Car Tech

Recycling old electronics isn’t necessarily something most Americans do. Many of us, it turns out, just stash our old computers, printers, and TV sets in the closet. Or we leave them at the curb. But suppose properly recycling those electronics could help redress a potentially critical...

Turbochargers have been with us in volume production only since the Seventies, but superchargers have a long and honorable automotive history. They were used on the Blower Bentleys that won Le Mans 80 years ago, and have appeared ever since on high-performance engines, often larger ones. A boost...

In the green-car world, the leaf is the king of all icons. The 2010 Honda Insight fertilized the idea when it bowed in 2008; it still promotes greener driving with electronically rendered displays of plants that add leaves as the car's computers sense a light, planet-conscious foot on the gas...

The electric motor is a great invention, but it's entirely limited by the power that the battery can feed to it, and that power is limited by the amount of energy the battery can store. Battery technology is in constant development behind the scenes, though, and the latest to emerge in research at...

  When the 2011 Nissan Leaf goes on sale later this year, each copy of the first mass-market electric car on earth will come with a navigation system. Nifty spiff--and an integral part of the Leaf experience. High Gear Media took a quick drive in a 2011 Leaf prototype today in San Jose, while...

Four months from now, the world's first extended-range electric vehicle will start showing up at dealers. The 2011 Chevrolet Volt will introduce car buyers to the idea of a range-extending combustion engine that turns a generator to power the car electrically. But the generator in an E-REV can be...

[UPDATE: Tesla spokesman Ricardo Reyes says the original report via Bloomberg that Tesla would develop two separate electric models for Toyota was erroneous, and may have been further confused later by the fact that Tesla had developed two prototype RAV4 vehicles.] ++++++ UPDATE: Citing Japanese...

One of the many unknowns about Toyota's partnership with Tesla was whether it would result in a jointly produced car. That won't be known for many months yet, but Toyota has already taken a first step: It's building Tesla's battery into a test car so it can compare the Silicon Valley startup's...

Good news for those of you who shorted Tesla Motors' stock: the electric car company’s shares are already falling in price as the zeal around its $226 million public debut begins to fade — after just two days. TSLA closed at $21.96 today, its third day of trading, after falling $1.87. Yesterday...

Until Toyota stepped in last week, Daimler was the only major auto manufacturer to take a stake in electric-car startup Tesla Motors — a company that has now become synonymous with next-generation transportation. Now Daimler wants to work the same magic with BYD, the Chinese battery and electric...

It must be Friday, when the silly stuff comes up. According to Japan Times, in the Kansai region of Japan, four companies have got together to produce a new vehicle which they hope will capture the hearts and minds of eco-minded visitors needing a way to get around the ancient cities of Kyoto and...

Former President Bill Clinton recently visited social network digg.com  for a special Earth Day interview that touched on electric-vehicle policy and legislation. He answered user questions about many ecological and environmental topics--including third-world development and global warming--as...

Ford might need to upsize their trophy case for all the awards the new Fusion is winning. Just two weeks ago, the Fusion was awarded Motor Trend's golden calipers as the 2010 Car of the Year, beating out the Honda Insight, the Lexus HS 250h, and the Toyota Prius, among numerous others. Now Car and...

Is the diminutive Tata Nano Hybrid coming to America? According to a report in The Maeil Business Newspaper out of Korea, Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Motors, says the Indian automaker could sell the gas-sipping four-seater in more established markets like those of the U.S. and Europe. Tata was...

President Obama and Chinese President, Hu Jintao, couldn't agree on everything when they met on Monday. In a town hall meeting, Obama pressed the Chinese to relax stringent government controls on their citizens' Internet usage. A Chinese blogger later claimed that a transcript of the meeting was...

According to a report in the Detroit News today, General Motors will forge ahead with plans to produce the Cadillac Converj extended range electric vehicle (EREV). Though Cadillac would not confirm the story, a source close to the company's production plans says that the Converj was part of a...

It's starting to seem like tit-for-tat around here, as startup electric automakers Tesla and Fisker vie for--and get--federal- and state-funded loans and tax concessions to build future electric cars. The latest salvo, mere days after Fisker announced its purchase of a former GM plant in Delaware...

In the summer of 2008, amid staggering gas prices, Central Michigan University (CMU) invested $23,000 into an electric vehicle. Just over a year later, the school is requesting a refund, citing the vehicle's poor performance in cold weather. The EV in question is believed to be a Miles ZX40ST Work...

With record unemployment numbers and an active global recession, it's not news that vehicle sales have been lousy, falling by more than one-third from the record levels of a few years ago. But at least one maker's green cars are doing better than ever: Ford's U.S. sales of its hybrid-electric...

A U.S. trade panel has agreed to investigate claims that Toyota infringed privately held patents in designing its hybrid electric vehicles. Toyota is widely acknowledged to be the industry leader in hybrids, having sold more than 2 million globally since 1997. If the allegations are upheld by the...