Kia Naimo electric concept debuts in Seoul [video]

Korean brand Kia has unveiled the new Naimo electric car concept at the 2011 Seoul Motor Show today.The Naimo's name is derived from the Korean word 'Ne-mo' which means 'square shape'. And this is one concept which isn't running away from its boxy design. It features no B-pillar and rear-hinged doors.But the design of the Naimo is influenced by Asian...

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Nissan announce LEAF pricing for France

Nissan announced today that the Nissan LEAF will be priced at €30,990 in France, after incentives and including the batteries. The French government's incentive for electric vehicles amounts to 5,000 euros. The announcement was made at the sixth edition of EVER Monaco, an annual automotive show dedicated to ecological vehicles and renewable energies...

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Arrest in Renault spy fiasco

A further arrest has been made in a spying scandal that has seriously damaged the reputation of Renault.The move comes after an investigation by French police concluded that three of Renault’s top executives, fired in January after being accused of selling information on the brand’s electric car programme, are completely innocent.Private investigator...

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Newey vows to correct KERS problems

Red Bull design guru Adrian Newey has vowed to crack the issues that led to a "stressful" Australian Grand Prix weekend, despite Sebastian Vettel's stunning start to the new Formula One season.Vettel cruised to victory by 22 seconds in Sunday's curtain-raiser at Melbourne's Albert Park after crushing his rivals in qualifying for the ideal opening to...

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Audi A5 e-tron quattro plug-in hybrid prototype

Audi is going the PSA (Peugeot Citroën) route in developing a hybrid system that doubles as an all-wheel drive conversion kit.This is the A5 e-tron Quattro plug-in hybrid which matches a 2.0 liter TFSI engine with 211 PS (155 kW / 208 bhp) with two electric motors, one on each axle, that makes this A5 an all-electric capable vehicle.The electric motor...

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BBC denies rigging Top Gear Tesla Roadster test

Tesla Motors claims the test set up by Jeremy Clarkson on a 2008 edition of the show was rigged to make it look like the Tesla ran out of power when racing a petrol powered Lotus.A Top Gear spokesman said the BBC would be "vigorously defending" the claim.On the programme Jeremy Clarkson claimed: "Although Tesla say it'll do 200 miles, we worked out...

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Obama boosts Hybrid and EV sales with federal auto fleet, oil strategy

President Barack Obama announced today that the U.S. government will buy only advanced technology vehicles — such as hybrids and electric plug-ins — by 2015.The government already has doubled the number of hybrids in the 600,000-vehicle federal fleet.At a speech at Georgetown University, Obama unveiled his strategy to cut U.S. oil imports by a third...

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Report predicts 3.8 million electric cars on the road by 2016

A new report from GTM Research offers some interesting insights into where the electric road might lead. The report, “The Networked EV: The Convergence of Smart Grids and Electric Vehicles,” predicts there will be 3.8 million electric cars on the road worldwide by 2016, with about 1.5 million in the United States, 1.5 million in Europe and 760,000...

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SIM-Drive launch Wheel Motor powered EV with 200 mile range

SIM-Drive has developed the Advance Development Model No. 1 named “SIM-LEI” as its nickname. LEI stands for the initial letters of “Leading Efficiency In-Wheel motor”. The object of this project is to develop a prototype of the advanced development model aiming to start mass-production in 2013. This project collected 34 establishments and organizations...

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Tesla sues BBC over "rigged" Top Gear electric car test [video]

Remember that time Top Gear gave the Tesla Roadster such a thrashing it broke, except it really didn't break? Tesla does, and it's now filed suit against the BBC and Top Gear accusing the Beeb of defamation.The test from the episode aired in December, 2008 involved a race between the Tesla Roadster and the gas-powered Lotus Elise it's based on. The show featured Jeremy Clarkson saying the Tesla ran out of charge at 55 miles, with footage of it being pushed around a garage, ending with Clarkson saying "It's just a shame that in the real world it...

