Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield, Contributing Writer

Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield is a self-confessed petrol head. She grew up in a carless family but was able at a very early age to name cars passing her on the street while other girls her age were more interested in Barbie Dolls. Although she trained as a classical musician she’s now a full-time broadcaster and journalist, covering green fuels and tech. After passing her driving test she’s owned a wide selection of cars, including a 1962 Morris Minor Woodie Hotrod; a single seat electric bubble car; a ’92 Honda Prelude; a ’91 Volvo 240; a ’04 Toyota Prius Plug in Hybrid (which she converted herself); an ’85 VW electric factory built rabbit; and a ’09 Smart ForTwo CDI Nikki specializes in electric vehicles, but also enjoys clandestine gas-guzzling, working on the rule that the larger and noisier the better. She is also loves riding motorcycles, but currently doesn't own one. Nikki also hosts the TransportEvolved podcast. She lives in Bristol UK with her wife, their two daughters and their Border Collie.

Articles

NHTSA: Chevy Volt Battery Pack Fix OK, Ends Investigation Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield January 9, 2012

Officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have said they are happy with the proposed safety enhancements for the 2011 and 2012 Chevrolet Volt designed to minimize the risk of...
Five Reasons Why Google Gets Plug-In Cars Before You Do
Just before the holidays at the end of last year, Google welcomed the first 2012 Ford Focus Electric to roll off the production lines into its ever-expanding G Fleet of plug-in and hybrid cars. Google’s G Fleet now includes the 2012 Nissan Leaf, 2012 Chevrolet Volt, and various Toyota Prius...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield January 6, 2012

Tata Emo Electric Concept: Is It Really that Depressing?
If you’re of a certain age, the word Emo evokes images of sulking, depressed teenagers with jet-black hair metaphorically drowning in a world of sorrow, complex poetry and dark, emotional music. So you can understand our amusement when Indian automaker Tata decided to name its latest electric...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield January 6, 2012
Life After Death: What Happens When Your Prius Battery Dies
Believe it or not, the humble Toyota Prius has been on sale in the U.S. for 12 years. While many of these original 2000 Priuses are still giving their owners the same gas milage they did when new, traction battery packs inside early cars are reaching the end of their predicted 10 year, 300,000 mile...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield January 6, 2012
Tesla CEO: 2013 Model X Crossover SUV Will Be Unveiled Feb 9
For some time now, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said its new vehicle, the upcoming Model X crossover electric car, would be unveiled int he first quarter of 2012. We just didn't know when, until now. In an interview with In an interview with Gigaom’s Katie Fehrenbacher, Musk confirmed that the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield January 6, 2012
Can Owning Solar Panels Buy You A Chevy Volt? Sort Of
What comes first, the electric car or the solar panels to charge it from? And can you use the money you save from one to pay for the other? We’ve already told you about the benefits you can get from owning both an electric car and installing a photovoltaic solar array on the roof of your...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield January 5, 2012
Plug In America Announces Online Electric Car Advocacy Seminar Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield January 5, 2012

If you’re already drive a plug-in hybrid or electric car then the chances are you’ve spent at least some time standing in a parking lot somewhere answering questions from a curious...

Want To Tow With Your 2012 Nissan Leaf? Now You Can
If you own a 2012 Nissan Leaf alongside a regular gasoline car, the chances are you’ve already taken to driving your electric car as much as possible, using it for everything from the daily commute to weekend trips to the dump. But while Nissan’s mass production electric car beats a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield January 4, 2012
First Responder Smart Phone App Helps In Green Car Crashes
For first responders, helping deal with the aftermath of a car crash is a common occurrence. But while dealing with crashed gasoline cars is an everyday event for firefighters, police officers and paramedics, crashes involving plug-in, hydrogen and other green cars are relatively rare. As a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield January 4, 2012
Volvo XC 60 Plug-in Hybrid Concept Heads To 2012 Detroit Auto Show
Volvo might have already started production on its first plug-in hybrid wagon -- the 2012 V60 Diesel Plug-in Hybrid -- but as we’ve told you before, the Swedish automaker doesn’t think the U.S. is ready for a diesel plug-in hybrid yet. But at next week’s 2012 Detroit Auto Show...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield January 4, 2012
2013 BMW i3 Electric Car iPhone App Screenshots Teased: 2012 Detroit Auto Show
We’re less than a week away from the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and that means automakers are eagerly dropping hints about what we’ll be seeing next week. For BMW, that means posting six screenshots from its unreleased iOS smartphone application for the 2013...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield January 3, 2012
Leaf-Shaped Charging Station: Ultimate Nissan Leaf Accessory?
So often in the world of Industrial design, form follows function. Then once in a while, a design comes along that turns a mundane object like an electric car charging station into something a little more artistic. Enter the leaf-shaped Lotus solar-powered electric car charging station. Designed by...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield January 3, 2012

