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New York City is proud of its six upcoming Nissan Leaf cabs, but more than a hundred years ago an all-electric fleet of taxis served the city using technology that even today would still be considered cutting edge. More »
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Starting in Spring 2012, six Nissan Leaf electric cars will begin service as regular cabs in New York City, bringing all-electric driving to the busy metered masses of Manhattan. It's part of a test program to see how all-electric vehicles fare as taxis with further electrification of the New York City taxi fleet to follow. More »
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crashed a Chevrolet Volt back in May, the car's lithium-ion battery burst into flames in June, and the agency acknowledged the fire to the public and launched a safety investigation in late November. Why the six-month time-lapse? More »
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Are you sitting down? Honda's got a novel concept. The Honda EV-STER is electric, but, wait for it...rear-wheel drive. Hmm, where have we seen a RWD, two-seat electric roadster before? Oh, right, Tesla. But this one's different; it's a Honda, which means it's only a concept. More »
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Most automakers want to design a smart city car for the world that isn't the lame Smart car. The Q-Concept tandem two-seater EV is Suzuki's attempt. Please ignore that it looks like a rolling contraceptive device built for two. More »
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With news of more Chevy Volt battery packs catching fire after NHTSA crash testing, General Motors yesterday made an unprecedented damage-controlling offer: Any Volt owner concerned about safety can request a free GM vehicle loan until the issue's resolved. Yes, any car. Even a Corvette. More »
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Oh c'mon. We're not even done with all the stuff at the LA auto show, and Infiniti's teasing something it's revealing in Geneva next year? How about letting us digest this year's corporate shrimp before moving on to 2012? How inconsiderate! More »
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"Designed as a luxury city car, build for race track," says Zagreb's newest car company in broken English. The 240 HP Doking XD will allegedly transport three human beings to 62 MPH in 4.2 seconds, all while sitting McLaren F1-style. More »
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Making assumptions about a person by the car they drive or whom they vote for is, no doubt, mostly bullshit. And yet, stereotypes exist for a reason. While it would be funnier if the people in this video swapped places, it is what it is. More »
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For several years, DeLorean Motor Company of Texas has been reconstituting the fruit of John Z.'s troubled loins (phrasing!). Now it's working with electric-car startup Epic EV to put an all-electric DMC-12 into production by 2013. You know what that means: Onboard power for the Mr. Fusion. More »
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Electric drag racing has advanced far enough for battery-powered vehicles to put serious times on the boards, but it's been much rarer to hear what one sounds like on a dyno. This one, being built for a record run, is twisting 2,000 ft-lb of torque at its wheels. More »
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Many people equate electric vehicles with glorified golf carts, and I've long considered it a professional duty to prove them wrong. It's rather addicting, especially when it means driving something like the Yokohama HER-02 EV Sports Concept. Holy hell, this little rocket goes like the devil. More »
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With federal aid for green-tech startups under assault in Washington, Tesla Motors took to the webs last week touting how its $465 million federal loan had helped create hundreds of jobs — but it didn't reveal that it's now asking for more government money. They also won't reveal why they want it or how much they're asking for. More »
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Bob Lutz, former GM vice-chairman, may be back at GM as a "senior advisor", but it's not stopping him from working on other projects. We've just learned, via Jeff Gilbert, auto reporter for WWJ AM and CBS Radio, that "Maximum" Bob has joined Via Motors, an electric car company. More »
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Michael and Kenny Ham want to protect the world from zombies, expensive electric cars, and a reliance on oil. Their solution? The ApocalypsEV, a solar-powered dune buggy that's also the cheapest car in America. Here's their plan — Ed. More »
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Rimac Automobili, the Croatian car builder that brought us the blisteringly fast electric BMW E30, is planning to show their first electric vehicle concept to the world at this week's Frankfurt Motor Show. According to the manufacturer their all electric supercar will produce 1088 horsepower and 2800 ft/lbs of immediately available torque. More »
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In the sales slap fight between the all-electric Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid, the Leaf has the Volt by the wrists and asking why it keeps hitting itself. Chevy's response: Wait 'til next month. More »
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A Radical race car powered by a Toyota all-electric powertrain just broke the Nürburgring electric-car lap record of 59 hours (kidding, 9 minutes 1.338 secs), lapping the Nordschleife in 7 minutes 47.794 seconds. That's about the same as the BMW M3 GTS. More »
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Toyota and Ford may be working on hybrids, but now General Motors and LG Group will jointly design and engineer future electric vehicles, expanding a relationship built on LG's work as the battery cell supplier for the Chevrolet Volt and Opel Ampera extended-range EVs. More »