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Volvo C30 Electric Extreme Winter Testing [video]

The Volvo C30 Electric has been exposed to rough winter conditions in order to ensure that the battery-powered car runs smoothly in temperatures as low as -20° Celsius.Volvo Cars' requirements on the C30 Electric are just as stringent as on all other Volvo models and the battery-powered car is exposed to the same test regime. On top of this, several new test methods have been developed for the electric vehicles. All in all, over 200 different tests have been performed."We must ensure that the C30 Electric performs as intended when driving, parking...

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Petrol and Diesel cars could be banned in EU by 2050

Petrol and diesel-engined passenger cars should not allowed in European city centres by 2050, the European Commission has proposed.The proposals, outlined to EU governments today by EC transport commissioner Siim Kallas, are designed to help cut Europe’s carbon emissions and reduce dependence on oil by up to 60 per cent. They are not an attack on personal...

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EV Motor company Remy files for IPO of up to $100 million

Auto parts maker Remy International Inc filed with U.S. regulators on Friday for an initial public offering of $100 million.The Pendleton, Indiana-based company, which makes and sells starter motors, alternators and hybrid electric motors among other parts, plans to list under the symbol "RMYI," according to the filing. It has yet to pick a stock exchange...

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Red Bull 'must have' KERS by Malaysian Grand Prix

Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner thinks his team will need to get its KERS up and running in the Malaysian Grand Prix if it wants to maintain its winning start to the season.Reliability issues with its hybrid power system in practice for the Australian Grand Prix resulted in the team electing to disengage it for the remainder of the weekend -...

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NEW 2011 FORD RANGER DESIGN

2011 FORD RANGERThe first impression when I saw the appearance or face all-new Ford Ranger when its envelope is opened, the pickup is now more smooth or sweet. Rough impression is reduced. It is recognized by Graig Metros as the Head of Design of All-New 2011 Ford Ranger in a special interview with Indonesian journalists. He also said this when explaining...

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PORSCHE 918 HYBRID PLUG-IN REVIEWS

PORSCHE 918 HYBRID Porsche today announced that they started selling the Porsche 918 Hybrid, which serve as the exclusive production. Exclusivity supercar Porsche hybrid plug-in is seen in terms of numbers. The number of cars will be manufactured in accordance with the serial number of the model, which only 918 units. The price...

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EVs push Detroit to compete with Silicon Valley for tech talent

Auto industry executives are trying to make Silicon Valley engineers feel at home in Detroit. With a burgeoning number of technology job openings to fill, they're scouring Internet companies for workers, wining and dining applicants, and seeking promising students at schools such as Stanford University."We have a whole slew of job postings out there...

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Red Bull outwit rival F1 teams with Start-Only KERS? UPDATE [video]

Red Bull are thought to have a mini-Kers system they use only at the race start. This allows them to defend their position at the start without some of the disadvantages of a full KERS system. A fully optimised KERS provides an average performance boost of 0.3 seconds a lap by harvesting energy that would have been wasted during braking, storing it in batteries and then reapplying it during acceleration.But the system's power is limited by the regulations and the heavy batteries and other parts create packaging and weight distribution problems....

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Fully Charged Delta E4 coupe [video]

Robert Llewellyn takes an exclusive first ride in the Delta E4 coupe electric car with technical director Nick Carpen...

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A Hot Lap of Laguna Seca in a Chevy Volt [video]

The Chevy Volt is completely at home barreling down a race track - in EV mode. The track is Laguna Se...

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EV Aircraft ELEKTRA ONE performs first 30 min flight [video]

The Elektra One EV aircraft performed the first flight on 19 Mar. 2011 at the Augsburg Airport in Germany. Jon Karkow, an well known test pilot and aircraft engineer performed the first flight. Flight characteristics and engne parameter were tested. The ultra lightweight aircraft weighs just 220 pounds, plus an additional 220 pound battery pack. With...

