Antony Ingram, Contributing Writer
Articles
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Clatter, grumble, shudder, belch.
Sound familiar? Not if you drive one of the modern breed of diesel-engined cars, which have virtually banished all sign of their clattery, tractor-like forebears.
A...
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Ultimate Guide To Gas-Sipping Minicars On Sale In The U.S.Which side are you on? Bigger is better? Or perhaps 'No replacement for displacement'? Or do you think more along the lines of 'small is beautiful' and 'good things come in small packages'? If it's the latter, then you may also be a fan of the smallest cars manufacturers have to offer. And if you...
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Ecotality Lawsuit Tossed Out, CA To Get NRG-Funded Charging StationsElectric car charging station provider ECOtality has had a lawsuit against the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) thrown out by a California appeals judge. ECOtality had wanted to stop the Commission funding a charging network set up by eVgo, a subsidiary of energy company NRG. The $102.5...
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2011-2013 Ford Fiesta: 154K Recalled For Faulty Air BagsFord has announced it will recall more than 154,000 Ford Fiesta subcompacts to fix a fault with the side air bags. The company has found that in some cases, the side air bag won't inflate to protect passengers in the rear, if the front passenger seat is empty. The Associated Press (via Huffington...
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Smart eBike: Commute, Ride For Leisure, Or... Play Polo?Smart is all about breaking preconceptions. Small cars can't be safe? Not the case. Cheap cars have to be dull? Not a bit of it. Here are a few more: Polo is only played by high society folk on horses, Spring Break is a wild vacation, and electric bikes are just a tool for commuting. Not according...
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Kia Soul Electric Car Due In 2014?The 2013 Kia Soul hasn't really registered with those of us concerned about fuel economy and emissions. That's despite the Soul Eco achieving a respectable 36 mpg highway and 32 combined in EPA testing. However, the Soul could get a lot greener in 2014, as Kia has apparently confirmed an electric...
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One thing common to many hybrid cars is the twin-pronged benefit of refinement and silence.
Just a brief drive in a hybrid is usually enough to confirm that, at low engine speeds at least, they don't...
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Do Electric Motorcycles Have A U.S. Future? One View Says NoMotorcycles, as any biker will tell you, are as much a device for recreation as they are a method of transport. More so even than many cars, they're bought for the thrill of the open road, the interaction between man and machine, and the freedom to go anywhere. And that, says The New York Times, is...
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Six High-Mileage Hybrids That Will Keep You InvisibleHybrid cars may not be universally popular, but most can appreciate the thinking behind them. After all, who actually likes paying high prices for gas? Even so, some may prefer the benefits of hybrid technology without the image that occasionally comes with it. We've picked six hybrid cars that...
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Electric Car Battery Research: Graphene Foam For Faster Recharging?Graphene is described as a "wonder material" within the scientific community, winning the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. It's incredibly light, incredibly strong and very simple. Made up from sheets of carbon only a single atom thick, it's the material's potential use in batteries that has us...
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The Coolest Hybrid You'll Never Get To DrivePoor old Toyota. Over the past decade, the Japanese company has produced millions of Prius, making a contribution to saving gas as great as any other vehicle, but the one thing that the Prius can't seem to shake off is people calling it ugly. French carmaker Citroen has taken a different approach...
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So What's An 'MPGe' Anyway? Ford Explains It All For YouIf you've been looking at buying a new electric car, you'll have noticed a slightly different measurement of economy on the official labels: MPGe. But what does MPGe actually mean? Luckily, Ford is here to help you, so check out the video above to learn more. Effectively, MPGe is a measure that...
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Chevrolet is fielding a three-pronged gas mileage attack on the market with the 2013 Malibu, ditching V-6 options and concentrating on fuel-efficient fours instead.
New to the range is a 2.0-liter...
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That Smart Electric-Car Fire? Never Mind; It's Not Electric At AllOur hearts sink a little every time we discover news of an electric car fire. Will others also go up in flames? Will the media turn it into an anti-EV frenzy, like they did with the Chevy Volt? Reports of an electric Smart ForTwo going up in flames at a home in Florida brought all those thoughts...
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Mercedes-Benz E300 Bluetec Hybrid Sedan: Quick DriveIt's often said that diesel cars are in their element at highway speeds, ticking over at low, constant revs, while hybrids are best-suited to cities--where the internal combustion engine can shut off regularly, saving gas. You might wonder then why so few carmakers have mixed the best of both...
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Buy A 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas, Get A $3,000 Fuel CardIf you've been considering the purchase of a 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas, now might be the time to sign on the dotted line. Honda, in conjunction with Clean Energy, is offering a $3,000 fuel card for the purchase of natural gas at any of Clean Energy's natural gas filling stations. When natural...
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Smart eBike Ride: Electric Bike The Best Vehicle Smart Makes?After testing the 2013 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive, we were given the opportunity to try out another of Smart's electric vehicles. Unlike the city car however, this vehicle has only half the number of seats, and half the numer of wheels. It's also, technically speaking, a hybrid--using an electric...
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Toyota's Hybrids First Cars To Appear On Home Shopping NetworkIf you thought no avenue had been left unexplored in the quest to promote automobiles, think again. Short of billboards on the moon and beaming adverts directly into your brain, most traditional media are already used--but Toyota has found one more, promoting its range of hybrid vehicles on the...
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If you're looking to reduce your driving costs, should you buy an electric car?
It's a question many have asked in the past, and the results tend to vary depending on the electric car selected, and...
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Better Battery-Control Software Could Double Charging Speed: ResearchNew battery charge estimation algorithms developed by engineers at the University of California (UC), San Diego, are on the verge of vastly improve the capabilities of current lithium-ion batteries. The changes center around improving charging times, potentially allowing for batteries that charge...
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2013 Smart Electric Drive: Better Than Earlier Electric Smarts?Smart's third-generation Electric Drive model might look similar to the car it replaces, but it's a very different vehicle under the skin. To discover just how different, our latest drive in the new electric Smart let us compare with our experiences from the previous model--and the differences are...
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Is E85 Ethanol The Solution To High Gas Prices?Ethanol is often touted as being the future fuel of internal combustion vehicles, as it can be more easily--and more locally--produced than regular gasoline, while producing lower greenhouse gas emissions. That makes it a further step towards energy independence, but does it make it the fuel of the...
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Smart Electric Drive Ad Ignores Eco Theme, Goes Big For Small CarHey Chevy, listen up: Aliens in electric car ads don't have to be annoying--just ask Smart. The maker of diminutive city cars has ditched all references to performance, specifications and efficiency in its latest ad (via Autoblog) for the third-generation Fortwo Electric Drive, instead giving us a...
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Tesla Model S To Offer Handling Package Option?The 2012 Tesla Model S electric sedan is already competent handler, but it could get even better for Model S Performance buyers. Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] has announced that it's developing a new suspension setup aimed at improving the car's already-talented dynamics. According to Wired (via Motor...
Antony Ingram