Jalopnik: Electric Vehicles

You Are Not Alone. America Hates Electric Cars [Updated]

Joel Johnson — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EST

Electric cars are terrible. They just are. They're a solution for a problem we don't have. Or rather, they're a solution for a problem we aren't about to change: our sprawling, big-ass cities filled with things we can't afford to buy yet must haul around. (Like kids.) More »

How Fisker got $500 million in government loans for a fuel economy flop

Justin Hyde — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EDT

When Fisker Automotive won heaps of praise from Vice President Joe Biden and a $529 million loan from the U.S. government, officials touted the Karma luxury sedan as getting up to 100 miles a gallon, going 50 miles on a full battery charge and offering "supercar" performance. None of those targets were met — but Fisker's moving ahead, your tax dollars in hand. More »

Audi's two-seat, Messerschmitt-like electric car caught testing in Berlin

Justin Hyde — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:30:00 EDT

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 »

New York's finest turn a Chevy Volt into a cop car

Justin Hyde — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EDT

The next time you forget to feed a meter or misunderestimate opposite-side parking in New York City, your ticket could come from this: the first police Chevrolet Volt in the country. More »

Should Ford's electric Focus sound like a starship's toilet?

Justin Hyde — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:30:00 EDT

Ford says it wants to give the electric version of the 2012 Focus a unique sound, and has posted four possible choices to the intertubes — from faux internal combustion to what could be a toilet flushing on the starship Enterprise. More »

Electric race cars quietly crash

Justin Hyde — Tue, 24 May 2011 15:00:00 EDT

The first Grand Prix Electrique held in France last weekend featured 11 all-electric race cars gently buzzing around the Pau track — until six of them wrecked in one corner. Even when crunching into each other, EVs are quieter. More »

Feds want Cash-for-Clunkers-style electric car rebates

Justin Hyde — Thu, 19 May 2011 10:45:00 EDT

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he hopes Congress will make the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit a Cash-for-Clunkers type rebate — which might require having your car dealer plow into your tax returns. More »

Top Gear caught pushing a dead Nissan Leaf

Justin Hyde — Thu, 12 May 2011 15:30:00 EDT

Top Gear caught pushing a dead Nissan Leaf" alt="Click here to read Top Gear caught pushing a dead Nissan Leaf" src="http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/images/12/2011/05/small_mayleaf2.jpg"/>

Undeterred by Tesla's publicity campaign-via-lawsuit over its last experience with electric vehicles, Top Gear has another EV segment in the works for this season, with footage of Jeremy Clarkson and James May pushing a discharged Nissan Leaf in the can. More »

Nissan electric car stranding owners

Justin Hyde — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:15:00 EST

Now that electric-powered Nissan Leafs have been driven by the first owners for several weeks, Nissan's claimed 100-mile range is being tested in reality. The result? Reports of Leafs running out of juice and stranding drivers with little warning. More »

BYD takes a year to sell 450 electric, hybrid cars.

Justin Hyde — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 10:00:00 EST

BYD, the Chinese automaker with a much-hyped investment from Warren Buffett, sold just 33 e6 all-electric cars and 417 F6DM plug-in hybrids last year. Maybe the revolution is a five-year plan. (Thanks goatrope!) More »

Tesla Offers Inside Look At Model S Sedan

Justin Hyde — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 08:30:00 EST

The fine folks over at Wired.com's Autopia took a tour of Tesla recently, including a close-up of the chassis of the Model S sedan. Now Tesla's posted three videos featuring the chief engineer touting the benefits of Tesla's ingenuity. More »

Chevy Auctioning First Volt For Charity

Justin Hyde — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:30:00 EST

The first Chevy Volts for paying customers arrived today, but GM held back job one for its museum, and will auction Volt #2 to benefit education in Detroit schools. GM's also hiring 1,000 engineers for EV work. [Freep] More »

Honda Plans Electric Fit For 2012

Justin Hyde — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:20:00 EST

Honda showed off a new Fit that only travels 100 miles, tops out at 90 mph and will likely be slower than the current version when it goes on sale in 2012. Also, it's electric powered, so there's that. More »

"Revenge of the Electric Car" Coming Soon... As They Get 10,000 Fans

Ray Wert — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 11:00:00 EST

Want to see the trailer for "Revenge of the Electric Car" and see if Jalopnik's interview made it to the big screen? You'll have to follow them on Facebook. More »

Electric Vehicle Hits Bicyclist

Ray Wert — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 13:00:00 EST

A solar electric motorcycle caused some carbon-free carnage in Vancouver after hitting a bicyclist during a race. [Vancouver Sun] More »

GE To Buy 25K Electric Vehicles From GM, Rivals By 2015

Ray Wert — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 11:15:00 EST

GE... we bring ~~good things~~ electric vehicle sales to life! [AutoNews] More »

