EVs
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Following on from its Escooter electric two-wheeler concept at last year’s Paris Auto Show, Smart has rolled out a new open-top ‘speedster’ based on the brand’s Fortwo Electric Drive minicar. The new vehicle is called the Forspeed and it’s scheduled to make its world debut in concept form at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show next week. The Forspeed completes Smart’s electric range, which in addition to this latest speedster includes the aforementioned Fortwo Electric Drive and Escooter, as well as a bicycle. The Forspeed will be the perfect tool for quick city...
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Report: BMW MegaCity Vehicle To Get Optional Range Extender
The MegaCity Vehicle (MCV) is BMW's soon-to-be-built all-electric urban wonder machine, if you buy the markting spiel. But it may be more than that. BMW's Chief Financial Officer Friedrich Eichiner recently told the German publication Focus Magazin that the MCV will offer an optional...
Nelson Ireson -
BMW ActiveE Electric Vehicle: New Details, Images
The future is electric, and BMW knows it as well as anyone despite the fact that the only EVs put out by the company have thus far been limited-distribution, lease-only development cars. The ActiveE doesn't change that, but it's another step down the path to a full-production BMW EV. The ActiveE...
Nelson Ireson -
Tesla Model S Crossover Coming To 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show?
We've known since 2009 that Tesla has plans for a crossover and a minivan based on the Model S platform, but now it looks like the crossover, dubbed the Model X, may soon take shape, with a possible debut, at least in concept form, at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show. Tesla can do the many-hats thing...
Nelson Ireson -
Report: BMW Working On New Electric Car For China Based On 5-Series
BMW is set to launch a hybrid version of its 5-Series sedan, the production version of the ActiveHybrid 5 concept, later this year, but according to a new report the automaker is also working on an all-electric model based on the same platform. According to a report out of the Beijing Youth Daily...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Top Gear's Ex-Stig Ben Collins To Race EVs
If you've ever wondered what it might be like to suddenly stop being the least-known person on the world's best-known automotive TV show, Ben Collins has your answer. Apparently it creates a deep desire to race electric cars in an upstart series. At least, that's all we can surmise from Ben...
Nelson Ireson -
Ford's U.S. lineup is about to change in a very significant way. And as the automaker emphasized in its Detroit Auto Show press conference, with several high-volume small car models expected to arrive this year and next, you'll soon see plenty of smaller and greener alternatives in Ford's lineup. But to dealerships that have long subsisted on heavy sales of pickups and SUVs, it might take a change in sales attitude—and some new training. A cadence to focus on one at a time "Really, we have a nice cadence of rollout this year," said Jim Farley, Ford's vice president for global marketing...
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Zetsche: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG E-Cell Available For Order In 2013
The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is a brilliant car, as we proved on the open roads of Oaxaca. It does lack a bit on the green end of the spectrum, but that's where the SLS AMG E-Cell comes in. We'll have to wait a bit yet, however. According to Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche at the Detroit Auto Show today...
Nelson Ireson -
CES 2011: 2012 Ford Focus Electric Live Shots
Leaf and Volt had better watch out, because the Blue Oval just let loose its EV contender, the 2012 Focus Electric, and if first impressions are any basis, it might just be the best of the bunch. Why? It looks like a normal, attractive hatchback, yet it packs all the EV-goodness of the Leaf (or...
Nelson Ireson -
CES 2011: Ford Focus Electric Live Photos
The Ford Focus Electric just rolled across the stage at the 2011 CES, and we have a small handful of photos of the car with CEO Alan Mulally. We'll have some more images and angles shortly, but for now, enjoy the show. For full details on the new Focus Electric, be sure to check out...
Nelson Ireson -
CES 2011: Ford Launches MyFord Mobile App For Focus Electric
The Volt has its app, the Prius has one too. Now the Ford Focus Electric has joined the party with the MyFord Mobile app. Offering smartphone users the ability to monitor and control their vehicle remotely, the app also packs EV-specific features. Like what, you ask? Like "value charging," which...
Nelson Ireson -
Report: BMW Megacity Vehicle To Get 'i' Badge, Concept Early 2011
Last January BMW introduced the ActiveE Concept at the Detroit Auto Show, part of its nascent but growing Project i task force for greener vehicles. This year, the talk is centered around the Megacity Vehicle, and today, two interesting bits of information have leaked onto the web. First, the...
