plug-in cars

While some lucky 2011 Nissan Leaf owners have had their cars now for nearly 8 months, most are in the magic six-month honeymoon period of owning their new electric hatchback. But what happens when you get to six months of ownership and it’s time for your first Nissan Leaf service? As...

Over the past month we’ve covered reviews of every major electric motorcycle available on the market today, including reviews of the 2011 Brammo Enertia, 2011 Zero S and 2011 Zero DS. Now it’s the turn of the Vectriz VX-1. Technically a scooter rather than a motorcycle, it is aimed at...

In the last nine months, we’ve seen over 10,000 plug-in cars sold in the U.S. alone, with Nissan taking the lion’s share of new plug-in car sales with its 2011/12 Nissan Leaf. Mass-produced electric cars still very much a niche market, so anyone buying one can be legitimately thought of...

Fisker Automotive may have sensed that the 20-mpg EPA rating on their 2012 Karma electric sport sedan was not good news. The company simply omitted the statistic from their press release announcing that the EPA had legally certified the Karma--meaning it can now be sold to retail buyers. Fisker...

Lately, we’ve seen a lot of new charging networks spring up around the world devoted to getting electric car owners the power they need to keep their cars charged up. But a U.K. based, government-backed charging infrastructure company has outraged electric car owners by suggesting that its...

When Apple unveiled its latest smartphone -- the iPhone 4s -- at the start of this month, eagle-eyed electric car fans will have noticed that a 2011 Nissan Leaf was used in the first ever commercial for Apple’s voice-activated Siri personal assistant. Standard on every new iPhone 4s, Siri...

It's been a long and painful year for Fisker Automotive, with deliveries of its 2012 Karma extended-range electric sport sedan repeatedly delayed from the original target of May. Now, with certification earlier this week from the Environmental Protection Agency that the car complies with emissions...

A couple of weeks ago, BMW invited me to come to Munich and take part in the first drive of production versions of the BMW ActiveE, their second battery electric test vehicle. A bit of background: I've been something of a high-profile MINI E pioneers, maintaining an active blog about my...

Volvo has just confirmed that its first ever plug-in hybrid electric car -- and the world’s first plug-in hybrid station wagon -- will go on sale in early 2012. But the Swedish automaker has reiterated that while Europeans will get the Diesel-electric through-the-road plug-in hybrid, there...

If you've not already got something planned this Sunday 16th October, why not make it to one of the 20 cities coast to coast that are hosting events for National Plug-In Day? In what is being described as the largest simultaneous grassroots electric car event in history, thousands of electric...

For some time now there’s been a battle raging between politicians, advocacy groups and the electric car industry over compulsory noise-makers in electric cars. Now the latest twist comes courtesy of Ford, which has announced that its 2012 Ford Focus Electric will initially ship without any...

Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix, normally rings to the sound of heavily tuned race-cars and squealing tires in almost continual gluttonous praise of gasoline, but yesterday it hosted a different type of motor sport event: the RAC Green Grand Prix. Sponsored by roadside assistance...

Amidst supposedly slow sales--actually limited mostly by low production--one benefit to automakers of offering electric cars has nothing to do with cars that plug in. Not only do electric cars attract radically different buyers to the brands that offer them, they also help sell conventional...

London's Heathrow Airport provides charging stations for electric car drivers. Accessing them, however, requires parking in the airport's most expensive lot.

We love our readers, because they often have eagle eyes far more acute than our own. Take, for instance, Neal Riley. Reading our article on the 2013 Chevrolet Spark launch, which included official confirmation of the news on the all-electric Spark EV model that we broke last night, he asked: If the...

Well, this one's not a big shock: Tesla Motors announced yesterday that its 2012 Model S electric sport sedan would use Panasonic lithium-ion cells in its battery pack. Panasonic is one of several companies that have invested in Tesla, and the two companies had announced in 2009 that they would...

GM [NYSE:GM] had hoped to announce its latest green vehicle tomorrow morning, at a nice, orderly, staged press event to celebrate Chevrolet's 100th birthday. But one of its hometown papers jumped the gun and broke the news: The largest domestic car company will launch a small battery electric...

[EDIT: Since publishing this story, it has come to our attention that this story is indeed about storage technology, not charging technology. We're investigating our sources to try and better understand the advancement made in Japan] The time it takes an electric car to fully recharge from empty...

If you read last week’s review of the 2012 Zero S, you’ll know that we’ve recently visited the headquarters of Zero Motorcycles in Scotts Valley, California. Five years ago, Zero started off as a firm producing electric motocross bikes that could compete on equal grounds in...

The town of Normal, Illinois is no stranger to electric cars. Home to one of Mitsubishi’s factories, the town became home to a 1,000 strong electric vehicle test fleet earlier this year. Then in July, town officials announced residents would get an additional purchase incentive worth an...