Electric Cars
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As an electric car enthusiast or recently-converted gearhead, you'll no doubt be aware of the huge variety of clubs out there for virtually any make and model or automotive scene you can think of. For many people, a thriving scene and great social network might be the difference between choosing one model over another, and can certainly be useful once you've chosen your wheels of choice, providing all sorts of hints, tips and opportunities to share your passion with like-minded enthusiasts. Clubs go hand-in-hand with many vehicles, especially in the classic and specialist vehicle scenes...
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VW Vexed By 'Anarchic' Audi A1 E-Tron Electric? Nein, Says Audi
We've loved the concept of the Audi A1 e-Tron concept since its launch at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show last March. It's a range-extended electric vehicle (like the 2011 Chevy Volt) that uses a tiny Wankel rotary engine to run a generator that produces electricity to power the car once its lithium-ion...
John Voelcker -
Turning Japanese: U.S. Gov. Tests Electric Car Fast Chargers
Ever since the early 1980s, Japan has led the world of technology and digital entertainment. In 2010, thanks to cars like the 2011 Mitsubishi i and 2011 Nissan LEAF it also adopted electric cars as a viable private transport solution. But the ultra-fast charging technology which made both cars...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Who Killed the Electric Car? Subaru To Slay Plug-In Stella EV
Back in July 2009, two Japanese automakers launched electric cars within weeks of each other. (And neither one was Nissan.) One was Mitsubishi, which put its i-MiEV five-door hatchback microcar on sale after several years of consumer tests. That car is now the best-selling electric car in the...
John Voelcker -
Ford Releases Focus Electric Teaser Ahead of CES Launch
Does the future of electric cars lie in the gadget world? Ford thinks so. So much so, it will launch an electric car at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Friday. How did it announce this? By posting some teaser photos on social networking site Facebook, of course. From the photos...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
New Electric Car Race Series Lines Up On The Grid [Video]
If you happen to indulge in the twin passions of both electric cars and motorsport, you'll no doubt have heard of series such as the TTX-GP for electric racing motorcycles that holds events all over the world. A similar series has been slow to emerge for electric cars but at the recent United...
Antony Ingram -
Chevy’s electric hybrid vehicle, the Volt, beat out the cheaper Nissan Leaf in electric car sales in the last month of 2010 as each manufacturer struggled to keep up with demand for their newest rides, the Associated Press reported today. The Volt went into production in mid-November and hit dealerships a few weeks later, just in time to compete with the Nissan Leaf. So far it looks like the Volt has won out in terms of sheer numbers — GM sold between 250 and 350 Volts in December. Only around 10 Nissan Leaf cars were actually sold in the past two weeks. There are around 50,000...
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Could Rising Commodity Prices Kill (Or Hurt) The Electric Car?
At the time of this writing, oil has sprinted above $90 a barrel, silver has jumped 80-plus percent in the last year and China just announced an 11 percent decrease in exports of rare earth metals for 2011. Will these constraints on critical resources, and their inevitable steep rise in costs and...
Jason Hendler -
Will Trucks And Buses Beat Cars In The Electric Race?
Right now, six companies are vying to win a contract that would provide 100 electric vehicles to the government’s General Administration services 214,000-strong fleet. One of them is Ford; the other, a relative newcomer called Smith Electric. But the government isn’t looking for...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
VIDEO: Racing Green: The Ultimate Electric Car Expedition, Airs January 1
Back in 2009 we were approached by a press representative for Racing Green Endurance, a team of 20-something post-graduate engineers from Imperial College London. We didn't hear from them again until June this year, when we met up with them in London. Their goal? To drive the 16,000 miles from...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Our Popular Stories of 2010: LEAF, Recharging, Myth Busting
We’re just two days away from 2011, the year many industry experts are terming the year of the electric car, but 2010 hasn’t been a slow year for electric cars. We’ve seen new models launched, records broken and even the Pope show an interest in going electric. But over the course...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
GM EV1 Gets Another Shot At Smithsonian, 4 Years On
If General Motors' EV1 had featured in the Disney Pixar animated film Cars, we can't imagine it would have been the happiest of characters. It might well have spent a little time complaining about its friends all being crushed back in 1999, and who could blame it? And four years ago it might have...
