Electric Cars

Following the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year we speculated on the problems that small volume, odd-looking electric cars could do to the EV industry's reputation. The outlook at Frankfurt was much more upbeat. Despite the absence of Nissan and its Leaf, several other carmakers had exciting...

Although it’s almost a year since the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt officially launched in key electric car markets, the majority of the U.S. population have yet to see their first highway capable electric car. So its no surprise that automakers are spending a lot of time and...

Infiniti has confirmed that they're working on a two seat electric sports car with a mid-motor, rear drive layout. The car will be featured at next year's Geneva Motor Show.

The Amsterdam premiere of the move "Revenge of the Electric Car" is expected to attract fully 100 Nissan Leaf electric cars from all over Europe.

Startup carmaker Fisker Automotive has probably learned a lot of lessons about the timing of auto launches. Although the car went into production in March, it still hasn't been approved for sale by various U.S. regulatory bodies--including the Environmental Protection Agency--as of this month...

Mercedes will soon join General Motors and Fisker in offering an extended range electric vehicle. Shown as a concept in Frankfurt, the B-Class E-Cell Plus will see production in the near future.

Sometimes a clever inventor or a team of engineers changes the way we think about an appliance or a concept we’ve lived with for years -- producing a revolutionary new design that makes us wonder how we ever lived without it. But sometimes a supposed revolutionary new design is little more...

Infiniti -- the luxury sister brand of Nissan -- has been joining in the electric car hype at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show with talk of an all-electric subcompact car it will have ready for sometime in 2014. This isn’t the first time Infiniti has talked electric cars. Last year, Infiniti boss...

This year’s 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show has been heavily dominated by the drive towards greener vehicles, better gas mileage, and zero tailpipe-emissions motoring. So it’s no surprise that German tuning house Brabus has followed the trend set by most of the major automakers attending the...

At this year’s Frankfurt Auto Show there’s a very clear theme among concept cars: ultra-small urban runabouts. Now Opel -- the European arm of General Motors -- has joined Audi, Volkswagen, Smart and many others with its own take on a lightweight electric-powered urban runabout. Called...

Audi has just unveiled its all-electric A2 Concept vehicle at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show. Placed somewhere between its two-seat electric Urban Concept which we saw yesterday and its A3 hatchback, the four-seat concept is a direct competitor to BMW’s much-anticipated 2014 i3 electric car...

A few weeks back we nominated the diminutive Think City electric car as one of the five electric cars you’ll still be able to buy in five years’ time -- despite the roller-coaster fortunes of the firm which makes it. Arguing that the Think City had certain Blattodean qualities when it...

“Range anxiety” for pure battery-powered electric car owners wears off quickly as a driver begins to understand the capabilities and charging patterns of their car, according to a new study by the Technology Strategy Board. Around 35 percent of electric car owners were concerned about...

“In America, we like everyone to know about the good work we’re doing anonymously,” Jay Leno explained to Top Gear’s James May, discussing his views of the green-car mentality in the U.S. His point: The models we buy affirm their conscientiousness (and our own) with...

The 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show officially opens to the press tomorrow, but already the private parties and launch events have started. Sunday night, Audi officially unveiled its pair of two-seat electric concept cars, known jointly as the Urban Concept vehicles. One is a coupe, with a hatch over the...

Losing a loved one is never easy. Neither is planning a funeral afterward. Now a firm in the U.K. claims it can help provide an appropriate form of transport for electric car owners looking for a green way to make their final journeys. An engineering firm with several years of experience with...

Price increases on electric cars seem to be the rule these days. First the 2012 Nissan Leaf got a $2,420 increase (for more standard equipment), then the 2012 Chevrolet Volt got a price reduction that actually proved to be an increase in disguise (comparing similarly equipped models). Not wanting...

When El Rey -- the final Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle to ever be made -- rolled off the Mexican production line on July 30, 2003, many Volkswagen fans around the world mourned the end of a 60-year production run. And with over 21.5 million original Volkswagen Beetles made, the VW Bug still holds the...

Where do you go to buy your next green car? For most consumers, the answer would be the local car dealer on the outskirts of town, but yesterday California-based Coda Automotive just opened up its first showroom -- in a shopping mall. Located on L.A’s Westside in the Westfield Century Mall...

It's been the official policy of the Chinese government-industrial complex for a while now that the country wants to dominate the electric-car business. While only a handful of highway-capable plug-in cars are sold today in China, the country's industrial overseers are nothing if not ambitious...