plug-in cars
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This started out as a feel-good article about another great experience I had with Tesla's extraordinary service program. But it morphed into a detective story that apparently solves the mystery of why my 60-kWh 2013 Tesla Model S still suffered a significant "vampire" power drain, even after downloading new software that was supposed to tame the beast. Almost from the beginning, the Model S has consumed a significant amount of power when turned off and parked. Last winter, shortly after purchasing my Model S, I measured this "vampire" draw at about 4.5 kWh per day--enough juice to drive about...
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Can Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Vehicles Compete With Electric Cars?
Suddenly, hydrogen fuel-cell cars are back in the news. Headlines have proclaimed a coming battle between plug-in electric cars and the new shining hope, hydrogen-powered vehicles. Three automakers--Honda, Hyundai, and Toyota--will offer fuel-cell cars to consumers by the end of 2015, albeit in...
John Voelcker -
Plug-in Electric Car Sales In Canada, Nov 2013: Volt Soars, Tesla Tumbles?
GM sold an excellent 133 Chevrolet Volts in November, more than doubling October's 62 sales, and bringing monthly sales into triple figures for the second time this year, behind June's 153 deliveries. While we'll have to wait for vehicle registration data, the Volt may have made up more than half...
Matthew Klippenstein -
Electric-Car Charging: 15 Hours In Jail For 5 Cents Of Power
"Opportunity charging" can have serious consequences, as one Atlanta-area Nissan Leaf driver found out recently.
Stephen Edelstein -
UPDATE: Tesla Wins Vs Ohio Car Dealers, Amendment Defeated
Once more into the fray: Another state's car dealers are pushing for legislation to ban Tesla Motors from selling its electric cars directly to buyers. This time it's Ohio. And legislators have unexpectedly moved up a hearing on the new law to today, according to a letter from Tesla Motors...
Antony Ingram -
2015 Volkswagen e-Golf Electric Car: Los Angeles Auto Show Video
Walking through the Volkswagen stand at the Los Angeles Auto Show, you would have seen quite a few 2015 Volkswagen Golf models. But a blue one over in the corner was more special than it may have looked: It was the 2015 Volkswagen e-Golf, the battery-electric version of the all-new seventh...
John Voelcker -
Consider this your last warning: If you're planning on getting a charging station for a plug-in electric car, you only have 30 days. More specifically, at least, you'll have to get it up and running by December 31 this year in order to take advantage of a Federal income-tax credit of 30 percent of the cost of purchase and installation. The credit covers 30 percent of the cost of purchase and installation, up to a maximum of $1,000, for installing an electric-car changing station in a private home. (You'll want to use Form 8911 when you file your taxes early next year.) The tax credit was...
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Via Electric Pickup Outdoes Solar Roofs With Solar Tonneau Cover
Via Motors will offer what could be the ultimate accessory for its extended-range electric truck: a solar bed cover.
Stephen Edelstein -
Nissan Leaf Likely To Get 'Hot Weather' Battery In Next Year
Nissan is readying a new lithium-ion chemistry for its Leaf electric car, aimed at better range performance in hot-weather climates. And it's likely bound for all Leaf models in the first half of next year. Last week at the Tokyo Motor Show, Andy Palmer, Nissan's executive vice president and global...
Bengt Halvorson -
Tesla's Elon Musk Expects NHTSA To Clear Model S In Fires
It's been a bumpy few months for electric car maker, Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA]. While enjoying the highs of high customer satisfaction and continued praise for the Model S electric sedan, the company has also endured high scrutiny for a trio of accident-related fires in its vehicles. CEO Elon Musk...
Antony Ingram -
Life With Tesla Model S: Even After Update, Vampire Draw Remains
The Tesla Model S, for all its technical and design artistry, has a dirty little secret: the car has a substantial appetite for kilowatt-hours even when turned off and parked. Since the Model S was introduced in 2012, this "vampire" power drain from the cars sold so far has consumed roughly 15...