Antony Ingram -
Ten years ago the concept of social media was in its infancy. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s geeky founder, wasn’t even at university and the best chance you had of playing at being a farmer was to head down to your local city farm. So what happens when you combine the always-connected idea of the smart phone and social media to create a platform designed to take eco-driving to a new level? Nissan knows, thanks to its 2011 LEAF Utilizing the ‘always-on’ CARWINGS connection of the 2011 Nissan LEAF, drivers of the five-seat electric car can now pit their driving skills...
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Five Tips to Save Money on Your Home Electric Car Charge Point
Let’s face it: the end of the holiday season is financially tough. After spending what may seem like a small fortune on gifts for your family and friends the last thing you want to do is spend money on a costly electric charging point for your plug-in car. Of course, it is technically...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
CA Electric Car Rebate Will Run Out Mid 2011, Advocate Warns
California has always been kind to drivers of alternative fuelled vehicles with special privileges in High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, reduced parking and even additional purchase tax credits. However, the $5,000 Californian state rebate for those purchasing electric vehicles may soon run out...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Paris To Test Banning Gas-Guzzlers (Yes, SUVs!) In City Core
Why are many European carmakers now planning to build electric vehicles? Because many European cities are widely expected to ban high-emissions vehicles from their city cores over the next decade--perhaps even vehicles with any emissions at all. Now, Paris may be the first city to experiment with...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Motors Stock Drops 16 Percent, Analysts Pile On Worries
As VentureBeat suggested on Thursday, the entry of new shares onto the market today has caused Tesla’s stock to drop. The stock is trading down 16 percent today now that the 180-day post-IPO lockup period has ended and insiders are free to sell their shares. The stock is trading at $25.30...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
Will Charging Infrastructure Be Speed Bump For Electric Cars?
This year — and next — will be a busy one for arrival of electric cars. The Ford Focus Electric and Coda’s sedan are slated for launch by 2011. The Nissan Leaf is slowly making its way to buyers in the U.S. and Europe, the Wheego Whip and LiFe are on sale in New York, and the...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
Don't you just love a good song over the holidays? We've taken an established favorite and given it the plug-in car treatement. Gone are the birds, noisy drummers and milking maids. In their place we've put some of the most importante cars we've talked about this year, as well as some fun side stories too. Enjoy! On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me A wall-mounted EVSE! On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me. Two Nissan Leafs, And a wall-mounted EVSE! On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me Three Chevy Volts, Two Nissan Leafs, And a wall-mounted...
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Quentin Willson: “The 2010 Mitsubishi i Has Changed My Life”
History has a way of repeating itself. Just as the many tearful original EV1 lease drivers bade farewell to the electric car in the mock funeral that started Chris Paine’s docufilm Who Killed The Electric Car, a select group of electric car lease drivers in the U.K. gave a suitably British...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Will 2011 Nissan LEAF Sales Suffer Due To Delayed Roll-Out?
Uh-ho, Nissan. You’ve come out with one of the best five-seat all-electric production cars we’ve ever seen and your pre-order figures are impressive. But as your rival Chevrolet is eagerly rolling out 2011 Range-Extended Volts we’re starting to hear more and more stories that your...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Chevrolet Sail Electric Concept Vehicle, Developed In China
Whilst the U.S. and Europe get the 2011 Chevrolet Volt and 2012 Opel and Vauxhall Ampera, it seems all the full battery-electric vehicles are going to the Far East, and they're keeping fairly quiet about it. A few months back we revealed GM's plans to test an electric version of the Chevrolet Cruze...
Antony Ingram -
Jay Leno Takes Delivery Of Volt, Offers Up A Soundbite
Never one to miss the opportunity for a pithy quote, petrolhead extraordinaire Jay Leno has come up trumps again whilst taking delivery of his new 2011 Chevrolet Volt. "Electricity is like sex. People lie about it," quipped Leno, referring to how owners are occasionally inclined to add a few more...
Antony Ingram -
OK, EV1 Fans, Here's Your Chance To Vote For The Electric Car!
The General Motors EV1 still exerts a strange fascination for electric-car fans and civilians alike. Its sleek, aerodynamic shape and pioneering all-electric drive (despite an initial range of only about 70 miles) make it an important vehicle in U.S. automotive history. Fascination has only grown...
John Voelcker