vehicles

Looking to breathe a bit of excitement into its electric vehicle efforts, Nissan will be putting its Leaf of the race track--if but in name alone.

Debuting at the 2011 New York auto show, the 100% electric Nissan Leaf Nismo RC (Racing Competition) prototype shares little more than its lithium-ion battery technology, general styling cues, and its name with the Nissan Leaf we're familiar with. The RC wheelbase is 3.9-inch shorter wheelbase, overall height has been chopped by 13.9 inches, and there are two fewer doors. However, the racer is 0.8 inches longer overall and 6.… Read more

Japanese electric car developer SIM-Drive says its SIM LEI prototype EV can travel 206 miles on a single charge in general urban traffic conditions, and 190 miles while going 62 mph.

"The prototype achieved...333 km of range per charge by JC-08 mode, which represents general urban traffic condition in Japan," the Kawasaki-based firm said in a release (PDF).

SIM-Drive's prototype was built with the cooperation of 34 groups and companies, including Mitsubishi Motors. The four-wheel drive SIM LEI has in-wheel motors.

The body design has low drag to reduce efficiency, and a top speed of about … Read more

The mantra for the California's Hydrogen Highway has been, "build it and they will come." That planned thoroughfare will soon see more zero-emission traffic now that the California Energy Commission (CEC) released funds for three new hydrogen refueling stations across the state.

Stations in Laguna Niguel, West Sacramento, and South San Francisco should come online in the next 18 months, and will eventually serve the fuel cell vehicles that manufacturers will produce starting in 2015. To ensure these stations aren't fly-by-night operations with all the curb appeal of a scrap yard, they are required to be … Read more

Kia debuted its electric car concept Naimo (pronounced "Neh-mo") at the 2011 Seoul Motor Show.

Named for its square shape, the Naimo looks a little like a scaled-down Pontiac Aztek without B-pillars. By using carriage doors and a hatchback, the four-seater maintains a small footprint with a length of just under 13 feet, putting its size somewhere between a Mini Cooper and a Mini Clubman. It also forgoes traditional windshield wipers, and instead uses a high-intensity air jet at the base of the windshield to blow off rain and water. You may have experienced similar technology at your … Read more

Almost from the very beginning seven decades ago, flying wings have been something of a specialty for the aircraft company founded by Jack Northrop.

The 1940s saw the XB-35 experimental aircraft. The late 1980s brought the B-2 bomber.

Now Northrop Grumman is pushing ahead with the X-47B UCAS (for unmanned combat air system), a prototype going through its fledgling stage en route to the goal of demonstrating in 2013 that an unmanned, tailless, strike fighter-size aircraft can land on and take off from an aircraft carrier.

Earlier this month, the X-47B made just the second and third flights (from dry … Read more

If you're ready to move on to the greener pastures of fuel cell technology, geography is the single biggest factor limiting your ability to drive a hydrogen-powered vehicle. Although no fuel-cell vehicles are available for sale at this time, a handful of auto manufacturers have opened their hydrogen-testing programs to the public. But it's not an open-door policy; you have to qualify.

Car makers typically partner with universities, commercial fleets, or government agencies to get feedback on their technology platforms while working out the bugs. These organizations often have access to private hydrogen gas refueling stations, and can … Read more

There are cars that were born for the track and those that have absolutely no business there. The 2011 Chevrolet Volt is one of the latter. But when given the opportunity to lap Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in GM's newest electrified vehicle, we jumped at the opportunity.

Imagine, for a moment, pushing your favorite dull midsize sedan (say a Toyota Camry or Chevy Malibu) at 8/10ths around your favorite back road with all of the understeer, body roll, and middling power-to-weight ratio. It's unoffensive, but few would call the experience "fun." This is the starting … Read more

The phrase "fill 'er up" is being redefined for the age of robotic aircraft.

Northrop Grumman said yesterday that in a flight test earlier this year, it took a big step closer to an eventual autonomous aerial refueling between unmanned aerial vehicles as part of the $33 million DARPA KQ-X program.

In the "risk reduction flight test," which took place January 21, a Global Hawk UAV from NASA played the role of the aerial tanker, and Northrop Grumman's Proteus test aircraft--a manned UAV surrogate, we should point out--was the one in search of the refueling … Read more

GENEVA--Fisker Automotive plans to use its recently acquired plant in Delaware in part to build vehicles for other automakers.

The start-up automaker plans to use only one-third of an installed 300,000 units of capacity at a former General Motors plant in Wilmington, Del., for its vehicles, which will be built there in late 2012.

"We want to offer this manufacturing capacity to other OEMs," Fisker COO Bernhard Koehler told Automotive News on the sidelines of the Geneva auto show.

Fisker is spending $120 million on the Delaware plant and, within the next two years, will expand its … Read more