Plug-In Hybrids

Look out, owners of 200-mph testosterone-supplement poster cars. If there ever was a real hypercar, it's the Volkswagen XL1. Although in recent years the term hypercar has been distorted—to include cars that are faster (and often even thirstier) than those supercars from Lamborghini, Ferrari...

Hybrids and plug-in electric cars probably get more press than they deserve, given how small their numbers are in the vehicle fleet. The U.S. has roughly 250 million vehicles on the roads, of which less than 2 percent are hybrids and plug-ins of all kinds. Nonetheless, both technologies are...

Information is power, right? More precisely, based on an interview last week with Mike Tinskey, Ford’s Director of Global Vehicle Electrification and Infrastructure, information is both what buyers of the brand’s Energi plug-in hybrids want to feel empowered, and what they need to get...

"We're proud the Audi A3 e-tron doesn't look like an electric car." Ouch. If Audi is truly serious about electric vehicles, that probably isn't the phrase we'd have chosen to prove it, while showing off its new plug-in hybrid A3 model. But then, the Ingolstadt automaker might be on to...

While the assembled hoardes drooled over Ferraris, Porsches and McLarens at March's Geneva Motor Show, those of a greener disposition were more interested in another vehicle. Launched alongside the hybrid hypercars was a true hybrid supercar in its own right--the plug-in diesel hybrid Volkswagen...

Audi's 'tron' program has been, well, a little confusing over recent years. Back in the early days it was oh so simple--one concept car, known simply as the Audi e-tron, represented Audi's foray into future mobility. Since then it seems a dozen models have come and gone, but after presentations...

Mitsubishi has recalled 4,313 of its Outlander Plug-In Hybrids in Japan to fix a potential defect that it identified last month. The company resumed production of the plug-in hybrid Outlander after discovering the cause of a fire in one lithium-ion battery pack at a dealership in Japan. The first...

Plug-in car sales continued at a steady pace in May, with early estimates of perhaps 6,500 to 7,000 sold overall. As always, precise figures are impossible because Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] does not report monthly sales as every other carmaker does. We'll refine our totals as more reports come in...

The first examples of Cadillac's range-extended electric ELR have rolled down the assembly line at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck facility. That's where Chevrolet already assembles the Volt range-extended car, on which the more luxurious ELR coupe is based. Cadillac invited IndyCar driver Simona de...

Owners of electric cars and plug-in hybrids enjoy plenty of benefits: tax breaks, lower fuel costs, and the satisfaction that comes from driving a low- or zero-emission vehicle, to name a few. In California, owners also enjoy easier commutes: they can apply for special stickers that allow them to...

Lexus has announced a coupe version of its compact luxury sedan, the IS, will go on sale in 2014. The company hasn't confirmed whether a hybrid version will be made, though with the latest IS inspired by last year's LF-CC concept, itself a hybrid, such a thing is likely. The coupe is expected to...

The belief that electric cars must somehow perform badly in crashes is slowly being eroded, with many well-known examples scoring well in crash tests around the world. The 2013 Ford Fusion Energi, the plug-in hybrid variant of Ford's midsize offering, is the latest to join that list, with a top...

Sometime yesterday or today, the 100,000th modern plug-in electric car was delivered to a buyer somewhere in the U.S. The exact buyer and car will likely never be known. But any electric-car buyer taking delivery on either day can be forgiven for claiming a small share of the glory. The first...

Hybrids are hot property right now, but none more so than at the very top end of the market. Ferrari's unimaginatively-named LaFerrari, the McLaren P1 and the Porsche 918 will all utilize hybrid drivetrains, but it's the Porsche set to hit the market first. So imminent is the German firm's offering...

Sometime in the next few weeks, the 100,000th plug-in electric car will be sold in the U.S. But they're still mostly a mystery to the average new-car buyer, and there are a few key principles that get shared over and over again. Here they are, boiled down for easy consumption: eight things you need...

Not all plug-in electric cars rely on battery power alone; some also have gasoline engines as backups, for longer range or more power. Last year, we identified six plug-in hybrid vehicles on sale during 2013. This year, the list gains three new entries (from BMW, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi) and loses...

With two dozen hybrid models now on the market, and several mass-market plug-in hybrids as well, weighing costs and benefits can get a lot more complicated. Take, for instance, our reader Catherine Chan-Smith, who wrote to ask for advice: I've read your article on the 2014 Honda Accord Plug-In...

Sales of plug-in electric cars in April continued at roughly the same pace as in March, with sales likely totaling about 7,500 cars. Last year's first- and third-place plug-ins, the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf, are now pacing each other in sales. Their year-to-date totals are separated by less than...

Nissan's Leaf is one of the highest-profile electric cars on the market, but the automaker is working on other alternative-propulsion vehicles, too. According to What Car, Nissan is planning the launch of a plug-in hybrid vehicle within the next two years, and even a hydrogen fuel cell car by 2017...

There is, at the moment, only one production diesel plug-in hybrid car on sale, and it's currently only sold in Europe. That car is the Volvo V60 Plug-In Hybrid, combining the long-distance touring ability and economy of a diesel powertrain with the short-distance cleanliness and inexpense of...