plug-in cars
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If you listen to the ad executives trying to sell the 2011 Chevrolet Volt there’s one big problem with electric cars: they don’t go as far on a charge as a gas car can on a tank of fuel. While it’s true that electric cars like the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Coda Sedan may provide more than enough range per charge for the majority of users we do get asked time and time again what happens when you need to go further? We’ve covered fast charging here, along with a car which can go a massive 375 miles on a single charge. Continued use of fast charging can reduce battery...
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Will Auto X-Prize $2.5m Build Electric Cars, Or Pay Lawyers?
What do you do when a major publication publishes an expose on the firm you’d crowned winners of a competition you’d been running, asking if the winner was even eligible to take part? That’s the problem facing the team behind the Progressive Automotive X-Prize after an article in...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
What Is EVSE And Why Does Your Electric Car Charger Need It?
There was a time when an electric car could be plugged into just about any electrical outlet its owner could find. With a little bit of ingenuity and forward planning, any electric car could plug-in just about anywhere. We’ve heard stories of National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA)...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Racer Or Commuter? Just What IS The 2011 Tesla Roadster Sport 2.5?
If you regularly read AllCarsElectric you’ll know that last weekend we were lucky enough to borrow a Lightning Green example of Tesla’s latest incarnation to the already-famous electric two-seater. But while most commentators view the 2011 Tesla Roadster Sport 2.5 as little more than a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Don't Blink In Disbelief As BP Offers Electric Car Refilling
What does British Petroleum, one of the most-hated corporate villains in the past twenty years do to become a little more loved by environmentalists? Allow a network of electric car charging stations to be installed at its filling stations. But while there are more than 11,000 BP owned gas stations...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
110 Days Into Epic Road-Trip, Electric Car Still Going Strong
Remember the team of fresh-faced engineering students from London’s Imperial College Of Engineering who decided to embark on an almost impossible trek along the World’s longest road in an electric car best suited to the race-track? Back in June our John Voelcker met the team and...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
We’ve already seen first-hand how the 2011 Nissan Leaf’s navigation system can predict just how far it will be able to travel before it needs a recharge, and even find you a nearby charger. But while parts of the navigation system and energy consumption software are proprietary to Nissan and smartphone-ready applications for the Leaf are available on devices powered by the major software platforms, the heart of the Nissan Leaf’s operating system is powered by Microsoft’s Windows Embedded Automotive 7. Keeping It Quiet We’ve driven the Leaf several times, and...
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What Consumers Should Know About Electric Car Crash Tests
Yesterday, we heard the tragic story that a U.K. owner of a Reva G-Wiz, the tiny neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV) sold in Europe as a quadricycle, was killed when her all-electric runabout hit a garden wall. The 47-year-old woman was thrown clear of the diminutive G-Wiz as it split in two just...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Ready For Your Electric Car? Don’t Forget The Smart Phone
If you’ve got one of the many new electric cars due to launch this year on order you’re probably as excited about going electric as our own Marty Padgett, who is one of the many patiently waiting for a 2011 Nissan Leaf. You’ve already talked with your dealer and perhaps even had a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
The 2011 Tesla Roadster 2.5 What Do YOU Want To Know?
We’ve already covered the updated 2011 Tesla Roadster 2.5 upgrade on AllCarsElectric and although our John Voelcker has given the 2010 Roadster a 7.4 out of 10 over at TheCarConnection, we’ve yet to put the 2011 Roadster 2.5 through its paces. Updated with a new grille, some performance...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Your Ultimate Guide To Electric Car Charging Etiquette
The end of 2010 is fast approaching and that means in a few short months we’ll see the launch of several different plug-in vehicles. But as the 2011 Nissan Leaf, 2011 Coda Sedan, 2011 Chevrolet Volt, 2011 Wheego Whip LiFE and others hit the roads of the U.S., hundreds of new electric car and...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Best Buy Joins Electric Car Infrastructure, Installs Charging Points
As any gadget geek will tell you, the electronics retailer Best Buy is a great place to get everything from the latest windscreen televisions and kitchen appliances through to electric bicycles and even in select stores, the 2011 Brammo Enertia. We already know how switched onto electric cars Best...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
When the proverbial waste-product hit the fan yesterday with the revelation that GM could possibly have “lied to us” about just how its 2011 Chevy Volt operated we sat back and waited for the dust to settle. After all, the tabloid reporting of some sites didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already suspect. The Chevrolet Volt uses a planetary gearbox between the car’s motor, wheels and generator. As a consequence, in Power or Mountain mode, the generator can provide supplemental mechanical assistance to move the Volt along. But instead of analysis of what the Volt...
