Green
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Electronic driving coaches designed to promote more fuel efficient driving are nothing new and have been appearing in production cars for the past several years, mostly in hybrids but regular models too. Some memorable driving coaches include Nissan’s Eco-Pedal, which works by activating a counter ‘push-back’ force on the accelerator pedal every time the driver puts his or her foot down in order to condition them to drive more conservatively. Then there’s Ford’s SmartGauge cluster with EcoGuide found in cars like the Fusion and MKZ hybrid duo, which displays a...
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Rumor: Next Ford GT To Join The Hybrid Supercar Corral?
And the hybrids just keep on coming. Earlier this morning we wrote that BMW will launch a line of front-wheel-drive hybrids in 2014. Now, the British magazine AutoExpress suggests that a new generation of the Ford GT supercar will also offer hybrid-electric drive. Competition for Porsche If so, it...
John Voelcker -
Volvo’s Upcoming Plug-in Vehicles: What do YOU Want to Know?
Let’s be honest: Volvo isn’t the first company that comes to mind when thinking of electric vehicles. In fact, until the display of a crashed C30 Electric at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show earlier this year we’ve seen very little from Volvo’s plug-in fleet except a few...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
BMW Front-Wheel-Drive Hybrids Coming In 2014 From New Partnership
It's not just Toyota that sells multiple models of hybrid cars now. German luxury brands are getting in on the act too. BMW announced today that it was forming a joint venture with France's Peugeot-Citroen to design and build hybrid-electric powertrains. The new enterprise is an expansion of the...
John Voelcker -
Testing A Plug-In Prius Or Volt Gets Easier For Civilians
With cars like the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf already on sale, plus a handful of startups either selling or building battery-powered cars on U.S. soil, it’s safe to say that the electric car revolution is truly upon us. Sadly, the cost of entry to be a part of this revolution is still...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Virginia Utility Tests Cheap Rates for Electric Car Owners
Dominion Virginia Power announced yesterday that is waiting for Virginia State Corporation Commission approval to offer two electricity tariffs exclusively to electric vehicle owners in a bid to encourage customers to make the switch to electric cars. As we’ve discovered before, more and more...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
The first business day of every month is when automakers release sales data for the previous month. Today, we got January's sales figures, which are an improvement over last January's. But the question that we keep hearing is: Which sells better, the 2011 Nissan Leaf or the 2011 Chevrolet Volt? They're the first two plug-in electric vehicles sold in the U.S. by major manufacturers in a decade, and now they've been on sale for roughly six weeks. The first Leaf was delivered in San Francisco on December 12, and the first Volt followed three days later in New Jersey. Thus far (as of yesterday)...
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Audi CEO: No "Euphoria For Electric Cars" Despite E-Tron
Strange as it may seem from the CEO of a company now embarking the electric car bandwagon, Audi's boss Rupert Stadler still seems apathetic at best about EVs. Of course, the aim of any big business is to grow and make money, so perhaps Rupert is thinking of the lack of short-term financial gains to...
Antony Ingram -
Chicago Auto Show Preview: 2012 Buick Regal With eAssist Option
Buick plans to add its eAssist mild-hybrid system to the 2012 Regal sedan as an option, making the Regal its second model to offer the mileage-increasing system. According to trade publication Ward's Auto, Buick will introduce the option at the Chicago Auto Show next week. Last November, General...
John Voelcker -
Electric Pickups: When Will We See Them Again?
Think back to the late 1990s. While the EV1 was making waves smoothly whirring down the freeways and highways of Arizona and California, an altogether more rugged fleet of electric utility trucks were living a less obviously electric lifestyle. Enter GM’s S10 Pickup and Ford’s Electric...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Technical Details Revealed: 2012 Audi Q5 Hybrid Crossover
Sometimes you just never know where you'll dredge up technical details on vehicles that carmakers haven't yet launched. Technology conferences can be a good source. Take, for instance, the Advanced Automotive Battery Conference (AABC) held last week in Pasadena, California. A battery systems...
