Electric Cars

  • BYD e6

    Chinese battery firm and electric car company Build Your Dreams (BYD) have claimed their E6 all electric crossover SUV is ready for the U.S. market.  Following tightly behind an announcement at the start of May that BYD were opening a U.S. sales headquarters in Los Angeles, BYD public relation manager Du Guozhong has claimed the E6 has passed all necessary safety tests required to enable it to be sold in the U.S. market. According to a report by Chinese website People's Daily Online, BYD are aiming to sell the five seat EV for around $40,000 and have conduced thorough safety testing on both...

  • Honda EV-N Concept EV
    Honda Remains Unconvinced of EV Future.

    Its official! Honda doesn't trust EVs. A week after Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn reiterated the company's support for electric cars along with plans to bring four EV models to market, Honda remain uncommitted about the future of Honda EVs. Honda's president of research and development, Tomohiko Kawanabe...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf prototype
    Nissan Announce Leaf Pricing in E.U., Confirm Three More EVs

    Nissan Europe have announced the pricing structure for the European rollout of the 2011 Nissan Leaf. The Leaf car has received a huge number of  reservations in the U.S already and will be launched in Europe in three stages. Nissan plans to release just one model of the Leaf in Europe, as oppose...

  • 2012 Fiat 500 Electric/Elettra
    Snapped on the Street: Fiat 500 Electric Car Visits Palo Alto

    The great thing about having your company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, is that you never quite know what you'll see on the street. There are lots of expensive cars like BMWs and Bentleys floating around. There are also a disproportionate number of Tesla Roadsters, since the company is...

  • Lutz Drives Volt
    Lutz Predicts Range-Extended EVs Like Chevy Volt Here To Stay

    With GM's 2011 Chevrolet Volt now in pre-production and due to launch in November 2010, Former GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz fully supports range-extended electric vehicles but remains doubtful of the near future of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. In an interview with GM-Volt.com before his retirement...

  • Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell with mobile refueler
    GM Testing Hydrogen Fuel Infrastructure In Sunny Hawaii

    Electric powered vehicles are widely perceived to be the way forward for personal transport. Fuel cell vehicles, which create electricity by combining hydrogen with oxygen, offer many advantages over traditional battery-based systems thanks to the relatively energy-dense storage of hydrogen in...

  • Charging Port: Think City.

    A survey conducted by MBA students at the University of Michigan shows that contrary to popular belief, a large percentage of potential electric vehicle buyers would be willing to trade off vehicle range for price. The survey, released by Norwegian based electric car company Think, appears to have two main camps of users. One is willing to reduce the range of an EV from 100 miles per charge to between 70 and 80 miles if the retail price drops by $5000; the other would pay a premium of $5000 over the price of a 100-mile vehicle to receive a 150- to 160-mile range. The results open up the...

  • Nissan President and Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn
    Nissan Posts Q1 Losses, Confident of Future Leaf Success.

    Nissan Motor Company, the maker of the 2011 Leaf EV, posted today a net loss of $125 million for the first quarter of 2010 and a $45.8 million profit for the full fiscal year ending March 2010 -- a distinct improvement on the $2.9 billion loss for the financial year ending March 2009. With orders...

  • Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors
    Musk divorce case could hang over Tesla for up to a year

    This story, written by Camille Ricketts, was originally posted on VentureBeat's GreenBeat, an editorial partner of AllCarsElectric. Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk may have won an initial ruling in the divorce dispute with his now-separated wife, novelist Justine Musk, but the case is far from over...

  • nissan leaf ev 013
    Nissan, GM Are Right to Quiz Potential Electric-Car Buyers

    Nissan has been criticized by consumers and EV owners alike for the online questionnaire that accompanies the signup process for reserving a 2011 Nissan Leaf. As part of the process, Nissan tries to ascertain if potential customers have a lifestyle compatible with the Leaf's range, recharging...

  • 2010 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid, 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show
    Why Can't Toyota's Plug-In Prius Recharge Its Larger Battery?

    Toyota has come under some fire from electric-vehicle enthusiasts for what some perceive as a grudging, halfhearted approach to building vehicles that plug in. Its first U.S.-market plug-in vehicle--not including a thousand or so RAV4 electric crossovers a decade ago--will be the 2012 Toyota Prius...

  • Lithium Air Battery
    GM Confirms Lithium-Air Battery Research to Revolutionize EV

    General Motors is quietly conducting research into Lithium-Air batteries, the next Holy Grail of electric vehicle technology, according to a Friday article in The New York Times. GM acknowledges that while the battery technology has some way to go before it is used in commercial electric cars, the...

