'electric vehicle'

Everything is come up roses for the all-electric Nissan Leaf.

The Environmental Protection Agency just named the Leaf best in the midsize vehicle class for fuel efficiency and best for the environment.

The EPA tested the Leaf for an MPGe, or MPG equivalency, rating. After five-cycle tests using varying driving conditions and climate controls, the EPA gave the Leaf a rating of 106 city, 92 highway for a combined 99 MPGe. The EPA's formula of 33.7kW-hrs being equivalent to one gallon of gasoline energy, Nissan said in a press release.

The 99 MPGe rating will be added to … Read more

Tesla got a great deal on the NUMMI plant in its deal with Toyota this year, but what does Toyota get out of it? At the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show, Toyota let us know, pulling the wraps off of its RAV4 EV Concept powered by Tesla. However, the EV wasn't the production-bound model that many were expecting. Rather, what we were shown was more of a stepping stone to a more complete vehicle that may come later.

To call the RAV4 EV a glorified test mule would be understating things a bit. Then again, the concept is built … Read more

Every year at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Green Car Journal crowns one new car the Green Car of the Year. This year that vehicle is the 2011 Chevrolet Volt.

In previous years, this honor has gone to vehicles as varied as the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid to Toyota's Prius, while the last two years have been dominated by Volkswagen and Audi's TDI vehicles. This year, Chevrolet brings it back to the electric camp with its solution to what GM calls range anxiety: a range extended EV powertrain that starts as an electric, but features a gasoline engine that … Read more

Toyota Motor unveiled big plans for staying in front in clean-car technology as rivals race to play catch-up, saying it would launch 11 new hybrids and a rechargeable Prius that may cost as little as $36,000.

Having dominated the hybrid field for more than a decade with the iconic Prius and 13 other models so far, the world's top automaker has won a reputation as the most advanced car maker in next-generation technology.

But with governments tightening environmental and fuel economy standards, competitors are turning up the heat with new technologies including battery electric cars and "range … Read more

Nissan plans to release three new electric vehicles within the next four years, according to an article in the Detroit News. Following the Leaf will be a commercial electric vehicle, a luxury sports car, and small urban vehicle.

Blurry sketches of Infiniti's proposed electric sports car were released on Facebook last month, but other than its proposed release date of 2013, details of the vehicle are scarce. However, the Japanese carmaker recently revealed its Nissan New Mobility Concept--a small electric vehicle for urban use--which could be the basis for the compact urban vehicle in question.

In its news statement, … Read more

Japan's three largest automakers are making a push to extend their alternative-fuel power train offerings in the next two years.

Toyota Motor will bring two electric and six hybrid-electric models to market in the next 24 months, including a plug-in Toyota Prius. Lexus will move into entry-luxury with the CT 200h hybrid hatchback in 2011.

Nissan Motor will launch the all-electric Nissan Leaf sedan in five markets in December. Infiniti will introduce the M35h hybrid next spring and an all-electric four-seater in late 2012 or early 2013.

Honda Motor engineers are working on a hybrid platform for such large … Read more

If you are in a major metropolitan area next summer, you'll be able to check out the BMW ActiveE.

The announcement that BMW will put 450 of the electric vehicles on U.S. roads was made today at the Opportunity Green conference in Los Angeles.

Metropolitan markets BMW plans field tests include the New York area, the Los Angeles area, San Diego, San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Boston, and select markets in Connecticut.

Labeled a "Megacity Vehicle," the ActiveE was first spotted at the 2010 Detroit auto show earlier this year.

The ActiveE, which has a reported … Read more

Saab will unveil its first-ever electric vehicle prototype, the 9-3 ePower, at the Paris Motor Show, October 2 to 17.

The 9-3 ePower is the prototype for a test fleet of 70 vehicles that Saab plans to have in field trials in Sweden early next year, the company said in a news release.

With a projected driving range of more than 100 miles, the 9-3 ePower runs on a 135 kW/184 hp electric motor and a 35.5 kWh lithium ion battery pack. It is able to go from 0 to 62 mph in 8.5 seconds, with a … Read more

What will happen when millions of electric vehicles plug into the grid at at the same time? If ZigBee Alliance's blueprints for the SmartGrid go according to plan, not much.

The ugly specter of mass blackouts caused by hoards of EVs rolling into garages and plugging in at the same time is just one of the many arguments EV detractors use against electric vehicles and plug-ins. But EV adoption is inevitable, and the smart grid should make sure that energy loads will be balanced and shifted as needed to recharge them without causing widespread power failure. And eventually, ZigBee predicts, electric cars and plug-ins will become part of the energy solution supplying power to the grid.

But let's back up.

If you haven't heard of the ZigBee Alliance, you're not alone. Before I started this article, I'd never heard of it until I was forwarded one of its press releases. Named after a little-known Nordic elf that has nothing to do with wireless networks or energy, the ZigBee is a standard for wireless sensor networks on which the Smart Grid operates. "And the domain name was available," says Bob Heile, who is chairman of the curiously named group and one of the founders of 802.11.

More than 300 metering, computer, chip processing, electronics, and automotive companies are members the ZigBee Alliance. By incorporating ZigBee's technology in their products, many of these companies are laying the infrastructure that will enable utility companies, networked homes and buildings, and appliances to communicate wirelessly and automate metering as part of the smart grid. That includes electric vehicles.

Electric and plug-in vehicles will undoubtedly be a significant drain on the smart grid--each plugged-in EV has the equivalent drain of another house for hours at a time. But they're also uniquely designed to be able to give back.

"They are essentially batteries with wheels," says Heile. "Ultimately, long after the EV infrastructure is in place and consumers adopt them, there will be opportunities to load shift."

This means that at peak hours people can sell the energy stored in EV batteries back to utility companies. But don't think you can offset the cost of a new Nissan Leaf or Chevrolet Volt by becoming a homespun energy trader of sorts--that technology is still years away.

The typical EV and smart meter rhetoric goes something like, "You can charge your car overnight when electricity rates are cheaper." But the technology isn't entirely there to support that rational. Right now if you don't own a smart meter (you would know if you do) and you plug an EV into an outlet, it doesn't know what the device is or who it belongs to, or when to charge it other than right now. But in the future, it will know who you are by the car you drive so that when you charge at a friend's house, you'll get the bill. Or so the theory goes. … Read more