Free Republic

Our fuel-based economy must be radically overhauled if Europe is to achieve its ambitious emission reduction targets. ... In practice, this means that the car is intelligent, and provides the driver with braking tips based on traffic flows and advice on the best route to limit energy use. Up to 30 % of energy can be saved this way, without losing much time along the way. ...

Electric cars aren't selling nearly as well as many predicted. Why is that? Research suggests a host of reasons—including a basic lack of familiarity, a high price tag, misconceptions about the cars—and ineffective government incentives. Consider the lack of familiarity. In a survey by researchers from Indiana University and the University of Kansas, respondents couldn't correctly answer basic factual questions about plug-in electric vehicles more than 60% of the time. Some 75% of wrong answers underestimated the beneficial aspects of the vehicles. The survey, the most exhaustive on consumer perceptions of electric cars in recent years, was published in the...

As drivers Nick Heidfeld and Nicolas Prost approached one of the final turns, Prost — attempting to prevent Heidfeld from taking the lead — collided with him, sending Heidfeld's car flying over one of the track dividers. Luckily, Heidfeld emerged from the crash looking mostly no worse for wear. But he immediately rushed over to confront Prost on the track, proving that the dangerous racing tradition of on-track bluster continues, despite last month's tragic accident involving Tony Stewart. "I have a small pain in my calf," Heidfeld said in a statement on the Formula E website. "But apart from that,...

From the start, little has been typical about Tesla Motors' plan for a $5 billion factory to make batteries for a new generation of electric cars. It's not just the project's massive scale, the cutting-edge technology, or even the bonanza of 6,500 good-paying jobs. It's how Tesla is deciding where to build. Through a series of unusual plays, Tesla has five states bidding up subsidy packages to land the coveted plant. The winner is expected to offer the luxury car-maker publicly financed incentives exceeding a half-billion dollars.

FREMONT -- Tesla Motors, which is on a mission to bring electric cars to the masses, now has another goal -- to become a leading employer of America's military veterans. "We want to be known throughout the veteran community as a great place to work," Arnnon Geshuri, Tesla's vice president of human resources, said in an interview. "Veterans are a great source of talent for Tesla, and we're going after it." "Tesla has risen to the top" among companies known for creating veteran-friendly workplaces, said Ted Daywalt, president and CEO of VetJobs, the nation's leading military job board. "They have...

Four years have passed since President Obama visited Kansas City's main airport, rolled up his shirt sleeves and admonished the skeptics who said Smith Electric Vehicles was unlikely to make good on its promises to build 510 experimental electric-powered trucks and buses suitable for commercial use. “Come see what’s going on at Smith Electric," the president said, inspecting a table full of bright green truck batteries in what was once a maintenance hangar for TWA. "I think they’re going to be hard-pressed to tell you that you’re not better off than you would be if we hadn’t made the investments...

Beatrice17 wrote: First of all, the USPS is NOT a government organization, but a private business. (sigh). Second, the USPS does NOT photograph every piece of mail. (sigh) It does run it thru multiple scanners. One is a bio scanner - developed since the "white powder" scare - that can locate poisons, etc. Another is a zip code scanner, to electronically put zip codes on the mail so that it can be electronically sorted. This saves time and money... except when your Grammy writes so illegibly that her letter has to be kicked out and a real live human has...

<p>Testing by AAA has found that how far an electric vehicle can travel on one charge varies widely depending on the weather. Frigid temperatures can reduce that distance by 57%.</p> <p>The research is important to the Automobile Club of Southern California because it maintains mobile recharging trucks for people who misjudge how far they can go in their electric car.</p>

There are two electric cars on the market that have received a lot of attention in the media. One is GM's Chevy Volt and the other is the Tesla Model S. Extravagant claims have been made by both manufacturers to have us believe that these that these automobiles are practical and economical to drive. As we shall see, that is not really true when one takes into account all the factors which contribute to the total operating cost of each of these two vehicles. Chevy VoltThe manufacturer claims that "The Chevy Volt is the most fuel-efficient car with a gasoline...

In 2010, President Obama said he wanted 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015. They won't be there, and it wouldn't matter if they were. A nation full of electric cars will make no ecological difference. So what if nearly half of us were driving EDVs (hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicles) by 2050? Wouldn't that mean a cleaner environment? After all, it's those fossil-fuel-burning dinosaurs that are ruining the world, isn't it? Not necessarily. A recent North Carolina State University study "indicates that even a sharp increase in the use of electric drive passenger vehicles (EDVs)...