Zero South:The Biodiesel Electric-Tracked Hummer

Justin Hyde — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 16:00:00 EDT

Meet the Zero South PHE-PTV, a biodiesel-powered, series-electric Hummer with tracks designed for a South Pole expedition set for next year, which will apparently be filmed by the director of the Who Killed/Revived The Electric Car movies. More »

Nathan Fillion Tries Out An Electric Car Salute

Justin Hyde — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 14:00:00 EDT

Actor Nathan Fillion's ardent evangelism for the Arcimoto Pulse, an electric three-wheeler, includes charming potential customers. Unfortunately for them, Arcimoto has pushed back its previous target of selling vehicles this year, and hasn't set a new one. More »

Yes, Electric Car Owners Can Be Assholes Too

Chuck Squatriglia, Wired Autopia — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 20:30:00 EDT

Wired's Chuck Squatriglia has been writing about life with the i-MiEV, Mitsubishi's pill-shaped electric car. Here he finds that the snubs from other electric vehicle drivers cut deepest. — Ed. More »

Dan Neil on Bill Maher: Electric Cars, Bailouts and Teabagging

Justin Hyde — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:45:00 EDT

Pulitzer Prize-winning auto writer Dan Neil took to HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher to talk up electric cars and the GM/Chrysler bailout, but really stepped up when radio talk show host Dana Loesch debated the proper usage of "teabagger." More »

Vince Vaughn's "Electric Cars Are Gay" Line Cut From Unfunny Trailer

Justin Hyde — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:00:00 EDT

Producers of The Dilemma cut Vince Vaughn's line "Electric cars are gay" from its trailer last week after an outcry that Jalopnik pal Brett Berk explains today. It's not EV-unfriendly: Elon Musk galpal Talulah Riley also stars. [Vanity Fair] More »

This Electric Car Can't Charge Here

Ben Wojdyla — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:00:00 EDT

The Coda Sedan's an EV which charges using the standardized J1772 connector, ie, it plugs in like a fancy toaster. Unfortunately this promo-image implies it's charging via Magnacharge inductive charging station, like a GM EV1. Only it can't. Oops. [AllCarsElectric] More »

Chevy Volt MPV5 Electric Concept: A Five-Seat Orlan-Volt

Ben Wojdyla — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:00:00 EDT

With GM dumping ever-more cash into the Chevy Volt's hybrid system, you knew it'd seep into other products. Like this — the Chevy Volt MPV5 Electric Concept. It's a shrunken Orlando with Volt styling. In short, it's a Volt-U-Van. Eeew. More »

The Electric FedEx Truck Coming Soon To A Door Near You

Ben Wojdyla — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EDT

FedEx is aggressively investigating alternative propulsion for its worldwide fleet and this vehicle might just be the most interesting: an honest-to-goodness all-electric delivery truck with a 100-mile range and cool look. More »

Gordon Murray Announces T.27 Before T.25 Even Built

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:45:00 EST

Gordon Murray's busy hiding the T.25 City Car from view, but he's unveiled plans for his next project, the T.27. It'll supposedly be the most efficient all-electric vehicle in the world with aims at ditching everything we think about EV's. More »

Arcimoto Pulse EV For Geeks In The Northwest

Ben Wojdyla — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:45:00 EDT

EV startup Arcimoto has just unveiled their Pulse three-wheeled, tandem two-passenger electric car. It runs on lead-acid batteries charging on 110V in 6-8 hours and delivers a range of 50-100 miles. The extra helping of enviro-nerdiness comes standard. More »

Tesla Model S Coming March 26, But Where's The DOE Funding?

Matt Hardigree — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:30:00 EST

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk sent an announcement-filled email to customers today, including a March 26th date for the Tesla Model S reveal, a profitability promise, new stores and a curious statement about government funding. More »

Senate Finance Committee Proposes Boosting Plug-In Tax Credits

Ray Wert — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:30:00 EST

Senate Finance Committee markup of President Obama's stimulus package added a proposal modifying the plug-in electric car credit by doubling automaker vehicle limitations, upping the max credit to $15,000 and cutting low-speed vehicle credits. [GreenCarCongress] More »

BMW Loans NYC Ten Mini E Electric Cars

Ben Wojdyla — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:00:00 EST

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced the city's received a loan of 10 MINI E electric cars following news of the elimination of 700 cars from the city's municipal fleet. More »

Marussia: Russia's First Electric Supercar

Ben Wojdyla — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST

Russia's built themselves an electric supercar. Seriously. We might even be willing to be caught alive in this modular Russian beauty. Look out Tesla and Fisker, because in mother Russia, borscht may beat you. More »

2010 Dodge EV

The Auto Insider — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:00:00 EST

