Two years ago, the UK government rolled out a £400 million ($633 million) plug-in car incentive package that included £37 million ($58 million) to build EV charging stations across the small island nation. By some standards, the incentives have proven a big success, with over 57,000 EV charging stations all across the UK… which was […]
Right now electric vehicles are suffering from a range problem. Sure, battery technology is improving every year, and most people don’t need anymore than 80 or 100 miles a day at most anyways. But what about those times you want to drive farther? Well unless you can afford a Tesla Model S, you’re outta luck…unless […]
Despite being home to a huge domestic auto industry that includes juggernauts like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen, Germany offers little in the way of incentives for plug-in car buyers. There are fewer than 5,000 public charging stations across the entire nation, which has hindered sales of cars like the BMW i3 and Volkswagen e-Golf. But […]
Despite CEO Sergio Marchionne’s protestations and complaints, the Fiat 500e has proven incredibly popular in the only two states where it’s sold, California and Oregon. But the launch of Fiat’s first electric car hasn’t been without its troubles, and according to Green Car Reports a bad code in the transmission control unit could cause the […]
Electric vehicles are quickly going from niche market to mainstream, and electrification isn’t merely affecting traditional passenger cars. Proterra envisions a world where massive passenger buses are powered solely by electricity, and their new Catalyst model has set records for efficiency, weight, acceleration, and gradeability. The most important mark here is of course efficiency, the […]
Over the past five years, the United States has developed a rather extensive electric vehicle charging infrastructure that includes tens of thousands of public and private charging stations, many for little or no cost. But not every country has been as proactive as the US in creating a viable charging network, with nations like Germany woefully […]
It is the very nature of a battery that, over time, the capacity to store electricity begins to degrade. After an electric vehicle battery has lost about 30% of its total capacity, it’s generally deemed unfit for continued use in a car and is replaced. But those batteries aren’t just scrapped and recycled for their […]
Elon Musk has cornered the market on EV charging with his fast and free Supercharger network, which can top off an 85 kWh Model S in about an hour. As fast as the Superchargers are though, there’s plenty of room for improvement, starting with the use of liquid-cooled cables, which aren’t just smaller and lighter, […]
GM has trotted a lot of information out to the public about the second-generation 2016 Chevy Volt, including a lower price and specifications on the upgraded Voltec drivetrain. But one tidbit we’re still missing out on are official EPA MPG and MPGe numbers. Some tweaks to the Volt’s official website could hint that those numbers […]
When Elon Musk set out to build an electric car company, he wanted it to be better than conventional cars in almost every single way. More than that, he wanted to build an American car using as many American parts as possible, and despite using Japanese-built battery cells, the Model S is still more “American […]
One of the most appealing parts of owning a Tesla Model S is access to numerous, fast and free Superchargers strategically placed across the country. But even with 265 miles of driving range and lots of Superchargers to plug into, there are still places that will put the anxiety in “range anxiety.” Like, say, the […]
Indianapolis is a left-leaning city in a right-leaning state with a Republican mayor that has showed some surprisingly liberal tendencies. Mayor Greg Ballard made a deal with California-based Vision Fleet to replace the city’s municipal fleet with plug-in vehicles. But after cops complained that their plug-in sedans weren’t up to snuff, increased scrutiny and an […]
Some of the biggest questions we have about GM’s 200-mile electric car, the Chevy Bolt, pertain to its drivetrain, battery, and other mechanical and electrical bits. But every bit as important as the technical bits is the aggressive look of the Chevy Bolt, which as we see in this video overview, was designed to increase […]
“There’s no Canada like French Canada…!” are the only lyrics I remember from South Park’s Canadian-themed take on the Wizard of Oz, and the first thing I thought of when reading that the Renault Twizy would soon go on sale in Canada. HybridCars reports that the Azra Network has been selected as the distributor of […]
Over in Europe the Nissan e-NV200 is proving popular with commercial buyers wanting a low-cost electric vehicle that takes advantage of rebates and tax breaks. Initially launched as a two-seat cargo van and five-passenger people hauler, the Nissan e-NV200 is expanding to offer seating for seven due to popular demand. Sales begin soon in the […]
Electric cars can boast that they have zero tailpipe emissions, which is absolutely true. But the electricity used to power EVs still has to come from somewhere, and at the moment in America, that “somewhere” is usually a dirty source of energy. So until all the world is powered by hydro, solar, and wind power, […]
In the next few months, a wave of off-lease Nissan LEAFs will wash over Nissan dealers from coast to coast. While that’s good news for those of us obsessed with electric vehicles looking for a good deal, Nissan would much prefer that those leaseholders opt to buy out their LEAF from the lease instead. In […]
For the suits in charge of Toyota, the only clear path forward for sustainable transportation are supposedly hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. That doesn’t mean the Japanese automaker is totally ignoring battery-electric vehicles, especially for short inner-city trips. The Toyota i-Road electric three-wheeler has already started testing in a carsharing service, and now four single-seat postal […]