Green

Electric cars like the 2011 Chevrolet Volt and 2011 Fisker Karma get around the problem of range anxiety the old-fashioned way: They use gasoline engines. They do it because the battery systems of pure electric vehicles are large, heavy, and expensive, but the range they produce is still...

An advance in battery technology could help push past one of the persistent criticisms of electric vehicles: the extended time needed to charge the battery. Researchers at the University of Illinois published a paper in Nature Nanotechnology on a change to the cathode of a battery that allows for...

The fans might take some convincing on this one... President of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and former Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team principal Jean Todt has revealed plans to introduce new electric car, go-kart and single-seater racing categories across...

Since 2008, Barack Obama has consistently promoted the goal of having 1 million advanced technology vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015. The number refers to plug-in vehicles that use grid power, stored in lithium-ion battery packs, to operate their electric traction motors. Regular hybrids like the...

Earlier this year we heard that the a United Nations committee on noise levels in plug-in vehicles was about to mandate that all plug-in cars be made to emit artificial noises when traveling at low speed. But as we’ve illustrated in the past, we’re not entirely convinced that forcing...

Throughout the history of the internal combustion engine there have been a multitude of scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs shouting claims about revolutionary new engine designs promising greater efficiency, more power, fewer emissions and lower production and running costs. However, to this...

The Honda Civic is one of the best-known and best-selling compact cars in the U.S. market. And it's just been entirely redesigned. For all the details, you'll have to wait until Wedneday, April 20, when the full line of 2012 Honda Civic models will be unveiled at the New York Auto Show. But we're...

No sooner do I discuss University of Illinois researchers who have created 3D antennas for mobile phones using nanotechnology than another group of researchers at the University of Illinois (this time at Urbana-Champaign) have developed 3D material for batteries that combines the qualities of...

The 2011 Chevy Volt continues to outsell the 2011 Nissan Leaf, but during March, the Japanese battery electric car at last started to move noticeable numbers of cars--almost five times as many as it sold in February. The two major-manufacturer plug-ins currently on the market sold a total of 906...

Tightening fuel efficiency and emissions regulations all around the world are pushing automakers to find any way they can to make their cars greener, downsizing engines, reducing internal friction and improving aerodynamics. Another area, and one of the most beneficial as it not only improves fuel...

Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla says BBC TV show Top Gear falsely stated that the Tesla Roadster could only travel 55 miles before needing to recharge, according to Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman. Wilman said the team behind Top Gear, a show that touts the latest and greatest cars...

One way for potential buyers to get familiar with electric cars is to rent one. Several rental companies, among them Enterprise, have announced plans to rent 2011 Nissan Leaf and other electric models at selected locations. Renting an electric car lets you spend far more time in one than the...

Level 3 fast charging is blisteringly fast. In fact, we got to try it out in the real world this week, recharging a 2011 Nissan Leaf from 30% full to 98% full in a little under 25 minutes. But while your electric car gets a quick refresh, here’s our list of five top things to keep you...

Cars with electric drive motors are now midway through their second decade, and ideas from hybrids and electric cars are starting to filter back into mainstream gasoline vehicles. Ford, for one, adapted several ideas from its hybrid vehicles to reduce the fuel consumption of its 2011 Explorer...

Some of the loudest of the skepticism over Tesla's plans to design and build an all-electric luxury sports sedan have died down after the company showed an all-aluminum body-in-white at the Detroit Auto Show in January. Even Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda checked it out. Tesla is continuing its campaign to...

A concern raised over upcoming electric-drive cars--the all-electric 2011 Nissan Leaf, the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, and the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid--is what happens to their lithium-ion battery packs once the car's life ends. Images of those battery packs tossed over cliffs or littering...

Car-sharing service Zipcar has priced its initial public offering between $14 and $16 per share as it inches closer to finally going public on the NASDAQ stock market under the ticker “ZIP”, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Zipcar is looking to...

At the start of the month, we examined just how much of the 2012 Tesla Model S sticker price was made up by battery pack costs. In order to make electric cars more accessible to the mainstream car buying public, Renault plans to sell consumers their electric car but lease them the battery pack. But...

General Motors and its brand strategies have been through a lot of turmoil in recent years. Now, GM is down to just four brands in North America--Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac--and is rapidly taking Chevrolet global, including its Malibu midsize model. Buick survived only because of its...

Big plans are afoot for Chevrolet, which GM plans to take global to face off against Ford. With spring auto-show season upon us, Chevy is showing not only its 2013 Malibu LTZ Concept but also, halfway around the world, its idea of a "muscle car of the future." But hold onto your small-blocks, guys...