John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
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Well, OK, perhaps the 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel doesn't have an engine actually designed by Maserati.
But, hey, what other pickup truck can claim to use even the same engine as sexy, sinuous,...
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Nissan Tweets, Then Deletes, Electric-Car Sales Slap At TeslaOh, Nissan, you just shouldn't have gone there. As captured by Autoblog Green writer Domenick Yoney last Friday, the @NissanLeaf Twitter account posted the following message: It's okay #NewJersey, you can still #GoElectric with the #NissanLEAF #EV Sloppy punctuation aside, the tweet was a clear dig...
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Standardized Electric-Car Battery Swapping Won't Happen: Here's WhyStandardized batteries are one of the great consumer goods: Who hasn't bought a pack of AA or AAA cells for some consumer-electronics device by now? The idea that standardized high-capacity lithium-ion battery packs are an inevitable next step in the evolution of electric cars crops up repeatedly...
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Owners Of 'New Fisker' Offer Selective Electric-Car HistoryTen days ago, a website appeared from Wanxiang America, the new owners of Fisker Automotive, under the title of "The New Fisker." The site included a comprehensive timeline of the formerly bankrupt company's past, warts and all: from the lawsuit by Tesla Motors against Fisker through the May 2011...
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As Gas Mileage Rises, Energy To Make Cars Gets More ImportantAs vehicles all over the world slowly get more fuel-efficient, the energy required to make them--and their thousands of parts--is coming to represent a higher proportion of their lifetime energy footprint. And this, in turn, is leading carmakers to focus on cutting the energy required to...
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Proposal: Buy Out, Shut Down U.S. Coal Industry For $50 BillionGive Felix Kramer credit for thinking big. Twelve years ago, he and others founded CalCars, a group dedicated to promoting plug-in hybrid vehicles with large battery packs--and built the world's first plug-in Prius hybrid. Now he and coauthor Gil Friend have published an audacious proposal to buy...
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Oh, to have the resources available to Car and Driver, which published in its March issue a lengthy comparison test among six battery-electric cars.
They are the Chevrolet Spark EV, Fiat 500e, Ford...
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Honda: Hybrids For Bigger Cars Now That Insight Is Going AwayScrambling to do a bit of damage control after news broke last month that production of its Insight hybrid will end this year, Honda issued a press release touting its renewed commitment to hybrid technology. The death of the Insight model begged the question, what about the tiny two-seat CR-Z...
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Cadillac ELR Wasn't Originally Used In 'Provocative' AdIn general, getting people talking about your ad is a good way to get people talking about your car. In the case of "Poolside"--an ad for the 2014 Cadillac ELR range-extended electric luxury coupe aired during the Oscars and the Sochi Olympics--however, not all the talk has been favorable. MORE...
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2015 Jeep Renegade - Tiniest Jeep Yet Unveiled In Geneva: Video And Live PhotosIt's often said that Jeep is the most valuable part of Chrysler, and the renewal of the legendarily tough utility brand's range is now well underway, courtesy of new owner Fiat. Introduced today at the Geneva Motor Show, the newest model is also its smallest modern-day vehicle ever: the 2015 Jeep...
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2014 Cadillac ELR: Gorgeous, Too-Pricey Electric Luxury CoupeLet's get one thing out of the way up front: The 2014 Cadillac ELR is rather more than a "tarted-up Volt," in the words of more than one commentator. It's a quiet, smooth, adequately powerful and very stylish coupe with a luxurious interior, and it runs on GM's most advanced range-extended electric...
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2015 Kia Soul EV: 'Recharge Your Soul' Video Kicks Off MarketingThe first 2015 Kia Soul EV electric cars won't reach U.S. dealers until sometime between July and September, and then only in selected regions (for which read "California"). But the company has already started some lowkey marketing, with yesterday's release of a YouTube video titled, "Recharge Your...
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Plug-In Electric Car Sales For Feb: Leaf Up, Volt Down (Tesla Unknown As Usual)--FINAL UPDATE John VoelckerAnalysts worried that winter weather would put a crimp in U.S. new-car sales last month, but one electric car racked up record February sales: the Nissan Leaf.
Leaf sales of 1,425 cars in February...
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Is This A Tesla Model S AWD Prototype Caught Testing? (Video, Photos)It's long been expected that sooner or later, the Tesla Model S electric sport sedan will be offered with all-wheel drive. Now, two different Tesla fans have captured photos and video of what appears to be a prototype test vehicle with external instrumentation driving around the San Francisco Bay...
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How Financial Analysts (And Many Others) Misunderstand Tesla's CompetitorsStartup electric-car maker Tesla Motors and its sleek Model S luxury sport sedan have generated more media coverage over the last three years than many well-established car companies. But at least some of that coverage is woefully, hilariously out of touch with the actual world of real people...
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Here's Why Electric Cars Will Succeed: Owners Just Adore ThemImagine you're a carmaker, and you found you could build a type of vehicle that customers all absolutely adored. Not just liked. Not just said, "Yeah, it's fine, it does what I need"--but out-and-out loved, cherished, talked about incessantly, and recommended to everyone they met, all the time...
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Who Buys Plug-In Electric Cars, And Why? CA Report Explains It All For YouWithin two or three months, there will be more than 200,000 plug-in electric cars on U.S. roads--and we're learning more about who buys them, and why. California's Center for Sustainable Energy released a new report this month that depicts the owners of different models having different reasons for...
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Where Should Tesla Put Its Battery Gigafactory? Reader PollWhen electric-car maker Tesla Motors released more information about its planned "gigafactory" to produce lithium-ion battery cells in the U.S., it revealed the four states it's considering as plant locations. They are Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas, all of which are shown as candidate...
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With awareness of the 2014 BMW i3 battery-electric car starting to rise--it will arrive at dealers in late April or early May--it's sometimes easy to forget that BMW has a second plug-in car...
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CA Carpool-Lane Stickers For Plug-In Hybrids Run Out By May--Or SoonerOne of the major incentives for buying a plug-in electric car in California is the coveted sticker allowing single-occupant travel in the carpool lanes on the state's crowded freeways. Now, the supply of stickers for plug-in hybrids that can travel on battery power alone but also have an engine as...
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Tesla's Lithium-Ion Battery Gigafactory: What You Need To KnowThis afternoon, Tesla Motors released details on its proposed "Gigafactory" to build lithium-ion cells for its future electric cars. To provide enough cell capacity to build a projected 500,000 electric vehicles in the year 2020, Tesla would require more cells than last year's entire global...
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Buying An Electric 'Compliance Car'? Think Hard About Servicing FirstThere are now more than a dozen plug-in electric cars for sale in the U.S., but not all electric cars are created equal. And a pair of recent articles about service challenges experienced by owners of the Toyota RAV4 EV underscores that buyers should be fully aware of the context in which their...
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Timeline For New Fisker Karmas: 'Within A Year'...HopefullyThe assets of the bankrupt Fisker Automotive are now in the process of being transferred to winning bidder Wanxiang America, but already the new owners have started to discuss their plans for the automaker. The latest news nugget is that Wanxiang hopes to restart production of the Karma...
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Nissan NYC 'Taxi Of Tomorrow': Not Fast, But Great For RidersIf you're driving into rural areas to spend time with nature, there's nothing more noticeable than a bright yellow New York City taxi cab to do it in. A couple of months ago, we had a chance to test out Nissan's new "Taxi of Tomorrow" for New York City, based on its NV200 small commercial van--but...
John Voelcker