Electric Cars
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Over the past month we’ve covered reviews of every major electric motorcycle available on the market today, including reviews of the 2011 Brammo Enertia, 2011 Zero S and 2011 Zero DS. Now it’s the turn of the Vectriz VX-1. Technically a scooter rather than a motorcycle, it is aimed at city dwellers looking for an alternative transport solution to a regular car, but doesn’t require you to be a motorcyclist to ride it. With scooter-style hand-operated brakes, stylish looks and ample under-seat storage, the Vectric VX-1 certainly looks the part, but can it deliver? First...
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Which Cars Are Getting Traded In For Electric Cars? We Find Out
In the last nine months, we’ve seen over 10,000 plug-in cars sold in the U.S. alone, with Nissan taking the lion’s share of new plug-in car sales with its 2011/12 Nissan Leaf. Mass-produced electric cars still very much a niche market, so anyone buying one can be legitimately thought of...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Could Fisker Karma's Low MPGs Hurt DoE Car-Tech Loan Program?
Fisker Automotive may have sensed that the 20-mpg EPA rating on their 2012 Karma electric sport sedan was not good news. The company simply omitted the statistic from their press release announcing that the EPA had legally certified the Karma--meaning it can now be sold to retail buyers. Fisker...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Losing Libel Case With Top Gear In UK High Court
A 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.
Antony Ingram -
Electric-Car Charging Networks: Don't Use 'Em To Travel Far, Says Company
Lately, we’ve seen a lot of new charging networks spring up around the world devoted to getting electric car owners the power they need to keep their cars charged up. But a U.K. based, government-backed charging infrastructure company has outraged electric car owners by suggesting that its...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2012 Chevrolet Volt V 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid: Which Is Cheaper To Drive?
If you need a plug-in car that is capable of traveling long distances between charges but can’t afford the 300-miles per charge option offered by the 2012 Tesla Model S, the chances are you’re looking at buying a plug-in hybrid. But which of the two main plug-in hybrids on offer today...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
When Apple unveiled its latest smartphone -- the iPhone 4s -- at the start of this month, eagle-eyed electric car fans will have noticed that a 2011 Nissan Leaf was used in the first ever commercial for Apple’s voice-activated Siri personal assistant. Standard on every new iPhone 4s, Siri provides iPhone 4s owners the ability to interact with their smartphone without touching the keyboard, supposedly making it perfect for those moments when you need your hands for other things -- like driving. But while Apple’s advert shows an actor interacting with Siri on his iPhone while...
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2012 Fisker Karma: 20 MPG On Gasoline, 32-Mi Electric Range
It's been a long and painful year for Fisker Automotive, with deliveries of its 2012 Karma extended-range electric sport sedan repeatedly delayed from the original target of May. Now, with certification earlier this week from the Environmental Protection Agency that the car complies with emissions...
John Voelcker -
First Drive: BMW ActiveE Electric Car Prototype
A couple of weeks ago, BMW invited me to come to Munich and take part in the first drive of production versions of the BMW ActiveE, their second battery electric test vehicle. A bit of background: I've been something of a high-profile MINI E pioneers, maintaining an active blog about my...
Tom Moloughney -
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...
Antony Ingram -
Audi e-Tron Spyder Frolics In Malibu: Video
Until Audi unveiled its concept e-Tron Spyder plug-in hybrid car at the 2010 Paris Auto show, the words diesel and sexy didn’t go well together. Now the company has proven otherwise with the release of a short video showing the Audi e-Tron Spyder concept driving around sunny Malibu...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Want To Know What Life Is Like With An Electric Car? Watch This
Here at Green Car Reports, we bring you the latest news in the world of green cars, covering everything from cars that get great gas mileage through to hybrids, alternative fuels and of course, plug-in cars. While we can tell you the latest news in the world of plug-in cars as well as share our own...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Hertz has now been renting electric and plug-in cars for almost a year, and the company has learned some lessons along the way. Among them: "We need more electric cars!" Specifically, "We've got about 50 electric cars in our fleets now, and we could use another 2,000 to 3,000 if we could just get the vehicles." Those are the words of Rich Broome, the rental-car company's head of public affairs and communications. He spoke at length with GreenCarReports about the Hertz electric-car rental programs in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, London, and--soon--Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen...
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2012 Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid Confirmed For Europe, U.S. Will Have To Wait
Volvo has just confirmed that its first ever plug-in hybrid electric car -- and the world’s first plug-in hybrid station wagon -- will go on sale in early 2012. But the Swedish automaker has reiterated that while Europeans will get the Diesel-electric through-the-road plug-in hybrid, there...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
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...
Antony Ingram -
Metropolitan Police (London) Go Electric With 2011 Zero DS Motorcycle
Think of police and motorcycles, and you probably think of highway patrol officers riding large, heavy Harley Davidsons like the 2012 Electra Glide. In Europe, most police departments make use of specially-made police motorcycles from companies like BMW or Honda, but yesterday officers in London...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2012 Ford Focus Electric Won’t Have a Pedestrian Alert Noisemaker
For some time now there’s been a battle raging between politicians, advocacy groups and the electric car industry over compulsory noise-makers in electric cars. Now the latest twist comes courtesy of Ford, which has announced that its 2012 Ford Focus Electric will initially ship without any...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Why Offer Electric Cars? Because They Sell More Gasoline Cars
Amidst supposedly slow sales--actually limited mostly by low production--one benefit to automakers of offering electric cars has nothing to do with cars that plug in. Not only do electric cars attract radically different buyers to the brands that offer them, they also help sell conventional...
John Voelcker -
Yesterday, Nissan announced that it had reduced the price of its official 2012 Nissan Leaf home charging station to make it more affordable to Leaf drivers. But while Nissan has dropped the price of a standard supply and installation of the Nissan-branded Aerovironment charging station from $2,200 to $1,818, we think it still isn’t low enough. Here’s why. Installation costs will vary For owners who live in houses with enough electrical capacity left to provide the necessary 7.2 kilowatts of power to the charging station and have a breaker box within easy reach of the proposed...
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At Heathrow, 'Free' Electric-Car Charging Costs $78.50 Per Day
London's Heathrow Airport provides charging stations for electric car drivers. Accessing them, however, requires parking in the airport's most expensive lot.
Kurt Ernst -
Chevy Spark EV: Four Times The Electric Range? RLY? Errr, No
We love our readers, because they often have eagle eyes far more acute than our own. Take, for instance, Neal Riley. Reading our article on the 2013 Chevrolet Spark launch, which included official confirmation of the news on the all-electric Spark EV model that we broke last night, he asked: If the...
John Voelcker -
7 Makers Adopt Standardized Electric Car Charging In Europe
The 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...
Antony Ingram -
Edison2 Electric Car Sets EPA Economy Record Of 350 MPGe
The 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...
Antony Ingram -
GM To Start Work on Next-Gen EN-V Electric Pod Car Program
It's been a big morning for General Motors, with news coming left and right from its big media event in Detroit to celebrate Chevrolet's 100th birthday. In addition to confirming the 2013 Chevy Spark minicar and its all-electric Spark EV model, GM has announced a new Trailblazer sport-utility...
John Voelcker