Antony Ingram, Contributing Writer
Articles
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Audi looks set to add another technology to its wide 'tron' roster--hydrogen power.
As Autocar reports (via Motor Authority), the company is working on a fuel cell Audi A7, with trials due to begin...
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100 MPG, Hand-Built, Gasoline-Powered Aptera Set For U.S?A great many people were disappointed--though perhaps not surprised--when green automaker Aptera closed its doors in late 2011. Its project, the Aptera 2e, promised to be one of the most efficient vehicles on the road, but the company suffered the usual startup automaker pitfalls and disappeared...
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Volkswagen Passat TDI Aims For 68 MPG On U.S. Road TripVolkswagen's 2013 Passat TDI is the most efficient diesel vehicle currently on sale. Its EPA-rated figures of 31 mpg city, 43 highway and 35 combined put it above a throng of other Volkswagen-Audi diesels, and make it a prime choice for frugal highway driving. But is 68 mpg within reach? If you're...
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Toyota: No More Plug-In Electric Cars If Electricity Doesn't Get Cleaner (In Europe)?European buyers waiting for an electric Toyota may have quite some time to wait--until the electric grid cleans up, basically. That's the word from Toyota Europe, which says it wants to see cleaner electricity generation before it commits to electric vehicles. According to Responding to Climate...
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French Electric Car-Sharing Service Autolib Coming To ... Indianapolis ?!?Visit French capital Paris, and it won't be long before you see a Bollore Bluecar running about. The small, quirky electric car is part of the city's Autolib' car sharing service. Bluecars dotted around Parisian streets wait for anyone wishing to borrow them, for anything from a few minutes to...
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2014 Audi A3 e-tron: Full Details On Audi's Plug-In Hybrid"We're proud the Audi A3 e-tron doesn't look like an electric car." Ouch. If Audi is truly serious about electric vehicles, that probably isn't the phrase we'd have chosen to prove it, while showing off its new plug-in hybrid A3 model. But then, the Ingolstadt automaker might be on to...
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Audi has revealed pricing for its full lineup of diesel models, joining the existing A8 L TDI and Q7 TDI SUV.
Each new model uses the same 3.0-liter V-6 turbodiesel engine and 8-speed automatic...
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New Nürburgring Lap Record For Electric Car Set By SLS AMGThe timing was nothing if not amusing. No sooner had Audi let us drive its R8 e-tron electric supercar and proudly boasted of its lap record at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, then arch-rival Mercedes-Benz stole it from under Audi's nose with its SLS AMG Electric Drive. The striking yellow...
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Audi R8 e-tron: First Drive Of Audi's Electric SupercarWe'll start with the bad news: No, Audi definitely won't be producing any more examples of its R8 e-tron electric supercar. And even if it did, it'd be well beyond the reach of mere mortals--rumor has it that each of the ten e-trons currently in existence have set Audi back around $1.3 million. All...
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Volkswagen XL1 Diesel Plug-In Gets "Just" 120 MPG In Real-World DriveWhile the assembled hoardes drooled over Ferraris, Porsches and McLarens at March's Geneva Motor Show, those of a greener disposition were more interested in another vehicle. Launched alongside the hybrid hypercars was a true hybrid supercar in its own right--the plug-in diesel hybrid Volkswagen...
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Electric-Car Battery Breakthroughs: Ultimate GuideIf it wasn't so important for the future of electric cars, it could almost get tiresome: Just how do you improve batteries for longer life, quicker charging and a greater range? It's a question being investigated by great minds all around the world, and has turned up some surprising and exciting...
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Kei Cars: Japan's Tiny (But Often High-Tech) MinicarsYou don't need us to tell you that the Japanese car market is about as far-removed from the U.S. market as it's possible to get. Where big trucks still dominate in North America, vehicles that almost fit in the average truck's pickup bed make up almost half of all Japanese car sales. Those cars are...
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The word "hyper", when used as a prefix, is generally considered to be bigger and better than anything prefixed with "super".
Hypermarkets and superstores, for example. Or hypercars like the...
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World's Largest Coal Company To Use Solar Power In Bid To Cut Energy CostsIt's perfectly reasonable to be skeptical when an alternative energy organization says we should move away from fossil fuels, and likewise reasonable to be skeptical when the fossil fuel industry says we have nothing to worry about. But when the world's largest coal producer turns to solar power...
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Audi A1 e-tron: First Drive Of Range-Extended Electric Car PrototypeThe Audi A1 e-tron was almost a sideshow to our day at the company's future lab tron-experience at Berlin's spectacular and disused Tempelhof Airport. Drives squeezed in over lunch or at the end of the day reflect the A1 e-tron's unfortunate status: Stillborn prototype, rather than fully-fledged...
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The Gas-Mileage Parasite You Can't Live Without? Air ConditioningName one car convenience feature you absolutely couldn't live without, and it'd probably be air conditioning. Whether you live in a hot or cold climate its cooling and demisting benefits can't be understated--it has safety benefits as much as comfort and convenience ones. It also has an effect on...
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Audi A3 g-tron: First Drive Of Natural Gas Compact CarWe lost count of just how many times Audi engineers used the phrase "no compromises" during their 'tron' presentations in Berlin. And driving the Audi A3 Sportback g-tron, a near-standard A3 running on natural gas, it's hard not to agree with them--at least initially. For the average car buyer, the...
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Audi Tron Program: Latest Update On Plug-In Audis, More, From BerlinAudi's 'tron' program has been, well, a little confusing over recent years. Back in the early days it was oh so simple--one concept car, known simply as the Audi e-tron, represented Audi's foray into future mobility. Since then it seems a dozen models have come and gone, but after presentations...
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"Electric cars sold out!" isn't a phrase you'll have heard often over the past few years, but that's just what's happened in Southern California recently.
Recent lease deals putting electric vehicles...
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New-Car Average Gas Mileage At Highest Level Ever: 24.8 MPGIt just keeps rising: Average gas mileage for new cars has once again hit a new high in the U.S. Statistics kept by the University of Michigan's Transport Research Institute (UMTRI) show sales-weighted MPG of 24.8 mpg in May. That contrasts with 24.6 mpg in March, and a rise from 24.5 mpg in...
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Update On High-Mileage 2011 Nissan Leaf Electric CarLast year, we brought you the story of one Nissan Leaf owner really putting his car to the test, as his 130-mile daily commute had racked up 36,000 miles in just 11 months of ownership. The car, owned and driven by Steve Marsh of Washington state, was one of the highest-mileage Leafs we'd heard of...
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California Takes The Lead In Using Batteries For Grid StorageWe all know producing electricity is an energy-intensive process, but the complications don't stop at how utilities generate that power. Demand for electricity ebbs and flows, and often doesn't correlate with generating capacity. One way of dealing with these fluctuations in supply and demand is to...
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Tesla Model S Top Speed: More Than 130 MPH, Emission-FreeTop speeds are more relevant than many people think. That even applies to cars like the Tesla Model S, though perhaps more for bragging rights than any practical purpose. And as bragging rights go, 133 mph isn't too bad for an electric car. While there aren't many places you can legally explore a...
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1983 Volvo Concept Car Previewed Today's Green TechTraditionally, concept cars are superficial beasts, showing off an automaker's latest style, eventually watered down and rationalized before they hits the road. More recently, they've also previewed new drivetrain technologies and materials, as products are now expected to minimize their impact on...
Antony Ingram