Nelson Ireson -
Raising capital to help pay for the development of a future vehicle is not a bad idea, and Tesla appears to be pulling it off well, generating 3,000 reservations for the planned 2012 Model S sedan at $5,000 a pop. That's $15 million. But are those early adopters being foolish? Perhaps they just have faith that the Model S will actually be built. Given Tesla's lack of profitability and the heavy R&D costs that come with any attempt to build road-legal vehicles in the U.S.--let alone all-electric vehicles--that's a fairly big leap. The Roadster, for example, has seen just 1,400 examples...
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Mercedes-Benz Delivers First Customer F-CELL Hydrogen EV
Earlier this week, Nissan delivered the first retail customer's LEAF EV, and today Mercedes-Benz has delivered its first customer-leased B-Class F-CELL hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle to another California resident. Unlike the LEAF, the F-CELL isn't quite ready for mass sale, but the test lease program...
Nelson Ireson -
Spy Shots: BMW ActiveE 1-Series Coupe
These are the first spy shots of the internal control and power electronics of the BMW ActiveE 1-Series Coupe, due for limited leasing and field trials next summer. The markets for the initial roll-out have already been named. First shown as a concept at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, the ActiveE...
Nelson Ireson -
Brabus Unveils New Tesla Roadster Sport Green Package
The German nutters at Brabus were the first to the scene with a tuned EV when they brought out the Brabus Tesla Roadster at the Essen Motor Show in 2008. Now they're following up with a new package for the Roadster Sport, complete with pre-paid electrcity for at home or on-the-go charging. That's...
Nelson Ireson -
Video: OMG Fabio Is Alive And He's Hawking Electric Cars
The life of a model/actor is hard. "Oh, right", you say, "lying on a sofa and staring vacantly into a bank of cameras is way tougher than military service or manual labor or having no job at all." But hey, we've seen All About Eve and Valley of the Dolls and America's Next Top Model. Like Gina...
Richard Read -
Audi Demonstrates Solar Powered Charging Stations For EVs
Electric vehicle backers love to tout the fact that the so-called green vehicles don’t produce any emissions and don’t rely on dirty fossil fuels dug up out of the ground, but at the end of the day their electrical energy has to come from somewhere--and more often than not it comes from...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Burbling turbo V-8 power, a sleek four-door coupe profile, and now, AMG badges. That's what's on deck this week for the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show in the form of the 2012 Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG, which is making its world debut. The 5.5-liter twin-turbo V-8 promises 518 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque paired with AMG's MCT multi-clutch seven-speed transmission. Get the Performance Package and AMG will up the output to 550 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of stump-pulling torque. Not that you'd ever do something so uncouth with your four-door coupe. Both versions of the CLS63 AMG deliver...
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2010 Los Angeles Auto Show Preview: U.S.-spec Mitsubishi i-MiEV
Mitsubishi was one of the first major automakers to announce plans for a mass produced electric vehicle and even had a working prototype out testing back in 2008 in the form of the first generation i-MiEV. Since then the i-MiEV has gone through a series of redesigns until finally being launched in...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Ron Howard: If Electric Cars Can't Be Gay, The Terrorists Have Won
If you keep up with Hollywood and/or the car scene, chances are pretty good that you're aware of the whole "Electric cars are gay" conflamma surrounding Ron Howard's new film, The Dilemma. But just in case you've been out of the loop, here's what you need to know: (a) there's a new movie called The...
Richard Read -
Drop Everything: Baywatch's Alexandra Paul Wants To Hear Your Questions About The Volt NOW
This is actress Alexandra Paul. Perhaps you remember her from such films as Rough Air: Danger on Flight 534, Murder Dot Com, or her star turn on Baywatch. We don't. We remember her from the documentary Who Killed The Electric Car?** Alexandra has a long history with EVs -- such a long history, in...
Richard Read -
Tesla Recalling 439 Roadsters For Electrical Fire Risk
The first of the modern electric sports cars to market has had a rough time of ironing out its mechanical issues, though the current Tesla Roadster 2.5 solves many problems in previous iterations. It's still not 100 percent, however, as Tesla today announced a voluntary recall of 439 of its...
Nelson Ireson -
2010 Paris Auto Show: Volvo DRIVe Electric Headed To Test Fleets
New Volvo Cars president and CEO Stefan Jacoby made his first official appearance in the position at the Paris Motor Show, introducing the new V60 sport wagon, along with performance-themed R-Design versions of the S60 and V60—and, surprisingly, emphasizing the importance of electrification...
Bengt Halvorson