John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
-
As Fisker Automotive seemingly enters very public death throes, and its battery supplier A123 Systems works to get back to business after a bankruptcy sale, another electric car might have been...
-
2013 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid: Minor Updates For Better MileageThe 2013 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid is the third year for the carmaker's first hybrid-electric vehicle. And Hyundai's made some minor updates to the mid-size hybrid sedan that competes head-to-head with the Toyota Camry Hybrid (which pioneered the segment), the Ford Fusion Hybrid, and later this year...
John Voelcker -
2014 Chevrolet Volt Orders Start In May, Two New Colors OfferedSeems like just yesterday that we wrote about the very first Chevrolet Volt delivery--in December 2010, actually. Now the range-extended electric car is about to enter its fourth model year. So far, we don't know a lot about changes to the 2014 Volt beyond the addition of two new colors: Brownstone...
John Voelcker -
Next Diesel Candidate For Chrysler: Full-Size 300 Sedan?Is Chrysler planning to introduce a third diesel-powered vehicle, after its 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel and the Ram 1500 diesel pickup truck? According to Saad Chehab, head of the Chrysler brand, the automaker is considering a diesel version of its full-size four-door sedan model, the...
John Voelcker -
Fisker Lays Off Most Of Its Employees; Is This The Final Blow?Newspapers keep in their files pre-written obituaries for people who are old, known to be ill, or famous. We have a feeling we should start dusting off the one we wrote awhile back for Fisker Automotive, which laid off the bulk of its remaining employees this morning at 8 am Pacific time. Numerous...
John Voelcker -
Cheaper Electric-Car Batteries: Slow & Steady Wins The RaceDid your parents ever tell you, "Slow and steady wins the race"? It can be annoying to hear as a child, but often it's true--and in the case of electric car batteries, it's how they'll get less expensive. As a new posting from the Washington Post's Wonkblog points out, there is no Moore's Law for...
John Voelcker -
If you publish thousands of stories a year, sometimes you get asked to speak to groups of people about your topic.
Which is how we came to talk about electric cars and try to allay some popular myths...
-
March Plug-In Electric Car Sales: Tesla On Top, Leaf Roars Back (FINAL UPDATE)The big news in plug-in car sales for March was Tesla's statement that it delivered "more than 4,750" Model S electric cars from January through March. That news early Monday not only sent stock in Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] soaring, it also cued up an interesting three-way horse race. Those sales...
John Voelcker -
2013 Smart Electric Drive: Drive Video From NY Auto ShowWe didn't expect the fluorescent green, that's for sure. But it probably helped us on our half-hour drive around crowded midtown Manhattan in the new 2013 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive, the latest all-electric version of the little two-seat Smart car. With the lithium-ion battery pack in the sandwich...
John Voelcker -
How To Celebrate Earth Day? Utah Says: Oil, Gas & Mining!Sometimes there comes an idea so audacious, so inspired, so downright jaw-dropping that it's worth covering even if it doesn't directly involve cars. You may know Earth Day is coming up on Monday, April 22. Localities and groups all over the country celebrate it. So, how has the Utah Department of...
John Voelcker -
Diesel Vs Small Turbo Gas Engines: Does Real-World MPG Matter?As fuel efficiency standards tighten continuously between now and 2025, buyers will have more powertrain options to chose from. And many have suggested there's a battle coming among smaller gasoline engines, diesels, and hybrids. If so, we hope that buyers will do the research to look at the...
John Voelcker -
Oh, Tesla: Your 'Lease' Is Smart, But That Calculator Wasn'tWell, that didn't take long. Yesterday, just before 5 pm Eastern time, Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] released details of its new "lease-like" financing product. The general consensus in the media (we read a lot of Tesla coverage here, folks) has been that it's smart for Tesla to offer financing for its...
John Voelcker -
And now we know: Tesla's Big Mystery Story, teased via more than one tweet from CEO Elon Musk, is this: You will soon be able to "lease" a brand-new 2013 Tesla Model S.
That's a good thing (though...
-
2013 Nissan Leaf Electric Car: Updates, Video At NY Auto ShowLater today, we'll find out how many 2013 Nissan Leafs the company delivered last month. March was the first month that Nissan's electric car reached dealerships in volume from the Tennessee production line where all U.S. Leafs are now assembled, using lithium-ion cells from a plant right next...
John Voelcker -
2014 Infiniti QX60 Hybrid: Video From New York Auto ShowThe second of two large seven-seat hybrid crossovers at this year's New York Auto Show, the 2014 Infiniti QX60 Hybrid is the glamorpuss of the pair. Known for the first year of its existence as the Infiniti JX, and now redubbed QX60 in a complete shakeup of the model names for Infiniti's high-end...
John Voelcker -
2014 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid: Video From New York Auto ShowLast week's New York Auto Show had a number of green vehicles, but there were relatively few new production models there that truly qualified as green. So a new hybrid model of Nissan's seven-seat crossover Pathfinder comes as close as we can get. It's likely to be considered by a number of...
John Voelcker -
Electric 2014 BMW i3 ReX Coming Dec, Lower Engine Power ConfirmedThe ranks of dedicated electric cars--those designed from scratch as plug-in vehicles--are thin. Come December, a fourth entry, the 2014 BMW i3, will join the three currently on the market (the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt, and Tesla Model S). BMW officials confirmed last Thursday that the first i3...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model S Electric-Car Deliveries For Q1: 4,750-Plus, Says CompanyWhen the news is good, you want to get it out there. Last night, Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] released a statement saying that it had delivered more than 4,750 Model S cars from January 1 through March 31 of this year. The statement came before the first quarter of 2013 had even technically ended...
John Voelcker -
The picture kind of says it all, don't you think?
This is a 2011 Nissan Leaf owned by the Stith family, as dressed up for last year's Easter Parade in Campbell, California.
Being a zero-emission...
-
Is Fisker Automotive About To Declare Bankruptcy?Storm clouds continue to gather over troubled luxury electric-car startup Fisker Automotive. We reported on Thursday that Fisker had put its entire U.S. staff on a "temporary" furlough to conserve cash. Later that day, a Wall Street Journal article reported on what may be the logical next step...
John Voelcker -
Who Might Buy Diesels? Gasoline Drivers, Not Hybrid OwnersWith a raft of new diesel vehicles entering the market this year and next, the question arises: Who exactly will buy them? Based on the results of a survey to be released later this morning, Volkswagen of America suggests that some drivers of gasoline cars are likely to be open to the benefits of...
John Voelcker -
BMW's Three-Cylinder Engine: Same Power, Better Gas Mileage Than FourHow do you get better gas mileage from engines that create the same power as what you've built your brand on? If you're BMW, the answer is that you launch an entirely new family of small engines derived from the world-famous inline six-cylinders you're famous for. But if you're fitting them with...
John Voelcker -
Tesla To Expand Supercharger Network In Northwest, TX, FL, and NortheastOne of the features associated with the 2013 Tesla Model S all-electric luxury sport sedan is the dedicated Supercharger network of DC quick-charge locations. Since the first stations went live last September, there have been only eight locations in California and the Northeast Corridor. Now Tesla...
John Voelcker -
Phinergy 1000-Mile Aluminum-Air Battery: On The Road In 2017?It's the sweetest dream of every electric-car fan: a battery that could store enough energy to offer up to 1,000 miles of real-world range. While it's not going to arrive in showrooms any time soon, Israeli startup Phinergy thinks its aluminum-air energy storage device might just be that battery...
John Voelcker