Electric Cars

  • Audi R8 e-tron at Le Mans

    Marketing missteps in naming cars quickly become legendary. There's the urban myth that the Chevrolet Nova failed in South America because in Spanish, no va means "won't go." (It's not true.) But now it turns out that Audi may have committed a blunder in naming its line of electric cars e-Tron. Especially since they're about to be shown at the Paris Motor Show. As one Francophone just pointed out to us, the French word étron is a particularly unfortunate choice in that language. Online translation tools give French synonyms for étron that include caca and excrément. Or to...

  • Nissan Townpod electric vehicle concept teaser
    2010 Paris Auto Show Preview: Nissan Townpod Concept Teaser

    What, exactly, is a Townpod? We'll have to wait another three weeks to find out for sure, but from this teaser and the sparse contents of the press release, it looks like Nissan's take on an all-electric city vehicle. The unveiling will come at the end of the month at the 2010 Paris Auto Show...

  • Hyundai i10 electric vehicle
    Korea's First EV: Hyundai Unveils BlueOn Subcompact

    With the focus on big EV launches from Japan and the United States, South Korea has now joined the fray, with their largest car company, Hyundai, launching the BlueOn. The BlueOn is Hyundai and South Korea's first pure electric car. Based on the i10, the new subcompact EV carries a 16.4...

  • Hyundai i10 electric vehicle
    Hyundai Unveils BlueOn Electric Subcompact, Its First-Ever EV

    Hyundai took the wraps off its first-ever electric vehicle today in Seoul, showing a hatchback called the BlueOn based on the subcompact i10 model it sells in Asia and Europe. As in its 2011 Sonata Hybrid model, which will launch late this year in the U.S. market, the lithium-ion cells in its...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf BearHug
    Nissan Bears All, Embraces NFL Season With Eco-Hugging Leaf Ad

    It’s the start of the football season in the U.S, and that means millions of viewers watching the games in their own home. Which translates to millions of eyeballs watching television ads during the game. In short, NFL mid-game adverts are big-buck affairs. Automakers know that, and have...

  • imiev_1
    Mitsubishi Redesigns 2011 U.S. Spec i-Miev, Brit Models Fail

    It’s not always best to be first. When Mitsubishi was the first major manufacturer to announce an all-electric version of it’s sub-compact i City Car back in 2006 the company had a major head-start on the competition. But with the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Coda...

  • Tesla Model S Sedan

    If nothing else, electric cars arouse the passions of their supporters. Take the note we got from reader Ryan, who wrote: I googled "electric car update" and found your site ... saw the Nissan Leaf (100 miles per charge), Chevrolet Volt (40 miles), Tesla Roadster ... sounds great! But nothing on Tesla Model S, a passenger car that gets up to 300 miles per charge! Why was it excluded? "Excluded" seems a bit harsh, but here's an expanded version of what we wrote back to Ryan, to give him (and everyone else reading this) some context and a reality check on how we operate. The 2010 Tesla Roadster...

  • 2011 Coda Sedan
    Coda's Electric Sedan Says 'Aloha' To Hawaii Next Year

    Coda announced today their plans to roll out their all-electric sedan in Hawaii in the third quarter of 2011, positioning the car to battle the Nissan Leaf in a market that suffers from some of the highest gas prices in the country. In May, Nissan singled out Hawaii as a target market –- the...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf
    Nissan Intends To Sell Leaf EV In The Land Of Oil

    If you think that manufacturers have a hard time making EVs appeal to consumers who have got used to over a hundred years of fossil fuels, then feel grateful you aren't in Carlos Ghosn's shoes. The Renault and Nissan chief is visiting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the hope of establishing a...

  • Ad for 2011 Chevrolet Volt running on Facebook, July 1, 2010
    Ten Things We'd Like To Tell Automakers About EV Publicity

    Automakers have had it tough over the past few years. An economic downturn, consumers looking for ever-fuel efficient vehicles and everyone clambering to make it to marketplace first. But just what do automakers need to keep in mind when advertising their first electric vehicle. We assume that any...

  • 2011 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive
    2011 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive: Quick Drive

    It's fair to say that Smart haven't had quite the success they were probably hoping for in the U.S. with their diminutive Fortwo. Gambling on consumers 'downsizing' due to spiralling fuel prices, the initial rush to own the tiny city car has slowed to a trickle. Not only that, but recent research...

  • Ford Focus EV
    2012 Focus EV Will Rely On Liquid-Cooled Lithium-Ion Battery System

    As electric cars start to increase in power and range, so do the stresses and requirements placed on their oh so vital batteries. Most automakers have chosen to stick with lithium-ion batteries to power their new generation of electric vehicles and one of the crucial factors determining the...

