Plug-In Hybrids

Retail car buyers have to juggle a lot of factors in choosing a car, including image, family approval, and maybe-one-day-I'll-drive-across-the-country dreams. That may preclude a battery electric vehicle like a Nissan Leaf, with its 73-mile range. Commercial fleet buyers, on the other hand, look at...

Images of Infiniti’s much anticipated Emerg-E range-extended electric sports concept car might have leaked onto the Internet long before its 2012 Geneva Motor Show unveiling -- but now we know the sexy sports car isn’t all looks. Officially unveiled this morning, we’ve learned...

We heard the rumors, but didn't really quite believe they were true. They are: Bentley took the wraps off a concept for a sport-utility vehicle at today's Geneva Motor Show, the first-ever such vehicle in the 94-year history of the marque. Assuming it goes into production in a few years, this is...

For some time now, it’s been no secret that Mitsubishi has been planning on bringing a plug-in hybrid SUV to market. Now we know it will arrive this year, in the form of the 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid, a car Mitsubishi first promised us back in 2009. The Outlander plug-in hybrid...

Prior to today's Geneva Motor Show, Toyota had teased a selection of images of its hybrid small car concept, the FT-Bh. Unveiled today, we can now bring you live images of Toyota's baby, sure to influence the design of subsequent hybrids in Toyota's range. It was clear from the teaser images that...

As gas prices across the U.S. continue an upward march towards $5 per gallon, demand for Toyota Hybrids is now the highest it has been for nearly four years. On Thursday last week, Toyota reported that sales of all Prius brand hybrids -- including the new 2012 Toyota Prius V wagon -- were up 52...

Last month, Toyota said that it had 2,100 pre-orders for the 2012 Prius Plug-In Hybrid. Now, with first sales of that car being logged this week and dozens of them delivered to dealers, we have a third viable, high-volume plug-in car available to U.S. buyers. Consumers can now buy a pure battery...

In the world of plug-in cars, the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt may get all the attention, but a new arrival will make it very much a three-car race. The 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid is just now arriving at Toyota dealers in California plus a dozen or so other states. While it may look just like a...

Ever since Barack Obama became president in 2008, he hasn’t been given much chance to drive a car, let alone own one. But when his presidency ends, Mr. Obama knows exactly what car he wants to buy as his post-presidential ride -- a plug-in Chevrolet Volt. “Five years from now when...

Startup plug-in vehicle maker Bright Automotive announced today that it is closing down. While General Motors had invested $5 million in the company, Bright had relied on the hope that the U.S. Department of Energy would grant it low-interest loans under the advanced-technology vehicle...

GOP Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich may have jibed earlier this week that you can’t fit a gun rack in a 2012 Chevrolet Volt, but after he was proven wrong by a resourceful Volt owner, it got us thinking. What else can you fit in a Chevy Volt? Here’s five things you should easily be...

The 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid is one of the more eagerly awaited green cars coming this year. With fuel economy projected at up to 48 mpg city, it improves considerably on the well-regarded current Ford Fusion Hybrid, which is rated by the EPA at 41 mpg city, 36 mpg highway, for a combined overall...

It’s no secret that the NYPD has a fleet of twenty 2011 Chevrolet Volts which help civilian traffic enforcement agents carry out duties throughout the city of New York, but now the Chevrolet Volt’s European sibling is proving popular with law enforcement agencies in the U.K. In a recent...

Back in the 1980s, Volkswagen worked on producing both fully-electric and plug-in hybrid versions of its Mk II Rabbit -- also known as the Mk II VW Golf. It’s been no secret that Volkswagen has been working on resurrecting an all-electric Golf in the form of its 2013 VW Blue E-Motion, but now...

The chances are by now that even if you didn’t watch Super Bowl XLVI, you’ve watched all of the new TV ads which aired during the event last Sunday. That means you’ll also have seen the hilarious debut advert for Acura’s 2015 NSX Hybrid, staring Jerry Seinfield and Jay Leno...

At the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, Land Rover unveiled its first ever plug-in hybrid concept vehicle, the Land Rover Range_e Diesel Plug-in Hybrid. Then in October last year -- purely by chance -- we bumped into one of Land Rover’s five engineering test Range_e prototypes in a shopping mall...

Japanese automaker Toyota has fired a warning shot across General Motors’ bow today with a revised set of gas mileage figures for the soon-to-be-launched 2012 Prius Plug-in Hybrid. Announced by Toyota Division Group Vice President and General Manager Bob Carter, official economy figures in...

If you’ve ever wondered why BMW’s upcoming 2014 all-electric i3 mini car and 2014 BMW i8 plug-in hybrid sports car are numbered the way they are, it’s because BMW plans to fill in the gaps with other plug-in models in future years. We all know that the BMW i3 and i8 are due in...

Ask most Americans to name a place in the U.S. where hybrid cars are popular, and they’ll probably name somewhere in California, the Pacific Northwest, or Washington D.C. Now the city of Boulder, Colorado is keen to let the world know it also wants to be known for its hybrid-loving...

It may have only gone on sale at the end of October 2011, but Toyota has just announced it managed to sell 8,399 Toyota Prius V Wagons before the start of 2012. In other words, it sold 668 more 2012 Prius V wagons in 2011 than Chevrolet sold Volts, but 1,335 less than the Nissan Leaf. Starting at...