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  • Nissan Leaf being charged

    You see and hear it all the time, sometimes from people who really ought to know better. It's the notion that electric cars are going to improve incredibly, amazingly, unimaginably fast ... "because of Moore's Law." If you see or hear that statement, folks, you should view the entire report with deep skepticism. Because citing Moore's Law in the context of electric-car progress just isn't relevant. Let's review. The major factor that constrains the development of mass-produced, modestly priced electric cars today is the cost of the lithium-ion batteries that store their energy. It's why most...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S
    Five Facts About Tesla & Electric Cars That May Surprise You

    Tesla always tops the charts. Coverage of the feisty startup electric-car maker from Silicon Valley attracts huge attention any time it appears. Discussion boards, forums, videos, comment sections, and investment blogs overflow with opinions, analysis, and utterly confident (and wildly differing)...

  • 2013 Ford Escape EcoBoost 2.0-liter, Pennsylvania, April 2013
    Ford's EcoBoost Engines Cross The 2-Million-Made Mark

    Ford recently built its two-millionth EcoBoost engine. The small turbocharged engines are available in 90 percent of Ford vehicles.

  • Tel Aviv, Israel, free of traffic during Yom Kippur holiday [photo: Brian of London]
    Surprise: Take Cars Off Roads, Air Gets Much, Much Clearer

    It stands to reason: Take all vehicles off the roads, and the air will get cleaner. But now we can answer the question, "How much?" And it turns out that the answer is, "A lot." In a new paper, A national day with near zero emissions and its effect on primary and secondary pollutants, published in...

  • 2014 Chevrolet Malibu
    2014 Chevy Malibu Gas Mileage: Making Eco Mild Hybrid Irrelevant, Again?

    The 2014 Chevrolet Malibu gets a new base engine, and with it come new, higher fuel-efficiency ratings from the EPA. But does the improved gas mileage mean the Malibu Eco model no longer has a reason to exist? For the new model year, Chevy made a large number of changes to the year-old vehicle...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S beta vehicle, Fremont, CA, October 2011
    Could Google Buy Tesla? Should It?

    Speculating on what will happen to Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] can be endlessly entertaining, and the discussions have taken up terabytes of server space already. But last week, a Forbes contributor suggested an intriguing notion: Should search giant Google buy Tesla? The conventional wisdom has been...

  • 2014 Mercedes-Benz E250 BlueTec

    The EPA has released fuel economy ratings for the 2014 Mercedes-Benz E 250 BlueTEC, and they put it ahead of its diesel midsize luxury sedan rivals.

  • Tesla Supercharger fast-charging system for electric cars
    Tesla Scrambling To Meet Supercharger Installation Deadline

    Last spring, a map on Tesla's website promised that 18 new "Superchargers"--the ultra-fast charging stations for its Model S electric luxury car--would be activated around the U.S. during "Summer 2013." Though summer's not technically over until September 21, most of us have put away the sunscreen...

  • 2013 Chevrolet Volt
    Is $35,000 Or Less The Threshold Price For Volume Electric Cars?

    The recent $5,000 price cut for the 2014 Chevrolet Volt has dropped the range-extended electric car into a significant price bracket. That group is the "$35,000 and under" club--occupied by every plug-in car on sale right now except for the Tesla Model S and the Toyota RAV4 EV. It makes us wonder...

  • 2014 BMW i3
    2013 Frankfurt Auto Show Preview: Green Cars & Concepts (UPDATE)

    The 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show is soon upon us, and it's set to be another big one for green vehicles. It's a big show in general, spread throughout several buildings in the manner of a small town. Most are occupied by huge displays of the German automakers' collective might, and those German firms...

  • 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid
    2014 Honda Accord Hybrid Gas Mileage: 47 MPG Combined

    The official EPA-rated gas mileage figures for the 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid are in, and they’re pretty much in line with those released by the automaker back in June. The popular family sedan scores a 50-mpg rating for the city cycle, a 45-mpg rating for the highway and a 47-mpg combined...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S P85 service loaner vehicle [photo: David Noland]
    Life With Tesla Model S: Three Days Of Service Nirvana

    A few months ago, some minor glitches in my 2013 Tesla Model S were fixed at the Tesla service center in White Plains, New York. It was a perfectly satisfactory experience, pretty much like any other service visit: Drive to the shop, read magazines for a couple of hours, get the car back, drive...