  • GM electric motor

    There is a wealth of budding electric vehicle (EV) builders all around the country, tinkering away on do-it-yourself conversions in their backyards. Now they have an avenue to study their passion for EVs at a university level thanks to three new programs being offered by Wayne State University in Detroit. All based around the field of electric propulsion, the programs will start this fall and run for roughly four years. The programs include a bachelor of science in electric transportation technology, a master's of science in electric-drive vehicle engineering, and a graduate program in...

  • Three-seat, three-wheeled electric vehicle in traditional Japanese style, photo by Kyodo Photo.
    What Wacky Forms of Electric Tourist Transport Can YOU Invent?

    It must be Friday, when the silly stuff comes up. According to Japan Times, in the Kansai region of Japan, four companies have got together to produce a new vehicle which they hope will capture the hearts and minds of eco-minded visitors needing a way to get around the ancient cities of Kyoto and...

  • Hawaii
    Hawaii: Island Paradise for Electric Vehicles As Well As People

    You'd be forgiven for thinking Hawaii is the center of the electric vehicle universe. Wednesday, Nissan announced it would be one of the first markets for the 2011 Leaf electric vehicle. Then yesterday South Korean manufacturer CT&T signed a deal with the state's governor, Linda Lingle, to...

  • Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car at quick charging station
    Electric Vehicle Range, In the Real World: What You Need to Know

    At the moment, drivers of cars from the  2011 Mitsubishi i-MiEV to the 2010 Mini E are struggling to achieve the official mileage-range figures. So far, only Tesla's 2010 Roadster seems to be able to deliver on its range promises, and that's just when driven conservatively. Why are we hearing so...

  • Comedian Adam Carolla complains about electric cars and energy policy on Gizmodo
    OK, We Get It: Adam Carolla Likes, and Hates, Electric Cars

    As if legitimate news outlets didn't have enough trouble covering electric vehicles sensibly, now we get the comedians weighing in. Late-night talk-show host and stereotypical grumpy guy Adam Carolla recently lit into electric cars, in an interview with Gizmodo's Jason Chen in which he was invited...

  • First 2011 Chevrolet Volt built on production tooling at Detroit Hamtramck plant, March 31, 2010
    2011 Chevy Volt Marketing Theme Emerges: An EV for Road Trips

    GM has been talking about the 2011 Chevrolet Volt for three and a half years now. After absorbing an enormous amount of Volt propaganda, we've learned that subtle shifts in message can be important. A conference call yesterday revealed what we suspect will become a main marketing message for the...

  • President Bill Clinton

    Former President Bill Clinton recently visited social network digg.com  for a special Earth Day interview that touched on electric-vehicle policy and legislation. He answered user questions about many ecological and environmental topics--including third-world development and global warming--as well as future transport solutions for the globe. When the discussion moved to electric cars, Clinton urged that the move to electric vehicles should happen as rapidly as possible. But he also warned about hurdles that must be overcome first. Citing the success of last summer's Cash for Clunkers...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf prototype
    Covering Electric Cars: Is It Really THAT Hard For the Media?

    If you pay attention to the so-called mainstream media, you could be forgiven for thinking that electric vehicles are alien technology, rather than cars with plugs. Though happy to cover natural disasters; governmental coups, and the latest celebrity gossip, pretty much any reporter seems...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt pre-production prototype, January 2010
    2011 Chevy Volt To Offer 'Mountain Mode' For Hill Climbing

    The 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car will offer a capability that General Motors hasn't previously discussed: a "Mountain Mode" that the driver can select if he knows that he will be climbing a long hill. GM's executive director of powertrain engineering Larry Nitz revealed the new...

  • Aptera 2e during Automotive X-Prize handling tests, from Consumer Reports video on YouTube
    Aptera Grits Its Teeth, Glosses Over Auto X-Prize 2e Handling Issue

    Optimism is a useful thing for a startup company, maybe even a requirement. But the April newsletter from Aptera Motors, which is struggling to launch its ultra-aerodynamic three-wheeled electric vehicle in the face of delays and funding constraints, smooths over some crucial handling issues with...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf
    Nissan Says: We'll Make Money On Selling Leaf Electric Cars

    It's almost an article of faith in the auto industry that electric cars will require huge subsidies in their initial years. Certainly Toyota is widely assumed to have put tens of billions of dollars into its hybrid-electric vehicle program before it started to cover its costs. Never shy of taking a...

  • BYD e6 electric crossover, Electric Avenue, 2010 Detroit Auto Show
    Chinese Electric Carmaker BYD Loves LA Too, For U.S. Offices

    While Chinese car company BYD exhibited its E6 all-electric crossover at the Detroit Auto Show last January, they've otherwise been fairly quite of late. Now comes word that the company has chosen downtown Los Angeles as the location for its U.S. headquarters. Friday, California governor Arnold...

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