Antony Ingram, Contributing Writer
Articles
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Honda and Acura can't resist teasing us with its latest hybrid sports car, the NSX.
We've seen concepts and disguised production models, and now there's a race car ready to hit the circuit, aimed at...
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Home Solar Panel Installation Cheaper Than EverThere are few better ways of running an electric car than doing so on solar power, and that's now cheaper than ever according to a new report. The Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory produces an annual "Tracking the Sun" report (pdf file) into the prices of...
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Plug-In Hybrid Model To Join Next Audi A4 Range: ReportAudi has had its fair share of criticism from plug-in car fans, but the automaker now seems to be coming around to the idea of electric propulsion after some rather public dismissals of the technology. Audi's first production plug-in model will be the A3 e-tron plug-in hybrid arriving next year...
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2013 Smart Electric Drive: 4 Stars Overall For Crash Safety From NHTSAThe 2013 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive is the latest electric vehicle to have undergone the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's crash test procedures. Following frontal crash, side impact, and side pole impact tests, the Electric Drive was awarded four from a possible five stars overall...
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Tesla Model S Quality Testing: 5 Hours Of Indoor Inspection (Video)Thorough pre-delivery testing is commonplace in the modern automotive industry, and means the shiny new cars we pick up from dealerships are of higher quality than ever before. It's always nice to know just how much care is taken to ensure a car is perfect before you're handed the key though--and...
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Will Audi's Next Sports Coupe Use E-Tron Quattro Hybrid Tech?It seems strange that Audi has so far failed to capitalize on the huge success of its R18 e-tron quattro endurance racing cars. They're without doubt some of the most technologically-advanced race cars of the modern age, yet the Ingolstadt automaker has made only token references to the R18 with...
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It hasn't been on sale for long, but the 2013 Fiat 500e is already subject to its first recall.
Chrysler has announced it's to recall more than 270 examples of the battery-electric 500 to replace...
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Electric NASCAR? Not Yet, Just Dozens Of Teslas On TrackAsk the average NASCAR fan whether they think the sport should go electric, and the response probably wouldn't be repeatable in polite company. Fans of electric cars already know they can be fast and with success at events like Pikes Peak, they can win against gasoline vehicles too. But NASCAR is...
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DoE Halted Ecotality Payments; 12,000 Charging Stations To Have Plugs RecalledElectric car charging network provider Ecotality announced Monday it had suspended trading due to "material adverse developments". The company, which sells charging equipment and runs the Blink network of charging stations, filed an 8-K report advising of several factors preventing it from meeting...
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Electric Car Prototype Can Run 12 Miles On Solar Power AloneDue to the very specific processes by which the universe works, it isn't really possible to power a modern electric car via on-board solar panels. Current photovoltaic cells simply don't produce enough power over a specific area to supply the needs of a power-hungry electric road car. It's why...
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Forbidden Fruit: Europe's Ford Focus 3-Cyl EcoBoost Gets Even GreenerAs the U.S. still eagerly awaits the introduction of the 3-cylinder EcoBoost Ford Fiesta, European drivers are buying Ford's tiny-engined cars in their droves. Various versions off the 1.0-liter, three-cylinder, turbocharged gasoline unit are available in both the Fiesta and larger Focus--and when...
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Car Manufacturing, Assembly Gets Greener As Plants Cut Waste, Energy UseYou could produce the cleanest, greenest vehicle on the road, but if your factory belches out black smoke and creates thousands of tons of landfill, that car's green credentials will always be hindered by its production. That's why all the major automakers are making strides towards improving their...
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The idea of banning internal combustion vehicles from city centers is nothing new, and similar schemes are expected to appear all over Europe over the next decade or so.
Banning them from the road...
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Toyota's Frankfurt Hybrid R Concept Is A Hybrid Hot HatchbackToyota has released its second teaser image of its Frankfurt Auto Show Hybrid R concept--and it's not at all what we thought it was. There was plenty to suggest that Toyota might use the show to showcase a much-anticipated sports coupe using the Supra name--one with a hybrid drivetrain. The latest...
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Ecotality Trading Suspended, Electric-Car Charging Network To Release News?Electric charging and technology company ECOtality has suspended trading, as what it calls "material adverse developments" see it struggling to meet expected operating losses. The company, which sells charging equipment and runs the Blink network of charging stations, filed an 8-K report this...
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Southern California Utility Girds For 350,000 Electric CarsOne of the long-standing concerns over electric cars is just how much demand the electricity grid would have to cope with should millions of people start plugging in every night. California will be a good test-bed for such concerns, with as many as 350,000 electric cars expected on the state's...
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Gordon Murray's City Cars, iStream Production Soon A Reality?Lackluster sales of cars like the Smart Fortwo have illustrated that the market for really tiny cars still doesn't really exist in the U.S, but elsewhere things are quite different. In some European or far-Eastern cities, size--or lack of it--is everything. Those are the markets the T25 and T27...
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2011-2012 Zero Electric Motorcycles Recalled For Corroding Brake BoltsOne of the most prominent manufacturers of electric motorcycles, Zero Motorcycles, is recalling a number of 2011-2012 motorcycles due to corroding brake bolts. Affected motorcycles may be susceptible to corrosion of bolts in the front brake caliper mounting assembly. This corrosion could cause...
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Three months ago, we speculated that Tesla's next product might not be the delayed Model X crossover, but an all-wheel drive version of the Model S.
Guess what? It turns out we might have been right.
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Nissan's Twizy Urban Electric Car Tour's Japan's Vacation SpotsWhen we first drove Renault's tiny Twizy electric car on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza, we got the impression it'd be at its best in some of Europe's warmer climates. In fact, it could be the ideal vacation island rental car. Simple to operate, economical to use, that wind-in-your-hair...
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Tiny Kei-Car Engine For Iconic Caterham 7 Sports CarPutting a tiny engine in a hairy-chested sports car doesn't seem like the perfect recipe for fun, but British sports car companies have always been a little... different. Caterham is one of those companies. Back in 1972, it bought the rights to Colin Chapman's lightweight Lotus Seven sports car...
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2014 BMW i3 Electric Car: Roundup Of Driving ImpressionsFor the last few weeks, only one electric car has displaced the Tesla Model S from the top of news stories--the 2014 BMW i3. That's an impressive feat considering Tesla's news-making abilities, but not without good reason: BMW has a reputation for pleasing driving enthusiasts and the badge-obsessed...
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Which 2013 Small Cars Are IIHS Top Safety Picks?It's not hard to see why small cars have increased in popularity over the last decade or so. Always popular among some buyers for their gas-saving abilities, today's small cars are also now quicker, more comfortable, better-equipped and safer than ever before. IIHS has been discovering just how...
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Electric-Car Makers Need To Sell More Of Their Existing Cars, Says RenaultThe Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt might be leading plug-in car sales in the U.S, but in Europe one in two electric cars sold as a Renault. That doesn't mean high sales of course, but it means Renault has a foothold in a growing market, and one it isn't keen to let go of. And as part of its own brand...
Antony Ingram