Electric

President Bush signed the $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program into life last year, but for the past 8 months, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has sat on the money, carefully evaluating applications to see which companies would make the best use of the funds...

Promises about electric vehicles are a dime a dozen, and so far no one - not even Tesla - has managed to deliver a real daily-driving production car in volume. Nissan has so far promised to deliver its first electric vehicle by 2010, although initially it will be available only to commercial fleet...

Despite its small size, Tesla Motor Company, builder of the famed Roadster electric sports car, is as embattled as any major manufacturer these days. Between a lawsuit from a former CEO and materials costs far beyond the asking price of the Roadster, things haven't been going well lately. But today...

It's often cited as an advantage of electric cars, but it's also one of the biggest potential danger zones: silence. It makes for peaceful - if somewhat eerie - cruising at speed, but it also poses a huge risk to pedestrians and other road users. So Brabus is doing something about it in the case of...

Looking ahead to year 2020, the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the company, Mitsubishi today announced its new ‘Group Environmental Vision 2020’ roadmap for its future environmental and sustainable motoring policies. The new environmental roadmap directs Mitsubishi’s...

Major automakers are still years away from launching electric cars but Subaru has beaten them to the punch with the announcement today that its own eco-friendly Stella electric vehicle (EV) is ready for sale. Packed with an array of advanced lithium-ion batteries, the Stella EV will be sold in...

It's a rare thing to remark on the government's hesitation to spend money these days, but that's precisely the case of the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program. The government set aside $25 billion to fund the program last year, but to date...

Toyota’s all-new 2010 Prius officially went on sale in Japan just 11 days ago and has already garnered enough orders to justify Toyota increasing production targets by 8,000 cars per month according to the latest report. It sold enough pre-orders in just the first day to easily outsell the...

Since the release of BMW’s official strategy back in September 2007, media sources around the world have speculated about the carmaker looking to either launch its own new brand or acquire one to help its expansion. Instead, BMW established a new environmental think-tank dubbed 'Project i'...

Buyers in the U.S. looking forward to purchasing the new 2010 Toyota Prius may have to wait longer than they initially bargained for, following strong demand for the latest hybrid in Japan. Going on sale just a week ago in Japan, the third-generation Prius was a hit before it even descended on...

Only yesterday it was announced that former Chairman of Borden Chemical and of Duracell International, Robert Kidder, would preside over a restructured Chrysler as its new CEO, but already reports have emerged claiming Fiat has appointed three new directors for the struggling carmaker. In the lead...

Nearly three weeks into Chrysler's bankruptcy and the global strategic alliance between Fiat and Chrysler comes news today that C. Robert Kidder - not Sergio Marchionne - will play the role of CEO for Chrysler after the bankruptcy. The news, which comes directly from Chrysler, contradicts a...

Toyota’s third-generation Prius officially went on sale in Japan this week and to coincide with the launch the company also revealed several new styling packs under the guise of its in-house accessories brand Modellista. Three different Modellista styling packs are available for the Prius -...

Electric vehicles are popularly perceived as the front-runner of the alternate fuel competition, but successfully developing EVs has proven to be a difficult and expensive task. To help share the burden and the expertise necessary to get an electric car to market, Daimler AG, parent company of...

Shai Agassi's ambitious Better Place project has been rolling out plans for test-market EVs around the world for over a year now, and today the project took a huge leap forward with the demonstration of its first automated battery swapping station. The proof-of-concept facility was demonstrated in...

Electric cars may be all the rage these days but making the technology cheap enough for mass-market will take some time. One of the leaders in this field is Ford, which is expected to have one of the first mass-produced all-electric cars on the market with its battery-powered Focus. Arriving in...

The Internet is awash with electric vehicle demonstration vehicles, but few have as much oddball spark as the new Kangoo be bop ZE. Based around the standard be bop, but with zero emissions (hence the ZE) capabilities, the car is to be used as a test vehicle to show off what its EV platform can do...

Despite decades of modern advancements, it’s common knowledge that internal combustion engines are far from efficient when it comes to transmitting the energy stored in the fuel they burn into real motion. In the recent past we’ve seen regenerative braking, engine stop-start and direct...

Promises about electric vehicles are a dime a dozen, and so far no one - not even Tesla - has managed to deliver a real daily-driving production car in volume. That didn't stop Nissan's product planning director Mark Perry from confirming a 2010 U.S. launch for a five-seat electric car back in...

As the April 30 deadline for Chrysler to restructure its business looms closer, the Treasury department has begun to prepare a bankruptcy filing for the struggling carmaker. The news highlights the severity of Chrysler's situation should it fail to enact a deal with Italian auto giant Fiat, but the...