plug-in cars

How expensive are electric car battery packs? It’s a topic of much discussion among electric car fans, and a closely guarded secret within the auto industry, but now an industry analyst has suggested that improved technology and economies of scale has lowed electric car battery pack costs to...

Despite unveiling what it says will be a revolutionary new vehicle battery last week, Massachusetts-based firm A123 Systems is fighting skepticism that it will become the “next Solyndra,” the California solar company that went bankrupt in August 2011 after receiving a $550 million loan...

One of the most frequent criticisms we hear of electric and plug-in hybrid cars is that they’re just too expensive. Take the 2012 Nissan Leaf, for example. Before government and state incentives, a base-level Leaf SV will set you back $35,200. Live in the right area however, and incentives...

Electric-car sales are actually doing better than sales of hybrid-electric vehicles were at the same stage of their launch, though you'd never know it from much of the media. But the prevalent "electric-car-sales-are-disastrous" meme has caused carmakers to couch their predictions much more...

When we first heard that French automaker Renault was producing a tiny, two-seat electric car with a top speed of 52mph called the Twizy, we have to admit to laughing. A lot. But after driving a production Renault Twizy in Ibiza earlier this year, our impression of the plucky go-kart changed. Could...

A few weeks ago while borrowing a 2012 Ford Focus Electric, Forbes writer Todd Woody experienced what he described as Electric Car Road Rage: fear and anger associated with unsuccessfully trying to charge an electric car. It happened while he was at a cafe in downtown Berkeley, California, when the...

Sometimes online news sites can build complete stories--almost entirely hypothetical--around a single factoid. This is one of those stories. The factoid is that General Motors registered its intent to use the name Electra on a product in the category of "Motor land vehicles, namely, automobiles...

Unlike other carmakers--including BMW with its ActiveE program--Audi has chosen to use only in-house drivers to test the fleet of electric A3 e-tron prototypes it has brought to the U.S. So we're pleased to be among the few media outlets to drive an Audi A3 e-tron, one of just 17 such cars in North...

It’s all very well reading about the electric exploits of hill-climbing all-electric race cars and the 0-60 times of purpose-built electric drag cars, but sometimes there’s no substitute for experiencing the joy of electric motorsport first hand. In a little over two weeks, that’s...

If children are the future, then how do we get them driving clean, green electric cars? It’s a question we’ve thought a lot about, but Toyota thinks it has come up with a solution, with a new three-seat electric concept car that your kids can drive. As Automotive News (subscription...

For the U.K. automotive industry, the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed is a not-to-miss annual event, culminating in its world-famous hillclimb event. Last year, we saw Nissan’s Leaf Nismo RC all-electric race car tackle the iconic 1.16-mile course, but this year we’ll see...

If you’re looking to buy an electric car, you’re probably familiar with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Fuel Economy website, which lists the gas mileage of every car on sale today along with the miles per gallon equivalent rating for every plug-in car. Unfortunately, the...

Since buying my Better Place Renault Fluence ZE in Israel, I'm frequently asked about the price. I bought the car because I liked the way it drove and thought it would save me money. I had been looking for a new car, but had no intention of buying a green model as such. I was quickly satisfied that...

Just how do you advertise a plug-in car like the 2012 Chevrolet Volt? In the two years since advertising for General Motors’ first plug-in hybrid started, GM has tried a whole bunch of different tactics. Sadly, to date, very few have been successful, focusing on why you should want a Chevy...

Industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation, whose automotive business makes superchargers and many other parts, also supplies electric-car charging stations. Under a recent Federal contract, Eaton will provide those charging stations to various Federal locations--and the company is also working to...

Mitsubishi’s tiny egg-shaped electric car known as the 2012 Mitsubishi i is currently the cheapest electric car you can buy in the U.S. Starting at $29,125 before incentives, the 2012 Mitsubishi i features seating for four adults, a 16 kilowatt-hour battery pack, and an EPA-approved range of...

Talk to any electric car owner, and it’s likely they’ll tell you how little money they spend on running their plug-in car. For them, the switch to electric pays dividends in saved gas bills, but in Japan, a new scheme by Nissan takes it one step further, allowing electric car drivers to...

It's been a rough year for lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems, but the Massachusetts company is forging ahead. This morning, it introduced a new battery technology it calls Nanophosphate EXT, which A123 says can operate at extreme temperatures without requiring the degree of heating or cooling...

To help make electric cars more palatable for long-distance driving, the 2012 Nissan Leaf SL and 2012 Mitsubishi i can be rapid-charged from empty to 80 percent full in around 30 minutes using specially-designed Chademo rapid charge stations. For those using them, rapid charge stations provide a...

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