Electric Cars
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At last year’s Frankfurt Auto Show, Mercedes-Benz displayed the B-Class E-Cell Plus, a range-extended concept electric car. In a little over ten weeks at the 2012 New York Auto Show, we’ll see it again -- but this time it will be a production version destined to go on sale exclusively in the U.S. Talking with the Automotive News at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, Mercedes’ head of global sales Joachim Schmidt said the german automaker would introduce the range-extended B-Class as part of its 2013 lineup of compact cars. Based on the same platform as the 2012 Mercedes-Benz...
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Bentley Will Use V-8, W-12 Engines In Plug-In Hybrid
For years, prestige car brands remained insulated from the drive towards greater fuel economy and higher gas mileages. However, tightening regulations on gas mileage and emissions have forced many luxury automakers to take fuel economy seriously for the first time, requiring them to look for...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
BMW Delivers First of 700 ActiveE Electric Cars In New Jersey
Regular readers may recognize the name of Tom Moloughney, who has written several stories on his experiences living with a Mini E electric car for two years. Now Moloughney has moved up in the electric-car world. On Friday, he was the first U.S. customer to take delivery of a BMW ActiveE, the first...
John Voelcker -
Two Tesla Execs Leave Before 2012 Model S Launch, Stock Falls
Californian automaker Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] suffered a 19.33 percent drop in share price on Friday last week after it announced two of its key engineers had departed the company months before its 2012 Model S was due to go on sale. Peter Rawlinson, Tesla’s vice president and chief...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Tesla Model S Electric Sport Sedan: Video From Detroit Auto Show
With production of its ground-breaking electric Roadster now complete--despite a recent offering of some 2012 models--Tesla Motors is fully focused on bringing its Model S electric sport sedan to market and delivering the first cars to paying customers. At this year's Detroit Auto Show, the company...
John Voelcker -
2013 VW e-Bugster Electric Concept: 2012 Detroit Auto Show Video
At the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, Volkswagen rolled out an all-electric, two-seat coupe-speedster concept based on its iconic Beetle. With a powertrain borrowed from the VW Golf Blue e-Motion—including the 85-kW (114-hp) electric motor, 26.5-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack, plus...
Bengt Halvorson -
A bug in supplied software has prompted Fisker to issue a second recall for Karma models, and owners will get a personal apology from Henrik Fisker himself.
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Nissan e-NV 200 Concept Electric Van: Detroit Auto Show Video
It's a little confusing when a carmaker shows a concept vehicle derived from a product that it's going to sell but hasn't yet announced. Nonetheless, the Nissan e-NV 200 Concept at the Detroit Auto Show attracted its share of attention. With a Leaf-like charging port door on its nose, and Leaf...
John Voelcker -
95% Of All Trips Could Be Made In Electric Cars, Says Study
Here at GreenCarReports, we often hear excuses from people who say they want to buy an electric car but feel unable to. Aside from increased sticker price, one of the more common excuses given is the worry that an electric car won’t meet their mileage needs due to range limitations per charge...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Le Mans Champions Make Electric Car Racing Real With 200MPH Car
Back in December, we told you about a brand new electric race car that Former American Le Mans Series veterans Drayson Racing were planning on unveiling at the 2012 Low Carbon Racing Conference in Birmingham, England. At the time, we were told the all-electric race car -- called the B12/69EV --...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
500 Mile Electric Cars? New Lithium-Air Tech Has Potential
We'd be the first to point out that many of the electric car owners currently out on the roads have had absolutely no trouble with the 100 or so miles they get from a full charge. However, it'd be foolish to assume that some people really don't need more than that, and as a result there's always...
Antony Ingram -
Arizona Dumps Stricter CA Emissions Standards Over Electric-Car Rules
California has always led the nation in mandating reduction of tailpipe emissions and development of low- and zero-emission vehicles. For several years now, states have had the option of adopting stricter California vehicle-emissions regulations or sticking with the national standards. Roughly a...
