History
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Electric cars have the great advantage that their batteries can be recharged anywhere there's electricity. It may not be particularly fast, though modern plug-in vehicles get at least 60 miles overnight, and often double or triple that. But a century ago, drivers of gasoline cars had just as much range anxiety as electric-car drivers—especially if they wanted to take long road trips. DON'T MISS: Ford Model T: what was its fuel economy, really? Today's global network of gasoline and diesel filling stations has developed over 100 years, but it didn't exist at the turn of the 20th century...
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Classic Mini converted to electric previews 2019 Mini E to come
With a new, all-electric Mini E set to arrive in dealerships in a year or less, BMW wants to highlight the idea of a Mini Cooper powered by batteries. That's what led it to display an "old Mini" converted to electric power at a reception before last week's New York auto show. Sadly, the car wasn't...
John Voelcker -
Appreciating the i-MiEV: oldest modern electric car still in production after 10 years
Think back, if you can, to early 2008. In the real world, that's just 10 years ago, but in electric-car time, it's several millennia. The Tesla Roadster had been announced, but hadn't yet struggled into production. The Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt were still deep in development, and the plan for a...
John Voelcker -
Electric-car pioneer Paul Scott looks back on 15 years of plugging in
Most of the U.S. was unaware that modern electric cars got their start in California between 1996 and 2002. Many of the earliest owners and EV advocates from those days remain involved 20 years later, though their names may be familiar only to a small group of activists. One of those people is Paul...
John Voelcker -
Will Tesla Model S be a "collector car"? Tuckers are, but Kaisers aren't: why?
Startup carmaker Tesla is just coming up on the 10th anniversary of its first delivery, the first of the 2,500 Roadster two-seat electric sports cars that launched it into world awareness. The company recently delivered its 300,000th car, putting it well ahead of all but one other startup carmaker...
John Voelcker -
Ford Model T: what was its fuel economy, really?
In a recent video posted to YouTube, environmental advocacy group The Sierra Club dialed up production values to call out Ford's lobbying efforts to roll back fuel-economy standards. The video showed a man getting into a modern-day Ford, starting the engine, then noting the shift lever had an array...
Mark Stevenson -
This month marks the 75th year since the death of famed inventor and and electrical innovator Nikola Tesla, a man whose life is as interesting as his technical achievements. Tesla, a Serbian who was born in what's now Croatia, brought the world numerous innovations in electricity that, to this day, define how we live. On January 7th, Tesla was found dead in a hotel room by one of the hotel's maids, bringing to an end a long 86-year journey peppered with cataclysmic events that would shape his life forever. DON'T MISS: Nikola Tesla drives Tesla Model S: amateur fan video imagines Tesla is best...
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Electric cars 'right around the corner' in 1966: what took so long?
Looking at yesterday's visions of tomorrow is always entertaining, from flying cars to cities of the future. In the case of the electric car, there have been two futures: one from 1890 to about 1910, and then another starting 100 years later in 2011. The intervening century saw many, many...
John Voelcker -
Will electric cars take over as quickly as cars displaced horses from 1900 to 1925?
So here's a question for you: when was the last time you traveled by horse to ... well, to anywhere other than the stable you started from? In 1900, horses were the de facto way for Americans to travel, whether riding them or in horse-drawn carts. By 1925, that had changed: 15 years of the Ford...
John Voelcker -
The US Senate once had its own electric cars: two Studebakers that ran underground
One advantage of electric cars is that unlike gasoline or steam cars, they have no emissions. More than a century ago, that was why the U.S. Capitol acquired two custom-built electric cars, nicknamed "Tommy" and "Peggy." They were built by Studebaker, an early and hallowed U.S. car brand that...
John Voelcker -
Ethanol wasn't killed by Prohibition at Rockefeller's request: another alt-fuel myth busted
For almost a century, many people have blamed oil magnate John D. Rockefeller for the demise of ethanol as a viable fuel for internal-combustion engines. He fought its use, the theory goes, to eliminate competition for the gasoline derived from his Standard Oil business—whose descendant...
