The prospect of zero emission, near-silent race cars has set moustaches twitching throughout the motorsport fraternity. Many see it as heresy, while the enlightened few realize that we have a golden opportunity to inject some new life into a hundred-year-old sport. Doug Peck, editor at emotorsportnews.com, explains why the future of racing runs on… Read more »
Vehicle Features
The fleet footed survive: VIA Motors electrifies trucks, vans and SUVs
On the strength of a shrewd business plan and ties to GM, VIA Motors plans to jump-start the electric transition through the back door of America’s service vehicles. Its E-REV pickup trucks and vans prove that you can have your fuel efficiency and costs savings, too. Everyone should want an EV. They’re more efficient than… Read more »
Slow charge: the evolving EV market
At this year’s New York International Auto Show, the central story was that even mainstream cars and SUVs are getting stellar fuel economy.
Why I bought a Volt
I swore I would never buy a new car… and yet, December 23, 2010, I took delivery of my brand new, cyber gray metallic Chevrolet Volt – number 186 off the assembly line – and I couldn’t be happier. The car is amazing. But don’t take my word for it – to date the Volt… Read more »
My very own electric car: driving the Nissan LEAF
So what has the last five months driving the Nissan LEAF been like? I guess you’d have to say the LEAF has been remarkable in that it’s been so normal. Whether by design or by accident, the driving experience isn’t massively different from that of driving any other car, beyond being smoother and quieter…. Read more »
Book review: “Bottled Lightning: Superbatteries, Electric Cars, and the New Lithium Economy”
Seth Fletcher, in the epilogue to his book about the burgeoning lithium economy, asks: “Will this last? Is this…the beginning of something enduring – a new era for transportation, energy and American high tech manufacturing? Or will it turn out to be a portrait of another false start, an anomalous couple of years in which,… Read more »
The eDart: My 1974 Dodge Dart Swinger electric conversion
Who does not want to relive their youth? Theoretically, driving one of the mid-70s muscle cars is a great idea: lots of leg room, big power, and of course nostalgia. In Ontario, Canada, you even have the advantage that such cars are, by necessity, exempt from the emission tests. Of course, that assumes you do… Read more »
Meet the Saxtons: driving electric vehicles since 2008
In the late 1990s my wife, Cathy, decided she wanted her next car to be electric. It wasn’t until July of 2008 that she was able to find and buy one, a 2002 Toyota RAV4-EV, one of the few hundred saved from the crusher when California relieved the automakers from the short-lived requirement to produce… Read more »