Electric Cars

What makes a new car a success? Is it the awards it wins, initial sales figures, how many people order it, or the average amount of time it stays on a dealer lot before being sold? Together, all of the above help us work out which cars are popular and which ones aren’t, but according to...

Pretty young women in tight black dresses, 5-inch heels, and sunglasses are too rarely associated with the less glamorous topic of DC fast-charging stations for electric cars. And that's a shame. To rectify this tragic oversight, Andromeda Power has put out a promotional video for its Orca Mobile...

We already know that April was a great month for Toyota Prius hybrid sales, but it turns out that the first quarter of the year produced stellar sales numbers for hybrids in general, as well as plug-in electric cars. More than 100,000 hybrids and plug-in cars--113,457--were sold in January...

New global car programs cost a lot, usually starting at $1 billion for a new platform and all the engineering, testing, and validation of the vehicle(s) it involves. Now a high-ranking Nissan executive has given a glimpse of what the company is spending on its electric-car program: $4 billion...

Tesla motors has announced that it is on schedule to deliver the first examples of its Model S electric sedan by June. The company is also set to use all of its $465 million Department of Energy loan within the next six months, though Elon Musk says Tesla is still on target to turn a profit in...

Smart might have just unveiled the 2013 Smart ForTwo, but it doesn't take a genius to work out it's little more than a facelift with some new trim materials. While the car is gaining evolutionary improvements, Smart really needs the next generation of ForTwo, currently being co-developed with...

Has the electric-car industry passed through its first-year euphoria and entered a sophomore slump? That’s the question on our mind after dozens of panels, presentations, meetings, and corridor chats at the 26th annual Electric Vehicle Symposium. EVS-26 is being held through today at the Los...

We're allowing ourselves to get a little excited over the Rimac Concept_One, a 1,088-horsepower electric supercar from Croatia. Okay, so with a price tag only just on the right side of $1 million and only 88 ever set to hit the road, it's not a realistic proposition for many, but like the Tesla...

"Yeah, but where does the electricity come from, huh?" comes the oft-sneering question when the subject of electric cars is brought up in polite conversation. Sneery it may be, but there's an underlying point if your main source of power is something like coal. However, BMW ActiveE drivers will...

If authorities in Fort Bend County, Texas are correct, there’s more bad news in store for extended-range electric automaker Fisker. Last week, a 2012 Fisker Karma owner in Fort Bend County parked his Karma in an attached garage, alongside a Mercedes SUV and an Acura NSX. Three minutes later...

By far the most reasonable use for electric cars charged at home is for a regular commute. If the return journey is less than the range of the car, electric cars make complete sense. Battery topping up using Level 2 chargers in public areas is a bonus, but rarely make an impossible journey...

With only a 1.4-liter engine and a relatively low purchase price, the regular 2012 Fiat 500 isn't what you might call an expensive car. German electric vehicle maker Karabag thinks it can make the little Fiat even cheaper though, and has installed an electric drivetrain into the car to prove it...

In the time it takes you to read this sentence, Larry "Spiderman" McBride set the first 200 mph quarter-mile run on an electric motorcycle. Crossing the line in 6.94 seconds and at a terminal speed of 201.37 mph, Spiderman and his Lawless Electric Rocket bike have set not only an electric...

Today, Toyota revealed the production version of its eagerly awaited 2012 RAV4 EV all-electric crossover, with a powertrain designed and provided by startup electric carmaker Tesla Motors. Surprising many at the event, Toyota revealed its production plans: It expects to build and sell roughly 2,600...

BMW and Daimler have traditionally been rivals in the automotive world, but last week we learned that engineers from the two rival German companies have been working together on a joint project to design and test a safer, more affordable, more efficient electric car. The Visio.M project, funded to...

With the F1, NASCAR and IndyCar seasons in full swing, the Le Mans 24 Hour race just around the corner and grassroots series taking place all over the globe, the warmer months are heaven for those with gasoline in their veins. So intoxicated are they by the sounds, smells and sights, many are...

For as long as electric cars have existed, enterprising individuals around the U.S. have sought to convert gasoline cars to electric power. Over the years, we’ve seen everything from classic British sportscars through to SUVs and pickup trucks converted to run on electric power, with...

BMW’s 1,000-strong fleet of ActiveE electric cars are stationed around the world, with the largest number of test cars concentrated in the U.S. Earlier this year, we got the chance to step behind the wheel of the very first BMW ActiveE to be delivered in the U.S., but earlier this week, we...

When we drove the Renault Twizy on the island of Ibiza last month, we asked whether Renault would actually sell any. A vehicle that's virtually ideal for a sun-drenched island may not work so well in a rainy country like the U.K, or the colder climates of Eastern Europe. We did find it very much...

Several years ago, the world's auto industry heard a constant refrain: "The Chinese are coming, the Chinese are coming!" With low labor costs and a government imperative to create globally competitive car companies, Chinese makers were expected to follow in the footsteps of the Japanese and Koreans...