'electric vehicles'

There are cars that were born for the track and those that have absolutely no business there. The 2011 Chevrolet Volt is one of the latter. But when given the opportunity to lap Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in GM's newest electrified vehicle, we jumped at the opportunity.

Imagine, for a moment, pushing your favorite dull midsize sedan (say a Toyota Camry or Chevy Malibu) at 8/10ths around your favorite back road with all of the understeer, body roll, and middling power-to-weight ratio. It's unoffensive, but few would call the experience "fun." This is the starting … Read more

GENEVA--Fisker Automotive plans to use its recently acquired plant in Delaware in part to build vehicles for other automakers.

The start-up automaker plans to use only one-third of an installed 300,000 units of capacity at a former General Motors plant in Wilmington, Del., for its vehicles, which will be built there in late 2012.

"We want to offer this manufacturing capacity to other OEMs," Fisker COO Bernhard Koehler told Automotive News on the sidelines of the Geneva auto show.

Fisker is spending $120 million on the Delaware plant and, within the next two years, will expand its … Read more

Volkswagen's history includes two legendary vehicles, the Beetle and the Type 2, or Microbus. As it revived the Beetle some years ago, the company takes a look back at the Type 2 in a new concept called Bulli. That name comes from the common German term for the Type 2.

The Bulli hearkens back to the Type 2 in its general shape, color scheme, and large VW emblem mounted on the front. But Volkswagen aficionados will immediately notice the lack of a split front windshield.

And unlike the flat four-cylinder engine that rested at the rear of the Type … Read more

Electric car maker Tesla Motors yesterday reported a wider quarterly net loss as higher expenses for research, development, sales, and marketing offset a 95 percent surge in revenue.

The company's net loss was $51.4 million, or 54 cents per share, for the fourth quarter ended December 31, compared with a net loss of $24.2 million, or $3.43 per share, in the same quarter a year earlier.

Last year's figures were based on a smaller number of shares outstanding. Tesla, based in Palo Alto, Calif., went public in June.

Excluding one-time items, the company reported a … Read more

Nissan Motor, Japan's second-biggest automaker, said today that Leaf production will reach full capacity by March at its factory south of Tokyo.

The company has gradually ramped up output of the Leaf, its first mass-marketed zero-emission car, since it started building them in late October, completing about 3,000 units to date.

By March, the pace of production will rise to full capacity of about 4,000 Leafs a month at the Oppama factory, putting Nissan on track to hit a target of producing a total 10,000 units by the end of March, a Nissan official said.

"… Read more

Tesla Motors, manufacturer of the Roadster electric sports car and supplier of EV components, has released information about its upcoming Model S sedan's development cycle.

Tesla is breaking the S' preproduction testing into two phases, alpha and beta. Within each phase the automaker will be building multiple test mules as it attempts to home in on its targeted performance, range, and crash safety. Tesla also notes that the Alpha development phase has been in progress since last year, quoting its Vehicle Dynamicist Graham Sutherland when he states, "The first Alpha is amazingly agile for a car of its … Read more

These days you can't throw a stick at a car show without hitting an electric or electrified vehicle. The 2011 North American International Auto Show in Detroit was no exception.

Among the full-electric vehicles were the Ford Focus Electric and Honda Fit EV, but there were also examples from smaller companies, such as Venturi and Li-ion Motors. Toyota's Prius gained a plug-in model. Conventional hybrids were among the most numerous, counting among their ranks Toyota's new Prius V and C models, Audi's new A4 hybrid sedan, and Porsche's beastly 918 RSR concept.

We've gathered … Read more

We've known for some time that Ford Motor Company has been developing a battery electric vehicle (BEV) variant of its Ford Focus. However, the mule previously showcased was based on the second-generation Focus chassis, which is now old-new following the unveiling of the third-generation Focus. Today, the automaker has released teaser photos of what appears to be a new Focus BEV concept and announced via its Ford Electric Vehicles Facebook fan page that it will have big news at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

A set of photos posted on the automaker's Facebook wall … Read more