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Because European automakers see a world where their cars may be regulated to extinction by the European Union, they're trying everything to find suitable alternatives. Audi's next answer: this two-seat Messerschmitt-like revival due for a Frankfurt unveil in September. More »
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Here is something you will not hear come out of a black person's mouth: "That 2012 Toyota Prius? I need that." I hate to generalize but think about it, when was the last time you heard any one of your black friends hype up a Prius, a Nissan Leaf or any other environmentally-safe automobile? You haven't. More »
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The Nissan Leaf electric car's advertised purpose is protecting the environment. But with an advertised range of 100 miles-per-charge and a propensity for running out of juice early and with little warning, the company's solution in Japan involves chucking that "save the earth" nonsense out the window in favor of a big ol' diesel-engined five-ton truck. More »
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It sounded like a million-dollar idea: import cheap cars from Eastern Europe, convert them to electric power, and sell them in the US for $40,000 a pop. Now, someone is stuck with 46 engineless Dacia Logans. Bummer, or bummertunity? More »
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Imagine a Land Rover Defender that can roll up on a herd of antelopes without giving itself away, at least in the internal combustion sense. That's what we have here: an all-electric Landie concept created in South Africa. More »
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Tesla Motors, hailed by all as the savior of the planet, has been selling the all-electric Roadster model since 2008. Three-and-a-half years later, the automaker reports it has sold "more than 1500" of the electric-powered two-seaters. More »
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With Stéphane Callet at the helm, the sexy electric Peugeot EX1 concept completed a lap on the 'Ring in a record (for an electric car) time of 9:01.338, roughly as fast as a Chevy Cobalt SS Turbo. More »
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The Toronto-based Steam Whistle Brewery's electrified a 1958 Chevrolet Apache pickup to use in the delivery of their beer to Vancouver. Full over on Wired. Now I'm thirsty. More »
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Back in the early 20th century, heavy trucks (like this five-ton beer wagon) often used electric power to transport heavy cargo. So the Bremach T. Rex EV has a few antecedents. Slow, lumbering antecedents. Or get it with a Chevy V8. More »
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For the ultimate in avoiding high pump prices, you can go electric, however new battery-powered cars from Tesla and Fisker are pretty costly. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe electric 914's price proves that needn't be the case, but is it still shocking? More »
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The second of BMW's first two electric "i" vehicles (the hatchy one, not the sporty one) was caught on video during cold-weather testing in Sweden, where it's sustaining usage cycles that could punch out an ice road trucker. More »
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The Audi etron is Ingolstadt's answer to the hum-drum electric appliance, matching radical performance with a sexy R8-inspired body. Audi says the etron will be on sale in the U.S. early 2013. Time to invest in anti-static boxers. More »
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Back off, early adopters, the all-electric Boxster E is just part of Porsche's ongoing R&D work, and one subject of a German government-supported program. It's the first of three such prototypes to go into field testing in Stuttgart this year. More »
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Chevy may have sold just 321 Volts in January, but that's three times the 87 Leafs Nissan delivered in the same month. If any of those 87 people live east of the Mississippi, they're probably not driving them today. More »
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Vice President Joe Biden went to Indiana today to hawk President Barack Obama's plan for spooling up electric vehicles, including instant $7,500 rebates on EVs. Nobody told him electricity is already a cheaper source of energy than oil. More »
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After picking up a Hertz Chevy Volt, we found the Big Apple's electric-car infrastructure is still woefully inadequate, and rife with confused parking-lot attendants. Thankfully, the Volt's got a backup engine. With the Nissan Leaf we'd have been screwed. More »
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New startup Getaround recently launched a peer-to-peer marketplace that allows users to rent others cars from their iPhone. Their latest initiative? Members can now try out the $108,000 Tesla Roadster for just $25 an hour. (H/t Ethan!) [good.is] More »
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Nissan's doing damage control after stirring up 20,000 pre-orders for the all-electric Leaf then delivering only 19 in December, saying it should have lowered early sales expectations. Maybe just a fist bump from the polar bear next time. [PlugInCars] More »
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Just revealed today at CES, the Focus Electric is Ford's first fuel-free, rechargeable passenger car. More importantly, it will supposedly offer a mile-per-gallon equivalent fuel economy that's better than the Chevrolet Volt and competitive with other battery electric vehicles. How? More »
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Imagine pulling into a parking space that charges your EV wirelessly, while you go and pop a pill for dinner. The eCoupled induction charger for electric cars is one car-related doo-dad showing at CES this week. The future's now, apparently. More »
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The Ford Focus Electric will debut at this year's Consumer Electronics Show and a teaser photo of it posted on the company's Facebook page shows off a Tron-style glowing outlet orb. The Focus Electric goes on sale next year. More »
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