plug-in cars

We liked the 2012 Mitsubishi i electric minicar we drove last week rather more than we expected. Its main handicap, even in city usage, is its low electric range. We didn't test the car to its limits, and indeed the range indicator may be slightly pessimistic (much safer than being optimistic...

If you drive a 2011-12 Nissan Leaf, you’ll know that keeping your car warm in winter can drop its range by as many as 30 miles, due to the inefficiency of the its coolant-to-air heater. Starting with the 2013 Leaf, Nissan has already promised a much more efficient heater that will better the...

After being flayed for not achieving its 2011 sales goal for the Chevy Volt, you might think General Motors would shy away from further volume predictions for its innovative range-extended electric car. Not so. CEO Dan Akerson said in late June that the company thought it would sell 35,000 to...

Well, that was quick. On Saturday, just eight days after a fire badly damaged a 2012 Fisker Karma, the company has completed its forensic investigation, announced the cause, and started a recall for the part in question. Fisker concluded that the fire was caused by an internal fault in a sealed...

It took a while, but we've finally had a chance to spend time with the smallest plug-in electric car sold in the U.S. The 2012 Mitsubishi i (also known as the i-MiEV) is a battery electric minicar roughly the size of a Mini Cooper. The little hatchback has four doors, four usable seats, and a lot...

We’ve said it many times before, building an auto company from scratch is extremely hard, and expensive. That’s probably why only two major plug-in car startups have made it to the point of building and selling cars globally: Tesla and Fisker. In order to continue, both firms are...

Despite a cautious rollout of its plug-in car program and low sales of its 2012 Ford Focus Electric, Ford has reiterated details of its investment in plug-in cars. According to Ford’s official release, it has now earmarked $135 million to double its battery testing facilities, triple plug-in...

The 2013 Nissan Leaf that will go on sale in January will be a slightly different car from the 2011 and 2012 models sold in the U.S. so far. We already know the electric car will offer leather seats and a 6.6-kilowatt charger as options, along with a more efficient heating system. Now a report from...

For roughly six months, Fisker Automotive has said it's sold "about 1,000" of its Karma range-extended electric luxury sedan, globally. Then, on July 31, we spotted a brand-new 2012 Karma at the Balboa Bay Club & Resort in Newport Beach, California--so new it still had dealer plates. Its...

The 2012 Tesla Model S is the most anticipated all-electric car of 2012, but it is also the most enigmatic. That’s because even though it launched back in late June, access to -- and time behind the wheel of -- the Model S has been strictly controlled by Tesla. Our own 1-hour test-drive...

Last year, GE and vertical axis wind turbine company Urban Green Energy announced the launch of the Sanya Skypump, a wind-powered charging station capable of recharging an electric car on wind energy alone. Almost a year later, the two firms have just announced the official unveiling of the first...

In order to be sold in the U.S., all passenger cars must pass a long list of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards Regulations, including advanced airbags and electric stability control. Sometimes, usually in the case of low-volume, low-emission cars, the FMVSSR may grant a temporary exemption to...

While Fisker's new CEO may be getting headlines today, the company continues to grapple with fallout from Friday's fire in a 2012 Fisker Karma. Over the weekend, Fisker had issued a statement saying it was investigating the incident. Yesterday, the company issued a further statement. In the...

Fourteen of the planned sixteen cities have been completed on the “Getting Amped Tour,”

As Canadians will proudly tell you, Canada is really big and really beautiful. Home to 10 percent of the world’s forests, covering more than 53.8 percent of its total surface area, Canada even uses a tree leaf -- the famous maple leaf -- on its flag. Now for one lucky Canadian, publicly...

Given the hurricane of bad publicity for the Chevrolet Volt last year over a battery-pack fire (in a crash-testing vehicle, a week after it was wrecked), any fire at all in a plug-in car is one too many. So the occurrence of a second fire among only 1,000 Fisker Karma range-extended electric luxury...

EDITOR'S UPDATE: Four days after this article went live, Green Car Reports was contacted by Morpace, the company that conducted the study. Their representative informed us that all study panelists did in fact sign a confidentiality agreement, and therefore did not have the right to share any...

The 2012 Fiat 500 minicar started out as one model: a three-door hatchback. That was followed by a cabriolet (500C) with a roll-back cloth roof, and then the turbocharged 500 Abarth sporty model. Next up in the lineup may be the electric Fiat 500, which Car and Driver says will be dubbed the 500E...

In the world of plug-in cars, making an affordable car with a range equal to that of a conventional gasoline car is something of a Holy Grail. According to General Motors CEO Dan Akerson talking at a GM employee meeting last night, that dream could become reality in the next two to four years...

This morning, Mitsubishi North America announced an official recall of certain 2012 Mitsubishi i electric cars after it became apparent that there may be an incompatibility between the air bag sensors and the car’s on-board diagnostics system. According to the official recall notice posted on...