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It's dangerous to assume, as the saying goes. And a lot of assumptions about why people buy electric cars are wrong--including that they only do so because they're "green," meaning to help the environment. Now a new attitudinal survey shows this isn't much true for Tesla owners and fans. A study by...

Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] slightly increased its profit in the second quarter, and delivered more Model S electric cars than last quarter. The company released its Q2 financial results this afternoon, with net income of $26 million compared to $15 million for Q1. The company said it delivered 5,150...

The prices just keep falling on plug-in electric cars. The latest to announce a new, lower lease price is Smart, which cut the monthly cost of a three-year lease on its 2013 ForTwo Electric Drive Coupe from $199 to just $139. That's not the lowest single electric-car lease we're aware of in the...

The 2014 Chevrolet Volt electric car will carry a base price of $34,995, a cut of $5,000 from the 2013 model. That price includes an $810 destination fee, but not any optional equipment. Chevrolet has "made great strides in reducing costs as we gain experience with electric vehicles and their...

Just how close do cars get to their official EPA gas mileage figures? We expect it's a question many of our readers are familiar with--either in keeping an eye on their own car's gas mileage, or from friends asking about their next car. It's become all the more important in recent months, with...

California loves its hybrids. And according to figures from Toyota, it loves their hybrids more than anyone else's. A full 61 percent of new hybrids sold in California are from the Toyota brand, despite tough and growing competition from marques like Ford. The Blue Oval places second in...

Since November 2006, our family has always owned at least one plug-in car and one powered by gasoline. For almost two years, our fleet has been a Nissan Leaf electric hatchback, and a used 2008 Toyota Prius. After two years and nearly 42,000 miles of driving the Leaf, however, our once high-tech...

The humble automatic transmission has come along in leaps and bounds over the year, and modern systems are often more efficient than their manual equivalents. For the manual gearbox itself, economy is still very much down to "the nut behind the wheel", so anything that optimizes a driver's shift...

For several years, Toyota had the hybrid market pretty much sewn up with its Prius. Okay, so it never reached the heady economy highs of the original Honda Insight, but it was far more practical and electric running made it the hybrid of choice in city driving. That's until the Ford C-Max Hybrid...

Japanese automakers may have cultivated a reputation for occasionally churning out dull, forgettable vehicles, but they certainly make up for it in other ways. Take Nissan, for example. Its bread and butter may be the Versa, but it's also given us the Juke, and the supercar-slaying GT-R. Honda...

Sometimes the most significant divorces are handled in the most minimalist way. So it was with a brief press statement from Toyota today, noting that after completing a "feasibility study" that took almost two years, the two companies have chosen not to pursue a collaboration on hybrid powertrains...

Back in 2010, we asked why so few of today's cars were among the most fuel efficient ever. Look down the list of the most fuel-efficient vehicles sold in the U.S, and only a small handful had been built in the previous decade--cars such as the familiar Prius, and the all-too-brief but brilliant...

With just a week to go before the production version of BMW's i3 electric car is revealed, the German automaker has announced pricing for the car. The 2014 BMW i3 has a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of $41,350, before BMW's $925 destination fee--for a starting price of $42,275. That's also...

It used to be so simple to tell which cars were coupes and which weren't. And not just because the word "Coupe" was emblazoned on your vinyl roof pillars in metallic script. Generally, if it was a little sleeker than the average car, had only two doors and a proper trunk, you had yourself a coupe...

Aspire, Sprint, Swift, and Esteem: They’re among the most ironically inappropriate car names. But in its new EV guise, the Chevy Spark has the perfect name, on many levels. This car certainly has more than a spark of personality; it's all-electric (forget about those spark plugs); and...

Solar panels are great, but they can be a bit... well, bland sometimes. We can't argue with their benefits, but unless you've a keen eye for photography, they aren't really works of art. Apart from Synthesis Design + Architecture's (SDA) solar pavilion of course, because that's most definitely a...

Remember all that stuff we said recently about The Netherlands being a haven for electric vehicles? Maybe knock a few degrees of conviction off that statement, as it seems not everyone in the European country is as keen on electric vehicles as some. Companies operating regular gasoline and diesel...

If you're one of the millions of Americans preparing for your summer vacation, you might also be readying the family's bicycles for some exercise while you're away. Chances are, this involves some kind of roof-mounted bicycle rack for your car. And this can have a dramatic effect on your gas...

In less than a year, the Tesla Model S has created a new category of car: the electric luxury sport sedan. But with impending launches by two experienced, prestigious German luxury brands, will Tesla find the Model S facing new competition among wealthy buyers who like plugging in to drive? We just...

Owners of supercars often seem to feel a sense of entitlement. So we had to chuckle at the outrage expressed by the videographer who posted a clip of a Lamborghini Aventador momentarily forced to slow down on a narrow London street as a cyclist pulls out. You'll note that the driver of the...