plug-in cars
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Back in July, we told you about Frenchman Rafael de Mestre, and his Verne-inspired attempt to travel around the world in just 80 days in his all-electric Tesla Roadster. Using some clever social media, and a few video cameras to boot, de Mestre has live blogged his trip in detail, giving us the highs and lows of a global expedition in a super-sexy sports car. On Sunday, however, just 600 miles short of the finish line, de Mestre’s attempt to beat fellow Frenchmen Xavier Degon and Antonin Guy’s own electric car circumnavigation of the world came to an abrupt halt. While passing...
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2013 Chevrolet Volt: The Ideal Retirement Car?
Imagine the following scenario: you and your partner are rapidly approaching retirement, looking to downsize your car, and trying to plan for your financial future. You’re ready to buy a new car, but you want something that’s relatively green and cheap to run. Could the 2013 Chevrolet...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Nissan Leaf Joins Drivers’ Ed, Passes No-Gas Student
Do you remember learning to drive? The chances are, like us, you learned to drive in a gasoline car, even if you drive an electric car today. Last month however, Norwegian Solveig Marie Ødegård became the first person in the world to learn to drive and pass her test in an all-electric...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Portland, Dallas Have Most Electric Car Charging Stations Per Head
Ask most Americans to name the cities with the most public charging stations for electric cars per head of population, and they’ll likely mention Los Angeles and perhaps San Francisco. According to PlugShare (via good.is), however, Portland, Oregon and Dallas, Texas top the list. PlugShare...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Landlords Vs Tenants With Electric Cars: Study Proposes Solutions
If you live in an apartment or condo, you’ll know that gaining permission to charge an electric car in your shared parking lot isn’t always that easy. Often, miscommunication, legal worries and plain old ignorance come into play, preventing plug-in owners from charging their car, but...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Five Official Nissan Leaf Accessories You Can’t Buy In The U.S.
As with many other cars sold around the world, there are small differences between the 2012 Nissan Leaf sold in the U.S. and the 2012 Nissan Leaf found in other countries. While Leaf owners in other countries may end up paying more for their cars, they often get more features included as standard...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Just over a year ago, we told you about a call for entrants to formally apply to take part in a potential all-electric race car series called Formula E. Yesterday, the Federation Internatonale de l’Automobile confirmed the race series would go ahead, with the inaugural race season now scheduled to start in 2014. According to the official press release, the FIA has agreed to license the commercial rights of the FIA Formula E championship to a consortium of international investors making up Formula E Holdings Ltd. Like Formula 1, the races will take place in multiple countries over the...
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Keeping An Eye On Your Electric Car? You’re Not The Only One
If you drive an electric car, the chances are you’ve experienced at some point the fear that your car will run out of charge before you reach your destination, otherwise known as range anxiety. But what about the fear that the battery pack in your new electric car will suffer rapid...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2013 Chevy Volt Production To Halt For 4 Weeks From Mid-September
Yesterday, Automotive News (subscription required) reported the news that the Detroit Hamtramck facility, where the 2013 Chevrolet Volt is made, is to pause production of the plug-in hybrid for four weeks. The second time General Motors has temporarily halted production of the plug-in car, the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2013 Nissan Leaf Electric Car To Use New, Cheaper Battery Cells: UPDATED
As it enters its third model year, the Nissan Leaf electric car is expected to get a number of updates and improvements for 2013. Now, it appears one of them is a change in the lithium-ion cells used in its battery pack. A new report on Japan's Daily Yomiuri Online news site says that the 2013...
John Voelcker -
2013 Nissan Leaf Edges Closer To Production In Smyrna, TN
Later this year, Nissan will start producing the 2013 all-electric Leaf at its Smyrna facility in Tennessee. The first time the car has been made outside of Japan, the 2013 models will be made alongside some of Nissan’s other popular cars, including the 2013 Pathfinder, Altima, Maxima, Rogue...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Pennsylvania Parking Lot Opens For Green Cars, Carpoolers Only
If you drive a plug-in electric or hybrid car, you may have encountered the reserved ‘green car only’ parking spaces that some towns, cities and businesses put in parking lots to reward you for choosing a green car. We’ve even heard of parking garages where owners of plug-in cars...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
The current Audi A4, the German luxury brand's best-selling car in the U.S., has been with us since the 2009 model year. When it's replaced for the 2014 model year, the model line will include not only a sedan and a wagon but also a pair of hybrids--one that plugs in--and a brand-new Quattro all-wheel drive system that uses an electric motor to power the rear wheels. The details come courtesy of Britain's CAR magazine and its longtime German industry insider, George Kacher. First, the A4 Hybrid will use a powertrain derived from the VW Group hybrid system using a 226-hp, 2.0-liter...
