Electric Cars
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With most electric cars currently selling in no more than four-figure sums each month, a time when they're selling by the million looks an awfully long way away. In India, that time might arrive a whole lot quicker. The country's National Council for Electric Mobility (NCEM) has approved a $4.1 billion plan to sell six million hybrid and electric vehicles over the next eight years. While six million hybrids on their own is easily achievable--it's not out of the question that a company like Toyota could sell that number on its own, giving their increasing hybrid sales--the target may look a...
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Globe Trotting Tesla Tragically Crashes 600 Miles Short Of Finish
Back in July, we told you about Frenchman Rafael de Mestre, and his Verne-inspired attempt to travel around the world in just 80 days in his all-electric Tesla Roadster. Using some clever social media, and a few video cameras to boot, de Mestre has live blogged his trip in detail, giving us the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
NEVS Completes Saab Deal, Electric Cars On The Way
Swedish carmaker Saab endeared itself to many throughout its history, with a reputation for unique design and technological innovation across several decades. That made watching its slow death last year excruciating for fans of the marque, and as the company closed its doors, the future for Saab...
Antony Ingram -
2013 Chevrolet Volt: The Ideal Retirement Car?
Imagine the following scenario: you and your partner are rapidly approaching retirement, looking to downsize your car, and trying to plan for your financial future. You’re ready to buy a new car, but you want something that’s relatively green and cheap to run. Could the 2013 Chevrolet...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Nissan Leaf Joins Drivers’ Ed, Passes No-Gas Student
Do you remember learning to drive? The chances are, like us, you learned to drive in a gasoline car, even if you drive an electric car today. Last month however, Norwegian Solveig Marie Ødegård became the first person in the world to learn to drive and pass her test in an all-electric...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Want A Racy New Electric Car? Why Not Print One? (Video)
3-D printing is perhaps one of the most exciting new technological developments of recent years. It could completely revolutionize the way products are made, allowing them to be printed at source in any color or shape you can think of. Areion's 3-D printed race car has been constructed using...
Antony Ingram -
Electric cars are only as green as the means by which they get their power. While producing zero local emissions and propelled using efficient electric motors, ideally that electricity would be from a renewable source, rather than by burning fossil fuels or even using nuclear. That's not always possible, but as far as Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk is concerned, our best option for clean energy is shining down on our heads: Solar power. Speaking at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, NV (via PVTech), Musk told the gathered audience that sustainable energy was a necessity for the...
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Lada Joins Electric Car Ranks, But Is It A Leaf-Beater?...
Remember the Yugo? It was a small, cheap econobox, based on 1970s Fiat underpinnings and imported to the U.S. from its home country of Serbia. They actually sold over 100,000 in the U.S. between 1985 and 1992, but the model is derided as slow, unreliable and thoroughly undesirable. The image of...
Antony Ingram -
Portland, Dallas Have Most Electric Car Charging Stations Per Head
Ask most Americans to name the cities with the most public charging stations for electric cars per head of population, and they’ll likely mention Los Angeles and perhaps San Francisco. According to PlugShare (via good.is), however, Portland, Oregon and Dallas, Texas top the list. PlugShare...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
August Set To Be Best Month Yet For Chevy Volt Sales
At the start of each month we report sales figures on each electric car currently on sale in the U.S. Over the last few years, the highest electric sales have been a two-horse race between the 2012 Nissan Leaf and 2012 Chevrolet Volt. And for several months now, the Volt has been leading. That...
Antony Ingram -
Could Range-Extended Cars Save The Rotary Engine? Mazda Says Yes
While the Wankel rotary engine, Mazda’s power plant of choice for many years, has a fantastic power to weight ratio, it isn’t exactly what you’d call a green engine. As a consequence, since the Mazda RX-8 ended its production in June this year, you won’t find a rotary engine...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Landlords Vs Tenants With Electric Cars: Study Proposes Solutions
If you live in an apartment or condo, you’ll know that gaining permission to charge an electric car in your shared parking lot isn’t always that easy. Often, miscommunication, legal worries and plain old ignorance come into play, preventing plug-in owners from charging their car, but...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
As with many other cars sold around the world, there are small differences between the 2012 Nissan Leaf sold in the U.S. and the 2012 Nissan Leaf found in other countries. While Leaf owners in other countries may end up paying more for their cars, they often get more features included as standard, and more impressive accessories lists. We’ve compiled a list of five official Nissan Leaf accessories that aren’t officially available in the U.S., but you might want Charging Port Lid Cover Essentially a locking lid that clips on the Leaf’s charge door, the charging port lid cover...