Chrysler shocked us in September with an electric program appearing from nowhere. The centerpiece was the Dodge EV — a plug-in electric sportscar. Sources tell us the little electric's been caught testing around Detroit sporting some fascia changes. We've asked KORSdesign to provide us with a gallery of illustrations of what the Lotus-derived EV looks like with out the camouflage below the jump. More »

US Army To Lease 4,000 Electric Vehicles, Swap Slogan For "An Army Of Nerds"

Ben Wojdyla — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:00:00 EST

The United States Army is going to trade in its Humvees and Jeeps for E-Z-Go golf carts and Native American Biofuels electric trucks in an effort to save money and improve the army's average fuel efficiency. More »

Electric Mini Spotted Again Without Camouflage

Andrew Stoy — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:45:00 EDT

We've reported on the planned electric Mini before. Now one has cropped up uncamouflaged, wearing only "HYBRID: Erprobungsfahrzeug" stickers, which obviously means "no exhaust pipe." Or something like that. You can see the lower rear valance has a blanking cover over the cutout that would normally frame chromed exhaust tips, indicating there's no noxious output to contend with. Supposedly 500 of these electric Minis are going to be offered to California residents, and this tester is further evidence that the project is still in full swing — unlike certain other electric vehicle ventures we can think of. [WCF] More »

Vote For The Best GEM Peapod Photochop Entries

Ben Wojdyla — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:20:00 EDT

Once again our readers enthusiastically answer the call, this time to chop and rework the GEM Peapod. The resulting 42 entries range from cute and cuddly Peapods to nightmare fuel Peapods — and everything in between. Browse through the entries and pick your favorite based on skill (or amusing lack thereof), clever use of the Peapod and plain old amusement factor. We're not going to sway the judging, but there are definitely some standouts. Anyway, good luck, and may the best photoshoppers win. More »

Chrysler Unveils Dodge EV, A Tesla-Like All-Electric Sports Car

Ray Wert — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:10:00 EDT

Today on CNBC, Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli revealed a Tesla-like all-electric performance sports car called the Dodge ev along with three other vehicles operating either partially or entirely on an electric powertrain. The four vehicles are Chrysler's ENVI electric car program, and include an extended-electric Chrysler minivan, a new "gated community" electric called "the peapod" and a Jeep Wrangler four-door. The ev, the first of the four unveiled, not only operates entirely on plug-in power like the Tesla Roadster and appears to have similar performance numbers, also has some striking visual similarities with the Tesla. And why shouldn't it? While the Tesla's built on the Lotus Elise, the Dodge ev appears to be based on the Lotus Europa. We'll have more shortly as soon as Chrysler actually, you know, releases some information on this, but for the moment what we know is below the jump. More »

Xtreme Motorsports Announces Electric Sand Car, Interest Ridiculously High

Ben Wojdyla — Tue, 06 May 2008 09:20:00 EDT

Sand cars are one of those really fun, but incredibly impractical corners of the automotive world we don't manage to get around to very often. Apparently Xtreme Motorsports out in California has decided to jump on the green bandwagon and has announced the availability of an all electric version of their popular car. Built around the same Li-Ion batteries and a beefy electric motor good for 663 lb.ft. of torque, the car should be quite a screamer as the company is quoting 0-70 MPH times around 5 seconds and a range of 200 miles. More »

Porsche Goes Green, Builds EVs In 1899, Hybrids In 1901

Ben Wojdyla — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:15:00 EDT

At the tender age of 25, well before his work with the Auto Union Type C, Ferdinand Porsche entered the 1900 Paris World Exhibition with his all-electric car after developing the key systems for Jacob Lohner & Company. It was heralded as the "most innovative invention" of the show and consequently orders were filled for 300 of the cars. With 1800 lbs of lead-acid batteries, it's quite amazing the cars would routinely achieve a staggering for the time top speed of 31 mph. Since the motors were an in-wheel system, there was really no problem to include a second set in the back for the purposes of racing. More »

Mustang or Cobra, Now Available In All-Electric Forms

Ben Wojdyla — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:30:00 EDT

There's something distinctly bizarre about the idea of an all-electric Ford Mustang, even more so with a battery powered ~~Shelby~~ Cobra. Isn't part of the allure the throaty grumble of the exhaust, the fire and noise and fury of acceleration? Where's the passion when you simply press the go pedal in these HST International modified sports cars and you're fired from a silent slingshot to 60 MPH in only 3.9 seconds for the Stang, and 3.2 seconds for the Cobra. Sure that's damn fast, and you can get a 100 miles on an 8 hour charge at 120V, or a three hour charge at 220V, but still, we'd prefer to keep our E-cars separate from our muscle cars. Unless of course we roll like Fisker and just play that tune from the loud speakers. [MotorAuthority] More »