  • Tesla Model S Performance Plus at Laguna Seca, June 2013 [Domenick Yoney/AOL]

    Is startup electric-car maker Tesla really worth more than century-old Italian carmaker Fiat? Not to mention more than Mazda, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, and Isuzu--the last two of which no longer sell cars in the U.S.? The Italian maker sells roughly 2 million cars a year globally (plus 1.6 million more from Chrysler, which it controls). Tesla hopes to sell 20,000 or so this year, or about 1 percent of the Fiat total. LEARN MORE: Elon Musk Talks Leaf, Volt; Unimpressed With Either (Video) Market cap: $20 billion But Tesla's current value of roughly $20 billion would indicate that the market today...

  • 2013 Toyota Prius liftback
    2016 Toyota Prius: Next Hybrid Aims For 55 MPG, More Room, Better Handling

    Toyota today released a few more nuggets of information about the next, all-new generation of its Prius hybrid car. The all-new Prius, to be released in 2015, is likely to continue each generation's 10-percent improvement on the fuel economy of its predecessor. With the current Prius Liftback rated...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S
    Tesla: As Disruptive To U.S. Car Market As Toyota, Nissan Were?

    In its decade of existence, electric-car startup Tesla has accomplished many things the auto industry didn't think it could do. But could Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] be as disruptive to the existing industry as were Toyota and Nissan, the two largest Japanese car importers during the Sixties...

  • Scrooser electric scooter (Photo: Scrooser)
    Scrooser Electric Scooter: "A Harley-Davidson For The Sidewalk"

    One of the main criticisms of electric cars is that they often lack the sort of raw appeal that makes you want a product, transcending any notions of buying because you need it. Oddly, the world of electric two-wheelers hasn't had this trouble, particularly as you delve into the realms of simple...

  • 2013 Toyota Prius liftback
    Does Toyota's Hybrid Leadership Blind It To Electric Cars?

    Many who follow the progress of plug-in electric cars wonder why Toyota, despite its leadership in hybrids, lags other carmakers in its electric vehicles. The business principle of The Innovator's Dilemma suggests that the company has been slow to embrace electric cars not despite its hybrid...

  • 2013 Toyota Avalon Hybrid, Catskill Mountains, NY, May 2013
    Five 40-MPG Mid-Size Sedans You Can Buy Today

    Imagine it's 2025 and the full impact of tougher gas-mileage regulations has taken effect. That year, it's easy to buy a mid-size sedan--perhaps even something a bit larger--that returns 40 mpg in regular use. Here's the thing, though: For 2013, there are already a handful of sedans that do that...

  • 2013 Honda Fit EV drive event, Pasadena, CA, June 2012

    What cars available in dealers today make the most efficient use of energy? The answer turns out to be four battery-electric vehicles and one plug-in hybrid. Gasoline and diesel cars don't even come close; internal combustion engines waste two-thirds to three-quarters of the energy in their fuel on heat and noise. To build this list, we simply used the "fuel economy" measurements issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. For electric cars, the EPA measures their efficiency in what's called MPGe, or Miles Per Gallon Equivalent. It's a measure of how far the car can travel...

  • 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid, Los Angeles, August 2012
    Ford's C-Max Mileage Mess: How It Happened And What It Means

    Ford spent nine months justifying the 47-mpg fuel-efficiency rating of its new 2013 C-Max Hybrid--before it bowed to public pressure and lowered it to 43 mpg late Thursday. While its three latest hybrid models continue to sell well, the latest reversal draws attention to Ford's challenges when the...

  • 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid, Catskill Mountains, NY, Oct 2012
    2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid Owners Get Cash As Ford Lowers MPG Rating

    For Ford, it's all about "customer satisfaction"--a phrase it's repeated hundreds of times over the past nine months. During that time, it's grappled with the realization that not only did its 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid not achieve anywhere close to its 47-mpg EPA rating, but the shortfall had made...

  • 2013 Fiat 500e electric car, Los Angeles drive event, April 2013
    2013 Fiat 500e Recalled Over Potential Half-Shaft Failures

    It hasn't been on sale for long, but the 2013 Fiat 500e is already subject to its first recall. Chrysler has announced it's to recall more than 270 examples of the battery-electric 500 to replace bolts securing the car's half-shafts. Detroit News reports the recall was initiated following an...

  • 2013 Audi A6 TDI
    Are Diesels The Future For Luxury Sport Sedans? Audi Says Yes

    As gas-mileage standards tighten steadily through 2025, how do you have a big, powerful, luxurious sedan more efficient? The Tesla Model S shows one way--make it all-electric--but other makers are taking other routes. Audi, perhaps more than any other German luxury make, says the answer is diesel...

  • 2014 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel, test drive in Hell, Michigan
    The New Diesel Cars For 2014

    With an increasing number of diesel passenger cars appearing in showrooms, car buyers have more options for fuel-efficient driving than they did only a few years ago. After a brief hiatus several years ago, when new and tougher emissions standards came into effect for diesel vehicles, the number...

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