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NXR Electric Car To Replace Infamous G-Wiz
If there's a more vilified electric car than the Reva G-Wiz, we're not aware of it. The Indian electric quadricycle has been the butt of jokes for years, with everything from its poor performance, circus clown car looks and concerns over safety coming in for criticism. Nothing lasts forever, and...
Antony Ingram -
2012 Tesla Model S Electric Sedan: 238 Miles Of Range, Says Motor Trend
Whether you drive gas, electric or anything else, there are dozens of different factors that affect your car's efficiency. That's why, even though Tesla Motors claims a range of 265 miles for its 85 kWh Model S, we've been eager to see how far it can go in realistic day-to-day driving. Thanks to...
Antony Ingram -
Formula E Electric Racing: Inaugural Season Set For 2014
Just over a year ago, we told you about a call for entrants to formally apply to take part in a potential all-electric race car series called Formula E. Yesterday, the Federation Internatonale de l’Automobile confirmed the race series would go ahead, with the inaugural race season now...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Keeping An Eye On Your Electric Car? You’re Not The Only One
If you drive an electric car, the chances are you’ve experienced at some point the fear that your car will run out of charge before you reach your destination, otherwise known as range anxiety. But what about the fear that the battery pack in your new electric car will suffer rapid...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2013 Chevy Volt Production To Halt For 4 Weeks From Mid-September
Yesterday, Automotive News (subscription required) reported the news that the Detroit Hamtramck facility, where the 2013 Chevrolet Volt is made, is to pause production of the plug-in hybrid for four weeks. The second time General Motors has temporarily halted production of the plug-in car, the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
As it enters its third model year, the Nissan Leaf electric car is expected to get a number of updates and improvements for 2013. Now, it appears one of them is a change in the lithium-ion cells used in its battery pack. A new report on Japan's Daily Yomiuri Online news site says that the 2013 Nissan Leaf will use cells supplied by Hitachi, rather than the ones from Automotive Energy Supply Corp. that are used in 2011 and 2012 Leaf models. According to the story, Nissan is making the change to reduce the cost of the battery pack. UPDATE: We reached out to Nissan Americas for comment on the...
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2013 Nissan Leaf Edges Closer To Production In Smyrna, TN
Later this year, Nissan will start producing the 2013 all-electric Leaf at its Smyrna facility in Tennessee. The first time the car has been made outside of Japan, the 2013 models will be made alongside some of Nissan’s other popular cars, including the 2013 Pathfinder, Altima, Maxima, Rogue...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
World's Fastest Taxi Driver Tackles The 'Ring In Electric Car
We've all experienced taxi drivers who think they're race car drivers, but Sabine Schmitz actually is. German racer and TV personality Sabine only recently hung up her 'Ring Taxi' driving gloves, a job that involved taking paying customers for the ride of their lives around the infamous...
Antony Ingram -
2015 Audi A4 To Get E-Tron Version, Electric AWD Quattro Too
The current Audi A4, the German luxury brand's best-selling car in the U.S., has been with us since the 2009 model year. When it's replaced for the 2014 model year, the model line will include not only a sedan and a wagon but also a pair of hybrids--one that plugs in--and a brand-new Quattro...
John Voelcker -
2012 Tesla Model S 'First-Rate Car': AutoNation CEO
While many are in agreement that lower prices will be a major catalyst for tempting people into electric cars, some things are worth paying that little bit extra for. Could the 2012 Tesla Model S be one of those things? For Mike Jackson, CEO of auto retail company Autonation, then the answer is...
Antony Ingram -
Fox Anchor Hates Volt, Loves Infiniti LE, Claims It Was His Idea
If you’re a regular here at GreenCarReports, you’ll already be familiar with a Mr. Neil Cavuto, presenter and Senior Vice President of Business News at Fox. He is, in his own words, a vocal electric car skeptic. But something unusual happened during a recent segment on Fox: the 53-year...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield