Hybrids and green

Less than $19,000, the Toyota Prius C is everything you want in your Prius, but smaller.

The E-Bugster concept from VW is an electric car that uses a tablet for its infotainment system, and an electric motor to drive the wheels.

At the 2012 Detroit auto show, CNET's Wayne Cunningham takes a look at how Toyota is incorporating plug-in technology into future cars.

A First Look at the 2012 Coda Sedan, the workman's electric car.

There's no need to worry: the departure of two Tesla executives was a planned transition that happened sooner than expected, company Chief Executive Elon Musk said today on an early morning investor call.

News that Peter Rawlinson, Tesla's vice president and chief engineer, and Nick Swanson, who supervised vehicle and chassis engineering, left the electric-car startup before the launch of the Model S sent the stock price plummeting almost 20 percent on Friday. Musk assured conference call listeners that Tesla wasn't trying to "dump news into the weekend." Rather, he said, he had made the … Read more

Get a hands-on look at Nissan's electric utility vehicle.

Researchers are working on a lithium air battery that will make electric vehicles as practical as internal combustion cars are today.

For all the leaps and advances electric vehicles have made in the last couple of years, they still have a way to go before they become practical enough or cheap enough to be the typical family car. But IBM is working on a battery that will put an end to range anxiety, able to power a vehicle for 500 miles.

IBM researchers at four of the technology giant's laboratories are testing a lithium air battery. Dubbed the Battery500 Project, … Read more

Green Car Journal announced five finalists for the publication's annual Green Car Vision Award. The award recognizes innovations in fuel efficiency, low emissions, alternative fuels, or electric power.

To be considered for the Green Car Vision Award, vehicles must be in demonstration on public highways today or nearing commercialization but not yet widely available to consumers, Green Car Journal said in a press release.

The five finalists include the BMW i3, the Cadillac ELR, the Ford's C-MAX Energi, the Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-Cell, and the Tesla Model S.

The 2012 Green Car Vision Award winner will be announced at … Read more

LAS VEGAS--The last thing I expected to do on my arrival in the city for CES 2012 was to take a quick drive in the Fisker Karma.

But as I walked out of the hotel near the Las Vegas Convention Center, there was the car, in all of its curvaceous, green glory, parked at the curb. A quick talk with the Fisker rep on hand, and soon I was in the driver's seat of this new-series hybrid car, models of which are just beginning to roll off the production line.

Looking around the cabin, I was surprised at the lack of leather, a typical lining for the innards of any high-end luxury car. Instead, surfaces were covered in a variety of thick, soft fabrics. This model was in Eco Chic trim, which keeps the animal carcasses away from passengers. Even the bits of wood trim in the car come from reclaimed sources, the remnants of a wildfire in Southern California and salvaged from the bottom of Lake Michigan, according to the Fisker rep accompanying me.

A 10.3-inch touch screen filled the center dashboard, and the instrument cluster was an LCD panel showing virtual gauges. The drive selector was like none I've ever seen before, four buttons in a crystalline structure like something from "Doctor Who."… Read more