David Noland -
Electric Cars: Drivers Love 'Em, Want 'Em--But Butts In Seats Is the Challenge
It's pretty clear that many car buyers are very interested in electric cars, and that they love them when they drive them. Electric cars have a handful of natural advantages that offset their higher purchase cost: They cost far less per mile than gasoline cars, and they're simply nicer to drive...
John Voelcker -
The Nissan e-NV200 electric van will go on sale in Japan in mid-2014.
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2015 Volkswagen E-Golf Electric Car Preview And Live Photos: 2013 L.A. Auto Show
This morning, we got all the details on the new Volkswagen e-Golf electric car, ahead of its debut next week at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The E-Golf is a battery-electric version of the all-new seventh-generation VW Golf, which will go on sale in the U.S. next spring as a 2015 model. The electric...
John Voelcker -
Many Consumers Still Unaware Of Electric Car Incentives
Many regular readers will be aware of all the federal and local financial incentives and other benefits associated with running a plug-in car. You're in a tiny minority though, according to a new survey--which suggests 95 percent of the population is completely unaware of electric vehicle...
Antony Ingram -
Does George Clooney Really Hate Tesla Electric Cars?
There it was, on the always-factual pages of the New York Post: George Clooney hates Teslas. On Monday, the tabloid published an article focusing on Clooney's comment at the very end of a recent Esquire interview that he'd been "on the side of the road a while" in his Tesla Roadster. Clooney owned...
John Voelcker -
Battery Lessor For Electric Renault Zoe Can Halt Recharging Remotely
Digital Rights Management, or DRM, is either the scourge of the digital age or a necessary evil to ensure people who create content get paid for it--depending on who you believe. It's essentially a collection of technologies that determines how you can use digital content or technology after you've...
Antony Ingram -
Plug-in Electric Car Sales in Canada, Oct 2013: Tesla-Volt Rivalry Continues
The Chevrolet Volt and Tesla Model S have jockeyed for the Canadian sales crown since the latter's arrival in Canada. October marked the 20th consecutive month that either the Chevy Volt or the Tesla Model S was the top-selling Canadian plug-in electric vehicle. In the 10 months for which we have...
Matthew Klippenstein -
Unless your name is Brinks, you rarely hear the words "armor" and "car" mentioned in the same sentence. But two recent widely-publicized fires in the Tesla Model S electric car have put the spotlight on how its battery pack is protected from severe impacts underneath the car. MORE: Tesla Fires: What We Know, And What We Need To Find Out Both fires were caused by high-speed collisions with road debris, which apparently struck the underside of the cars, where the battery is located under the floorpan. (A third fire in Mexico came after such a violent collision that a gasoline car may well have...
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2014 Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive: Teaser Video Emerges From Company
The Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive is expected to hit U.S. showrooms in Spring 2014.
Stephen Edelstein -
2015 Kia Soul EV: Target Range Of 120 Miles, More Details
The 2015 Kia Soul EV will be the first all-electric car sold by Kia outside of Korea.
Stephen Edelstein -
Grading Canada's Progress In Plug-In Electric Cars So Far
Modern electric cars went on sale three years ago, and now we're starting to see assessments of their progress from a variety of perspectives. Last year, WWF Canada (the panda people, not the professional wrestlers) set a goal of having 600,000 electric vehicles on Canadian roads by 2020 – or...
Matthew Klippenstein -
Tesla Fires: What We Know, And What We Need To Find Out
There have now been three separate fires among roughly 20,000 Tesla Model S electric luxury sedans on the world's highways. The most recent one, two days ago, seems to have set off a fresh round of Internet fulmination--combined with much opining on what the news would do to the falling stock price...
John Voelcker -
Will Quebec Join California, Oregon As Electric-Car Pioneers?
Today, California buys the largest number of plug-in electric cars by far of any North American state or province. But the many civic benefits of electric cars--from zero emissions to greater energy efficiency--are inspiring other locales to step up to the plate. Last Friday, the government of...
Matthew Klippenstein