Sean Szymkowski -
Alt-fuel history: Ford Model T wasn't designed for multiple fuels, really
The myth surrounding the car that's credited with putting America on wheels simply isn't true: the Ford Model T was never meant to run fuels other than gasoline. The myth has circulated throughout the car's history, most recently thanks to the internet. It has mostly taken the form of a legend in...
Sean Szymkowski -
It can be argued that the current presidential administration appears to lack interest in the traditional mission of the Environmental Protection Agency. As a candidate, Donald Trump advocated wholesale repeal of environmental regulations and increased production of fossil fuels. He has also called climate science a "hoax" created by China to hurt the U.S. As president, Trump picked Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA. Pruitt is a climate-science denier who sued the agency he now leads multiple times over its enforcement of environmental regulations. DON'T MISS: Auto lobby again asks to redo...
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Overall U.S. vehicle fleet gas mileage rose only slightly over last 25 years
The average fuel economy of the new cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. is appreciably higher than it was 10 years ago. The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute has demonstrated that in its regular reports calculating new-car average fuel economy since October 2007. But...
Stephen Edelstein -
Nikola Tesla drives Tesla Model S: amateur fan video imagines
As an auto company that exclusively produces electric cars, Tesla Motors has a very appropriate name. It is, of course, named after Nikola Tesla, a famed engineer who pioneered technologies related to electricity. So what might Nikola Tesla think of his namesake? DON'T MISS: Pilot production of...
Stephen Edelstein -
The original biofuel for motor vehicles: wood (and why we don't use it today)
When it comes to alternative fuels, the discussion usually centers around compressed natural gas, or biofuels like ethanol or biodiesel. But before the concept of low-carbon or carbon-neutral fuels even existed, a few early makers and desperate drivers tried something completely different. They...
Stephen Edelstein -
Modern electric cars at 20: from EV1 to Bolt EV, where are we now?
Twenty years ago today, the very first GM EV1 electric cars were delivered to 40 lessees in California in a blaze of publicity. Since then, plug-in electric vehicles have seen more than their share of ups and downs. That first EV1 was a high-tech two-seater created specifically to meet California's...
John Voelcker -
VW ends contract of historian researching its WW2 past; questions remain
Volkswagen is under scrutiny after ending the contract of a prominent historian.
Stephen Edelstein -
Exxon researched hybrid cars in the 1970s, then ignored them.
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Hydrogen cars celebrate half a century; have they made a difference?
Electric cars are virtually as old as the auto industry, but hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles are not. In fact, exactly fifty years ago this month, GM showed off the first one, which it called the Electrovan. This remarkable and innovative prototype for a zero-emission vehicle used the body of an...
John Voelcker -
The 12 most influential green cars in history
The automobile has been with us since 1885, but only over the last 50 years have governments started to face up to its ill effects on the environment. The world's major car markets have mostly now legislated increasing levels of fuel economy and reduced tailpipe emissions not only of gases directly...
John Voelcker -
Fuel-cell concepts from 50 years ago: famed designer Brooks Stevens
Most car buyers would be hard-pressed to name a single automobile designer working today. But it wasn't always that way: names like Raymond Loewy and Harley Earl were known well outside the design studios where they created the "cars of tomorrow." A half-century-old concept from designer Brooks...
John Voelcker -
Super Slot Car: Electric Drag Racing Via V-12 Engine And Cables!
The sport of drag racing has been with us almost as long as the automobile has. Over the last decade, advances in high-power lithium-ion batteries have given rise to a new variant: electric drag racing. But before modern batteries existed, how could you possibly make a competitive electric...
John Voelcker -
Overall U.S. Fuel Economy: Higher Now Than In 1923, But Only A Little
U.S. average fuel economy did not increase dramatically between 1923 and 2013.
Stephen Edelstein