plug-in cars

The same day Consumer Reports released its devastating review of the 2012 Fisker Karma, the makers of the range-extended electric luxury sedan put out their own press release. Covering the $106,000 car's fuel economy, it reported on the real-world gas mileage achieved by a group of more than 30...

It’s been six days since results of an independent test were published showing that Nissan Leaf electric cars in hot climates were suffering from premature range loss, and four days since Nissan responded, saying the high mileage of affected cars was to blame. Since then, we’ve been...

Thanks to an increasing number of public charging stations, finding a place to recharge your electric car or plug-in hybrid is easier than ever before. With recharging of a fully empty car like a 2012 Nissan Leaf taking up to 8 hours at a public level 2 charging station however, how should access...

The price of Tesla Motors shares fell 10 percent yesterday, closing at $27.66--down $3 from the previous day's ending price--due to a reduced revenue forecast. As described in a statement filed with the SEC, Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] says it will have sold only 2,700 to 3,225 cars by the end of the...

The well-respected Consumer Reports doesn't pull any punches, and its review of the 2012 Fisker Karma range-extended electric luxury sedan is no exception. The magazine all but savaged the car, calling it "full of flaws" and deeming its touchscreen controls an "ergonomic disaster." The verdict may...

Last October, at the official launch of the 2012 Tesla Model S, we told you about Tesla’s plans to build a network of “Superchargers”: fast-charging stations that could add up to 150 miles of range to a Model S in 30 minutes. Yesterday, Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] launched its...

We've been subjected to a spate of dire headlines today covering Toyota's statement that it's killing plans for its eQ two-seat urban electric-car program. Reuters reported, "Toyota drops plans for widespread sales of electric car," which is at least an accurate headline. Some seem to take a "sky...

Earlier this year, when the EPA confirmed new Corporate Average Fuel Economy gas mileage standards of 54.5 mpg by 2025, we told you that it would equate to greener, cleaner cars which cost less to fuel and pollute less. But according to veteran automotive executive Bob Lutz, the new gas mileage...

Ask most people about Chrysler's plug-in hybrid prototype program, and you'll get something like, "Huh? Chrysler has plug-in hybrids?" In fact, the company does: 23 minivans and 109 pickup trucks on the roads for almost a year now, all prototypes to test the technology. Today, the company announced...

It all began with a late-night tweet two weeks ago by Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk. In it, he announced that Tesla would unveil its much-discussed Supercharger network of dedicated quick-charging stations--usable only by 2012 Tesla Model S drivers--on September 24. Well, today's the day. And this...

It's been a few months now since reports of losses in battery capacity in Nissan Leaf electric cars began to filter out of Arizona. Owners have complained to Nissan's Consumer Affairs group and written hundreds of posts on owner forums. In July, Nissan Americas took seven different Leafs in for a...

Finding an electric-car charging station gets easier every day. More than 10,000 public and private electric-car charging stations have now been installed in the U.S., or one for roughly every five plug-in cars on the road today. But not every single one of those stations is going to stay with us...

With the Chevrolet Volt racking up the highest sales last month since it launched--though the numbers were helped by incentives for both buyers and dealers--some of the "Volt is a flop" coverage has abated. Now, a post on the fan site GM-Volt.com points out that this so-called "sales failure" has...

Over the past year, we’ve seen quite a bit of Nissan’s e-NV200, an all-electric minivan, and its taxi-based variant. A cross between the gasoline NV2000, a minivan produced by Nissan in Europe and Japan to rival the Ford Transit, and the 2012 Nissan Leaf, we first heard about the...

Over the past few years, we’ve seen lots of innovative ways designed to help electric car owners travel beyond the range of a single charge without waiting for hours to refuel. For example, owners of the 2012 Nissan Leaf and 2012 Mitsubishi i can recharge their car’s battery pack to 80...

Just how do you keep occupants of an electric car warm? That’s the question that automakers have been tackling for many years, as they bring mass-produced plug-in cars to market. Now BMW thinks it has the solution to keeping occupants warm in the middle of winter: infrared heating. The use of...

Home to automakers like Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive, California has been at the heart of every launch of every major plug-in car to go on sale to date. That’s because of the state’s generous incentives and support of plug-in cars, combined with tough air quality legislation...

If you live in a busy city and don’t use a car on a daily basis, making use of a car-sharing service like ZipCar is certainly one of the greener ways to get behind the wheel of a car when you need to. It’s no surprise then, that ZipCar’s fleet already includes some of the greenest...

Have Nissan Leafs in hot states suffered premature battery aging, or is the apparent loss in capacity down to a malfunction in the Leaf’s dashboard display? That’s been the question on the lips of Nissan Leaf owners worldwide after some owners in Phoenix, Arizona, began reporting that...

What are you doing this Sunday? If you're an electric-car advocate or fan, you probably already know that Sunday is the second annual National Plug-In Day. And if you're considering the purchase of a plug-in electric car--or just interested in learning more--you should definitely make a note to...