plug-in cars
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The Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive will go on sale in the U.S. this summer.
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Ebuggy Electric Car Trailer Boosts Range By 300 Miles, Looks A Bit Silly
Despite protestations that electric vehicles are compromised by short battery range, most owners find the vast majority of driving is achievable on the modest 80-100 miles offered by most vehicles. Many drivers need to do a longer trip at some point, though. Do you then make that compromise buying...
Antony Ingram -
Chevy Volt: How It Really Works Vs Common Myths & Misconceptions
How badly does the public misunderstand the Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car? Pretty badly indeed, if the comments received by Volt owners are any indication. DON'T MISS: Three Years Later, Most Consumers Don't Understand The Chevy Volt Last week, we wrote that Chevrolet admits most...
John Voelcker -
The Epic Failure Of Better Place, As Covered By Fast Company
The remarkable scope, overwhelming ambition, and epic failure of the Better Place electric-car service in Israel is worthy of a book, or several. But until one appears, Fast Company magazine has produced the most comprehensive article yet on the founding--and foundering--of the great Better Place...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Hiring At Second California Facility, Ex-Chrysler Plant
Tesla is seeking workers for a new facility, a former Chrysler parts-distribution plant in Lathrop, California.
Stephen Edelstein -
2014 BMW i3: What Staff Training Ride & Drives Revealed
With deliveries of the first 2014 BMW i3 battery-electric cars now just days away, BMW has busily been training service personnel and dealership staff on its new and radical design. And an informed post on BMWBlog by a dealership employee who went through the multi-day course offers some new...
John Voelcker -
Meet the Norwegian opthalmologist who owns a Tesla Model S and six Roadsters.
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FTC Comes Out In Favor Of Tesla Direct Sales, Against Dealer-Backed Bans
The ongoing fight between Tesla Motors and car dealers across the country has spilled from the headlines into the legal system, but so far, the outcome is far from certain. Will Tesla be allowed to sell its cars directly to consumers? Or is there some state interest in forcing Tesla into the dealer...
Nelson Ireson -
Why Electric-Car Charging At Work Matters: Explaining The 'Duck Curve'
For many electric car owners, charging at work is a nice bonus, but not a necessity. For others, it's the difference between choosing an electric vehicle, and not doing so--the extra charge at work makes all the difference. But there's another reason charging at work is important, and it's all to...
Antony Ingram -
Easier Electric-Car Charging: BMW ChargeNow, Nissan EZ Charge
Both BMW and Nissan are set to roll out electric-car charging programs for their customers.
Stephen Edelstein -
In Effort To Sell RAV4 Electric SUVs, Toyota Puts 'Cash On Hood'
The all-electric Toyota RAV4 EV, even with its Tesla-designed powertrain, isn't exactly flying out of dealerships. While it's a low-volume compliance car sold to meet California regulations, Toyota still has to move 2,600 of them over a three-year period that began in September 2012. So Toyota is...
John Voelcker -
2014 BMW i3 Electric-Car Production Rises To Meet Strong Demand
BMW is on track to build twice as many i3 electric cars in 2014 as it originally planned.
Stephen Edelstein -
So what IS a "tree hugger," anyway? According to a Cadillac executive quoted in The Detroit News a week ago, it's someone who never buys luxury cars. That phrase leaped out at us from an otherwise pro forma article in which General Motors executives said the company's sales hadn't been affected by the ongoing ignition-key safety recall. Uwe Ellinghaus, Cadllac's marketing chief, was discussing sales of the Cadillac luxury brand, and its plans for future plug-in cars. He argued that those vehicles would have to provide "added value for the price" while maintaining the performance and luxury...
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Tesla's 100th Supercharger Electric-Car Charging Site Now Open
The audacious plan by electric-car maker Tesla Motors to install its own network of free, high-speed charging stations for owners of Tesla cars is starting to pay off. This morning, it announced that its 100th Supercharger site is now open, in Hamilton Township, New Jersey--east of the state...
John Voelcker -
Three Years Later, Most Consumers Don't Understand The Chevy Volt
Chevrolet's range-extended electric vehicle, the Volt, has been on sale for more than three years now. Its sales of 58,000 units so far are still small compared to more conventional vehicles, but many people will have seen one on the road by now--and seen TV ads or information on the internet. Even...
Antony Ingram -
Nissan Leaf Likely To Offer Larger Battery For Longer Range
Every electric-car owner wants more range; it's practically an immutable law. Now Nissan executive Andy Palmer has come close to confirming that a longer-range Nissan Leaf is in the cards, though likely not until 2016 or even 2017. In an interview at last week's New York Auto Show with Palmer, who...
John Voelcker -
Electric 'Vintage Car' Proposed To Replace NYC Horse Carriages: New York Auto Show
Animal rights and electric cars don't usually intersect much, but a long-running New York City battle has produced one of the more unusual electric-car designs shown in public. At the New York Auto Show last week, a very large electric vehicle--effectively a larger-than-life electric scale model of...
John Voelcker -
New World Record In Canada: 431 Plug-In Electric Vehicles In One Place
It appears that a Québec electric-car group has set a new world record for plug-in electric cars gathered in one place. Yesterday, 431 battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars gathered in a long parking lot on the Île Sainte-Hélène, just south of the Jacques Cartier...
John Voelcker -
The Fiat 500e will soon be sold in a second U.S. state.
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Nissan EZ Charge Card To Let Leafs Recharge On Four Networks
One of the minor hassles of owning an electric car is the need to have multiple accounts, passes, and fobs to access multiple different public charging networks. Now Nissan is working to make public charging simpler, introducing a program called EZ Charge that lets Nissan Leaf electric-car drivers...
John Voelcker -
Where Do U.S. Electric Cars Save Money The Quickest?
Indiana drivers get the quickest returns on electric-car purchases, a new study says.
Stephen Edelstein -
Nine New Projects Announced For Clean Vehicles In National Parks
Nine U.S. national parks will deploy clean vehicles as part of an ongoing green initiative.
Stephen Edelstein -
Coda Sedan Electric-Car Rolling Bodies For Sale On eBay
The 2012 Coda Sedan electric car had a long, troubled gestation and a brief life before joining other failed automotive startups in the history books. But at least few hundred cars were built, all told, and now some of them are for sale as rolling "gliders," without their battery packs. If you...
John Voelcker -
Worst Thing About An Electric Car? Better Half Drives It More
Despite their myriad benefits, electric vehicles do still have their problems. Not everyone can live with the limited range of many vehicles on sale at the moment. They can be a little expensive, too. And getting 'ICEd' is a frustration drivers of regular vehicles simply don't experience. DON'T...
Antony Ingram