Focus Electric Recalled As Ford Finally Reacts To The "Stop Safely Now" Power Loss Problem All Ford Electrics Built In Michigan Between September 15th, 2011 and August 8th 2013 Are Being Recalled About 2,600 Focus Electrics built between Sept. 15th, 2011 to Aug. 8th, 2013 at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne have finally been recalled due to the "Stop Safely Now" problem. Officially, 2,020 Focus Electrics have been reported by Ford as sold in the United S... By Jay Cole General - Oct 31 2013 -
Two Autolib Bolloré Bluecars Catch Fire - Cause Unknown Autolib, a car sharing service that operates out of Paris that features Bolloré's electric Bluecars, has a bit of a PR set-back on its hands, as two of their cars have been destroyed by fire. The incident happened on Monday morning, as one of two cars that were ultimately destroyed by fire "exploded" while charging on the streets of France on Boulevard de Charonne in the 20th Arrondissement o... By Jay Cole General - Oct 16 2013 -
Highway 401 In Canada Now Electrified; EV Travel From Detroit To Toronto To Montreal Now Possible One of the busiest roads in North America has now been dotted with nearby electric vehicle charging stations. And no we aren't talking about a road in California or up the west coast this time. Sun Country Highway, a privately funded Canadian company that has been installing public chargers across that country, has recently expanded its network alongside Highway 401 in Canada. ... By Jay Cole Charging - Oct 11 2013 -
BYD e6 First Drive Review: Slow, A Little Noisy And Pricey - Really Pricey BYD e6 - Up To 186 Miles Of Range About 2 months ago, a shipment of about 50 BYD e6 electric vehicles landed in the UK with the promise of entering testing around the country with fleet operators. The First BYD Electric e6 Crossovers Arrived In Europe And The UK In June Now that the cars are making their ways onto British roads, reviews a... By Jay Cole Test Drives - Aug 28 2013 -
2014 Chevrolet Volt Shipping Now During a Facebook chat with Volt owners today, Chevrolet announced that 2014 Volts (now starting from $34,995) are already shipping to dealer across the country. Here is that exchange from the chat: A Chevrolet Volt Comes Off The Line At GM's Michigan "DHAM" Facility Tony Sisson: What date can we order a new 2014 from the dealer and when will there be ... By Jay Cole General - Aug 9 2013 -
Tesla Battery In The Model S Costs "Less Than A Quarter" Of The Car In Most Cases Whenever there is a Tesla quarterly report - such as the recent Q2 profit of $26 million (ex-items), we get crushed by facts and figures: margins production ZEV credits outlook Model X plans Gen III Car plans, etc., etc., etc Elon Musk Takes The Stage To Demonstrate Tesla's 90 Second Battery Swap Earlier This Year ...and if you are into that s... By Jay Cole Battery Tech - Aug 9 2013 -
BMW i3 Range Extender To Offer Up to 87 More Miles, Decreases Performance According To BMW USA Boss, About 80% Of Buyers Will Opt For The Extender As BMW has put the focus on the debut of the i3, there has been a lot of details on what the all-electric component of the Bimmer can do, and not so much on what the extended range option adds, or in some cases takes away from the vehicle. BMW i3 Range Extender Gives...And Takes Away F... By Jay Cole General - Jul 29 2013 -
Tech Crunch: What It Takes To Be A Tesla Supercharger Partner Hardly a day goes by when we do not hear news on the Tesla Supercharger network. And it seems like an almost weekly occurrence that another station is springing up - like this one in Washington, or like this one in Fort Myers, Florida, or this one in Port St. Lucie, Florida. But what goes on behind the scenes? How does Tesla determine locations? Do they own them? Rent them? If s... By Jay Cole General - Jul 26 2013 -
BMW Sets Lease Price On i3 At $565 In The UK (£369) - Priced from £25,680 BMW i3 Offered For Lease In The UK From £369/month Unlike in the US, where BMW has just set the price of its all new electric vehicle, the i3 at $41,350 (+925 destination), in the UK Bimmer has tagged both the sale price and the lease offer - which should give us some insight into the future US lease deal. BMW i3 In Light Camo Goes Out For A Spin ... By Jay Cole General - Jul 22 2013 -
2014 Ford Focus Electric Base MSRP Drops By $4,000 to $35,200 Earlier this year we speculated that a price drop on the Focus Electric might be en route to do some curious tinkering happening at Ford's online inventory search, and a recent check on new 2014 Focus Electric inventory window stickers has apparently confirmed that has taken place. Focus Electric Window Sticker Reflects New Pricing Although all of Ford's pr... By Jay Cole General - Jul 9 2013 -
June 2013 Plug-In Electric Vehicle Sales Report Card June Sales, Lead By The Chevrolet Volt and Nissan LEAF Look Make It Four Good Monthly Results In A Row A solid month of plug-in sales in May continued into June, as the month set a new year-high at 7,892 plug-ins sold. Of those sales, 4,169 (52%) were plug-in hybrids, reversing an earlier trend of more fully electric vehicles being sold each month. Previously, in May, 7,5... By Jay Cole Sales - Jul 2 2013 -
Nismo Your LEAF For About $10,000, Or Just Swap The VCM And Get More Performance For $1,385 Nismo Spec 2013 Nissan LEAF Always wanted to make your LEAF look a little more special? How about make it just a little faster? If so, Nismo Japan has you covered. Nismo is offering a full body kit and more sports-tuning for the LEAF in either fiber-reinforced plastic or wet carbon starting at 785,400 yen for the base FRP version and 995,400 yen for the "wet carb... By Jay Cole General - Jun 25 2013 -
