Plug-In Hybrids

GM has already sunk $750 million into the development of the upcoming Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid and resigned itself to the fact that the car won't be profitable for several years, but that hasn't stopped the company from starting development on the second and third generations of the car's...

General Motors has responded to a recent Carnegie Mellon University study claiming that upcoming plug-in hybrids such as the Volt are not actually as efficient as they seem. While cars such as the Volt use large batteries to achieve electric-only ranges of around 40 miles, the study claims that the...

The times, they are a changin'. Carmakers that had seemed bulletproof, or at least too big to fail, are teetering on the brink of insolvency. Government regulations and stipulations on loan money are cinching down emissions and efficiency requirements. And tax incentives are spurring development of...

A new-generation of plug-in hybrid vehicles may still be a couple of years away from reaching showrooms but the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill passed by Congress and signed into law last October by President Bush and expanded by President Obama's recent stimulus package secures a tax break...

General Motors' Volt and the plug-in hybrid technology behind it has come under fire in the press recently, with critics accusing the car of being too expensive and too inefficient to justify its purchase over a standard hybrid. The argument goes that real-world efficiency of a plug-in hybrid isn't...

One of the harder things about designing a new car is making it sufficiently futuristic that it's actually current when it finally makes it to market. Then the struggle becomes keeping it fresh and relevant - in terms of not just design, but capability and features. Chevrolet thinks it has a winner...

General Motors recently gave us a preview of a new plug-in hybrid vehicle based on the Chevrolet Volt that the company plans to sell in Europe under its Opel division. The car is the new Opel Ampera and it is set to make its world debut at March’s Geneva Motor Show. GM has now released a...

General Motors today outlined a comprehensive plan of action at the Washington Auto Show to help communities get ready for plug-in hybrid vehicles such as its upcoming Chevrolet Volt. The carmaker revealed that it plans to collaborate with communities such as San Francisco and Washington, D.C...

In March of last year, Aptera announced it had done all the development necessary to head to production, and that all it needed was to move into acquiring the right equipment and workforce to do so. Soon after the company revealed that a new infusion of $24 million in cash had been acquired, and...

Major carmakers are rushing to develop a new generation of plug-in hybrid vehicles including industry giants Toyota and GM, which hope to have the technology ready for sale by the end of the decade. GM appears to have the lead at the moment, forming a partnership with LG Chem to develop and...

The burgeoning electric car field was just hitting its stride when the bottom fell out of the market last year, and the tough position that has left carmakers like Tesla in has forced some changes to be made. But that's not stopping the company from moving ahead with its product development plans...

Seat has unveiled an electrically-driven prototype based on its Leon hatchback, which the company plans to trial in an urban environment together with the Spanish government. The technology behind the new prototype is Volkswagen Group’s Twin Drive plug-in hybrid powertrain, which was first...

Chinese manufacturer BYD is planning to have vehicles on sale in the U.S. within two years, with similar ambitions for the European market. The company took a step closer to reaching those goals by launching the world’s first mass-produced plug-in hybrid vehicle in China last month, and at...

Despite the movement towards electric and hybrid propulsion by many manufacturers over the last few years, none of them actually manufacture the most important component of the vehicles – the batteries. That’s about to change as GM builds its own factory in Michigan to produce battery...

Back in September Chrysler showed off three vehicles designed to show the world that it too could keep up with Ford and GM as they developed low emissions powertrains for the future. One of those vehicles was essentially a Lotus Europa with Chrysler badging, but this was understandable as the...

The Toyota Prius has spent a decade as the world's preferred hybrid, but now competition is arising from all quarters. A new plug-in version of the Prius is expected soon, but already Toyota is thought to be working on a project to bring solar power to mass production automobiles in an effort to...

Chinese carmaker BYD has pushed back the expected release date for its plug-in hybrid vehicles destined for non-Chinese markets. The company’s chairman, Wang Chuanfu, stated that the original target of 2010 was being pushed back by a full year to 2011. The new date puts the release for the...

The higher-ups at General Motors have been dropping hints that the Cadillac brand may get its own plug-in hybrid vehicle based on the Chevrolet Volt for some time now, but now rumors are emerging that Cadillac may in fact be the first brand (other than Chevrolet) to get the Volt's technology...

Chinese manufacturer BYD is planning to have plug-in hybrid vehicles on sale in the U.S. within two years, with similar ambitions for the European market. The company took a step closer to reaching those goals by launching the world’s first mass-produced plug-in hybrid vehicle in China this...

General Motors and Spanish energy company Iberdrola have joined forces to determine what is needed in terms of infrastructure to implement a mass embrace of plug-in electric vehicles in the European market. The study will examine how cars will be recharged, and the effect this will have on...