John Voelcker -
We’re often asked by new readers where they should go to brush up on electric car basics, so we’re always on the lookout for new resources to recommend alongside our own guides to cars like the 2012 Nissan Leaf and 2012 Chevrolet Volt. Earlier this week, the U.S. Department Of Energy uploaded a new video we just have to add to our list of recommended viewing. The latest in its Energy 101 series, Energy 101: Electric Vehicles is an excellent primer for anyone who has yet to experience an electric car first-hand. Rather than dealing with make-and-model specifics, the video explains...
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Nissan e-NV 200 Concept Electric Minivan: NYC's Electric Taxi?
The vehicle in the photos is blue, but imagine it in New York City taxicab yellow, complete with a black checkboard stripe and mismatched fonts in the logo. The Nissan e-NV 200 Concept electric minivan shown here could well be NYC's next taxi sometime toward the end of the decade. The vehicle it's...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Updates Roadster For 2012. There’s Just One Catch...
When the Sexy Tesla Roadster blasted into the automotive world five years ago, we all knew that California-based Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] was only planning to build a few thousand examples. In December, we told you the final 2011 Tesla Roadsters had rolled off the production lines, destined to be...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Ford: Using Apps To Maximize Your Electric Car Experience
Electric cars might have been killed off a couple of times in the past, but the current wave appears to have hit at just the right time. It's not all to do with concerns over global warming or energy prices though - it's the potential to be more connected to your car than ever before - via...
Antony Ingram -
U.S. Sec. Of Energy: Cheaper Batteries Mean More Electric Cars
You’re probably well aware that some of our fellow journalists in the mainstream media aren’t big fans of plug-in hybrid and pure electric cars at the moment. But U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has reiterated his support of electric cars, predicting that electric cars will command a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
GM: We’ll Wait Until July To Know If Chevy Volt Is A Hit
Last year wasn’t a great one for General Motors’ first production plug-in range-extended electric car. Continued negative press -- not to mention post-crash-test fires and production-line upgrades -- conspired to produce first-year sales figures a little lower than GM had hoped. Does...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Strewth. The halls in Detroit are still buzzing with the world's press, and Infiniti is already teasing us with a car it's set to display at March's Geneva Motor Show. It's not just any old car though - Infiniti has plans to unveil an electric range-extended sports car concept, a year after parent Nissan brought us the stunning all-electric ESFLOW concept at the same show. Should you be excited? Yes and no. Yes, because from the teaser images its styling is giving us all the right signs. Wide rear haunches, slim head and tail lights and some large wheels all look promising. Yes also, because...
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AMP’s Converted Electric Jeep Will Cost Same As Tesla Model S
Got enough money to buy a 2012 Tesla Model S, but want something a little more rugged? If the answer is yes -- and you can’t wait another few years for the 2014 Tesla Model X Crossover SUV to debut -- you can now spend your hard-earned cash on an all-electric Jeep Grand Cherokee. You...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Smart For-Us Electric Pickup Concept: 2012 Detroit Auto Show
We'd be tempted to say that Smart is playing to stereotypes by unveiling a pickup concept at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). However, there's nothing stereotypical about a small, all-electric, city-car based, convertible pickup. In fact, the Smart For-Us Concept we previewed a...
Antony Ingram -
2012 Coda Sedan Electric Car Gets Smaller Battery Pack Option
With only one month to go before Californian electric automaker Coda is due to commence sales of its $39,900 Sedan, you’d expect available options and specifications to be set in stone. But at yesterday’s 2012 Detroit Auto Show, Coda announced it had made the decision to offer customers...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Nissan e-NV200 Electric Van Concept: 2012 Detroit Auto Show
Okay, so an electric van isn't as exciting as a hybrid supercar like the Acura NSX concept, or even a fuel-efficient, sporty compact like the 2013 Dodge Dart - but it's still an important vehicle. That's because the regular Nissan NV200 is soon to be servicing New York City as the official...
Antony Ingram -
Analyst Calls Tesla Model X Electric Crossover “Fast, Roomy”
Tesla [NASDAQ:TSLA] may have just confirmed the date of its unofficial unveiling of the 2013 Model X crossover SUV, but it appears some lucky stock analysts at Barclays Capital research have already their own private preview of the much-anticipated car. In a recent stock analysis posted online at...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield