motors

Chevrolet announced a five-year investment in 16 carbon-dioxide-reducing, ranging from biomass to wind turbines. Progress on the projects will be documented in videos over the next two months so the public can watch.

The automaker will spend up to $40 million on the projects to prevent up to 4.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, a little more than half of the goal of 8 million metric tons, from entering the air, Chevrolet said in a press release.

One project replaces natural gas with renewable biomass--mostly waste wood--to heat gardening plant greenhouses at Metrolina Greenhouse in Huntersville, N.C.… Read more

Tesla Motors today said it has secured supply of battery cells from Panasonic for its Model S electric sedan, a move Tesla says will allow it to meet its cost targets.

Through the supply agreement, Panasonic will make enough lithium ion battery cells for 80,000 electric vehicles over the next four years, according to Tesla.

The Model S will use a line of batteries developed by Panasonic and Tesla specifically for electric vehicles. The collaboration came out of a deal between the two companies in 2009, in which Panasonic supplied battery cells, the components that go into battery packs, … Read more

eBay's dedicated Motors mobile app is fast becoming a sort of entertainment channel for gear heads. The auction company launched an original automotive series to get car shoppers to spend even more time researching, dreaming of, and shopping for vehicles on eBay Motors online and on their mobile devices.

Hosted by former 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and FIA GT2 World Champion Justin Bell, the "World's Fastest Car Show" will tackle auto adventures, interview auto enthusiast celebrities, and take a peek inside crave-worthy car collections. A new show will premiere each week on eBay's Web site, and a shorter version will be available in the eBay Motors mobile app. But the app is expected to get additional exclusive content and sneak previews of future episodes before they're made available online.

It turns out that shopping for cars on mobile phones is quite a popular pastime, and by offering up even more car porn, eBay is attracting a growing base of current or future car shoppers. Approximately 2,000 vehicles sell on eBay's iPhone app every week, and as of this posting, eBay Motors is the most popular free Lifestyle app on iTunes, beating out Groupon and Victoria's Secret Pink. … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--In 20 years, a majority of new cars will be electric and the world's single largest source of energy will be solar power, Tesla Motors and SpaceX founder Elon Musk said today.

Speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference here, the 40-year-old billionaire co-founder of PayPal shared his vision of the future, and also gave the room full of would-be entrepreneurs some sobering advice about what they should expect when trying to get companies off the ground.

"Expect it to be difficult," Musk said. "A friend phrased it well: 'Starting a company is like eating glass … Read more

The 2012 Buick Verano small luxury sedan, which will roll into showrooms later this year, will have a starting price of $23,470 including $885 in destination charges.

The 2012 Verano was announced at the Detroit auto show in January.

"Verano is a great new addition to Buick because it expands the brand's reach," Tony DiSalle, U.S. vice president of Buick Marketing said in a press release. "With Verano, we're inviting new customers into the Buick family, giving us the opportunity and privilege of building longtime Buick loyalty."

The Verano will compete with … Read more

General Motors just opened a new $200 million, diesel engine plant in Rayong, Thailand.

The new engine plant, which is adjacent to the GM's vehicle manufacturing plant, will employ 500 workers and have the capability to manufacture about 120,000 engines per year.

GM expects to source $94 million worth of Thai-built components for the production of engines at its Rayong facility by 2012, the company said in a press release.

The first engines to be manufactured at the facility are for the new Chevy Colorado pickup. GM revealed the Colorado Show pickup at the Bangkok International Motor Show … Read more

Way back in the early days of 2011, the world's smallest electric motor was so...big. At 200 nanometers wide, it was a whopping 1/300th the size of a human hair.

Now, chemists at Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences have smashed that record, which was set in 2005, with this weekend's unveiling of their single-molecule electric motor, which at 1 nanometer wide could be the first in an entirely new class of devices with potential use in medicine and engineering.

That's right: 1 nanometer. That's been estimated to be about 1/60,… Read more

The Chevy Camaro Facebook fan page boasts 1.8 million followers--that's the same as the population of West Virginia.

According to Chevy, about 60 percent of these fans are between the ages of 18 and 34--just the target market the company is going for.

Camaro's many followers could be, in part due to the Camaro Convertible released earlier this year and the limited-edition Camaro models.

The amount of Camaro's Facebook fans not only outnumbers Chevy's parent company, but also several other automakers. As of today, General Motors has 285,773 fans. Ford Motor has 854,991 … Read more

Let's start with a bit of a confession. Despite having reviewed quite a few OnStar-equipped vehicles from automakers under the General Motors flag, I rarely, if ever, reach up to press that little blue "On" button while driving. There's just something about asking for directions that just doesn't sit right with me. So, it's a bit ironic that my first major immersion into the OnStar ecosystem happened in a Ford vehicle equipped with the OnStar FMV.

The OnStar FMV ("For My Vehicle") is a universal, standalone OnStar receiver that replaces the rearview … Read more