Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield, Contributing Writer
Articles
-
Yesterday, the California Energy Commission approved a $10 million grant to Tesla Motors which it said would help the electric automaker prepare for the launch of its second mass-produced car, the...
-
2013 Ford C-Max Energi: 100 MPGe, Beats Volt, Plug-in Prius
It’s official: the 2013 Ford C-Max Energi is the most efficient plug-in hybrid to date, achieving a cool 100 miles per gallon equivalent combined in official EPA fuel economy tests. Announced last night by Ford, the $33,745 2013 Ford C-Max Energi has beaten both the 95 MPGe rating of the 2012...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Electric-Car Charging Stations Going In? Best Practices Guide Issued
For eco-minded commuters with electric cars, getting a place to charge their electric car while at work can effectively double their car’s daily range. Getting your employer to install a charging station can be far from easy, even if the company you work for is keen to support electric cars...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Electric Car + Solar Panels: Are They Right For You?
When it comes to service costs and fuel, everyone knows that electric cars are far cheaper to run than gasoline cars. Even with a plug-in car, however, you still have to pay your local utility company for the electricity used to charge it. Like gas prices, electricity prices are on a steady, upward...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2013 Tesla Model S Beats 2013 BMW M5 In Straight-Line Drag Race
There’s no denying that electric cars have lots of torque from standstill, meaning they can out-accelerate most cars in the stop-light derby to 30 mph. But what happens beyond that? Could a car like the 2012 Tesla [NASDAQ:TSLA] Model S Performance beat the sporty, race-bred 2013 BMW M5 in a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Charging Station Won’t Release My Electric Car: Now What?
Ask owners to give you a list of fears associated with their electric cars, and a few charging concerns are bound to be on the list. Usually, they include not finding somewhere to charge, or that a charging station isn’t accessible for some reason. Now a new one can be added to the list: not...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Cars might be getting lighter and ever more efficient in an attempt to reduce emissions and improve gas mileage, but according to Allstate insurance, there’s one factor which affects gas...
-
New Chevy Volt Electric-Car App Shows (Low) Cost Of Home Charging
How much does it cost to charge your electric car? Do you know? That might initially sound like a simple enough question to answer, but in some homes--especially ones signed up to time of use electricity metering--it’s often far from straightforward to find an answer. Now a new smartphone app...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Ferrari Shares Chassis Secrets Of New Hybrid Supercar
In the world of high gas prices and tough gas mileage standards, even exotic supercar manufacturers are having to think about ways to make their cars leaner, meaner, and greener. Which is why one exhibit on the Ferrari stand at the 2012 Paris Auto Show--the carbon fibre tub which will form the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Active Shutter Grille Vents: How They Help Improve MPG
Over the past few years, more automakers than ever have started to promote something called active shutter grille vents. Essentially a way to boost fuel economy at higher speeds, active grill shutters are now being used by GM, Ford, and Chrysler--among others--to give gas mileage boosts to their...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Exec Stands Firm on Nissan Leaf Batteries, Previews 2013 (Video)
Ever since a handful of Nissan Leaf owners in Arizona noticed that their cars had started to suffer from premature battery aging, Nissan has been criticized for its apparent lack of transparency on the subject. Just over a week ago, Nissan announced it had asked electric car advocate Chelsea Sexton...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Prius Plug-in Hybrid Ad Aims To Get You Excited About Plugging In
With perhaps the exception of British electronic synthesizer group Add N to (X) and a certain risqué music video, the concept of plugging in an electronic gadget isn’t what most people would think of as the most...ahem...suggestive of acts. But Toyota’s latest Japanese social...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
In the automotive world, nothing says a car is more safe than a 5-Star crash test rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and a Top Safety Pick award from the...
-
More Electric Cars, Not Charging Technology, Key To Mass Adoption
It’s no secret that electric cars sales in the U.S.--and elsewhere in the world--aren’t as high as automakers and electric car advocates would like. The reasons given for this are many and varied: some commentators say plug-in cars are simply too expensive; others say that the lack of...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Move Over Google, Meet The Self-Driving Nissan Leaf
What Google can do with a Toyota Prius, someone else can do with a Nissan Leaf. At least, that’s the message NIssan wants to send after showcasing its own take on Google’s automated car at the 2012 Ceatec exhibition in Japan. As Engadget reports, the self-driving Nissan Leaf can move...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Hybrid Ad Wars: Ford C-Max Vs. Toyota Prius V
For the past decade, Toyota has unquestionably been the champion of the hybrid electric car, thanks to its Prius family of hybrids. But with a tough new ad campaign about to launch for the all-new 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid, Detroit’s blue oval wants to steal that hybrid crown. The gloves are...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2013 Zero Electric Motorcycles: Bigger, Badder, Faster
If you’re a fan of electric motorcycles, you’ll know that Californian-based Zero Motorcycles likes to update its range of all-electric motorcycles one a year. And, unlike many automakers and motorcycle companies, that means more than just a few new paint options and handlebar tweaks. In...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Land Rover Confirms Production Range Rover Plug-in Hybrid
It’s almost a year ago since a Range Rover Range_e plug-in hybrid prototype was spotted innocuously charging at a shopping mall in the U.K. Now Land Rover has confirmed its intentions to bring a plug-in hybrid Range Rover to market some time in the future. For now, how far into the future...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
At some point, especially if you live in a large city like New York, the chances are you’ve used valet parking to make life a little easier on arrival at a parking garage, hotel, or airport.
...
-
VW: Americans Won't Pay More For Gas-Saving Extras
Last week, at the 2012 Paris Auto Show, Volkswagen unveiled its all-new 2014 Golf family, including the highly-efficient VW Golf BlueMotion diesel. A car, which as Volkswagen has already stated, the U.S. won’t be getting. That’s because Americans aren’t willing to pay extra for...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2013 Nissan Sentra Prices To Start At $16,770
It’s been just under a month since Nissan quietly released gas mileage figures for its all-new 2013 Sentra compact sedan. Now Nissan has announced pricing for this redesigned sedan. Including a mandatory $780 handling and destination fee, the base-level 2013 Sentra S, with 1.8-liter...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Shai Agassi Out As CEO Of Better Place Electric-Car Service
Shai Agassi, founder of Better Place, which provides electric-car services to customers in Israel, is no longer CEO of the company, the firm has confirmed. In an official statement posted earlier today, the company said that Agassi has been replaced by Evan Thornley, previously CEO of Better Place...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Tesla’s Supercharger Network: How It Works In The Real World
Last week, Tesla Motors [NADAQ: TSLA] officially switched on the first six of its planned network of Supercharger charging stations. Designed to offer current -- and future -- Tesla models the ability to recharge at a rate of around 150 miles in just 30 minutes, Tesla’s Superchargers are the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Confirmed: U.S. Mini Will Soon Get 3-Cylinder Engine Option
At last week’s Paris Auto Show, BMW unveiled the Concept Active Tourer, a compact plug-in hybrid wagon powered by a combination of battery power and a 3-cylinder gasoline engine. At the moment, BMW’s new 1.5-liter, 3-cylinder engine, designed in part for use in its upcoming i8 plug-in...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield