plug-in cars

Yesterday Dallas-based electric vehicle firm Green Automotive Company announced it was sending two of its all-electric Zotye electric SUVs to be tested for compliance with Federal Motor Safety Standards at independent engineering firm Roush Industries. But while GAC’s website promises it is...

There’s nothing sales executives love more than seeing sales figures indicating that the latest product is attracting new buyers to their brand, so we’re sure Chevrolet board members must be pretty happy right now. Why? According to data collected from buyers of its 2011 Chevrolet Volt...

With Chevrolet on track to complete its rollout of the 2011 Volt range-extended electric car to all 50 states by the end of this year, the carmaker is turning its sites to other countries. And it's starting next door in one of the two closest foreign countries to the U.S., one right on our border...

What is the basic purpose of the new electric cars? For most of us, it is as a city or local commuting vehicle. The basic commuting "appliance" might be optimized to: 1. cost as little as possible to acquire; 2. have decent functional range for the typical commute or errand, e.g. 50 miles?; and 3...

What’s the best way to ensure that your electric vehicle technology gets adopted by as many consumers as possible? Take it to China, of course. That’s exactly what electric car infrastructure firm Better Place has done, with the announcement that it has signed a strategic agreement with...

Atlanta-based Wheego Electric Cars Inc may have just delivered its first all-electric two-seat LiFe, but it is also fighting for its life. Talking candidly to Lindsay Chappell from Automotive News, Wheego CEO Mike McQuary painted a bleak picture of the firm and its future. “My constraint is...

It is apparently quite possible that the local utility company that provides the power to charge your new electric vehicle may not have "all its ducks in a row" when it comes to charging you properly for that electricity. I recently bought both a 2011 Nissan Leaf and a 2011 Chevy Volt, and well...

How fast can an electric car get around the iconic Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany? Until recently, the fastest official time for an electric car stood at 9 minutes and 52 seconds. Recorded last year in a BMW Mini E racing car, it was the first time an all-electric car had completed the course...

Here’s a question. Would you put your kids in branded clothes for a $109,000 sports car? If you answered yes, then we think that’s the answer Silicon-Valley electric car firm Tesla Motors is hoping for after it has quietly launched a new line of clothing aimed specifically at those way...

As those who purchased Betamax when everyone else was choosing VHS will tell you, being at the cutting edge of technology is sometimes very, very expensive. The latest victims of “early-adopter light-wallet syndrome” aren’t buying a new video collection though: they’re...

As our sister site GreenCarReports covered last week, the online pre-ordering process is now live for the 2012 Mitsubishi ‘i’, with the car due to hit the roads of California in January 2012. The 2012 Mitsubishi ‘i’ is now the third all-electric car from a major automaker to...

A study conducted by the energy research and advisory firm E Source has revealed that as much as 85 percent of consumers could be ready to buy plug-in electric cars, provided the conditions were right. The data for the report was collected from the Nielsen Energy Survey, which asked 3,200 energy...

In the world of electric cars, launch delays seem to be the rule rather than the exception, but one particular automaker seems even more susceptible to changing schedules than any other. A year ago California-based Coda Automotive was upbeat, promising its $44,900 electric sedan would be on the...

You wouldn’t know it, but until recently Chrysler was responsible for one of the most recognizable electric vehicle brands worldwide. But like the embarrassing cousin at the family reunion, Chrysler’s ownership of low-speed Neighborhood Electric Vehicle manufacturers Global Electric...

Spend much time looking into electric cars online and you’ll come across the old chestnut that suggests that battery electric and plug-in hybrid cars just aren’t as safe as their gasoline-engined counterparts. But the two best-selling mainstream electric cars of the year have just put...

In just under a week, electric vehicle owners in Los Angeles will be find that owning an electric car will have got a lot easier. As part of a program recently announced by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, residents of the city will be able to fast-track applications to install electric...

Late last week a couple in Atlanta, Georgia became the first owners of the latest battery electric car to hit the roads, the 2011 Wheego LiFe. Handed over to commemorate Earth Day 2011, the small electric car which bears a passing resemblance to the 2011 Smart ForTwo electric drive is the first...

Driving the 2011 Chevrolet Volt leads all sorts of people to ask you questions: passers-by, the guy at the parking garage...and sometimes, even museums. A few weeks ago, we had a Chevy Volt for review. At the time, we were asked by the Forward Thinking Museum in Manhattan not only to show its staff...

We all know electric cars like the 2011 Nissan Leaf were designed to satisfy the daily driving needs of 90% of the population. For most cars, that translates to a life in or near a large metropolis, where daily commutes are between 10 and 40 miles. But with rapid charging capable of fast-charging...

Over the past year we’ve seen the 2011 Nissan Leaf win plenty of awards, including the accolade of European Car of The Year and even GreenCarReports’ Best Car to Buy 2011. But while its main competitor, the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, may have more awards to its name than Nissan’s first...