Jon Vandervelde, Contributing Writer
Articles
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Microsoft and Ford have joined forces to apply the Microsoft Hohm software application to the upcoming Ford Focus EV, scheduled for North American release in 2011. Hohm is a net-based application...
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Smith Electric (U.S.) Snags 22 Million DOE Grant To Build Electric TrucksU.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo) announced Wednesday that Smith Electric Vehicles U.S., has had an additional 22 Million dollar DOE grant added to the 10 million awarded the company in 2009, for a total of 32 million dollars. The money will go toward new vehicle development and to...
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Ferrari To Offer Hybrid Versions Of Every Model Within Four Years, Maserati To Follow?According to AutoSpies, at the presentation of Ferrari's new 599 Hy-KERS Hybrid Sportscar in Geneva, Chairman Luca di Montezemolo (who is also chairman of Fiat Motors, majority owner of Ferrari) told the assembled reporters “This is a first step of a long project and we want within three...
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Hyundai Reveals New i-flow Hybrid Concept At Geneva Auto ShowIntroducing the latest of what seems like a steady stream of green concept vehicles from Hyundai, the company unveiled its new i-flow hybrid sedan at the 2010 Geneva auto show on Thursday. Developed with the company's "Fluidic Design Philosophy", the i-flow's exterior lines yield a drag...
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Audi To Reintroduce The A2 With e-tron Electric Drive-trainIntroduced as a Europe-only model in 1999, the A2 was remarkable for its revolutionary use of weight-saving aluminum and its focus on efficiency; a diesel variant was the first five-door vehicle in Europe to achieve an average mileage of less than 3 litres per 100 km (approximately 80 mpg). But...
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Think! To Build Production Plant In IndianaNorwegian automaker Think, which barely escaped complete dissolution last year thanks to capital injections from new strategic partners Ener1 and Valmet, continues to forge ahead and has apparently chosen a site near Middlebury, Indiana to construct a major EV assembly plant inside the U.S.. In...
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Sainsbury's, one of the largest grocery chains in Europe, has been testing a fleet of Smith Electric delivery vans for several years and has now decided to go electric with the majority of it's...
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At Climate Change Summit, 14 of World's Biggest Cities Commit to EV'sA group of fourteen of the world’s largest cities came together at the UN COP15 climate summit in Copenhagen on Wednesday to form the ‘C40 Electric Vehicle Network’, which will work collectively in four areas of municipal action that they see as critical to the successful introduction of...
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Coda Explains Low Battery Plan Or How To Ease Range Anxiety Once UnderwayThe first EV from Santa Monica based Coda Automotive is coming to fleets and a limited number of individual buyers in late 2010, but the company's Clearing The Air promotional blog is already releasing operational details, like how the car will deal with decreasing battery charge while on the...
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New Report Says Plug-In Hybrids Won't Impact Oil Use Or Emissions For DecadesAccording to an analysis conducted by the National Research Council , the roll-out of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) to the U.S. market will be too slow to have any real effect on our greenhouse gas emissions or oil addiction until at least the 2030s. the added cost of manufacturing a PHEV over a...
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Orders Being Taken For Myers Motors' Two-seat Electric, Cost As Low As $22,500.00Ohio based Myers Motors introduced it's Duo (formerly NMG) electric runabout in September, and is already taking pre-orders. Final pricing will depend on the number of orders Received by June 5, 2010, with a worst case price of $29,995.00. The company is saying that for every 200 pre-ordered...
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2nd Generation Smart EV Still Has IssuesA test drive of the 2nd-gen SmartForTwo ED (electric drive) by the gang over at Automobile revealed some pretty significant issues yet to be worked out by the Daimler brain-trust. While the new Tesla-supplied battery pack increases peak horsepower to 40 HP (from 27HP) the Smart can only provide...
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Tesla has announced that its Model S saloon is being withdrawn from the Automotive X-Prize competiton.
In an interview with Stuff, Ricardo Reyes, Tesla Motors' vice president for communication,...
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Audi E-Tron Sportscar Production Limited to 1000 UnitsAlthough Audi will not publicly label itself a "green" automaker, it has reported that it will be going forward with its R-8 based e-tron electric supercar, now slated to be on show-room floors in 2012. The company is also saying that production will be limited to a 1000 vehicles total. It's...
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EV maker Tazzari has finally revealed its long-awaited US$30,000 ZERO electric vehicleUnveiled at the Bologna Motor Show Saturday, the Tazzari Zero electric vehicle is a tiny little thing, weighing just 1,195 pounds (882 lbs without the Li-Ion battery!) and top-speed limited to 56 mph. The sporty two-seater is capable of accelerating to 31mph in less than five seconds, and 88...
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Mitsubishi Plug In hybrid SUV To Be Sold In The U.S. In 2013It was recently announced that the Mitsubishi PX-MiEV, a plug in gas/electric hybrid vehicle that debuted at the Tokyo Auto Show as a concept vehicle and was recently presented at the LA Auto Show, will be modified for production and actually go on sale in north America sometime within the next...
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Audi Disdains Green LabelAudi will not follow BMW in trying to position itself as a green brand, according to Chairman of the Audi board of management, Rupert Stadler. "We want to take out weight and want to further diesel and FSI technology. We can still improve fuel consumption. But we will not position Audi as a green...
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Volt Interior To Feature Techno Psychedelic DesignThe latest production prototype 2011 Chevrolet Volt features these unusual door panels -A sort of screen-printed psychedelic motif depicting vaguely science-ey, geometric forms swooping along on curved lines of force (no doubt the winds of change). According to chief Volt engineer, Andrew...
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Indianapolis-based battery maker EnerDel is tied closely to the Th!nk electric car company and to other automakers moving into the EV and PHEV field such as Nissan. But it seems that the...
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Fisker Working On Military Special Ops Diesel/Electric HybridQuantum, the engineering arm of Fisker Automotive, has come up with a military vehicle it has dubbed the Clandestine Extended Range Vehicle (CREV) Diesel/Electric Hybrid. Like a smaller, more efficient Hummer, the CREV is said to be able to cover long distances very quietly, the better to sneak up...
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Taiwanese Island Of Liuqiu Going Electric Vehicle OnlyLiuqiu, an island off the southern coast of Taiwan, will spend as much as $15.5 Billion over the next three years to replace all gas cars and scooters with electric vehicles. By the end of that period, all vehicles on the island will be required by law to be emissions-free. The plan covers buses...
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China's BAIC Unveils New Electric Car And Huge Production FacilityBeijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp. (BAIC),which is currently operating in partnership with German car-giant Daimler AG, has unveiled a new electric car aimed at carving some of the domestic electric car market away from Chinese rivals BYD and Chery. The BE701 is a four door sedan capable of...
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Introducing The ECOS Harbinger-An Electric Supercar For Under $90,000ECOS is known for the electric retrofitting of old Volkswagens - for around $12,500, you can have your Beetle converted into highway capable electric commuter. But capitalizing on the availability of off-the-shelf componentry and the relative simplicity of EV powertrains, ECOS is hoping to...
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Brammo Electric Motorcycle May Be First Real Test Of EV AcceptanceEven though electric vehicle technology continues to march toward apparent future viability, there are still unconquered obstacles that leave room for doubt about the whole enterprise. The most incontrovertible being price. Right now an electric car with gas-equivalent performance (range aside)...
Jon Vandervelde