plug-in cars

This week has been a pretty good one for Californian automaker Tesla: it has shipped its first two production 2012 Model S sedans, announced a 45-day tour, and even sold out of its 2013 Model S Signature Edition sedans. But in Massachusetts, the luxury car maker faces an uphill struggle to open a...

It may be hard to imagine, but the Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car is about to enter its third model year. The new 2013 Chevrolet Volt will offer a slightly higher all-electric range, up from 35 to 38 miles. Its base price of $39,995 will not change. Next year's Volt will also receive a...

This morning we told you about Tesla investor Steve Jurvetson, who, alongside Tesla CEO Elon Musk, became the first two official owners of a 2012 Tesla Model S. Up to this point, Tesla has been particularly guarded about giving test-drives of its all-electric sedan, with the only experiences to...

It's quite the morning for electric-car news today, but we didn't want to let one from yesterday slip by either. After a lumpy start to sales of the Chevrolet Volt, it appears that California dealers now can't keep the range-extended electric car in stock. According to an analysis of registration...

Deliveries of the 2012 Tesla Model S electric sedan will officially begin on June 22. But the very first production Model S off the line has already been handed over to its new owner. It went to none other than venture capitalist and Tesla board member Steve Jurvetson, who is now driving it around...

It may have reportedly canceled its two smallest plug-in car projects, but Audi is hardly abandoning electric cars. Three months ago, the German luxury and sports brand said it would bring a limited test fleet of battery-electric Audi A3 hatchbacks to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C...

The low sales of the Nissan Leaf electric car have been much discussed in the media--just as those of the Chevy Volt were until it began to log respectable sales numbers over the last few months. Nissan is now completing its switch from centralized online reservations for the car to treating it...

Most brand-new auto technologies are, at best, a breakeven proposition in their early years. Toyota is thought to have lost money on every Prius hybrid it sold for several years, until its sales rose enough to gain economies of scale. Makers of plug-in electric cars may be losing money on each one...

At the moment, plug-in electric car sales are chugging along between 3,000 and 4,000 a month. So with the upcoming 2012 Tesla Model S added to the mix, it seems likely that 30,000 to 50,000 electrics will be sold in the U.S. this year--more than double last year's sales. But lately, the auto press...

Hope springs eternal, as Alexander Pope notably said, and so it is in the world of plug-in hybrid vehicles. A new British partnership has unveiled two drivable prototypes of a lightweight plug-in electric urban delivery van with a small diesel range extender. The two companies, Intelligent Energy...

The May sales figures for plug-in electric cars continued steady, with the Chevrolet Volt leading the pack at 1,680 deliveries--15 percent up on the April figure of 1,462, but below its all-time March high of 2,289. The Nissan Leaf logged sales of just 510 units in May, barely starting a recovery...

You’ve decided to take the plunge and buy an all-electric or plug-in car, and you want to use it as your daily driver to and from work. Although your car gets a full recharge every night, you’d like to convince your boss to let you plug in at work, or perhaps even have a dedicated...

After the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011, Japanese automakers Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi have all been working on technology designed to let electric cars provide emergency backup power. So far, we’ve seen a range of applications for backup electric car...

Less than 30 days hence, the first 2012 Tesla Model S sedans will be delivered to paying customers. Now, one Model S buyer who holds a low reservation number for the all-electric luxury car is using it as a lure to sell a million-dollar home in an upscale Illinois suburb. Not only has the home...

Three weeks ago, we listed five upcoming electric cars that we felt were strictly "compliance cars"--or vehicles carmakers offer not because they want to, but because they must do so to comply with California zero-emission vehicle rules. Now Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has admitted that his...

New York or San Francisco? Bagels or Sourdough? East or West? If you’re from the east or west coasts of the U.S., you’ll know that there’s a (mainly) friendly rivalry between the two when it comes to culture, food, sports and even politics. Now we can add electric cars to the...

We might be immersed in a digital revolution, but when it comes to sending important messages there are times when only an old-fashioned letter will do. Now a new stamp from the U.S. Postal Service has been released that aims to send an extra message with your mail: to check your tire pressures...

There's lot of discussion about how the value of electric cars will hold up over time, depending on how long their expensive lithium-ion battery packs last and how quickly they may lose capacity. But now the folks who estimate used-car prices for a living, the NADA Guide, have weighed in with their...

Over the last few years, we’ve seen an increase in the amount of driver-friendly technology being added to cars to make them easier to use. Normally, that includes things like iPod connectivity, satellite navigation and bluetooth hands free, but the 2013 Nissan Altima -- along with all of...

Over the weekend we heard the disturbing news that a BYD e6 electric taxi in Shenzhen China had burst into flames and killed three of its occupants after being hit by a speeding drunk driver. According to eyewitness reports, the BYD e6 taxi, one of around 400 e6 electric taxis being used in the...