neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs)

The harsh reality of high costs and the inexorable heft of the auto industry have claimed another electric-car startup. GreenTech Automotive opened a plant in Mississippi in 2014, first saying it would manufacture a small, two-seat electric vehicle called the MyCar there. It later struck a deal...

China overtook the U.S. last year to become the world's largest market for electric cars. But a large portion of the vehicles included in Chinese new-car sales tallies are low-speed electric vehicles that would not meet U.S. standards for highway-capable cars. Now Chinese regulators are paying more...

Mahindra is launching a four-door version of its Reva e2o electric car.

The Renault Twizy has always been an unusual vehicle, the sole low-speed electric vehicle to carry the brand of a major global automaker. Sold in a number of European countries, it's been tested here and there in North America. To date, the only way to experience a Twizy has been to rent one from...

In San Francisco, driving a bright-red tandem two-seat electric Renault Twizy gets you noticed--by everyone from sweet little old ladies to skate punks. Even on Castro Street. On Halloween. We spent a weekend with the low-speed electric vehicle, which is just being added to the Scoot Networks fleet...

With hundreds of thousands of plug-in electric cars from established automakers (and Tesla) on North American roads, most earlier startup carmakers have now largely faded away. One is Wheego Electric Cars, which took the same approach as Coda: Adapt a Chinese-built vehicle with a battery pack and...

There are lots of very good plug-in electric cars for sale now, and quite a few of them--especially Nissan Leafs--are starting to show up on used-car lots as three-year leases expire. We recently suggested some used hybrid-electric vehicles to avoid on the used-car lot. Now we turn to electric...

The Chinese vehicle market is now the world's largest, and has been for a few years now. And the country's government-industrial complex has ambitious plans to dominate global production of plug-in electric vehicles, both for reasons of competitiveness and as one effort to start to reduce its...

Friday's the day we use for the stranger and more oddball stories in our lineup, and one of the more unusual we've seen in a while comes from Harvard University. It's an article--actually a handful of articles--covering research by a scholar of "disruption" who argues that Silicon Valley startup...

Not all electric vehicles are created the same--and that's an important point to keep in mind when you read stories about how China's electric-car market is set to overtake that of the U.S. Last year, roughly 118,000 battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars were sold in the U.S. In China, monthly...

Four of Europe's six mass-market carmakers have long sold cars in North America. The exceptions, for a quarter of a century, have been the two French makers: PSA Peugeot Citroën and Renault. Now it appears that Renault may be considering a return to the continent, using its Twizy low-speed...

Wicker might not be your first choice of construction material when designing a vehicle, but the world was a very different place in 1915. If you lived in San Diego at the time, the sight of an Electriquette silently whirring past may have been quite familar. The wicker-bodied electric vehicles...

There was a time--not that long ago--when country music was predictable. Usually it involved a dog, a pickup truck, and a lost lady-love. Then alternative folk came along. And it brought electric cars with it. Enter self-styled alternative folk singer/songwriter Deb Seymour, and her latest single...

A few years ago the idea that mainstream european automakers would be focusing so much effort on minuscule electric urban runabouts would have been met with derision. But a few weeks after it unveiled its third generation two-seat urban concept vehicle at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, Renault has...

We brought you news last year of a horrific accident, in which a woman was killed when her G-Wiz neighborhood electric vehicle, a model not sold in the United States, was struck by another vehicle. An inquest into the accident has now ended and the verdict has been given as accidental death. Last...

It’s a well-known fact that just like humans, electric cars work best in temperate climates. But what is the coldest temperature an electric car needs to be operational in? And just how do you test that? While we’ve proven that cars like the 2011 Tesla Roadster can more than adequately...

What can $25,000 buy you? If you’re in the market for a new electric car it’s unlikely to get you much, although we’ve pointed out before those who live in just the right state and have just the right job can pay just $12,280 for a 2011 Nissan Leaf or purchase a 2011 Think City...

You wouldn’t know it, but until recently Chrysler was responsible for one of the most recognizable electric vehicle brands worldwide. But like the embarrassing cousin at the family reunion, Chrysler’s ownership of low-speed Neighborhood Electric Vehicle manufacturers Global Electric...

Is it a car? Is it a scooter? No: It's a Twizy, which could be considered a combination of the two. If you're following the world of electric cars with a keen eye then you'll no doubt be aware that French manufacturer Renault is taking electric vehicles quite seriously, just like its Japanese...

Tucked away in a little corner just off Hall 6 at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, something weird and frightening lurked. Hiding behind the shiny stands of Kia and Smart and sitting in what looked like a poorly-carpeted entrance foyer, a collection of electric motoring misfits vied for the attention of...