Electric Cars

Better Place Israel signed an agreement with Israel's capital city of Jerusalem on Thursday, to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure throughout the municipality. The initiative will test charging stations and battery swapping facilities over the next 18 months. Charging stations will be...

  Here's a frightening scene from the streets of Denmark submitted to Autopia by reader, Lars H. A Tesla Roadster was involved in a three-way crash with a Volkswagen Touareg and a Toyota Prius earlier this week. Apparently the Roadster was stopped behind the Touareg when the Prius rear-ended the...

Zero Motorcycles is now entering the enormous Asian electric scooter / motorcycle market through AMPLE, a worldwide distributor of electric vehicle products founded on Earth Day 2008.  AMPLE's brief history can be viewed here.  I wonder if Zero tried to market through more established...

After months and years of offerings from start-up electric bike, scooter and motorcycle companies like Vectrix, Zero Motorcycles, Brammo, etc., Honda and Yamaha have finally yielded to the marketplace and are now offering their own electric scooters.  Honda chose to bring back their iconic scooter...

Now reported widely around the web, Fisker Automotive seems to be near a deal to acquire General Motor's Boxwood Road assembly plant in Wilmington, DE, where GM produced the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice.  GM is discontinuing both the Saturn and Pontiac brands. Fisker Automotive intends to...

The thoughts of General Wesley Clark of the U.S Military came out as powerful words at the Business of Plugging In conference in Detroit this week.  As Clark said, "The nation must muster the same economic might that brought about the explosion in personal computing, the Internet and cellular...

Honda unveiled the second concept version of its sporty hybrid coupe the CR-Z at the Tokyo Motor Show.  The production version will make its world debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit just months from now. The concept displayed in Tokyo features seating for four, though...

As you may know, Quantum Technologies is the company providing the series hybrid (range extended electric vehicle) propulsion systems for Fisker Automotive, which are showcased in the Fisker Karma and Karma Sunset luxury sedans.  Now Quantum Technologies is introducing a 4-wheel drive system based...

Nissan CEO Carols Ghosn has been aggressive in moving his company to market electric vehicles.  The Nissan LEAF has been unveiled, is soon to go on a US tour and will go on sale in selected markets late next year. The 100 mile range pure EV reportedly has a waitlist of 20,000 people. Nissan has...

LEAF makes first U.S. appearance in Los Angeles Nov. 13

I've often wondered who names the colors of things like the sweaters, paint, and cars. Who gets to decide which shade of red is spicy enough to be "Caliente" or cute enough to be "Valentine" or hot enough to be "Red Hot?" Are there specialists who deal only in beiges and grays, others who are...

According to a new study jointly conducted by the Aluminum Association Inc, and Ricardo a technical research and consultant firm for automotive industries, the use of aluminum in plug-ins, hybrids, and full EVs could reduce vehicle costs by $3,000. The study shows that the use of aluminum frame and...

Andrew English of Popular Mechanics magazine is an envious individual right now.  Not only did he have the chance to test drive the Volvo V70 PHEV (read about it here) he also had the chance to drive the Volvo prototype C30 BEV. First some background.  The C30 BEV has not been given an official...

On October 19th, the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE announced the 43 Qualified Teams who received passing scores from the Design Judges and are therefore qualified to progress to the next stage of the competition. The Design Judging process, whereby a team of select automotive experts...

Mr. Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., announced at the 41st Tokyo Motor Show that Infiniti plans to introduce an electric vehicle – one that will be true to the Infiniti brand’s promise of “Inspired Performance.” Mr. Ghosn stated that a concept is being developed for a...

Volvo may be a newcomer to the hybrid segment, but the company has been actively working on hybrids for nearly 20 years.  Back in 1992, Volvo displayed their first hybrid concept car, but the vehicle never saw production.  Now Volvo has the intention of producing a plug-in hybrid with some high...

Zenn Motors is the Canadian electric car company which is 10.7% owner of secretive ultra-capacitor start-up EEStor.  Texas-based EEStor is said to be building a new breakthrough barium-based battery that will be far lighter, smaller, cheaper, and long-lived than current lithium-ion cells. EEStor...

Do you ever wish your car came in an electric version? Do you find yourself daydreaming about bio-diesel conversions? If so, the bloggers at Inhabitat have assembled a list of vehicles to inspire you. The so-called "Top 5 Pimped-Out Eco Rides" range from a Hummer H1 stretch-limo to a 1985 Chevy S10...

Per the official TTXGP blog post seen here, the winning bike from the TTXGP race will spawn a production electric motorcycle, the Mavizen TTX02.  "On November/3rd, 2009 at 1305Hrs PST, the world's first supersport bike bred on the Isle of Man TTXGP will be launched in Las Vegas at the SEMA Show."...

At the recent Frankfurt Motor Show Renault unveiled several electric concept vehicles.  One vehicle, the Fluence ZE, is expected to see production numbers possibly exceeding 100,000 units per year.  Producing 100,000 EVs costs a significant amount of money, but the Spanish government has stepped...