Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield, Contributing Writer
Articles
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At the end of last week, Toyota quietly announced a service campaign to rectify a potential problem with the exhaust system on the 2012 Toyota Prius V.
The voluntary service campaign will focus on...
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2012 Nissan Leaf: No More Reservation Fees, Buy Like Any Other CarWhen Nissan first launched the 2011 Leaf, it introduced an online reservation system for would-be owners of the all-electric hatchback. Instead of relying on Nissan dealers to assess demand, Nissan opened up a dedicated reservation website, where those interested could pay $99 to be given a place...
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Tired 15-Year Old Chevy S-10 Electric Pickup Sells For $4,000How much would you pay for a tired 1997 Chevrolet S-10 pickup, especially one of unknown condition? A quick look at auction site eBay tells us that at best, even a tidy example of would be worth little more than $1000. What if that truck happened to be powered by the same drivetrain that was found...
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Toyota Announces Tiny Single-Seat Electric Car For Short TripsHistorically, automakers haven’t been fond of small electric cars capable of carrying one or two people. Lately, everyone from General Motors to Renault has shown interest in low-speed city runabouts, leading some to even bring doorless, electric runabouts to market. Unlike most automakers...
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Friday 13th? Five Green Automakers Who Have All The Bad LuckHave you noticed today’s date? Unless you’re of Italian or Spanish descent (those nations consider Tuesday the 13th and Thursday the 17th bad luck), you might consider today to be an inherently unlucky. But before you cross yourself, reach for the four-leaf clover, or hide under the...
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2012 Ford Focus Electric: Small Ad Budget Due To Low Sales Of Volt, FiskerEarlier this week, Ford announced it had signed a deal with troubled Internet content provider Yahoo to stream 10 episodes of an Internet reality show centered on its 2012 Ford Focus Electric. Called Plugged In, the show will send teams of contestants to various U.S. cities in Ford's battery...
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Let’s face it: Europeans and Americans have very different tastes in cars. So much so, it is common for the same car to be subtly redesigned for each market.
Now Colin Lawther, vice president...
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Five Wacky Ways Automakers Try To Sell You New Green CarsIn the automotive world, there’s a constant struggle going on between automakers keen to encourage customers to choose their green car over the competition. Just after a major auto show or car launch, automakers find it relatively easy to sell new car, especially if they have lots of new...
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How Long Will Your Electric Car Battery Last? Science Is On The CaseWe all know that battery packs are the biggest Achilles Heel of the electric car, which is why automakers like Nissan and General Motors are working hard to improve the energy density, cost and lifespan of electric vehicle batteries. But once you've designed a new battery pack, how do you prove its...
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2012 Toyota Prius Vs. 2012 Chevrolet Volt: Which Is Right For You?With gasoline prices on the increase, many consumers are looking to buy a hybrid or plug-in hybrid as their next car in order to save gas and money. If going whole hog and ditching gasoline entirely in favor of an all-electric car like the 2012 Nissan Leaf or 2012 Mitsubishi i isn’t an...
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2012 Tesla Model S Winter Testing Video Mashup ReleasedOver the past few years, it’s become almost customary for Californian automaker Tesla to release regular videos detailing the final developmental and testing stages of its 2012 Model S Sedan. So far, we’ve seen pretty videos of it moving under its own power, and even a trio test-track...
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Want To Upgrade Your Leaf Charger To 6.6-kW? It Might Not HappenThe Nissan Leaf may not be able to have its battery recharger upgraded.
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It might get pretty lousy gas-mileage, but everyone at GreenCarReports agrees that the 2012 Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid is one extremely sexy car.
To be honest that’s hardly surprising. After...
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VW’s Golf-Based Scirocco Compact Coupe: Returning To U.S. Soon?Back in the 1970s, Volkswagen unveiled the Volkswagen Scirocco, a front-engined, front-wheel drive replacement for the aging rear-engined, rear-wheel drive Karmann Ghia coupe. It sold in the U.S. until 1998, ceasing production entirely in 1992 before being reborn as a Volkswagen’s European...
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How Much Range Does Your Leaf Lose If You Unplug It For 8 Days?Remember Michael DeGusta, the guy who indadvertedly ‘bricked’ his oh-so-expensive Tesla Roadster after storing it in an almost-empty state for nearly two months? In the case of DeGusta’s Tesla, the car used most of the remaining charge trying to keep itself warm, but the story did...
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Study Says Hybrid Owners Don’t Always Buy Another Hybrid: Here’s WhyFor many years, ever-rising gas prices have encouraged more and more car drivers to make the switch to cars with hybrid drivetrains. But with the first hybrids well over 10 years old, what happens when hybrid owners search for their next car? Do they buy another hybrid, or make the switch to...
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Updated Nissan Leaf “Guess-O-Meter” To Help Cut Range Anxiety?Ever since Nissan launched its Leaf electric hatchback in late 2010, owners around the world have struggled with its on-board Carwings telematics system. Responsible for everything from initiating remote charging and cabin pre-conditioning through to predicting remaining range and finding charging...
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Abu Dhabi Sells Off 7-Percent Tesla Stake, Makes $133 MillionAbu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, might be working hard to ensure that the oil-producing nation becomes more environmentally friendly--but that hasn’t stopped its state-owned utility company from selling its 7 percent stake in Californian electric automaker Tesla Motors...
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In a few weeks’ time, Vauxhall/Opel, a European arm of General Motors, will officially start sales of the 2012 Vauxhall/Opel Ampera.
Essentially a Chevrolet Volt in disguise, the Ampera shares...
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Honda Launches Larger CVT In Japan For Better Gas MileageAt the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show, Honda unveiled the Earth Dreams Technology range, a set of new engines, transmissions and hybrid drivetrains which it claimed would help it lead the automotive industry in fuel efficiency for every segment within three years. Now the Japanese automaker has expanded...
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2011 Nissan Leaf: One-Year Drive ReportOn March 28, 2011, I took delivery of a European-specification 2011 Nissan Leaf. Yesterday, a few days short of our 1-year anniversary with the car, its odometer passed the 15,000 mile mark. But what have we learned about Nissan’s first electric car after living with it daily for a year?...
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Russian Yo Natural-Gas Hybrid SUV: Production By End Of YearIn the years since Soviet rule ended in Russia, the number of cars on its roads have steadily increased, driving pollution and congestion to unimaginable levels. Now Yo-Auto, the same Russian company responsible for the Yo-Mobile Hybrid Electric Car -- a vehicle already as synonymous in Russia for...
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2014 BMW i8 Supercar: 0-62 in 4.9 Seconds, Top Speed 156 MPHLast week, we confidently predicted that we’d be hearing more about BMW’s first all-electric and plug-in hybrid production cars -- the i3 electric minicar and i8 plug-in supercar -- as we neared the BMW-sponsored 2012 Olympics. For the past few weeks, most of the news we’ve heard...
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Electric Car Nürburgring Lap Champions Set New Record On IceUnless you live in one of the more northern states -- or spend a lot of time in snow-covered mountains -- the idea of driving on ice might fill you with a sense of foreboding doom. Especially if that ice happens to be covering a very large expanse of water. Enter former Automotive X-Prize entrants...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield