electric cars

Chevy Volt

Cost-cutting plans include a weight reduction of the 3,700-pound car and a switch to a dedicated platform, rather than the use of the gasoline-powered Cruze platform.[read more]

new car technology

Recent announcements by Ford and GM show that the giants of American auto manufacturing are investing in various approaches to meet the federal government’s stringent new fuel economy standards.[read more]

With two of its cars among the five finalists, Ford took the Green Car of the Year Award for its 2013 Fusion on Thursday at the LA Auto Show.The newly redesigned, midsize sedan is offered with three different engines: gas-electric hybrid, plug-in hybrid and gasoline. The base model starts at $21,700, while the gas-electric hybrid, rated...[read more]

Electric Vehicles via Shutterstock

We shouldn’t be discouraged about the future of electric vehicles because some early movers are not meeting expectations. The recent decision by advanced battery maker A123 Systems to seek bankruptcy protection is evidence the company made missteps and perhaps grew faster than it could handle, which is not unusual in high tech.[read more]

Electric Car Concept via Shutterstock

In a recent New York Times Magazine article, “Why Your Car Isn't Electric,” Maggie Koerth-Baker works through why consumers prefer gas cars over electric vehicles (EVs). She finds that Americans aren’t flocking to EVs because they have a fundamentally different idea of what a car should be. America's energy and climate policies are failing to address that reality.[read more]

Electricity Pylon via Shutterstock

Information and communications technologies (ICT) and machine to machine (M2M) applications will have evolutionary and revolutionary impacts on the Smart Grid and smart cities.  As more of the global population chooses to live in cities, ICT will also exert revolutionary impacts on transportation to help transform it into...[read more]

As green drivers, electric-vehicle owners shouldn’t have to compromise certain driving capacities for taking an electric vehicle to the road. The Nissan LEAF is among the top-rated electric car models that help consumers save money, improve comfort and reduce their carbon footprint. Cutting costs? More space? Going green? These pros,...[read more]

Electric Car Sign via Shutterstock

On the tail end end of whirlwind tour around the country to present at EcoGen MasterClasses, I had my own little epiphany around some of the issues that our industry faces today.I remembered the principle of taking just one step.Almost 25 years ago, I was working in a car factory making automotive parts and was invited to see a leading...[read more]

cardiae /Shutterstock

It is not clear that the automotive market alone will provide an advanced battery market of sufficient size and immediacy to attract the necessary capital and innovation. Using a potentially larger market for the deployment of similar batteries in DES systems on the grid to leverage the automotive market, however, would make for a large, combined market.[read more]

Electric vehicles have come a long way since the days for the botched EV-1 experiment of the 1990s. Fisker KarmaFormerly considered tin cans without much oomph or sex appeal, EVs took a back seat to the more trendy hybrids (Prius) and powerful SUVs. Yet, if this year's EVS26 at the Los Angeles Convention Center proves one thing to...[read more]

mmaxer/Shutterstock

Today, the biggest electric utility in California, the largest car market in the country, took an important step to give drivers access to a cleaner fuel that’s roughly the equivalent of buck-a-gallon gasoline.  Pacific Gas & Electric (“PG&E”) has submitted a proposal for new and improved rate plans that encourage electric...[read more]

image via Nissan

Nissan recently sent out a release to the automotive press touting the fact that the company had sold 1,000 Nissan Leafs in Norway in just six months. The company went on to claim that the Leaf became the second-best selling Nissan in Norway and the ninth-best selling passenger car overall in February, claiming almost 2 percent of the...[read more]

It’s been a tumultuous few years since “Big Three” automaker Chrysler’s highly publicized 2009 bankruptcy and subsequent $14 billion bailout. Now, the company seems to be pulling itself from the wreckage thanks to a new alliance with European automaker Fiat, an ambitious and long overdue redesign of some of its stalwart models and...[read more]

In life there will be most of us, and there will be the one percent. There will be those of us who fly in coach, and there will be those of us who have their own private jets. When it comes to green cars, there will be those of us who drive the Prius, and those who drive the $980,000 Rimac Concept One electric sports car.[read more]

In March, sales of hybrid, plug-in, and clean diesel cars grew significantly in the United States, casting a positive light on the emerging low emission transportation industry.According to statistics compiled by HybridCars.com and Baum & Associates, a Michigan-based market research firm focusing on automotive issues, hybrids sales...[read more]