Honda Civic Hybrid Gas Mileage Case Heads To Small Claims Court Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield January 3, 2012

When you buy a new car, you’ll probably use manufacturers’ own gas mileage estimates alongside the official Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fuel economy database to help you choose...
IIHS Sticks By Volt Safety Rating: No Pack Issues After Crash Tests
Earlier this year, the public reputation of the 2012 Chevrolet Volt was changed forever after a crash-tested Volt caught fire in wrecking yard belonging to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). It didn’t matter either that the battery fire started two weeks after the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield December 30, 2011
Japanese Electric Car Startup Explains Why Its Cars Look So Wacky
We all know that most electric cars are more energy efficient than their gasoline counterparts, but just how do you improve on the limited range most electric cars have? For some automakers like BMW, the answer lies in making an electric car as lightweight as possible. For others, the answer is to...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield December 29, 2011
Prius Cup Takes To Formula 1 Track For High-MPG Racing
Take a quick look at photograph of the line up of brightly colored race cars, complete with sponsor decals, crash-helmet-wearing drivers, and it looks like just another car race. But take your time, and you see something strange about the line of patiently-waiting race cars at the Fuji Speedway...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield December 26, 2011
Volt-Style Battery Nightmare Before Christmas Haunts Fisker
What holiday gift do you give Fisker Automotive, the company responsible for the world’s first plug-in hybrid sports coupe? A Matchbox 2012 Fisker Karma perhaps? But a public suggestion that the battery packs inside the $106,000+ Fisker Karma luxury plug-in hybrid are at risk of a coolant...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield December 26, 2011
What’s The Range Of A 2012 Nissan Leaf In Winter? We Find Out
Just before Nissan officially launched the all-electric Leaf hatchback, it came out with a dizzying list of simulated range predictions based on all kinds of road and weather conditions. According to Nissan’s own computer-simulated calculations, the car’s 24 kilowatt-hour battery pack...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield December 22, 2011

Honda Extends Warranties On 2006-11 Civic Hybrids Due To Gas Leak Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield December 22, 2011

Honda has just announced that it will be giving some 80,000 owners of its 2006-2011 Honda Civic Hybrid an extended warranty after concerns that small cracks may form in the car’s gas tank.

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AMP To Bring All-Electric Jeep Grand Cherokee To Detroit
The venerable Jeep Grand Cherokee, one of the longest-running SUV brands on the market, will be coming to the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit as an all-electric car. But it isn’t heading to Detroit as an official release on the Chrysler stand. Instead, it will be there...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield December 22, 2011
2012 Mitsubishi i Takes On Indy 500 To Prove Itself (Video)
Think of the 500-mile iconic race that is the Indy 500, and you probably think of highly-tuned, high horsepower single-seat race cars battling it out for first place what some call The Greatest Spectacle In Racing. But back in October, five-times Indy 500 competitor Roger Yasakawa took to the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield December 21, 2011
Polar CEO: Electric Car Owners Are Rich, Can Pay To Charge
Remember Polar Network, the U.K.-based charging network that costs electric car owners upwards of $30 a month to gain access to charging points? Previously, Polar’s sales director Neil Sharpe said that its level 2 charging stations were not designed to help electric car owners travel long...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield December 21, 2011
Next-Generation 2012 Smart ForTwo Electric Car Delayed
Earlier this year Daimler unveiled the third generation Smart Fortwo Electric Drive at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show. Offering much improved acceleration, range and charging capabilities on the previous generation Smart ForTwo Electric Drive, it has the potential to be the first truly...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield December 21, 2011
Santa Wants You To Drive A Tesla Roadster This Christmas
Still looking for a holiday gift for an electric car enthusiast who hasn’t yet experienced the sheer thrill of an accelerating electric sports car? If you live in Northern California, we might just have a last minute gift idea for you: a day’s rental of a 2010 super sexy red Tesla...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield December 20, 2011