John Voelcker -
2012 Ford Focus Electric Won’t Charge as Fast as Nissan LEAF
One of the biggest drawbacks to electric car ownership today is the time it takes to recharge the car when the batteries are depleted. So it comes as no surprise that the time it takes a car to charge from empty is a big selling point. A few weeks ago, Ford seemingly pulled ahead of its rivals...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Imagine a future where your electric car could talk to your home and chose the best time to charge itself based on use predictions, electricity costs and home energy demands. Except it is no-longer the future. Announced today as part of a joint venture between ECOtality, Inc., and Cisco Systems, Inc., ECOtality’s Blink electric car charging stations will be able to communicate with Cisco’s Home Energy Controller. Part of the growing Smart Grid phenomenon, the Cisco Home Energy Controller (HEC) allows consumers to monitor and control their home energy use. Smart Grid systems use a...
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Even Electric Cars Get Recalled: 2011 Think City Safety Notices
Recall notices are now a standard part of the automotive landscape. Last year's recall of almost 10 million Toyota and Lexus models only highlighted the fact that most vehicles get called back to dealers for minor upgrades or inspections to fix or avert potential defects. Despite their much smaller...
John Voelcker -
Buyer Beware: 'Fake' Electric Car Charging Stations?
You’ve ordered your electric car and like many, you’ve been put off by the seemingly extortionate quote given to install a level 2 electric charging station at your home. As we’ve discussed before, sourcing your own Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) can save you hundreds of...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
EPA Sticks To Its Guns, Still Considering Letter Grades For Cars
Despite criticism from the auto industry, it looks like the EPA may be sticking to its guns and planning to launch new redesigned gas-mileage stickers for new cars that feature a prominent letter grade. The letter-grade scheme was one of two alternatives introduced for public comment last August...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Will Winter Storms Spell Disaster for Your Electric Car?
Is it really all doom and gloom for electric car owners when winter weather comes, and will electric car owners be stranded in the snow as many columnists have suggested? That's the suggestion we've seen time and time again over the weekend as another band of heavy winter storms is poised to hit...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Life After The Road: Tesla’s European Electric Car Battery Recycling
It may be the largest battery pack available in any electric car on the road today, but what happens when it is no-longer able to provide enough kick to push the 2011 Tesla Roadster Sport 2.5 from 0-60 in under 4 seconds? That’s the question answered by Tesla Motors this week as it announced...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
With the first few Fiat 500 minicars now landing in Chrysler dealerships this month and next, the small car's fuel efficiency is clearly one of the main questions buyers will ask about. Now the EPA has released its final ratings for the car, though they're not yet on its FuelEconomy.org website. The agency says the 2012 Fiat 500 gets 30 mpg city, 38 mpg highway when it's fitted with the five-speed manual gearbox. That's a combined rating of 33 mpg. For the optional automatic, the ratings come in at 27 mpg city, 34 mpg highway, for a combined 30-mpg overall number. Those are respectable...
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GM Bets On Cheaper Electric-Car Batteries With Envia, Invests $17 Million
Riding high on a bout of good press of its Chevy Volt, GM is putting $7 million into its next big bet on electric cars: cheaper, higher-energy batteries. In his state of the union address yesterday, President Obama called for the U.S. to be the first country to put one million electric cars on the...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
Will Toyota Cut Prius Prices To Keep Hybrid Sales High?
Hybrid sales in the U.S. have flattened over the last couple of years, but they're going great guns in Japan. Now, an analyst suggests that the great popularity of the Prius in its home market may lead Toyota to cut the price there to keep its sales high. The Toyota Prius has been the best-selling...
John Voelcker -
BMW Brings Smaller, More Efficient ‘TwinPower' Turbo Fours To U.S.
Automakers all over the world are adapting their engine strategies to the need for higher fuel efficiency and lower carbon emissions. From mass-market to high-end luxury, engines are getting smaller and more efficient, using direct injection and turbocharging to wring higher power from lower...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Why Didn't We THINK Of It Before? EV Spawns Delivery Van
Car-derived vans are big business in Europe. Pick a subcompact at random and chances are there will be a light delivery van variant. Usually fitted with economical diesel engines, the small size and high economy suits small businesses down to the ground. Electric delivery vehicles have been...
Antony Ingram -
Chevrolet Shows Nissan How It’s Done, Speeds Up Volt Rollout
Nissan may still be aggravating customers patiently waiting for their 2011 LEAFs with no news of delivery dates, but Chevrolet has just announced that it will be delivering its 2011 Volt plug-in hybrid to all 50 states by the end of 2011. Spurred on by massive consumer interest and a stream of...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield