Green
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If Tesla Motors had a single message to convey at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show, it was this: We're a real car company. Rather than show a completed prototype of its Model S all-electric luxury sports sedan, scheduled to launch by the end of 2012, the company showed the car's shell. That allowed other carmakers to look it over, see that it wasn't based on any other company's platform or structure, and pass their own judgment on the structural engineering, suspension design, and of course the slimline battery pack that forms the floorpan. And visit they did, including no less a luminary than...
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Why The 2011 Chevy Volt Won North American Car of the Year
Earlier this week the judges in the North American Car of the Year announced that the 2011 Chevrolet Volt had won the coveted NACOTY prize. At the press conference kicking off the start of the 2011 Detroit Auto Show, the NACTOY team announced that the 50 or so automotive journalists representing a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Chrysler And EPA Set To Announce New Drivetrain Research Project
With all the hoopla surrounding this week’s 2011 Detroit Auto Show, we’re quite surprised to learn that Chrysler has yet another major announcement to make, this time together with the Environmental Protection Agency. The two groups are set to announce a new research and development...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Toyota Prius Plug-In: Can It Measure Up To Chevrolet, Ford And Nissan’s Offerings?
Last week, I wrote about how Ford and GM have staged comebacks that hinged in part on the carmakers’ embracing of new electronics, launching greener cars with smartphone apps and wireless and voice-command capabilities. Toyota will soon be joining the crowd by offering all of the above...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
2011 Detroit Auto Show: Electric Car Round-Up
Between the wreck of a Volvo and a $300k Mercedes supercar, the 2011 Detroit Auto show is giving the electric car fan plenty of variety, so if you're planning to visit the show between now and closing time on January 23, here are the electric vehicles you should make the time to see and the EV...
Antony Ingram -
Revolutionary or Flop? Li-Ion Struggles With Reservations
Last year Li-Ion Motors were crowned winners of the Progressive Insurance X-Prize Alternative Side-by-Side category with their suitably unusual Wave II electric car. Amidst all the controversy surrounding the X-Prize results and allegations of misconduct and fraud, court cases and even a U.S...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
The Pacific Northwest is a remarkably scenic corner of the continental United States. The striking coastal ranges of Washington and Oregon offer dramatic vistas, temperature (if often damp) weather, and dozens of outdoor activities within a few hours' drive. Now those drives can be done in electric cars, courtesy of the country's first scenic byway and tourism route designed specifically for electric cars. Washington State and several businesses together plan to install a series of charging stations along U.S. Route 2, starting in Everett (just outside Seattle) and reaching 120 miles over the...
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Range Anxiety? Brit Proves Electric Cars Can Go The Distance
Yesterday we covered the unexpected electric car challenge from a Tesla fan to the BBC journalist driving the 400+ mile trip from London to Edinburgh in a prototype 2009 MINI E David Peilow, a regular at TeslaMotorsClub.Com, took some time off from his work to prove that not all electric cars were...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Battery Wars: General Motors Licenses American Argonne Tech
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... Actually, no--fairly recently and not so far from home, the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory patented a battery technology known as nickel manganese cobalt (NMC). Discovering and patenting new battery technology in an era so...
Antony Ingram -
German Tuner G-Power Builds World’s Fastest Natural Gas Powered Car
The G-Power name has become synonymous with extreme BMWs and the company’s latest Hurricane GS based on the M5 sedan fits in perfectly with that description. You may have read about G-Power’s past creations at our sister site MotorAuthority; such cars as the BMW M5 Hurricane RR, the...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Electric Car Crashes? Just As Safe As Any Other Volvo
Despite thousands of automotive gasoline fires in the U.S. every year, we've pretty much normalized the risks of the highly explosive liquid that we use to fuel our cars. But for electric cars, there's a whole new set of potential fears. One may be driving through water--it's not like tossing a...
John Voelcker -
2011 Detroit Auto Show: Volvo Shows Off Crashed Electric C30
You might think that having a twisted lump of metal on your auto show stand probably isn't the best way to promote your latest product. Most manufacturers would agree with you. The customers tend to prefer cars shinier and in one piece. Volvo aren't "most manufacturers" though and they've never...
