Electric Cars
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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...
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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...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
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...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
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...
John Voelcker -
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...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
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...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
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...
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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...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
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...
John Voelcker -
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...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
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...
John Voelcker -
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...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
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...
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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...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
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...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
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...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
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...
John Voelcker -
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...
John Voelcker -
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...
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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...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
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...
John Voelcker -
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...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
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...
John Voelcker -
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...
John Voelcker