Fisker Karma Has Its Swan Song In New Harrison Ford Thriller - Paranoia (video) On August 13th, the Fisker Karma will likely be making its last promotional appearance in the new feature film Paranoia, which stars Harrison Ford, Liam Hemsworth, and Gary Oldman. "Looking The Part" Here is the premise of the story from the film itself (heads-up for irony): "If you want to be accepted, you have to look the part, you have to fit in, to g... By Jay Cole News - Jun 20 2013 -
Nissan Makes Good On Battery Warranty Pledge For 2011-2012 LEAF Owners + Software Update Nissan LEAF's 24 kWh Battery Pack Now Comes With A Much-Anticipated Warranty (2011-2012 pack shown) If you are a 2011 or 2012 Nissan LEAF owner concerned about your battery's longevity, or just wanted to know you had coverage, Nissan today made good on a pledge to "expand warranty protection against capacity loss in the LEAF's lithium-ion battery." While the... By Jay Cole Battery Tech - Jun 7 2013 -
Another EV Hits US Shores, As Smart Sells 60 ForTwo Electric Drive Mini-Cars In May The Two Seat Cabrio Option May Not Be The Most Sensible...But It Seems Like A Lot Of Plug-In Fun For $28,000 US consumers had another plug-in option to choose from this past month - the Smart ForTwo Electric Drive. Convertible Not Your Style? How About A Panoramic Roof? And while the launch was slightly delayed from April into May by some... By Jay Cole Sales - Jun 5 2013 -
Elon Musk: $35,000 - 200 Mile Tesla Coming In 3-4 Years. Model S Refresh Around 2015, New Model In 2018 (w/video) Model S Refresh Around 2015, New Model In 2018 By Jay Cole Official - Jun 5 2013 -
Plug-In Subcompact Comparison: Chevrolet Spark EV Vs Fiat 500e Chevrolet Priced The Spark EV As The Least Expensive 4 Seat EV When Chevrolet priced the Spark EV recently at $27,495, natural comparisons and sales forecasts where made against the former lowest priced, all electric, family hauler, the 2013 Nissan LEAF S Model from $28,800. And that is probably unfair. For all intents, they are in different classes...in a lot of ways. The S... By Jay Cole General - Jun 3 2013 -
Audi Says A3 Sportback e-tron Goes Into Production And On Sale THIS Year Audi A3 Sportback e-ton Features 31 Miles Of Range (kinda) In A Sporty Package Audi has said that it prefers plug-in extended range hybrids over all electric vehicles. Audi A3 Sportback e-tron Cutaway So the news that the Audi A3 Sportback e-tron will go into production this year ahead of schedule, while the Audi R8 e-tron, all electric ... By Jay Cole General - May 31 2013 -
Tesla Repays Entire DoE Loan, Taxpayers MAKE $26 Million On The Deal (Updated) Tesla Motors: Making Cars, Making Money, Paying Off Their Debts In a statement released earlier today, Tesla Motors said it had repaid their $465 million dollar DoE loan in full, and with interest to US taxpayers, thanks to a recent stock offering that raised almost a billion dollars for the company. (Updated) And according to our own math on the terms of that loan, that int... By Jay Cole General - May 22 2013 -
2013 Nissan LEAF Hits A Sales Stumbling Block In Japan Whoopsie On March! The 2013 Nissan LEAF has been available the longest in Japan, and it appears that the 75 mile EV has experienced its first sales hiccup there, leaving us to wonder if the LEAF's resurgence in the United States might also wane more to historical norms in the coming months. First introduced to the Japanese market on November 20th, 2012, and on sale shortly t... By Jay Cole General - May 3 2013 -
GM CEO: Chevrolet Volt Price To Drop By $7,000 to $10,000 For Next Gen No Profit Made Yet On Chevrolet Volt, But It Is Coming...Along With A Big Price Cut General Motor's CEO Dan Akerson was a speaker at Fortune's Brainstorm Green conference in Laguna Niguel, Calif on Tuesday, and he did not disappoint. At GM, "green" equals all things Volt, and that is good for news-hungry starved Chevrolet plug-in enthusiasts. CEO Dan Ake... By Jay Cole General - Apr 30 2013 -
Expert: What You Know About Lithium Batteries Is Wrong, Can Last Up To 20 Years A Good Thermal Active Management System, Like The One Found In The Chevrolet Volt, Should Extend Useful Life Past 8 Years Of Service Most end of life calculations for electric vehicles are based on an assumption of achieving 8 years of useful operation before falling below 80% of original capacity. However, a battery expert has told the American Chemical Society in a speech ... By Jay Cole Battery Tech - Apr 15 2013 -
Fiat 500e Pricing Is A Pleasant Surpise At $32,500, Leases From $199/month The Fiat 500e was supposed to be just a compliance car, so when Fiat announced their all electric car would be offered at $32,500 we were more than a little surprised. Then they took it one better and offered leases from $199/month with only $999 at signing. That financing option is in 'base 2013 Nissan LEAF' territory. Fiat 500e Seems To Have It All. Great Styling, Good... By Jay Cole General - Apr 13 2013 -
Fiat 500e Purchasers Get 12 Days Of Free Rentals A Year. EV To Be Priced April 13th, On Sale This Summer Fiat 500e: Environmentally Sexy? Italian Marketing In Action Like an earlier announced program with the BMW i3, Fiat has decided that purchasers of their upcoming Fiat 500e need a little extra security when it comes to long distance outings. 2014 Fiat 500E Interior Fiat North America chief Tim Kuniskis says that all new Fiat 500e will als... By Jay Cole General - Apr 1 2013 -
