Range-Extended Electric Vehicle

It's probably not much fun being Tony Posawatz, the latest CEO of Fisker Automotive, these days. Consider the list of challenges he faces: Fisker appears to have built only 2,000--perhaps 3,000--of its Karma range-extended electric luxury sedan, not the 15,000 it projected for its first year The...

Investing in startup companies is a risky way to make money. And if the startups are carmakers, it may be even riskier yet--as the Illinois Student Assistance Commission found out recently. The state agency managing the College Illinois prepaid tuition program had invested $10 million in the stock...

In April, Tom LaSorda--then CEO of Fisker Automotive--said the company was raising additional capital. Today, Fisker announced that it had closed a new round of financing, with more than $100 million coming into the company's coffers. It will use the money, it says, for "continued product...

The same day Consumer Reports released its devastating review of the 2012 Fisker Karma, the makers of the range-extended electric luxury sedan put out their own press release. Covering the $106,000 car's fuel economy, it reported on the real-world gas mileage achieved by a group of more than 30...

The well-respected Consumer Reports doesn't pull any punches, and its review of the 2012 Fisker Karma range-extended electric luxury sedan is no exception. The magazine all but savaged the car, calling it "full of flaws" and deeming its touchscreen controls an "ergonomic disaster." The verdict may...

Hybrids have been popular gas-sipping choices for several years, but it's taken until this year for momentum to really gather behind plug-in hybrids. Using mostly familiar hybrid technology, but with larger batteries that can be charged separately as well as during driving, many consider plug-in...

There's no question that the Chevy Volt has been through more than its share of travails. But with last month's Volt sales at an all-time high--though it's not clear they will continue at that rate--things have been looking up for the Volt. Now Ryan Turner, a Volt owner and regular reader of this...

Last month, more Chevrolet Volts were sold than in any month since the range-extended electric car went on sale in December 2010. The total of 2,831 handily surpassed the 2,289 sold in March, the previous best-selling month for the Volt. But Chevy may not be able to keep up that pace indefinitely...

At the start of each month we report sales figures on each electric car currently on sale in the U.S. Over the last few years, the highest electric sales have been a two-horse race between the 2012 Nissan Leaf and 2012 Chevrolet Volt. And for several months now, the Volt has been leading. That...

While the Wankel rotary engine, Mazda’s power plant of choice for many years, has a fantastic power to weight ratio, it isn’t exactly what you’d call a green engine. As a consequence, since the Mazda RX-8 ended its production in June this year, you won’t find a rotary engine...

With a cause swiftly identified for a recent fire, 1,000 sales out of about 2,000 cars built , and promising European volume, Fisker has come through some rough water lately. Now, the company can focus on its next cars: the Surf shooting brake and Sunset retractable hardtop coupe derivatives of its...

Well, that was quick. On Saturday, just eight days after a fire badly damaged a 2012 Fisker Karma, the company has completed its forensic investigation, announced the cause, and started a recall for the part in question. Fisker concluded that the fire was caused by an internal fault in a sealed...

Infiniti's Emerg-E range-extended supercar has been seen at so many events now it's hard to believe that it's only now making its first appearance in North America. On display at the 62nd annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, a celebration of all things automotive, Infiniti will be hoping the...

For roughly six months, Fisker Automotive has said it's sold "about 1,000" of its Karma range-extended electric luxury sedan, globally. Then, on July 31, we spotted a brand-new 2012 Karma at the Balboa Bay Club & Resort in Newport Beach, California--so new it still had dealer plates. Its...

As far as we know, not a single auto journalist has yet driven the upcoming plug-in hybrid Energi models of the 2013 Ford C-Max and 2013 Ford Fusion. But an interesting and illuminating post on HybridCars.com offers more details about those cars' electric capabilities than we'd seen to date. It led...

In an unexpected announcement, struggling startup electric-car maker Fisker Automotive this morning named Tony Posawatz its new CEO and President. He replaces Tom LaSorda, himself appointed CEO only in late February. LaSorda will leave the company but remain available as an advisor. Posawatz spent...

Given the hurricane of bad publicity for the Chevrolet Volt last year over a battery-pack fire (in a crash-testing vehicle, a week after it was wrecked), any fire at all in a plug-in car is one too many. So the occurrence of a second fire among only 1,000 Fisker Karma range-extended electric luxury...

Last week, an article on this site asked, "How Far Can The 2012 Chevrolet Volt Travel on Electricity Alone?" As a Volt owner, I felt duty-bound to answer that question, and to take up the challenge of beating the 60-mile figure claimed by the driver of an Opel Ampera, the European version of the...

After a rough period last year, the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car has settled down and is now the best-selling plug-in car in the U.S. General Motors is continuing a program, launched a year ago, that makes Volts available for loan both to interested buyers and members of the...

Better Place is now rapidly ramping up the first full deployment of its electric-car service and battery swapping network in Israel, but the company has ambitious plans in other countries as well. In Israel, it's illegal for electric-car users to plug their cars into just any old wall socket. They...