Electric Cars

Let's face it: political discourse in the U.S. isn't very pretty. It's generally a matter of two large parties -- each backed by an army of fundraisers, copywriters, and statisticians -- shouting at each other in front of sympathetic audiences. Over the past couple of decades, the situation seems...

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, has quite a lot on his mind these days. Among his tasks: making sure production of the 2012 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan ramps up quickly enough, while maintaining superb quality, to let Tesla build 5,000 units before the end of the year. But Musk still...

We're seeing an increasing number of gearheads getting into electric cars, and it's not really surprising. With impressive performance, plenty of torque and by simply allowing us to drive more without incurring the expense of fossil fuels, there's a lot for even traditional car fans to like. That...

As far as many people are concerned, Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] has done the hard bit already. They've started a company from scratch. Built and sold a sports car. Developed a new model. Put it into production. Started selling it to an adoring crowd. No vaporware to see here, folks. However, even...

Talk to any independent auto-repair mechanic, and you'll learn that the single most important item that keeps a shop in business is brakes. But hybrids and electric cars use their friction brakes far less aggressively than regular cars. That's because when the driver presses the pedal, some or all...

We’ve said it many times before, building an auto company from scratch is extremely hard, and expensive. That’s probably why only two major plug-in car startups have made it to the point of building and selling cars globally: Tesla and Fisker. In order to continue, both firms are...

Despite a cautious rollout of its plug-in car program and low sales of its 2012 Ford Focus Electric, Ford has reiterated details of its investment in plug-in cars. According to Ford’s official release, it has now earmarked $135 million to double its battery testing facilities, triple plug-in...

The 2013 Nissan Leaf that will go on sale in January will be a slightly different car from the 2011 and 2012 models sold in the U.S. so far. We already know the electric car will offer leather seats and a 6.6-kilowatt charger as options, along with a more efficient heating system. Now a report from...

What can be done to dispel the assertion that the relatively short range of electric cars isn't suitable for most drivers? Well, you can either drive around in one yourself, displaying a lack of problems as you drive between work and back each day like millions of other drivers, and encourage...

For roughly six months, Fisker Automotive has said it's sold "about 1,000" of its Karma range-extended electric luxury sedan, globally. Then, on July 31, we spotted a brand-new 2012 Karma at the Balboa Bay Club & Resort in Newport Beach, California--so new it still had dealer plates. Its...

As far as we know, not a single auto journalist has yet driven the upcoming plug-in hybrid Energi models of the 2013 Ford C-Max and 2013 Ford Fusion. But an interesting and illuminating post on HybridCars.com offers more details about those cars' electric capabilities than we'd seen to date. It led...

Last year, GE and vertical axis wind turbine company Urban Green Energy announced the launch of the Sanya Skypump, a wind-powered charging station capable of recharging an electric car on wind energy alone. Almost a year later, the two firms have just announced the official unveiling of the first...

In order to be sold in the U.S., all passenger cars must pass a long list of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards Regulations, including advanced airbags and electric stability control. Sometimes, usually in the case of low-volume, low-emission cars, the FMVSSR may grant a temporary exemption to...

While Fisker's new CEO may be getting headlines today, the company continues to grapple with fallout from Friday's fire in a 2012 Fisker Karma. Over the weekend, Fisker had issued a statement saying it was investigating the incident. Yesterday, the company issued a further statement. In the...

In an unexpected announcement, struggling startup electric-car maker Fisker Automotive this morning named Tony Posawatz its new CEO and President. He replaces Tom LaSorda, himself appointed CEO only in late February. LaSorda will leave the company but remain available as an advisor. Posawatz spent...

There's a line of thinking that recommends that you never meet your heroes, as they'll only disappoint you. GET YOUR FREE DAILY NEWSLETTER. SIGN UP! You could argue that the same applies to cars, and the DeLorean DMC-12, stainless star of the silver screen, is often described as one of those...

Think of motorsport-inspired technology and your thoughts may turn to disc brakes, active suspension and carbon fiber chassis. It's not always that glamorous though, as demonstrated by a piece of technology emerging from Audi in the near future. Developed for the R18 e-Tron quattros that won the...

As Canadians will proudly tell you, Canada is really big and really beautiful. Home to 10 percent of the world’s forests, covering more than 53.8 percent of its total surface area, Canada even uses a tree leaf -- the famous maple leaf -- on its flag. Now for one lucky Canadian, publicly...

Over the weekend, the 90th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb took place, pushing cars and drivers to the limit on the 12.42-mile course. For years, the event has been dominated by purpose-built gasoline-powered hill climb cars, but at this year’s event two all-electric cars placed in the...

Given the hurricane of bad publicity for the Chevrolet Volt last year over a battery-pack fire (in a crash-testing vehicle, a week after it was wrecked), any fire at all in a plug-in car is one too many. So the occurrence of a second fire among only 1,000 Fisker Karma range-extended electric luxury...