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Tata starts electric car production in UK

Indian manufacturer Tata has started production of electric cars in the UK. The firm, which owns Jaguar Land Rover, has taken on 23 people to help build 1,500 Vista models.The vehicle has a predicted range of up to 120 miles (200km), and manages 0-60 kmph in under 10 seconds, a spokesman said. It will cost between £25,000 to £30,000 with a £5,000 reduction...

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Ford won't lease EV batteries [video]

Ford’s forthcoming electric Focus will be sold in the same way as a conventional car, meaning its battery pack will be included as standard.Ford’s UK managing director Nigel Sharp said the company would not consider leasing the Focus’s lithium-ion battery pack separately to sale: “We’re waiting to see how the market reacts to other electric cars, but we are sure leasing batteries is not the way to go, even if it would bring the initial price down," he said. "The Focus must be sold as a conventional car would be."The electric Focus is the flagship...

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Toyota Prius V launch delayed in Japan due to earthquake

Toyota Motor Corp. has delayed the Japan launch of its new wagon-style Prius in the wake of the parts shortage triggered by this month's earthquake.The company had planned to start selling the car in Japan by the end of April. But that date has been pushed back, spokeswoman Mieko Iwasaki said.She was unable to say when the new launch date would be....

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Toyota to restart hybrid vehicle output in Japan

Toyota Motor Corp said it would restart production of three hybrid models after a massive earthquake this month disrupted output across the industry.Production will resume for the Prius, Lexus HS250h and CT200h at the Tsutsumi factory in central Japan and Toyota Motor Kyushu in the south, spokeswoman Shiori Hashimoto said.All 18 factories that assemble...

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2011 TOYOTA COROLLA ALTIS REVIEWS

Toyota is secretly planning to launch the Corolla Altis facelift this year. Cars which became the best-selling Toyota sedan was getting fresh with new faces and new machinery that is 1600 cc. As quoted from CAR India, Toyota Corolla Altis plans release Toyota facelift in April 2011 in India. Altis will experience a change in design stop lamp is decorated...

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Electrode lets lithium batteries charge in just two minutes

Batteries can't move charge as quickly as some competing devices like supercapacitors, and their performance tends to degrade significantly with time. That has sent lots of materials science types into the lab, trying to find ways to push back these limits, sometimes with notable success. Over the weekend, there was another report on a technology that...

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Nissan LEAF EV Now Available at Santa Monica Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Enterprise Rent-A-Car now offers customers the Nissan LEAF electric vehicle (EV) for daily and weekly rental at its 1702 Santa Monica Blvd. rental location in Santa Monica. Enterprise also has installed a charging station at the same location through Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) manufacturer ClipperCreek."We're making the Nissan LEAF available...

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Fisker Karma Enters Production in Finland

Three years after it was concieved, Fisker Automotive’s first car hit production yesterday. The Fisker Karma is being produced under contract by Valmet Automotive – the company that also build Porsche AG – at the Valmet plant in Uusikaupunki, Finland.The Karma is powered by Fisker’s Q-DRIVE system, which constitutes two 201 HP electric motors powered...

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Norwegian Post 1st Customer for Ford Transit EV in Europe [video]

Ford Motor Company and Azure Dynamics announce that Norwegian Post becomes the first European customer of the Ford Transit Connect Electric with order of 20 unitsThe all-electric, zero-emission Ford Transit Connect Electric van has a targeted range of up to 130km (80 miles) per full charge, and is ideal for fleet owners with well-defined routesTransit Connect Electric is the first of five new electrified vehicles Ford is bringing to market in Europe by 2013, including the Ford Focus Electric debuting next yearFord and Azure Dynamics Corporation...

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Nissan Begins Delivery of Leaf to UK Customers

Nissan today began deliveries of the first 100% electric, mass produced, affordable family car, the Nissan LEAF, to customers in the UK. Smooth FM DJ Mark Goodier and electronics engineer Richard Todd took delivery of their Nissan LEAFs today at Glyn Hopkin Nissan in Waltham Abbey, Hertfordshire. This groundbreaking moment represents the start of...

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