this. But for those who are, here's our bit of green-car randomness to launch the Independence Day celebrations. How would you like to own a semi-derelict, half-century-old, very odd-looking German car that holds a...
John Voelcker -
2011 Chevy Volt: Freedom Drive Underway, GM Offers T-ShirtsTaking a break from the relentless drumbeat of news about Tesla Motors, its stock offering this week, and the latest model of its electric two-seater, the Roadster 2.5--we bring you a story about the upcoming 2011 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric vehicle. Specifically, a Volt is now en route...
John Voelcker -
BREAKING: The Tesla Roadster 2.5 Is More Than Just A Few TweaksTesla have taken cues from the world of software design as it announces the latest set of upgrades to its world-famous Tesla Roadster. But unlike a minor software upgrade, the Tesla 2.5 model gives customers a whole lot more than a few performance tweaks. Just days after its IPO and with shares...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
IPO Or Not, Tesla Won't Survive As Independent, Analysts SayQuick, name the last automaker to go public before yesterday's Tesla Motors IPO. Stumped? It was Ford Motor Company. The year was 1956. Perhaps buyers of Tesla Motors stock [NSDQ:TSLA] were optimistic because they had little context to assess the comapny. Tesla's stock soared from its offering...
John Voelcker -
When auto editors go on vacation, we rent cars too. Which is how a pair of very plain 2010 Toyota Corollas in South Africa taught us a few lessons about fuel economy, green value, and what other countries drive. The bottom line: U.S. buyers get a lot more car, for a lot less money, than elsewhere in the world. Toyota has built cars in South Africa for many years, avoiding punitive duties on imported cars that have kept local car manufacturing humming for decades. Toyota minivans are everywhere, used as taxis and minibuses all over Africa. We actually drove past Toyota's giant Prospecton...
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Think Unveils EVCup Race-Ready City: Faster, Lighter, LeanerThere was a time when 'electric vehicle racing' was nothing more than an oxymoron. While teams of dedicated engineers, speed junkies and volt-heads have lit up drag strips with custom-built EV quarter-mile kings for years, the concept of racing production electric vehicles has yet to take off. But...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Tesla Stock Surges Nearly 41 Percent On First Day Of TradingWall Street investors rallied behind Tesla (Nasdaq:TSLA) today, with the electric car start-up’s share price surging nearly 41 percent on its first day of trading on Nasdaq. Tesla’s share price ended the day at $23.89 a share, a gain of $6.89 on its opening price of $17. Just the day before...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Has The 2011 Volt Become A Hybrid Instead Of An EV? GM Says No.Is one of the most anticipated EVs to launch this year nothing more than a plug-in-hybrid? Or has miscommunication led to a rumor that the 2011 Chevy Volt will run on gasoline only at highway speed? In an article for the U.K's Telegraph newspaper, motoring journalist Andrew English shared his...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Gordon Murray's T25 Minicar Finally RevealedNews of Gordon Murray's decision to build a low-cost minicar created quite a stir when it was announced last year. That stir was in part because of the key driving force behind the project, Gordon Murray, ex-McLaren F1 designer and the pen behind the Caparo T1 supercar, but also because the car...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Video: What Would A Toyota Prius Say About You?We already know that many Toyota Prius owners have a very special bond with their cars. It’s this connection with the Prius that many rival automakers would love to emulate but are struggling to do so. Mention the word “hybrid” and the first vehicle almost everyone will think of is...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Microsoft’s New Kinect For Xbox 360 is about to revolutionize the way we play video games, while the upcoming 2011 Chevrolet Volt will do the same in terms of the type of cars we drive. Now the two technology pioneers have come together, with new car buyers soon to have a new way of getting information, as well as an overall feel for the Chevrolet Volt, via Microsoft’s latest Kinect for Xbox 360. Kinect for Xbox 360 is essentially a controller-free interface for the Xbox 360 game console. Users basically direct hand gestures, spoken commands or presented objects and images towards a video...
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Move Over Tesla. There’s a Mercedes Gullwing SLS AMG E-Cell Behind You.Until now the words electric, car and Mercedes have had an uncomfortable union. While Mercedes' cheapest car, the diminutive Smart ForTwo, has an electric version, its 62.5 mph top speed is hardly enough to get car buyers excited about converting to electric. But Mercedes super-sexy, bright yellow...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Tesla IPO Doc Reveals Plans For Crossover, Cabrio And Commercial VehicleTesla has previously hinted that its electric powertrain technology could be applied to a number of vehicle platforms and that the company would eventually expand its lineup beyond the current Roadster and upcoming Model S sedan. In fact, at Tesla’s announcement of interest in acquiring a $465...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Could Hit 40 MPGThe 2011 Hyundai Sonata has been a huge sales hit for the Korean car company, outpacing the Chevrolet Malibu and Nissan Altima in recent months. The news could get better for Hyundai later this year, as the new sedan gets a greener version that could hit a class-best fuel economy target. Hyundai's...
Martin Padgett -
Chrysler Has Green StrategyA few years back Chrysler was working on all manner of electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid technologies, even going so far as to release a number of concepts as well as establish a separate division called ENVI to develop them into production models. Ever since Chrysler’s bankruptcy and eventual...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
2011 Honda CR-Z: First DriveWhat do you get when you take some of the inspiration of Honda’s much-loved CRX two-seater from the 1980s and cross it with the also-much-loved Insight coupe from the past decade, then give it the latest version of Honda’s hybrid system? Honda says you get the 2011 Honda CR-Z...
Martin Padgett -
The ink's barely dry on the Tesla - Toyota deal that gives the startup electric-car maker a new manufacturing home. But today, Tesla's going public with some details on how it plans to use the former NUMMI facility in Fremont, California, to build its mainstream 2012 Tesla Model S sedan. The former New United Motors Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) plant was the old GM-Toyota factory that built vehicles like the Toyota Tacoma and Pontiac Vibe, until the companies ended their joint venture in the wake of the GM bankruptcy last year. Earlier this month, Tesla and Toyota announced the Japanese...
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Preview: 2011 Volkswagen JettaSales of the new 2010 Volkswagen Golf (MkVI) are picking up pace all around the country and considering the car’s solid feel, classy styling and German engineering, it’s easy to understand why. Oh, did we mention that it’s also available with a dual clutch transmission and a frugal...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
What Will The True Residual Value of a Used EV Be? Toyota May Provide the Answer.If you're lucky you may already be on a waiting list for the 2011 Nissan Leaf. Or perhaps you've decided to get the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. If your next car is electric it could easily immunize you from fluctuating gas prices and ensure low running costs. But what will that shiny new electric car be...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Drive An Electric Race Car From Alaska to S America? Why Not?The British have a long history of improbable and unlikely quests. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they fail. So the attempt by a group of 20-something engineers to boost the image of electric cars in the public eye by driving the length of the Pan-American Highway in an electrically powered...
John Voelcker -
How Many Million Priuses Would Offset the Gulf Oil Spill?One million gallons a day is a lot of oil. According to estimates late last week, that could be the daily rate of oil escaping from the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico. To put that number in perspective, we decided to look at what it would take to compensate just for the lost gasoline...
John Voelcker -
The Future of Electric Cars Could Lie in...Afghanistan?Electric cars like the 2011 Nissan Leaf require lots of lithium and other precious heavy metals to make them go. Today's sources of lithium are far and few: Bolivia has something like 40 percent of the world's deposits, while Russia, South Africa, Chile and Argentina have some. This weekend, the...
Martin Padgett