The growing popularity of environmentally friendly motoring in America has led to a new phenomenon, “charge rage”, as the owners of electric cars compete for places to plug in their cars. While the owners of electric cars may care about climate change, they appear to be less solicitous of their fellow ecologically-motivated motorists. Angry notes have been left on windscreens and drivers have returned to their cars to find that they have been unplugged.

More plug-in electric cars were sold in the US than ever before in their third year of sales. The 2013 total of roughly 90,000 electric vehicles didn't quite double the 2012 total of about 53,000,  but the numbers seem likely to grow again this year.

The maximum amount of credits goes to a car that can go 300 miles and refuel to 95% of capacity within 15 minutes. The Tesla Model S falls short on range and, especially, on refuelling time. .... And so the joke begins. At the end of 2012, Californai decided that they needed a way to account for the Model S' ability to do a 90-second battery swap. This effectively meant it was refuelling a lot faster than its 15 minutes target, and to 100% capacity to boot. So the cancelled version remained at 4 credits, but the short-range version was...

Here's a weird twist in the brave new world of electric cars: A driver ended up in jail on theft charges after plugging into a school's outlet without permission. The kicker: He got maybe 5 cents worth of juice for his trouble, reports 11Alive. The mess began when Kaveh Kamooneh drove to his son's middle school in Chamblee, Ga., to watch his kid play tennis. He spotted an exterior outlet and plugged in his Nissan Leaf, only to get stopped by a police officer after about 20 minutes. The officer filed a report, and police showed up on Kamooneh's doorstep...

The California Air Resources Board is reportedly considering a new plan to help transportation for low earners: buying them cars. The agency would like to give those of low income a voucher to buy energy-efficient vehicles like the Nissan Leaf, which has a sticker price of $21,000. The board currently gives drivers $1,000 to $1,500 to get rid of their older vehicles in an attempt to curb carbon emissions; there is a second program that gives up to $4,000 depending on the vehicles involved.

What do the poor need most? Jobs? Nah. In Governor Moonbeam’s California they need free electric cars.Free means that you’ll be paying for them. Even if you’re not a California resident, there will probably be Federal money involved. “The California Air Resources Board is now embarking on a program that would help poor people buy energy-efficient vehicles. In one scenario posed by the agency, a “voucher” might even pay the full price for a Nissan Leaf, an electric car with an MSRP above $21,000, or for used cars with lower price tags.” But it only stands to reason. If...

When it comes to resale value, electric vehicles don’t hold their charge. Electric cars lead our list of the cars and trucks that lose their value faster than average. Also ranking poorly are some big-ticket luxury cars, and, not surprisingly, older, lame-duck vehicles that are late in their product life cycle and about to be replaced. On a list of predicted residual values for 2013 models produced by ALG Inc., the bottom three examples are the battery powered Nissan Leaf; the Lincoln MKS, a more upscale, expensive cousin to the Ford Taurus; and the Mercedes-Benz CL Class, a two-door version...

The federal government announced on Tuesday that it had opened an investigation into two recent battery fires in the Tesla Motors Model S sedan. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s decision came amid public speculation over the electric car’s safety and the battery pack’s design after reports of three fires in six weeks. Two of the fires occurred on American highways when the cars hit debris in the road. A third, in Mexico, took place after a high-speed crash into a wall and a tree. The drivers in all three incidents were unhurt. Tesla also said late on Monday that...

French President François Hollande hailed “a new industrial revolution” in inaugurating Friday a new lithium battery plant built by the Bolloré group, which manufactures the Bluecar made popular by France’s electric-car sharing scheme. … Earlier in the day, as he attended an environmental conference in Paris, Hollande vowed to halve energy consumption in France by 2050 and cut fossil fuels by 30% by 2030. The French president has also made electric cars “a priority.” …

Germany hopes to put one million electric cars on the roads by 2020, but just 3,000 have been sold this year. A study released on Tuesday casts doubt on sales projections. Electric cars have been among the highlights of the IAA motorshow in Frankfurt which opened last week. New models include the BMW’s i3. … Researchers argue that the best scenario for electric cars is for the price of batteries and energy to decrease, while diesel and petrol gets more expensive. …