electric cars

KBB picks: Honda Insight, Ford Escape hybrid and Chevy Volt

Cheapest to own hybrid after 5 year according to KBB

Best hybrid and plug-in deals after 5 years of ownership

Kipplingers, Forbes, Intellichoice, Consumer Reports, US News & World Reports, etc. have all offered up best and most cost-effective vehicle lists in recent months, and it’s sometimes a little surprising the lack of consensus. Consequently, I’ve often wondered if there isn’t some sort of advertising-related objective.

Regardless, these lists are still interesting and usually useful for buyers, and the latest one comes from Kelly Blue Book. Read more…

Is $1 billion for a 100 mpg gasoline sedan an evil Republican plot?

Are we closer to 100 mpg gasoline cars than we think?

Couldn’t it also be a hybrid?

The other day I read a piece on AutoWeek slamming an idea from a Republican Congressman that I’ve never heard of that is apparently part of an evil plan by the entire Republican Party — even those few that actually helped make plug-in tax credits a reality — to crush the whole idea of increased fuel economy. $1 billion for an automaker to develop a 100 mpg gasoline sedan.

“It’s all pretend,” claimed author Davey G. Johnson.

Davey, Davey, Davey. So why then does Utah Professor of Mechanical Engineering Dan Adams disagree? Read more…

Hybrid and electric car buyers are just better

Go ahead and hate me for being intelligent and responsible

What’s the cost of not taking action?

Sure, the buyers of hybrid and electric cars don’t always make the most cost-effective choices, but many times their choices are best, even financially. For example, many hybrid cars make the best city cars and they can be far more cost-effective than non-hybrids. But even if hybrids and plug-ins are not always cost-effective, at least hybrid and plug-in buyers are taking action, at least they’re taking responsibility.

The rest of America just talks about taking action. Blah, blah, blah. Some day I’m gonna go on a diet, stop smoking, start investing, be a better person — starting tomorrow. Always tomorrow. Sure, we can all talk a big game, but few of us even show up on game day. Thus, despite some arrogance and elitism, maybe even some ignorance, hybrid and electric car buyers are still better than most other Americans. Read more…

Lutz: Peak oil, global warming myths; electrification real

Is fracking inherently so much more dangerous than foreign oil dependence?

The new world order of energy?

If you attended the recent Deloitte & Touche oil and gas conference in Houston, you were left with one realization, according to Bob Lutz of BMW, Chrysler, Ford, and GM fame: US energy independence is now a potential reality. Thanks to an oil and natural gas boom, something even Lutz didn’t believe in until listening to the experts at the conference, OPEC independence could be achieved “in a period of a few years”.

Similarly, Lutz still believes man-caused global warming is just as much a myth as peak oil has become.

Nevertheless, despite a lack of CO2 or peak oil worries, Lutz still believes electrification is inevitable, and it won’t need to be supported by the government, at least not long term. Read more…

China might have already won the plug-in vehicle revolution

2020: More e-bikes in China than cars in US

100 million electric vehicles strong and growing fast

Back as the Internet bubble was beginning to froth, I remember some very smart people making the argument that no one was ever going to challenge Microsoft without government intervention. The government didn’t need to create competition, I argued, the marketplace would take care of the problem and the Internet would lead the way.

Like the Internet, electrification is also an inevitable game changer, but just as Microsoft misjudged the Internet revolution, so too might major automakers and the government miscalculate the plug-in revolution.

In fact, China might have already biked its way into total plug-in domination. Read more…

Model X teased: What I wish it revealed about Tesla, plug-ins

The X plug-in SUV makes sense, but I'd like something more daring

Could a higher plug-in standard be set?

If you believe in the trickle down theory of technology, the Tesla Model X — teased today by Tesla — makes a lot of sense. A luxury electric SUV compliments Tesla’s Model S, creating greater scale, while enabling the company to better leverage the technologies it is outsourcing to the likes of Chrysler and Toyota, such as for the RAV4 EV.

But I think that as visionary as Tesla has been this early in the plug-in game, they’ve missed a big opportunity. Read more…

CARB’s BEVx to automakers: You don’t understand plug-in cars

The wrong kind of range extended plug-in through 2025?

Leaf, Plug-in Prius, and Volt all bad by design?

Not surprisingly the California Air Resources Board unanimously passed its Advanced Clean Cars (ACC) program for the technological requirements to meet emission requirements from 2015 – 2025. Under the plan, for instance, 1 out of 7 cars, or 15 percent of car sales, must be zero emission vehicles by 2025.

While the aggressive goals are an interesting conversation in and of themselves, what’s perhaps even more interesting is the new kind of plug-in that CARB is now expecting automakers to develop, the BEVx. Apparently, as far as CARB is concerned, technologies such as the Nissan Leaf, the Toyota Prius plug-in, and the Chevy Volt, just aren’t good enough. Read more…

Why the Chevy Volt will sell much better in 2012

Chevy Volt sales will spike in 2012.

HOV lane access will trump non-existent fire worries

Everyone that follows Chevy Volt and plug-in news closely knows that the fire concerns around the Volt’s battery pack have been blown out of proportion. I think even the politicians leading the charge in the Congressional investigation into the Volt know the Volt is safe. This is about politics and the NHTSA’s handling of its Volt crash testing.

Still, the Volt’s image has been tarnished and it is affecting sales in some areas, but 2012 will be a much better year for Volt sales than was 2011. Read more…

Bad PR – Fire concerns have definitely hurt the Chevy Volt

Volt reputation burned by a lack of honesty and transparency?

Will NHTSA’s safety stamp change that?

Is the Chevy Volt an Audi 5000? According to the AutomotiveNews, some Chevy dealers are not accepting their full allotment of Chevy Volts, citing limited demand. Of course, now that the NHTSA has given Volt safety a thumbs up, that sale’s story could quickly change.

Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Chevy Volt safety and fire concerns have tarnished the Volt brand, and that’s too bad, but is the damage just temporary? Read more…

Chevy Volt-gate over, at least as for as government is concerned

Volt-gate is over: The Volt is safe.

Neither Volt nor EVs pose greater fire risks

Today the government closed its case on an investigation into Chevy Volt fire risks, announcing that both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as well as the Obama Administration, consider the case closed following some minor updates by GM to further contain any potential for battery fires following a severe crash.

Perhaps more important, the NHTSA issued some new protocols for first responders, as well as announced that “consumers, the emergency response community, and tow truck operators and storage facilities” need better education regarding the different “attributes” of plug-in vehicles. Read more…