Antony Ingram -
If the shots we showed you last year of Mercedes-Benz’s electric offering on the now iconic SLS AMG super-car were enough to get your juices flowing, you’ll be pleased to know that Mercedes announced yesterday at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show that the all-electric SLS AMG E-Cell will be available for order in 2013. Our colleagues over at MotorAuthority test-drove the gasoline-powered 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG in November 2009, and concluded that it was perfect for cruising Miami’s South Beach or taking to a track day. The gasoline SLS AMG features a 405hp 5.5L V8 engine...
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Fighting The Electric Car Pirates: Renault Gets Tough
Take one look at the news coming out of Detroit this week and you’ll know that the electric car revolution seems well and truly under way. Nearly every major automaker is now extolling the virtues of electric car technology when a few years earlier, they were dismissing them as impractical...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2011 Detroit Auto Show Video: BYD On Renewable Energy Generation
Where is Noah's Ark to save human beings? People pass their eyes drilling into the Earth up to the sky. Each loop of human civilization is closely linked to the exploitation of solar energy—even coal and petroleum. Since sunshine is vital to everything, why human beings don't obtain energy...
Bengt Halvorson -
2011 Detroit Auto Show: 2012 Audi A6 Hybrid
Audi loves clean diesels, but the German automaker certainly hasn't stacked its entire deck with them. In addition to the upcoming 2012 Audi Q5 Hybrid and the brand's e-Tron electric sports cars in the pipeline, it's now taking hybrids and electric cars seriously, too. And one of Audi's best...
Bengt Halvorson -
Ed Begley, Jr. Launches Ford’s Electric Car War On Chevrolet, Nissan (VIDEO)
Choosing a spokesperson for a new brand is pretty tough, especially if someone else has already had a go at selling what you’re trying to. NIssan chose world-champion cyclist Lance Armstrong to be their public face on early Nissan LEAF commercials. It appears Ford has chosen American actor...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2011 Detroit Auto Show: Tesla Celebrates 1500 Roadsters Sold
Tesla celebrated the start of the 2011 Detroit Auto Show today by announcing that it had now sold over 1,500 of its iconic electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster. It was November 18, 2006 when we were first shown the sexy two-door car that very few believed could be as good as the then unknown...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
As part of the family of four Toyota Prius hybrids that the carmaker unveiled at the today's Detroit Auto Show, it showed a concept for a new, compact Prius hatchback. Low, edgy, and relatively sleek for a highly aerodynamic Kamm-tailed car, the Prius C concept is actually Toyota's second concept on the compact hybrid theme, the first being the lime-green FT-CH Concept that was unveiled at the same show last year. The Prius C Concept is still only a styling exercise, but watch for Toyota to launch a production version of the car sometime during the first half of 2012. Like the Prius V...
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2011 Detroit Auto Show: 2012 Toyota Prius V, Photo Gallery
Auto show press conferences sometimes resemble mosh pits, but savvy photographers know how to get the best angles while protecting vulnerable body parts. Photographer Joe Nuxoll got most of these shots from the event where Toyota launched its 2012 Prius V multi-purpose vehicle (or, for those of us...
John Voelcker -
2011 Detroit Auto Show: 2012 Toyota Prius V, Wagon / Minivan
At 50 miles per gallon, the 2011 Toyota Prius five-door hatchback is the most fuel-efficient car sold in the U.S. But, says Toyota, its customers told the company they needed more room--for people, for stuff, for stretching out. So the quintessential Prius hybrid is becoming not just a vehicle but...
John Voelcker -
2011 Detroit Auto Show: Ford In Love With Electric Cars
Just a few days after unveiling the 2012 Ford Focus Electric at the 2011 Consumer Electrics Show in Las Vegas, Ford has expanded its green fleet for 2012/13 with yet another plug in vehicle: The C-MAX Energi Plug-in Hybrid From the specifications and the way Ford is talking about its new vehicles...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2012 Mercedes-Benz S350 BlueTEC 4MATIC Making U.S. Debut In Detroit
Our cousins across the Atlantic got the new diesel-powered S-Class in June of last year, which we reported on back then. Now, on the eve of the 2011 Detroit Auto Show, Mercedes-Benz has announced that it will finally be bringing its fuel-efficient flagship sedan to U.S. soil. Set to debut at this...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
2012 Ford Focus Electric NYC Debut: What You Need To Know
As you may have seen by now, the 2012 Ford Focus Electric was officially launched today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas by Ford CEO Alan Mulally. At the very same time, another notable executive--Bill Ford--unveiled it in New York City. He covered the same production details that were...
John Voelcker