The unveiling of futuristic concept cars is partly what makes major international auto shows so much fun. These outlandish vehicles ask the public to re-imagine the core idea of what a vehicle is supposed to do—and the essential relationship between car and driver. The Rinspeed microMAX, which will be displayed at this month’s Geneva Motor Show, is as provocative as (more…)

Solar energy company SolarCity and automaker Honda have joined forces to increase access to solar power for their customers. The partnership establishes an investment fund to finance $65 million in solar projects to assist Honda and Acura (Honda’s luxury division) customers with the initial cost of solar power installation. Millions of Honda and Acura customers (more…)

A lot of people have been waiting to get behind the wheel of an electric vehicle since the 1980s. But what was once promised to consumers as an extremely economical way to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and help conserve the environment turned into another green movement pipe dream. While the talk about electric vehicles was full of hope, (more…)

This proposal involves a simple synergy of government incentives and distributed energy storage applications. But first, I’d like to briefly discuss some of the issues that this solution addresses.

The Issues

Climate Change (more…)

Here’s a piece of idiotic reporting on electric vehicles that I thought I’d share. Apparently, a survey shows that current EV customers are quite happy with their purchase, but a large number of non-EV drivers (the report doesn’t quantify this) don’t like the concept, insofar as it’s expensive and inconvenient. (more…)

I have been driving a Chevy VOLT for a year and a half. I have more than 26,000 miles on it, and have used 100 gallons of gasoline. That works out to more than 250 mpg. Of course, I have been charging the VOLT at home every night, and at the office during the day but my electric bills at both places are not noticeably higher. It would be nice if the electric range were a bit longer (more…)

It’s not every day that you see an electric vehicle driving down the street. Certainly for me, I don’t see electric vehicles parked in the garage of my building. So, when given the opportunity to test drive the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, I jumped at it. I always wondered what it would be like to drive an electric vehicle on the streets and freeways of San Diego. (more…)

The BMW i3 represents one of the biggest parts of the manufacturer’s Project i series, which is focusing on electric city cars. The i3 is expected to be released in 2013, and converts what has been a long process of developing all electric vehicles at BMW into a reality. The i series cars, which will be marketed separately from other BMW marques, are primarily defined by their all electric drivetrains, zero emissions, and (more…)

Here’s a consumer-oriented piece from the U.S. Department of Energy: 10 Things You Didn’t Know about Electric Vehicles. Nicely done.

There are a couple of issues with EVs, however, that make this a trickier issue than the article implies:

• Even though the fuel savings versus gasoline are significant, (more…)

Here’s a cool infographic called “The Fastest Electric Vehicles on Earth” that I thought readers would enjoy. What they say here is certainly true: we tend to think of EVs as slow, glorified golf carts. Yet those of us who have driven a Tesla have quite a different impression; they’re little rockets, with better acceleration than Porsches. (more…)