  • auctioneer

    Does the 2011 Nissan Leaf leave you feeling uninspired? Does the 2011 Chevrolet Volt appear too aggressive? Is the 2011 Tesla Roadster just too sporty? Do you long for classic looks, big wheels and great all-round visibility? This weekend an electric car will be sold at an Indianan auction house that will attract admiring glances where ever it goes. But it certainly won’t be able to take advantage of a fast charge station. It also won’t have any complicated telematics to tell you when to charge up. Nor does it have a range-extended gasoline generator aboard. But it is finished to...

  • Power lines by Flickr user achouro
    Can EV Charging Crash The Grid? Toronto Hydro Chief Says Yes

    Picture the scene: You arrive home after a long day at work. The lights are on, the dinner is waiting for you in the oven and the kids are watching TV. Before leaving the garage, you plug in your 2011 Nissan Leaf and switch the charger on. And the whole neighborhood goes dark. Your EV was the straw...

  • 2011 Coda Sedan
    Nissan And Coda Work To Make Hawaii Electric Car Paradise

    It’s not a secret that Hawaii is keen to become the most electric car-friendly state in the whole of the U.S. And now two more electric car companies are laying a claim to the electric vehicle market in the island state. Earlier this week at the Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit and Expo, the...

  • Epic Electric Vehicles Torq Roadster
    Epic Electric Vehicles Unveils New Torq Roadster

    Epic Electric Vehicles is a little known company based in the U.S. that manufactures all sorts of electric modes of transport including boats, ATVs and now street-legal roadsters. The company’s latest effort is the new Torq three-wheeler, which kind of looks like an edgier, stripped down...

  • Range Anxiety
    GM Turns To Scare Tactics To Sell The 2011 Chevrolet Volt

    Fear is a powerful motivator. It has been used in the past to start wars, persuade kids to study at school and of course, sell life insurance. But now GM appears to be gearing up to use the fear of running out of electricity to give the extended-range 2011 Chevrolet Volt a competitive edge over...

  • prototype 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid, April 2010
    Plug-In Electric Vehicle Sales To Top 3.2 Million By 2015

    With several big electric vehicle launches due over the next few years and order books filling up quickly, we're sure to start seeing more of them on the roads. Research agency Pike Research has announced that combined sales of full-electric (battery electric, or BEV) vehicles and plug-in hybrid...

  • Fuel Gauge

    Range anxiety—that's the worry that people feel as they approach an electric car's driving range—has long been a bit unbecoming to discuss among fierce electric-vehicle advocates; but looking out at the general market, it's one of the most significant barriers against widespread electric-vehicle adoption. As we get past the first early adopters—the Who Killed The Electric Car? types—who would buy a plug-in vehicle with the blink of an eye, EV manufacturers have to not only try to pack as much range as they can in their vehicles; they also have to be mindful of it in...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf
    Nissan Limits Initial Leaf Rollout To 200 Cars In Five States

    Nissan is taking orders today for the Leaf, the first mass-produced, all-electric vehicle, but it’s only offering up 200 cars for December delivery. Those Leafs will go to five states in the initial rollout market – California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Tennessee — which...

  • First 2011 Chevrolet Volt built on production tooling at Detroit Hamtramck plant, March 31, 2010
    2011 Chevrolet Volt Production Starting November 11, 2010

    While prototypes of the upcoming 2011 Chevrolet Volt have been running around the streets of America for the past several months, the first customer delivered car won’t be built until production officially kicks off on November 11, 2010. The information comes from people familiar with the...

  • Mitsubishi i-MIEV electric car
    2010 Paris Motor Show: European-spec 2011 Mitsubishi i-MiEV

    Don't want a 2011 Chevrolet Volt or 2011 Nissan Leaf? Fear not - there are a raft of other EVs waiting in the wings to satisfy your desire for something different. If you live in the U.S. though, you'll have to wait until late 2011 to get your hands on Mitsubishi's 2012 i-MiEV. For EV fans in 14...

  • A123 lithium-ion cells
    Lithium-Ion Batteries Get Green Kudos, Better Than Gasoline

    In a week where many mainstream media outlets are claiming electric cars are prohibitively more expensive to own than gasoline counterparts, a team of Swiss researchers have released conclusive data showing that the environmental impact of the electric car is much less than most gas cars. As any EV...

  • Toyota Advanced Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicles (FCHV-adv)
    Toyota And SunHydro To Start Fuel Cell Vehicle Trials In U.S. This Fall

    Many think the infrastructure for hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles just isn’t there, and they’re mostly right. There have been a few advances in hydrogen production recently, but the distribution system is the weak point. However, there are companies, such as SunHydro, which are...

News First Drives Electric Cars Hybrids Guides Green Life