Antony Ingram, Contributing Writer
Articles
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There was a time when the average vehicle could be expected to go wrong on a fairly regular basis.
That's not the case these days, and in general cars are more reliable than ever--even if repair...
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Volvo Adds New Diesel Tech, 8-Speed Auto To Improve Fuel EconomyVolvo doesn't sell any diesel vehicles in the U.S, but if and when it decides to change that it'll certainly have some of the more advanced units on sale. The company's new diesel engine family, launched this fall in Europe, features what Volvo calls 'i-ART' technology to help cut fuel consumption...
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Hydrogen Stations Soar: 27 New Ones In 2012--Worldwide27 hydrogen refueling stations sounds like quite a healthy amount for such an expensive installation. It's easy to put up a new electric car charging post, but a lot more effort and cost is required for a hydrogen filling station. If you're thinking these have all sprung up in a state near you in...
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Westfield iRacer: Electric Sports Car Makes Track Debut (Video)The Westfield sports car company isn't widely known out of its UK home, but the firm has a long history of light-weight sports cars, many based on the classic Lotus 7 shape. Squint hard enough and the Westfield iRacer isn't dissimilar, with a long, narrow body and outboard wheels. But that's where...
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Renault Twin'Z: Rear-Drive Electric Car Hints At Next Smart FortwoRenault didn't endear itself to the U.S. back in the 1980s, with products like the Alliance and Le Car. It's almost a shame they aren't in the States today though, with a range of excellent performance hatchbacks to entice thrill-seeking buyers, and a burgeoning range of electric vehicles at...
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Solar Roads: Is The Future Of Energy Under Our Feet?Whatever the future energy mix, it's becoming apparent that coal and gas are both hugely consumptive and not entirely great for the environment--even if they provide large swathes of the world with their energy. Renewable energies like solar, wind and hydro on the other hand supply only a small...
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The last few weeks have made painful reading for fans of electric car startup Fisker Automotive.
It seems fate has a few more nails to bang in to Fisker's coffin. Automotive News reports the company...
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Fisker Karma: Range Extended Electric Car Ultimate GuideMake a car desirable enough, and people will buy it whatever is powering the wheels. That's the theory anyway, but in a world of unease over the suitability of electric cars, the Henrik Fisker has taken the more comfortable, usable route to creating an electric car: The range-extended Fisker Karma...
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Sim-CEL Electric Concept Quicker Than Slug-Like Looks SuggestNot to be judgemental, but getting people interested in a vehicle that looks like the Sim-CEL probably won't be the easiest of tasks. Beauty is more than skin deep, but it's still the first thing you notice--and the slug-like vehicle above is a vehicle to appreciate on engineering, rather than...
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Lexus Compact Hybrid SUV To Debut At 2014 Geneva ShowLexus sources have confirmed that the firm's upcoming compact luxury SUV will debut at next year's Geneva Auto Show. The new model is expected to carry the NX 300h tag, after that name was trademarked by Lexus back in November. NX fits the company's naming system and 300h implies the new vehicle...
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Americans Are Driving Less, And Have Been Since 2005There's a far more effective way of reducing pollution and dependency on oil than buying more efficient cars or going electric: Driving less. It's not an option available to everyone of course, but it certainly helps reduce fuel use. And it's something Americans have been doing in a steady trend...
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Rimac Concept_One Electric Supercar Vs Ferrari 458: Guess Who Wins?The Ferrari 458 Spider is not a slow car. That sounds like a statement of the obvious, but when you see it left for dust by another vehicle, as in the video above, you might have wondered. The 4.5-liter, V-8-engined Ferrari has no answer for the Concept_One, the thousand-plus horsepower supercar...
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You couldn't accuse Porsche of being predictable. After years of making endless rear-engined sports cars, the last decade or so has seen SUVs, diesels and hybrids all join the Porsche lineup.
With...
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Fuel Economy Keeps Rising: 24.6 MPG In MarchIf you're used to driving around in a Prius then average miles per gallon of 24.6 will sound a little poor in comparison. But that's the average economy of all cars, light trucks, minivans and SUVs purchased in the U.S. in March--and it's an all-time high. 24.6 mpg is 0.2 mpg higher than January...
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Lexus LF-LC Sports Car Could Be Made, Will It Be A Hybrid?Lexus recently sold the last example of its LFA supercar to a lucky buyer--leaving the Japanese luxury automaker without a high-performance flagship. That could change with the news Lexus intends to produce the LF-LC sports car, first seen as a concept vehicle at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show...
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Detroit Electric SP:01 - The New Tesla Roadster?The Detroit Electric SP:01 you see above was teased last month, but readers will note its similarity to the British Lotus Elise sports car--albeit one with electric power. This is not, it has to be said, an original idea. The Tesla Roadster of a few years past also used a Lotus Elise chassis...
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Conquering Electric-Car Range Anxiety: A Complete GuideRange Anxiety. Two very familiar words, but their coming together is more recent. It's the fear of running out of electricity in an electric car, compounded by typically short ranges and long recharging times. And it's contagious: A potential customer could drive under 30 miles per day and use a...
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America's Iconic Greyhound Buses Get Greener With New Diesel TechGreyhound Lines Inc.'s buses are one of America's icons, serving over 3,700 destinations in the U.S, Canada and Mexico. The once-famous bare-metal livery may have disappeared in the last few decades, but over 25 million passengers still use the services every year--making improvements to the...
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For those readers living in one of America's big cities, concrete jungles strewn across the North American landscape, it's easy to forget that hundreds of thousands of acres are set aside in some...
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Nissan Leaf's Great-Grandfather: The Tama EVYou might think high gasoline prices are a problem now, but at least it's relatively easy to get hold of. The same couldn't be said in Japan after the end of World War II, when the country's gasoline supplies were limited under Allied occupation. Transport was still vital, which led Nissan and...
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Lotus Mobile: A Portable, Affordable Solar Charging Solution?Given millions of years of adaptation to conditions, it's no surprise that nature is pretty good at doing what it does. Each leaf on a tree, and indeed the shape of a tree's canopy, is the work of refinements over millenia to capture the most sunlight possible to ensure the tree's growth. Why not...
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2014 Fiat 500E Drivers Latest To Get Use Of 'Free Car' Loaners"But what if I want to drive across the country?" ask people who never drive across the country, when discussing the subject of an electric car's range. In a way, they do have a point. Unless you have time on your side, or a Tesla Model S and a string of Superchargers between yourself and your...
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Hybrid Sales Still Climbing: 8 Percent Of U.S. Sales By 2020?
There was a point, when Toyota Prius and Honda Insights were rolling off dealer lots in their mere hundreds nationwide, that hybrids were easy to dismiss. Now, as sales leap 32 percent in the first two months of this year and market share sits around 4 percent, the humble hybrid has become a real...
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Could Carmakers Sell More Electric Cars With Green Energy Included?In our experience, owners of electric vehicles are also rather keen on green energy. Where appropriate, many fit solar panels to supply some of their energy needs, and others use green energy tariffs and similar. As it turns out, marrying the two is a good way of enticing people into electric...
Antony Ingram