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Four Ways To Combate Long-Distance Electric Car Range Anxiety
Range Anxiety, or the fear that an electric car will run out of charge before it reaches its destination, has to be the ultimate boogeyman of the electric car world. It stems from the fact that most electric cars on the market today have a range per-charge much smaller than the 200-500 miles...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Enterprise To Add 100 2011 Coda Sedans To Its Electric Car Fleet
Electric cars and the rental market seem made for one another. While you’re not easily going to be able to make huge long-distance family trips in an electric rental car, all electric rental cars are ideal for visitors to larger cities throughout the U.S., be they on holiday or stop-over...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2011 Chevrolet Volt: Electric Drive Impressions
In one light, it was nothing more than a drive in a new car on a sunny autumn afternoon. But in another, it meant taking the wheel of the most radical new car since the 1997 Toyota Prius—perhaps more significant yet—and driving it on public roads for the first time. After almost four...
John Voelcker -
AllCarsElectric Launches E-mail Subscription And Improved RSS
We know you love checking out the latest news on green cars, especially the very best in electric car news, reviews and buying advice. But we also know you’re busy. Sometimes it’s nice when the news comes to you, not vice versa. Many of our readers have asked us to improve the way we...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Going On Two Wheels? Your Introduction To The 2011 Brammo Motorcycle Range
As major automakers and electric specialists battle it out to become the number one electric vehicle maker, a small Oregonian company is slowly sneaking into the lead in the world of electric motorcycles. Featured in The Wall Street Journal Blogs this weekend, Brammo motorcycles likes to think of...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Renting a car is one of the most common ways of driving a model you’re not familiar with. Now, as electric cars start to make their way into dealerships, they will be showing up in rental fleets as well. Hertz, the nation’s largest rental brand, announced last week that it would add hundreds of 2011 Nissan Leafs and Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid test vehicles to selected Hertz locations, as well as certain of its Connect by Hertz short-term rental service sites. The company displayed one of each car at a Manhattan press event last week, held in conjunction with the annual meeting of...
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2011 Nissan Leaf Won't Depreciate As Quickly As Critics Had Feared
Remember the June rantings of British motoring journalist Mike Rutherford, who warned in his column for the Telegraph that cars like the 2011 Nissan Leaf would retain just 10% of its original value three years after purchase? While Rutherford ‘s original article was based on figured provided...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
GM Electric Meriva Van Tests Vehicle-to-Grid Charging in Germany
Last summer, Karl Stracke, the vice president of global vehicle engineering of General Motors, said the company planned to test three battery-electric vehicles in different global regions. This morning, the company's Opel unit announced that it would test a fleet of Opel Meriva small minivans...
John Voelcker -
California Approves $1.9 Million Upgrade To Electric Car Chargers
It’s tough being at the cutting edge of technology. Just like the early days of the video cassette or more recently, the high-definition DVD wars a technology becomes obsolete before its even had chance to take off. So what happens when over 600 EV chargers in the state of California are...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Will the 2011 Wheego LiFe Be the First Electric Car On Sale?
Sometimes we avoid covering certain cars, for good reasons or not. One of those cars is the 2011 Wheego LiFe, a derivative of the 2009 Wheego Whip. Never heard of it? Not surprising. Wheego Electric Cars is a startup electric-car company, in this case selling an electric conversion of a...
John Voelcker -
Mercedes-Benz Reporter: Plug-In Hybrid Pickup Truck Concept
If you're all about saving gasoline--or "displacing petroleum," as energy wonks say--then the place to start may not be passenger cars. It may be commercial vehicles. From electric trucks in urban delivery fleets to more efficient hybrid-electric powertrains, there's a lot of innovation happening...
John Voelcker