Antony Ingram, Contributing Writer
Articles
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If you're holding out for an electric car that gets similar range to your fossil-fuelled car, then don't hold your breath for one from Nissan.
That's the message implied by Nissan North America's... -
Diesel Cars: Demand Will Increase, Says Diesel CoalitionGiven the recent spate of recalls for clean diesel cars, the public might be a little distrustful of the fuel right now. Both Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen have recently issued recalls for fuel leaks in their diesel models. However, diesel may still yet have its day, according to the U.S. Coalition...
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Plan On Crashing Your Plug-In Car? Volvo Will Keep You SafeCars of today are immeasurably safer than those even a decade ago, and manufacturers have been working very carefully to ensure that the different requirements of electric car construction don't mean taking a step back in safety. Volvo has always been known for safety and its plug-in cars are no...
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Mazda Takeri Concept: Clean Diesel Sedan Due At TokyoWe're starting to see the first concept cars due at December's Tokyo Motor Show filtering through, and while many are excited for the design, the choice of powertrain is important too. The 2011 Mazda Takeri Concept certainly looks striking, with Mazda's new KODO "Soul of Motion" design language...
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Want A Rebate With That Hybrid? Get It While You CanIf you're relying on state tax breaks to get you behind the wheel of a brand new hybrid, we have one piece of advice: Do it soon. Several states have already cut their rebate schemes and a bunch more are about to follow down the same path, which is soon to make hybrid vehicles a more expensive...
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Mitsubishi Updates MIVEC, Adds Stop-Start For Better MPGYou've gotta hand it to automakers. However tight the noose of emissions regulations and MPG targets gets, the engineers always find a way to wriggle free with ever more impressive fuel economy figures. Mitsubishi's way of meeting ever tighter targets is to update its MIVEC variable valve timing...
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When the EPA's official MPG figures were released for the 2012 Fisker Karma a few days ago, we can't have been the only ones a little disappointed with the 20 MPG figure on gasoline and 52 MPG...
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The Top 10 Highest MPG Cars On Sale TodayIf you're in the market for a new car and your top priority is fuel efficiency, what do you buy? With so much to choose from now including gasoline, diesel, natural gas and electric cars on the market as well as a range-extended electric vehicle and hybrids galore, the options are bewildering. If...
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Tesla Losing Libel Case With Top Gear In UK High CourtA British judge ruled against Tesla Motors in its lawsuit for libel against the BBC show Top Gear, which had shown the carmaker's Roadster electric sports car seemingly out of electricity.
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Should Range-Extended Cars Have a "Battery Saver" Mode?At the 2011 Geneva Motor Show back in March we learned an interesting bit of information about the 2011 Chevrolet Volt's European cousin, the Opel Ampera. Unlike the Volt, the Ampera is to be equipped with a "battery saving" mode, whereby the driver can hold back the electric mode for when they...
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Toyota Making Le Mans Return With Hybrid Prototype RacerRacing is getting greener: F1 has plans for downsized engines, Porsche has the 911 GT3 RSR with kinetic energy recovery and Le Mans has rumbled to the sound of turbo diesel engines for several years now. Indeed, the diesel-engined Audis and Peugeots have been dominating the sport since 2006 with...
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Don't Forget: Sunday Is National Plug-In Day!If you've not already got something planned this Sunday 16th October, why not make it to one of the 20 cities coast to coast that are hosting events for National Plug-In Day? In what is being described as the largest simultaneous grassroots electric car event in history, thousands of electric...
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Natural gas vehicles aren't particularly common on U.S. roads, and with relatively cheap and plentiful gasoline, it's fairly clear why. Pumps are few and far between and only the 2012 Honda Civic...
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7 Makers Adopt Standardized Electric Car Charging In EuropeThe rumblings of dissent in Europe about different electric car charging standards could now be drawing to an end. For the past few years fans have been worried that electric cars could have a mobile phone-like situation with different plugs for every different manufacturer and different charging...
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Edison2 Electric Car Sets EPA Economy Record Of 350 MPGeThe EPA's MPG equivalent (MPGe) ratings for electric cars aren't the simplest of things to understand, worked out through a series of different calculations. When an electric car gets 350 MPGe to the more well-known 2012 Nissan Leaf's 99 MPGe rating though, you know it must be something special...
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BMW Purif-i Hand Sanitizer Even Cleaner Than i3 Electric CarThe world of car-branded merchandise has resulted in some unusual items in the past. Ferrari, for instance is well known for its scarlet-clad teddy bears and a hugely expensive carbon fiber measuring stick. On the other hand, Porsche Design, a company affiliated with the sports car maker, makes...
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And The MPG Champion Is... A 6.2-Liter V8 Sport Sedan?Come up with a list of high MPG cars and we're willing to bet that a car powered by a Chevrolet LS3, 6.2-liter, 425-horsepower V8 wouldn't be present. However, just such a car has won one of the categories in the Fleet World MPG Marathon, bettering its quoted MPG figures by 50 percent. The car in...
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Pininfarina BlueCar Makes Debut In Paris Rental SchemeWhether electric cars are suitable for the wider market yet is still a topic undergoing heated debate, but several companies have found a use to which they're very much suited - inner city rental. This is the case for French billionaire entrepreneur Vincent Bolloré. Having commissioned the...
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Engines might be getting smaller in the pursuit of saving fuel but transmissions are going the opposite direction.
Over the last few years different carmakers have rapidly increased the number of... -
EPA, NHTSA Delay Full 54.5 MPG Rules For 2025 Until NovemberIt was the proposal that brought every automaker selling in the North America market out in a cold sweat. Now, Reuters brings news that the NHTSA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are delaying the 54.5 MPG, 2025 average fleet fuel economy figure proposal until November. The reason given...
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Sixties Surf Style, 21st-Century Green: VW Buggy Up ConceptBack in in the Swinging Sixties, a small, light, fiberglass car was making a big splash up and down the West coast. That car was the Meyers Manx buggy, a Volkswagen Beetle-based buggy with very little in the way of bodywork but a heck of a lot of style, the brainchild of Californian Bruce Meyers...
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Forbidden Fruit: More Information On Honda Brio MinicarThere's something about the Honda Brio, a sub-Fit minicar now on sale in the Indian market, that really grabs our attention. Maybe it's the funky styling with its sharp creases, unusual weight and money-saving all-glass hatchback, or maybe it's the promise of 52 mpg combined economy, but either way...
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Solid State Electric Car Batteries Still 10 Years AwaySolid state batteries could be seen as everything we're looking for from an electric car battery, improving on all the fundamental characteristics needed for electric mobility. Unfortunately, we probably won't be seeing them any time soon. The latest estimations reported by Automotive News...
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How Does Your New Car Get Better MPG Than Your Old One?Almost every day we hear of a shiny new car that gets a certain number of miles to the gallon, a number often greater than its predecessor. It sometimes seems like witchcraft - until significant steps towards high-tech materials are taken, rarely do cars lose weight from one model to the next (with...
Antony Ingram