The Audi e-tron quattro is an all-electric SUV that’s expected to have a 310 mile range. The concept vehicle is to be shown at the 2015 Frankfurt International Motor Show, and Audi promises an “outlook on the brand’s first large-series electric car”. It’s been designed from the ground up as an…
The A3 Sportback e-tron plug-in hybrid is the first step towards an electrified future for Audi, combining a premium driving experience with the efficiency of an electric motor. The effective cost to buyers nationwide can be even lower with applicable federal and state incentive and tax credits. Vehicle is the first of…
What if it’s time to buy a new car, what do you choose? Thanks to lithium-ion battery technology, we now have a new drive-train choice. Rather than being limited to variant of gasoline engined vehicles, we can now buy electrified cars or motorcycles. Assuming you’ve already chosen to go electric…
From the viewpoint Silicon Valley’s award-winning National Drive Electric Week celebration yesterday, electric cars are becoming mainstream. Our region is enjoying the highest rate of electric car sales in the country, and for our 2014 NDEW event we had the intention to have the largest assemblage of electric vehicles anywhere.…
The PlugIn2014 Conference has come to San Jose, and I managed to snag a press pass, so expect to see a few reports over the next couple days about conference sessions. The activity today was getting to do test drives with a few electric vehicles. I got to drive…
Jalopnik, a so-called “automotive news” website (so far as I can tell, they rely on luridness rather than journalism) just posted a “10 worst electric cars of all time” list, placing the Coda electric sedan at the #10 spot. Really? I think they missed on some real gems they put…
You don’t think of the head honcho of a major corporation like General Motors (GM) doing something altruistic like changing the company’s vehicle strategy just to save the polar bears. The GM shareholders hope their CEO will be making choices that improve the bottom line, and aim the company into…
A few days ago I wrote about GM’s CEO Dan Akerson talking about 200 mile driving range electric cars. This piece triggered an idea in the back of my mind, recalling the Osborne Effect, or the result which happens when a company announces the next generation product and customers stop…
Reports have been circulating since last year that GM is planning to move electric car development and/or manufacturing to China. In some circles, especially those who like to rephrase GM’s name as “Government Motors”, this thought is highly controversial. In truth GM sells more cars in China than it does…
Today President Obama’s administration rejected the Keystone XL pipeline project, and we can expect a chorus of jubilation from the environmental groups. My email has already received statements from 350.org and the NRDC applauding this decision. I’m happy it came out this way, that the pipeline was rejected, but the…
In an op-ed published on Australian website businessinsider.com.au, Ross Blade makes an effort to tell us how large electric vehicles will cook the planet, while small electric vehicles won’t. Ross Blade, for those who don’t know, is the Chief Executive of Australian based companies Blade Energy Solutions and Blade Electric…
At the core of electric cars is the electricity storage technology being used. Most commonly electricity is stored in chemical batteries, which store electricity as chemical bonds in a soup of specific elements. The key thing which is enabling the wave of electric vehicle advances is advances in battery pack…
In the past electric vehicles have had a bit of fear attached to them: What if I run out of juice and can’t recharge? AAA can’t simply dispatch a truck with a gallon of electrons to refill the tank. The fear has enough of a grain of truth behind it…
Nissan today unveiled the Nissan LEAF, an affordable zero-emission electric car. It is an EV, not a hybrid car, meaning there is no engine, nor any of the other accoutrements associated with gasoline such as the gas tank and tail pipe. While it is an electric car, Nissan stresses that…
