Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield, Contributing Writer
Articles
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It's been the most anticipated all-electric car of 2010 with well over 13,000 pre-orders in the U.S. alone. We've driven one twice and loved the car's well-finished trim, impressive handling and...
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U.S. Army Goes Electric With Smart-Grid Enabled EVsThe U.S. military is hardly the first place you'd look to find an electric vehicle, but Canadian firm Rapid Electric Vehicles has just received a four-vehicle order from the U.S. Army for a test fleet of all-electric vehicles. The vehicles will be tested by the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research...
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At 307 MPH, Ohio-Built Electric Racer Is Anything But SlowLand speed records have long been a integral part of motor racing, but for many years electric vehicles have been viewed as slow and cumbersome. With a 0-60 mph time of less than four seconds, the 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport certainly puts the myth of slow vehicles to bed, but just how fast can an...
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Not All Nissan Dealers Will Initially Specialize In 2011 LeafRemember how we found out a few weeks ago that some Nissan dealers in the U.K. were blissfully unaware of specifics of Nissan's first publicly sold production electric car? According to the dealers we spoke to, the 2011 Nissan Leaf would charge to full in ten minutes, would not be eligible for...
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BYD Embroiled In Court Case, Puts Back Plans to Go PublicBuild Your Dreams, one of China's largest battery and electric vehicle companies, has been telling us for months that it plans to bring affordable, competitive and safe electric vehicles to the U.S. market very soon. But as the months roll on, BYD's claim to get a car to market sooner rather than...
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Electric Pot Car From Canada Creates Big Bong In EV WorldAs we're faced with an increasingly large world population and ever-dwindling resources the race is on to produce cars that not only produce zero tailpipe emissions, but ones that are green to manufacture too. But what is the ultimate material for cars? Steel is strong, but hardly light enough to...
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The end of 2010 is seen by many in the automotive industry as the first hurdle for many budding electric car companies. By the end of 2010 both Chevrolet and Nissan will have plug in vehicles on...
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What Do Nissan Dealers Really Know About The 2011 Leaf?
It's hardly a secret that the 2011 Nissan Leaf is one of the most anticipated electric cars this year. Nissan now has over 20,000 customers who have paid $99 to be placed on the waiting list, securing a place in electric car history. But as with any new car roll-out, those who eagerly sign up for a...
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U.S. Most Likely To Lead Electric Car Growth, Report SaysInternational research consultancy firm McKinsey has just released the latest of its reports on electric cars, placing the U.S. ahead of other countries when it comes to electric car adoption. Taking into account nine variables likely to influence investment in the electric car sector such as...
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What Comes First, The Car Or The Charger? Portland, Oregon AnswersAre electric cars being held back by a lack of convenient charging points? Or do more electric cars need to be produced in order for a demand for electric vehicle charging points to be large enough to justify installing them? And should charging stations be ones offering a 240V, 30A top-off charge...
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Zero Motorcycles Awarded $900,000 Development Grant, Aims HighStaff and customers of Zero Motorcycles were celebrating yesterday when the company was awarded a $900,000 grant by the California Energy Commission to further its power-train development. Founded in Santa Cruz, by former NASA engineer Neal Saiki, Zero motorcycles became world leaders in electric...
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Charging Infrastructure Not Prerequisite For Electric Car SuccessWhat exactly is needed for electric cars to become mainstream? It's a question the auto industry has been asking time and time again over the past few years. Over time, the answer has changed. While electric car owners will likely tell you that the only thing they really need in order to live...
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Think of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt and very little seems conventional about it. With a range of 40 miles per charge and a range-extending gasoline engine used to provide extra power when the battery...
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Will Wireless Electric Car Charging Induce An EV Revolution?Just how long does it take to plug in an electric car? A few seconds, perhaps? And just how inconvenient is it? We plug in electrical devices every day in our homes without giving it a second thought. Most existing electric car owners even cite plugging their car in as being a bonus over having...
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After The Auto X-Prize, What Next For Aptera's Electric Car?Will video and time kill the Aptera star? Will Detroit? Or will the Auto X-Prize pull the final punch? As the field has been whittled down from 136 to just 9 contenders for the chance to win part of the elusive $10 million prize fund, we've watched electric vehicles dominate the event. For one...
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2011 Nissan Leaf Drive Review: A Real Electric Car for Real PeopleJust days after Nissan announced its 8 year, 100,000 mile warranty option for the 2011 Leaf, we've had a chance to do our second test-drive of the week in Nissan's $33,750 electric baby. Earlier this week, Nissan gave us some time behind the wheel of the Leaf in San Jose, California. We had a great...
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2012 Think City EV’s New Lithium-Ion Battery A Welcome UpgradeHow fast, how far, and how long? These are the three most important questions asked of any electric car coming to market. Just like their gasoline counterparts, drivers want to know their first electric car won't leave them foundering at the lights, stranded on the freeway, or taking forever to...
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Electric Vehicles Rule 100MPGe Auto X-Prize, Fighting For $10m PrizeWhile Nissan and Chevrolet fight it out to become the number one consumer electric vehicle of 2010, six electric vehicle companies most consumers will have never heard of are battling it out to become $10 million richer. That's the prize fund the winner of the Auto X-Prize could take home in...
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A few hours after Chevrolet announced its pricing structure for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, Nissan have responded with details of the warranty it will offer on its 2011 all-electric Leaf.
At the Plugin...
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Should Nissan Offer Warranty Options For The 2011 Leaf?What is an acceptable warranty for an electric car? Three years? Four years? Ten Years? And should customers be able to choose what that warranty level is? That is the question Nissan was asking last week when it sent out a questionnaire to the 16,100 people who have paid out $99 to reserve a...
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Four Out Of Five Dentists Open To Driving Electric Cars (Apparently)Unless you've been living in a remote shack in the remote wilderness of Northern Alaska you'll be familiar with the television adverts we all suffered in the 80s which started with the immortal line "Four out of five dentists..." What followed was normally an advertisement for some form of dental...
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Five Things Consumers Want To Know About Electric CarsAccording to a recent report by Nissan, most consumers signed up to buy the 2011 Nissan Leaf are already electric vehicle owners or hybrid drivers. In short, early adopters are mainly enthusiasts who already know the ins and outs of driving electric. But what about the general public? We've sat...
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Most 2011 Nissan Leaf Drivers Plan to Lease Rather Than BuyAre you buying a 2011 Nissan Leaf? If you're one of the 16,064 lucky people who has already placed a $99 deposit down on one of the most eagerly anticipated cars of the year, Nissan thinks it knows how you'll finance the $32,780 cost of purchase. Nissan expects most people to lease. And it turns...
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BREAKING: Honda Plans Electric Car, Plug-in Hybrid For 2012Just like last week's Toyota-Tesla announcement, the rumor mill went into overdrive yesterday with talk of plans from Honda to build both electric cars and plug in Hybrids in the near future. Knowing full well how the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines felt about battery...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield