Green Car News
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If most mainstream media outlets are to be listened to we are a few short years from seeing stranded EVs dotting our major highways after running out of electricity short of the next charging station, but is this really an accurate depiction of what life with an EV will be like? While traditional motoring journalists like the U.K's Fifth Gear may like to illustrate the weaknesses of the EV by taking them on impossibly long road-trips the cars are simply not designed for, the majority of early adopting EV owner won't suffer a mediocre of range anxiety. Here's just three reasons why. Early...
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Test Drive A Chevrolet Volt With Microsoft’s New Kinect For Xbox 360Microsoft’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...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Microsoft Offering Virtual Chevy Volt Test Drives With Kinect For Xbox 360We’ve heard a lot about the upcoming 2011 Chevrolet Volt, read up on all the specs, even seen a few videos of prototypes doing the rounds at GM proving grounds around Michigan, but sadly, for the great majority of Americans, getting a feel for what the Volt is really like to drive is still months...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Chinese EV Manufacturer BYD Announces New European HeadquartersHaving recently announced plans for its U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles, Chinese battery specialists and electric vehicle manufacturer BYD has now announced that it will establish its new European headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. The Shenzhen-based automaker is likely to build its latest...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Nissan May Sell Extended Range Vehicles Alongside Battery Electric CousinsThe 2011 Nissan Leaf electric vehicle is set to go on sale this December and order books for the car are filling up fast, with the first year’s allotment already gone. Infiniti, too, will get its own version of the Leaf as well as a new hybrid version of the M sedan, previewed by the 2012...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Nissan GT-R Chief Engineer Says Alternative Powerplant PossibleThe development and launch of the R35 Nissan GT-R was an epic achievement for the Japanese automaker. After all, Nissan was able design and engineer a sports car capable of outperforming exotic supercars with pricetags twice as high or more, as well as make it seat four adults in relative comfort...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Lotus Engineering, the British sports car companyâs automotive consultancy division, together with parts supplier Fagor Ederlan has announced today that it plans to develop its compact three-cylinder range extender engine for production. Lotus will be handling the engineering side while Fagor Ederlan will be supplying it to other firms, possibly including the major automakers, all around the globe. The three-cylinder 1.2-liter mill features aluminum "monoblock" construction, meaning the block, cylinder head, and even the exhaust manifold are integrated into a single casting...
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2011 Honda CR-Z Hybrid Starts From $19,200, On Sale August 24The sporty hybrid coupe will hit dealerships later this summer.
Nelson Ireson -
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 -
2010 Volkswagen GTI: Go-kart Like Fun With Room and Budget To SpareThe GTI Impresses With 200 HP And Well Equipped Pricing At $28K
Jonathan McGrew -
2010 Corvette Grand Sport: Middle Of the Road Isn’t As Bad As You ThinkSometimes Balance Is An Art
Jonathan McGrew -
90 Percent Of Nissan Leaf Customers New To BrandThe 2011 Nissan Leaf has been a runaway success for Nissan, with the Japanese automaker already taking in 14,000 reservations for the cute electric vehicle and order books filled out well into next year. The first Leafs--or is it Leaves?--will hit the streets in December and the big surprise is...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Tesla 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 million DOE loan last year, company execs revealed that the Model S platform could be used to spawn other vehicles including a minivan, a crossover and a utility van. Now, as revealed in official slides presented to the Road Show, a platform to promote one’s company to Wall Street investors, we have...
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Tesla's IPO Presentation Reveals Future Product PlansElon Musk and a slideshow have explained what's coming from Tesla.
Nelson Ireson -
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 -
Mitsubishi to slash 30% from 2011 i-Miev price, closes price gap on Nissan and Chevrolet.What happens when you're the first mainstream automaker to bring an EV to market after an eight-year absence of highway-capable, mass-produced EVs? Accolades a-plenty, lots of media attention and test-programmes worldwide. But what do you do when rival companies bring out a more versatile, more...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
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 -
Nissan Leaf Audio Warnings Disappoints Advocates, Need For Sound Questioned.Ever think of the benefits of EVs? Aside from the more obvious ones associated with not burning quite as much oil, zero tailpipe emissions and ease of driving many will cite the lack of engine noise. That last point however, may not be such a benefit to all and may even prove dangerous to those...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
At Home On the Track Or In the Dirt
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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 -
First 4,400 2011 Chevrolet Volt Buyers Eligible For Free In-Home Charging StationsThe grant works through the Department of Energy to help expand EV use.
Nelson Ireson -
Smart Drive App For iPhone: Who Needs COMAND or iDrive?For the upcoming 2011 Smart Electric Drive, which we drove at The Car Connection last week, the brand has rolled out a new app that essentially turns your iPhone into that.
Bengt Halvorson -
2011 Chevy Volt Engineers Work Out Final Software Glitches, U.K. Volt Attempts 170 Mile Trip.GM's answer to the 2011 Nissan Leaf, the 2011 Chevrolet Volt is nearing production readiness. But a European badged Volt is taking part in a publicity long-distance drive in the U.K., GM's Detroit engineers are still tweaking the software responsible for ensuring the 40 mile-per-charge range...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
One In Four Fords Could Feature Alternative Power By 2020Ford is at the forefront of the alternative power push, having been one of the first on the market with a hybrid vehicle and now less than a year away from launching its first all-electric model. However, we are still at the start of the alternative power revolution but in as little as a decade we...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran