Antony Ingram, Contributing Writer
Articles
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One by one, the luxury automakers are turning towards greener vehicles.
First came Lexus, expanding its hybrid range with every model. Then BMW, with a hybrid here and there and a wider diesel range....
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Worst Thing About The Tesla Model S? Driving Anything Else AfterwardsIf early ownership experiences are to believed, there's not a lot wrong with driving a Tesla Model S. The performance is great, it's luxurious, quiet, has a great electric range... but there's still one thing that bugs owners. One thing they wish wasn't part of the Model S ownership experience...
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World's Cheapest Car, Tata Nano, Still Not Selling: Image Change NeededIt probably seemed like a good idea at the time, but with hindsight Tata's desire to sell the world's cheapest car hasn't quite worked out the way they hoped. In a nation where many still can't afford a car, the $2,000 Nano was set to be a revolution. But five years after launch, reports Bloomberg...
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Park A Regular Car In Electric-Car Space? In WA, It'll Cost Ya: $124They call it being ICEd--the practice of Internal Combustion Engine vehicles parking in spaces set aside for electric cars. It's the bane of many an electric vehicle owner's existance, pulling into their local parking lot to find the only charging spot occupied by some klutz in a regular car. And...
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2014 Cadillac ELR: Variable Electric Regen Via Paddle ShiftersPaddle shifters on an electric vehicle might seem like a bit of an engineering oversight. After all, what use is manual control over gears if there are no gears to control? Think laterally though, and the appearance of paddle shifters in the 2014 Cadillac ELR makes a lot of sense--variable...
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Fuel-Efficient 9- And 10-Speed Auto Transmissions Coming From GM, FordThe modern automotive business is a funny thing, making bedfellows of the unlikeliest of couples. Ford and General Motors don't collaborate often, but when they do it's usually on a transmission. This tradition continues as both companies announce an agreement to co-develop new 9- and 10-speed...
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It seems automakers in Europe have found the key to increasing electric car sales: battery leasing.
With 97 percent of European Smart Fortwo Electric Drive customers choosing to lease the battery,...
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Edison2 Unveils Next Iteration Of Very Light CarIt seems like fairly recently that Edison2 walked away with the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE, but it was actually back in 2010. Since then, the company has been hard at work developing the latest version of its Very Light Car (VLC). The name may not be imaginative but it is at least...
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Is This The World's Most Beautiful Electric Bicycle?A complaint we hear a lot about electric vehicles is that they're simply not beautiful enough. We can't think of a good reason that few seem capable of making electric transport look good, though in fairness the same can be said for many internal combustion vehicles too. Lack of beauty is not a...
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Aston Martin Rapide Hydrogen Racer To Debut Next MonthAston Martins evoke images of racing success and James Bond, but green technology hasn't often been at the top of the company's agenda. Times change though, and next month the British luxury automaker will field a hybrid hydrogen Rapide S race car in the ADAC Zurich 24 Hours of Nürburgring...
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2013 Tesla Model S: Now Available In Red, At LastIf you want a red Tesla Model S and didn't get in there with the Signature models, you're in luck. The photo above was revealed in a Tweet by Elon Musk on Tuesday, showing new red Model S cars heading down the line, prior to completion. "New Tesla red going down assembly line for the first time. We...
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The Mercedes-Benz SLS Electric Drive Is "Mega" (Video)Most people probably think of electric cars as an environmental solution, if the concept is to be pigeonholed. While that's certainly the case, what many people don't know is that electric vehicles can also be a lot of fun. Nowhere is this demonstrated better than the video you see above, as a...
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President Barack Obama has said he wants to boost the Department of Energy's vehicle research budget 75 percent to help develop more efficient cars.
In his 2014 budget proposal to Congress on...
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Mercedes-Benz AMG Exec Says Hybrids Dominate Diesels In FutureMercedes-Benz in-house tuner AMG is best known for its thunderous, cacophonous V-8 gasoline engines. The brand's latest model is something of a departure, though. The 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG still offers ballistic performance, but uses only a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine--albeit...
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Nissan Leaf Customers Get Battery Leasing Option In EuropeIn America, if you want a new electric car, you go to a dealer and buy one. You might have to wait a bit of course, but generally your money gets you access to both the car and its batteries. In Europe, things are a little different. If you're Renault, you sell people a car and offer its batteries...
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Audi LED Lights Actually Save Fuel, Cut Emissions, EU SaysMany people imagine that fuel efficiency stops and starts with engine technology and driving technique, but there's a little more to it than that. Making a fuel-efficient vehicle involves a holistic approach that examines every aspect of a car's design and tries to reduce its impact on fuel...
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Six New Plug-In Electric Cars Coming For 2014This is an exciting time for electric car enthusiasts. From just a handful of choices only a few years ago, buyers in some states now have access to as many as a dozen different plug-in vehicles. It's set to get even better--over the course of the next few years, another six electric vehicles are...
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Congress Sets Date For Fisker Loan Hearings: April 24Green energy and electric vehicles are an easy target for politicians at the best of times, but even more so when they fail, taking down millions in unpaid government loans with them. Fisker Automotive isn't dead yet but it does owe the U.S. Department of Energy a large proportion of the $193...
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Smart is doubling up on electric vehicles with its next generation small cars--as its Electric Drive will come in both two- and four-seat formats.
It's been known for a while that Smart would revive...
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2014 Ford Fusion: 1.5-Liter EcoBoost Engine For China, Coming To U.S.--MaybeThere have been several rumors flying around as to the full details of Ford's new 1.5-liter Ecoboost engine. The first of these relates to how many cylinders the new unit has. Ford's crypic press release didn't make this clear, with no menion of a cylinder count. Road & Track however has heard...
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What Cars Sell Well? Compact Crossover Sales SurgePeople love their SUVs. You can't move for the things these days, but the good news is they could be getting smaller. An influx of compact SUVs and crossovers in recent years has struck a chord with buyers, and sales have grown at a faster rate than the rest of the industry in the first three...
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China To Build EcoMotors' Efficient Opposed-Piston EnginesHistory makes fools of us all sometimes, none more so than when we dismiss certain ideas out of hand, only for them to come back years later and eat our words. That's why we're always intrigued by companies claiming to reinvent the engine. One of them might well do so, given the right resources...
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Ford Focus Tops Toyota Corolla As Planet's Most Popular VehicleFord sold over one million examples of its Focus last year. That alone is impressive, but there's deeper meaning to the high sales statistic--for the first time, the Focus has overtaken its Japanese rival, the Toyota Corolla, at the top of the global sales charts. Thanks to the U.S. and...
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Nissan Happy With eNV200 Electric Van Testing, Drivers Happy TooRegular readers may be familiar with the Nissan NV200 van, soon to be pressed into service in New York City as the much vaunted/maligned (delete as appropriate) "Taxi of Tomorrow". You may also be aware that Nissan is testing an electric version, the eNV200. It's currently in test fleets across the...
Antony Ingram