Electric Cars

The dust hasn’t even settled on the floors of the Frankfurt Auto Show where the Porsche 918 Spyder just made its world debut, but already a configurator for the car has gone live on the Porsche website. Porsche still has some remaining build slots for the car--918 are planned in total--so if...

About a year ago we first heard that Toyota was seriously considering installing some type of hybrid technology in its Scion FR-S, a GT 86 for those readers outside the U.S. At the time, we heard that Toyota was looking at a KERS-style hybrid system similar to that used in its TS030 Hybrid Le Mans...

Back in June, Drayson Racing, led by former British science minister and avid racer Lord Paul Drayson, set a new record using an electric version of a race car originally developed for the American Le Mans Series. The record was for the highest speed achieved in one mile by an electric race car in...

A full-sized luxury sedan capable of sub-6.0 second runs to 60 mph and fuel economy of 70 mpg or better may seem a little farfetched but it’s a promise Mercedes-Benz has made for its 2015 S500 Plug-In Hybrid, which made its world debut this week at the Frankfurt Auto Show and is due in...

The BMW i3 has made its official debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show and is due in showrooms early next year, priced from $42,275 including destination. As expected, it closely resembles the handful of concept versions unveiled over the past two years, right down to the suicide-style rear doors and...

A few weeks ago it was revealed that an investor group in Germany was interested in acquiring Fisker for the lowly sum of $25 million, with the intention to start limited production of the Karma extended-range electric sedan and several derivative models at a plant in the U.S. At the time, it was...

Land Rover unveiled new diesel-electric hybrid versions of its latest Range Rover and Range Rover Sport SUVs at the 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show this week. Unfortunately, neither of these models will be offered in the U.S., though they do provide clues as to what American buyers can expect for planned...

Acura’s latest concept previewing its new NSX sports car made its European debut this week at the 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show, and on hand to present the concept and talk about the production version was the car’s chief engineer Ted Klaus. He’s featured in the video above, answering...

The world’s first sanctioned electric car race is now just one year away and at the Frankfurt Auto Show this week we got our first look at the car that will be competing in it. We are, of course, talking about the Formula E Championship, whose inaugural season gets underway in September 2014...

Crossovers and sport utilities are now an established part of luxury-car lineups--even Jaguar showed a crossover concept--and hybrids are all the range these days. So why not blend the two? Range Rover now has two hybrids, Lexus showed a concept for its second hybrid utility vehicle, and BMW has...

BMW’s new i8 plug-in hybrid sports car has made its world debut, with the covers coming off this morning at the 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show. We’re glad to report that the avantgarde lines of the various concept versions have made it onto the production version, and in person the car looks...

Power output of 362 horsepower and torque of 420 pound-feet is reasonable for a 3,300-pound sports coupe with a low drag coefficient of 0.26, but it's nowhere near the top of the power charts. But suppose you combine those specs with advanced carbon fiber construction, the ability to run...

On the eve of the Frankfurt Auto Show, Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, the grandson of company founder Ferdinand Porsche sat briefly to pose in what’s perhaps one of the proudest achievements for the company yet—and certainly the most advanced Porsche street cars ever produced: the Porsche 918...

We’ve already seen it in production trim, and Jay Leno’s already driven it, but nevertheless here are the official details and photos for Porsche’s 918 Spyder, which just made its debut at the 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show. First shown in concept form at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, the...

Smart will be providing us with our best look yet at its third-generation Fortwo with the unveiling of the Fourjoy concept car at next week’s 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show. The Fourjoy is the latest in a string of concepts that hint at the styling of the next Fortwo and a new Forfour, both of...

The debut of Toyota’s new Yaris Hybrid-R concept car at the 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show represents the Japanese automaker’s first foray into the world of high-performance hybrids for road car applications. Toyota has been racing a hybrid Le Mans prototype for the past two years but this is...

Toyota is committed to launching an affordable fuel cell vehicle by 2015 and has already previewed it with the original FCV-R concept first shown in 2011. At the 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show next week, Toyota will present an updated version of its FCV-R concept that’s said to more closely...

Nissan is eager to get its new range-extended electric ZEOD RC race car out on the track. First, however, it has to actually build a working version. Construction on the first car is currently underway, and, per Nissan, it's nearing completion. That's a good thing because the ZEOD RC is slated to...

Given that Chevy isn't even sure it should offer stop-start technology on its Corvette Stingray, the concept of a hybrid 'Vette seems fairly unlikely. You'd think so, anyway--but General Motors North America president Mark Reuss has hinted that one might be possible at some point. In an interview...

At the 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show on September 10, Toyota will present a new concept car based on its Yaris hatchback that leverages the automaker’s hybrid technology developed for its TS030 Hybrid Le Mans prototype. We’ve already had our first look at the concept, dubbed the Toyota Yaris...