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If you live in parts of California, electric cars--from the Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid all the way up to the Tesla Model S--are no longer uncommon. The streets of Palo Alto, in the center of Silicon Valley, are practically crawling with Teslas these days. But in other parts of the country, you may...

The Toyota Prius is by far the most common hybrid car on U.S. roads, which means there are a lot of them out there for sale as used cars. A reader wrote to ask what she should keep in mind when starting to shop for a used Toyota Prius hybrid. What follows are some quick notes from our editors...

As the year winds toward a close, U.S. car sales are at their highest levels in years. And modern plug-in electric cars will set a new sales record too. With one month left, November deliveries of cars with plugs looked like they'll hold steady with last month's--but as the final numbers came in...

This started out as a feel-good article about another great experience I had with Tesla's extraordinary service program. But it morphed into a detective story that apparently solves the mystery of why my 60-kWh 2013 Tesla Model S still suffered a significant "vampire" power drain, even after...

GM sold an excellent 133 Chevrolet Volts in November, more than doubling October's 62 sales, and bringing monthly sales into triple figures for the second time this year, behind June's 153 deliveries. While we'll have to wait for vehicle registration data, the Volt may have made up more than half...

Consider this your last warning: If you're planning on getting a charging station for a plug-in electric car, you only have 30 days. More specifically, at least, you'll have to get it up and running by December 31 this year in order to take advantage of a Federal income-tax credit of 30 percent of...

Pretty much every carmaker wants to brand itself green--or at least fuel-efficient. And toward that end, most of them seem to have created sub-brands for their green technologies, programs, and aspirations. Based on conversations with car buyers all over North America, we're convinced that most...

Nissan is readying a new lithium-ion chemistry for its Leaf electric car, aimed at better range performance in hot-weather climates. And it's likely bound for all Leaf models in the first half of next year. Last week at the Tokyo Motor Show, Andy Palmer, Nissan's executive vice president and global...

It's the news we've been expecting for over a year now: Fisker Automotive filed late Friday afternoon for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The range-extended electric car company has lain dormant for months now, while a frenzy of activity behind the scenes tried to secure its future at the hands...

The Tesla Model S, for all its technical and design artistry, has a dirty little secret: the car has a substantial appetite for kilowatt-hours even when turned off and parked. Since the Model S was introduced in 2012, this "vampire" power drain from the cars sold so far has consumed roughly 15...

A new CVT gives the 2014 Honda Civic HF impressive fuel economy.

It's been quite a month for Tesla Motors and its CEO, Elon Musk. In the wake of three fires in Model S electric luxury sedans, a tsunami of media coverage about those fires, and a falling stock price--which may or may not be directly related--the company went on the offensive yesterday. MORE: Tesla...

The new 2015 Honda Fit will have a combined EPA gas mileage rating of 36 mpg, according to Honda officials. That's the second-highest rating for any five-door subcompact hatchback, and notably improves on the current 2013 Fit's highest rating of 31 mpg. MORE: 2015 Honda Fit - preview In a company...

It's official: The U.S. now produces more oil than it imports from foreign countries. It isn't the first time that's ever happened, but it's the first time in two decades--and according to the White House, it's going hand-in-hand with lower CO2 emissions and growing GDP. For those advocating...

Last year, we drove a prototype Infiniti JX Hybrid, as it was then called (it's now in production as the 2014 Infiniti QX60 Hybrid). At that point, we wondered whether its mild-hybrid system would be "hybrid enough" to compete against the Lexus RX 450h that spawned the hybrid crossover segment two...

Unless your name is Brinks, you rarely hear the words "armor" and "car" mentioned in the same sentence. But two recent widely-publicized fires in the Tesla Model S electric car have put the spotlight on how its battery pack is protected from severe impacts underneath the car. MORE: Tesla Fires...

You never know what you may find if you read through public comments on government proposals. That's how we found a broad hint that the next version of the Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid will have a continuous all-electric range of at least 10 miles. Remember that the current car, which the EPA rates...

A startup with an improved design hopes to broaden the appeal of these gas-mileage aids.

The 2014 Mazda 3 is the one of the more eagerly-awaited compact cars hereabouts, and now we've had a chance to spend 90 minutes behind the wheel. During a recent test drive that brought together Best Car To Buy 2014 finalists, every High Gear Media editor got a chance to drive a variety of vehicles...

Tesla held its third-quarter earnings call yesterday evening, and CEO Elon Musk stayed pretty much on message. He reiterated that Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] continues to produce its Model S electric luxury sedan, at a current rate of 550 cars per week, and that it is working steadily to reduce the...