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Fox Anchor Hates Volt, Loves Infiniti LE, Claims It Was His Idea
If you’re a regular here at GreenCarReports, you’ll already be familiar with a Mr. Neil Cavuto, presenter and Senior Vice President of Business News at Fox. He is, in his own words, a vocal electric car skeptic. But something unusual happened during a recent segment on Fox: the 53-year...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
5 Places You Wouldn’t Expect To Find An Electric Car Charging Station
As all-electric and plug-in hybrid cars become more popular, we’ve noticed an increase in the number of public charging stations being installed in grocery store lots, shopping malls and corporate parking garages. Locations like these are undoubtedly the most common places you’ll find a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Forget Smart Cards: This Electric Car Charging Station Is Coin-Operated
Ask any electric car owner to tell you about public charging stations, and they’ll likely show you the wallet full of smart cards and RFID tags. That’s because most electric car charging stations, with a few exceptions, only give access to pre-registered members. But what if you could...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
When Do Electric Cars Really Charge? All At The Same Time
If you’re not an electric car driver, the chances are that how and when electric cars recharge is one of the lesser mysteries of the universe. After all, if every electric car in town charged at the same time, wouldn’t it bring down the electrical grid? The answer, at least for now, is...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Leafhacking Battery Mod Gives Extra Range, But At What Cost?
Like early-adopters of any new technology, the first owners of electric cars like the 2012 Nissan Leaf and 2012 Chevrolet Volt have already proven that they like to hack their plug-in cars to improve features, charging times and even performance. The latest leafhack, from plug-in hybrid battery...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
As most electric car fans will tell you, it’s much easier for automakers to build an all-electric car from scratch than it is to repurpose an existing gasoline model with an electric drivetrain. In the case of Toyota’s RAV4EV however, the Japanese automaker, with help from Californian luxury electric car company Tesla Motors, has turned its RAV4 crossover SUV into a limited-run all-electric model. While Tesla handled the all-electric drivetrain, Toyota’s team tackled making the car go further, by reducing the drag coefficient of the popular SUV from 0.31 to 0.30. The lower...
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Fisker Karma: No. 2 Best Selling 4-Door Luxury Car In Netherlands, But...
After a week involving fires, financial woes and recalls, it looks like things may be looking up for Fisker Automotive: its 2012 Karma plug-in hybrid is the second best-selling 4-door luxury car in the Netherlands. As PlugInCars reports, Fisker’s founder Henrik Fisker is ecstatic. “How...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Which Members Of Congress Drive Plug-In Electric Vehicles?
Last week, President Barack Obama signed into law a bill that would allow the installation of electric-car charging stations in U.S. Capitol parking garages. That got us to wondering, how many U.S. Senators and Representatives actually drive plug-in cars? With the help of Juan Barnett, aka...
John Voelcker -
2013 Chevy Volt, OnStar, Is Smart-Grid Ready: The Utilities Aren’t
Imagine a future where plug-in cars not only know when the cheapest time to charge is, but also work in concert with utility companies to recharge when it is greenest or when grid power demand is the lowest. For years, automakers, charging station manufacturers, utility companies and even the U.S...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Electric-Car Charging In The Heart Of New York: How Easy?
Our recent test of a 2012 Mitsubishi 'i' electric minicar was actually the first time we've tested a pure battery electric car in New York City. While the relatively short distances covered in NYC would seem well suited to plug-in cars, there's the big issue of recharging. With most residents not...
John Voelcker -
Fisker Surf, Sunset On Back Burner; Atlantic Is Top Priority
With a cause swiftly identified for a recent fire, 1,000 sales out of about 2,000 cars built , and promising European volume, Fisker has come through some rough water lately. Now, the company can focus on its next cars: the Surf shooting brake and Sunset retractable hardtop coupe derivatives of its...
John Voelcker