Toyota Prius has now pulled into third in worldwide auto sales. In other words, that thing is popular! Many probably still think of hybrids as “alternative” vehicles, but apparently they are now very mainstream. And this is really good news for other types of electric vehicles like the Leaf … [continued]
The phoenix and a dragon is a common motif on Chinese pottery, often used as wedding gifts. Aptera (a wingless bird) is an electric car company that ceased operations in December after many setbacks, but its ideas and assets have taken flight again, purchased by the Jonway Group, a Chinese company. This might be considered an auspicious omen. […]
A new analysis from Frost & Sullivan projects the continued electrification of vehicles in the automotive industry, and expects this trend to boost the market for traction motors. Frost & Sullivan anticipates the European traction motor market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 50 per … [continued]
Toyota Motor Sales reported at the beginning of the month that April had been the best ever April for the Toyota Prius. In a month where Toyota sales across the line increased 11.6 percent over the year-ago month on a raw volume basis, the Toyota Prius recorded its best … [continued]
One of the advantages to driving an electric vehicle is all the torque — you get off the line super fast. Where that has typically started to go ever so slightly downhill for the average EV drag racer is in sustaining a quicker top speed than drivers in a conventional gas-powered vehicle for an entire quarter mile. This is no longer quite the case. […]
Monday saw Toyota reveal the new Toyota RAV4 EV at the 26th annual Electric Vehicle Symposium in Los Angeles, an all-electric SUV with an expected driving range rating of approximately 100 miles. The RAV4 EV is expected to go on sale in late summer of 2012 through select dealers in … [continued]
A new service, which goes on line this week, uses the driver-gleaned information to update Nissan’s […]
Reduce, reuse, and recycle — the three Rs of waste management have been applicable for decades. Until now, however, they have not been quite so useful for the large-scale nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries used in hybrid cars, in part due to the difficulty in recovering nickel and cobalt (rare earth … [continued]
Paul Stenquist of the New York Times attempted to educate us last Sunday by suggesting that pollution from electric cars is as clear as a sixth grade math problem. However, by 9th grade, we should begin to understand that although we can add any numbers together, it is the relationship between those numbers and something in the real world which gives us sensible results.
Electric cars are kind of awesome — they’re clean, quiet, and just really neat all around. A lot of them are even super cute and tiny and adorable. They are, however, not cheap (up front), despite subsidies available from governments around the world. Then there’s the question of insurance…. … [continued]
