electric vehicles
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With the EQV electric van, Mercedes-Benz is aiming for contractors and others who plan to upfit these vehicles for commercial use.
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Fiat Ducato Electric debuts in Europe, first electric commercial van from brand
Fiat is entering the electric commercial vehicle market with the Ducato Electric, a vehicle related to the U.S. Ram ProMaster.
Aaron Cole -
Elon Musk On Climate: Tax Carbon Appropriately, Tesla Founder Says (Full Transcript, Video)
The COP21 climate summit in Paris is now in its second week. Presentations, conferences, trade shows, and probably thousands of individual meetings are being held among attendees from almost all the countries of the world. Last week, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk spoke to a group of college students...
John Voelcker -
BYD's Rising Electric-Car Sales Swamped By Falling Gas Models
Chinese automaker BYD was the first car company in the world to put a plug-in hybrid passenger car into production, a couple of years before the Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car hit the road. Despite several hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery-electric product lines, however, the vast...
John Voelcker -
Portland Tests BYD K9 All-Electric Passenger Bus: Quick Ride
If Warren Buffett needed to catch a ride across town, we suspect he might do it exactly the way that we did this past week: in an all-electric BYD bus. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway famously invested big in China’s BYD Motors in late 2008 -- likely spurred by the company’s...
Bengt Halvorson -
Would You Ride This Tiny Folding Electric Scooter To Work?
The sexiest electric vehicle in the world right now is arguably the Tesla Model S luxury sedan, but now there seems to be a race on to design the smallest electric vehicle in the world. First came the Commute-Case from Green Energy Motors, and now we have the less expensive (and rather less...
John Voelcker -
Long Beach Transit will restart bidding for its electric buses, after Federal officials questioned the legitimacy of BYD's original bid.
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Nissan e-NV200 Electric Van To Enter Production Next Year
The Nissan e-NV200, an electric version of the company's small van and New York's "Taxi of Tomorrow" will go from concept to production in 2014.
Stephen Edelstein -
'World Record Drive' Around EU Draws 388 Electric Cars
What do you call 388 electric cars and bikes driving from Vienna in Austria to Geneva in Switzerland? Answer: A world record. No, it's not funny, but then it wasn't a joke. Called WAVE 2013 (World Advanced Vehicle Expedition), a parade of hundreds of electric cars traveled between the two European...
Antony Ingram -
First Aircraft To Taxi On Electric Power: Paris Air Show Premiere
You know that feeling when you realize you've been missing out on some low-hanging fruit for years? That could be what the aviation industry is feeling right now, as Airbus shows off its new Electric Green Taxiing System (EGTS) at this year's Paris air show. The concept, reported by Aviation Week...
Antony Ingram -
Learning To Drive In A Nissan Leaf: Video
Last year, Michael Thwaite wrote about the experience of teaching his daughter to drive in a MINI E. As he pointed out, the all-electric car made for a smooth ride, which helped cool his nerves and those of his daughter. Also, the low speeds they maintained on the training course meant that hours...
Richard Read -
Saab, Aptera, Think: Can China, Russia Save Electric Cars?
Last week, something miraculous happened: after more than a year of being prepped for burial, Saab rose from the dead. Of course, there had been previous attempts to revive the quirky car company -- notably, one led by Chinese investors Pang Da and Youngman (subsequently, a Chinese bank and...
Richard Read -
Historically, automakers haven’t been fond of small electric cars capable of carrying one or two people. Lately, everyone from General Motors to Renault has shown interest in low-speed city runabouts, leading some to even bring doorless, electric runabouts to market. Unlike most automakers, Toyota has been making low-speed single-seat vehicles for mobility and industrial use for years through its subsidiary Toyota Auto Body Co. Now it has unveiled its latest model, the 2012 Coms. With a top speed of 60 kph (37 mph), the Coms isn’t designed for highway use. Instead, its small size...
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Wubbo Ockels' Electric Superbus Undergoes Winter Testing: Video
Dutch astronaut Wubbo Ockels is also the driving force behind the development of a high-speed, electric powered bus.
Kurt Ernst -
Battery Maker A123 To Supply Cells For Tata Hybrid Buses
Lithium-ion cell maker A123 Systems announced today that it would supply complete battery packs to Tata Motors, the largest vehicle maker in India, to be used in hybrid systems for commercial vehicles. The lithium-ion battery packs will first be deployed in city transit buses in the latter half of...
John Voelcker -
Are Electric Cars Really Bad For The Planet? Simple Math Says No
We all know that electric cars charged from renewable sources of energy are much cleaner than gasoline-powered cars, but what about electric cars charged from electricity produced by a dirty coal-fired power plant? For some time, those against the uptake of electric cars have claimed driving an...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Two Tesla Execs Leave Before 2012 Model S Launch, Stock Falls
Californian automaker Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] suffered a 19.33 percent drop in share price on Friday last week after it announced two of its key engineers had departed the company months before its 2012 Model S was due to go on sale. Peter Rawlinson, Tesla’s vice president and chief...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Aptera’s Remaining Assets To Be Auctioned Off In 10 Days
One week ago, we heard the tragic story that Aptera Motors, which had planned to bring the ultra-efficient Aptera 3-wheeled vehicle to market, was closing for good. Then on Wednesday this week, YouTube videos surfaced showing what appeared to be Aptera Employees smashing prototype Aptera body...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Once upon a time, the only real reward for being a good teacher was to see your students get excited about a subject or do well in exams -- but now a lucky teacher has been rewarded for his good work with a year-long loan of a brand-new 2012 Mitsubishi i. As Plugincar contributor Eric Loveday reports, the all-electric car was awarded to Chad Miller, a language and arts teacher at Kailua High School in Hawaii for a year after he was nominated 2012 Hawaii State Teacher of the Year. Not only will Miller get exclusive, free use of the 2012 Mitsubishi i for a year, but the prize also includes two...
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Will Military Necessity Push Hybrid Vehicle Development?
The challenges of delivering fuel to a battlefield make hybrids and extended range electric vehicles a natural choice for the Army, but current technology limits their practicality.
Kurt Ernst -
Largest Electric-Car Charging Site: Would You Believe Houston?
UPDATE: To answer the question posed in our headline: No, we do not believe Houston has the largest electric-car charging site. See below. When we think of Texas, we think of many things: open roads, desert landscapes, Beyoncé. And of course, we also think of oil, since Texas is one of the...
Richard Read -
Solid State Electric Car Batteries Still 10 Years Away
Solid state batteries could be seen as everything we're looking for from an electric car battery, improving on all the fundamental characteristics needed for electric mobility. Unfortunately, we probably won't be seeing them any time soon. The latest estimations reported by Automotive News...
Antony Ingram -
Video: Irish Cannonball Run 2011 Nissan Leaf Home And Dry
A few weeks back we brought you news that a team entered into the famous Cannonball Run, this year held in Ireland, would be doing the trip in a 2011 Nissan Leaf. We missed the end of their journey as the excitement of the Frankfurt Show got in the way, but we're pleased to report the ESB ecars...
Antony Ingram -
2011 Frankfurt Auto Show: Mute Electric Car Shows Promise
Following the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year we speculated on the problems that small volume, odd-looking electric cars could do to the EV industry's reputation. The outlook at Frankfurt was much more upbeat. Despite the absence of Nissan and its Leaf, several other carmakers had exciting...
Antony Ingram