Batteries

Over the past 24 hours, rumors began circulating that Tesla would announce details of its anticipated merger with SolarCity today. And lo, the rumors have proven true: this morning on the Tesla blog, the automaker posted information about the massive, $2.6 billion deal. The two companies have...Read More»

Earlier this week, most of the internet realized that the rumors are true: Apple is preparing to build autonomous electric cars like its high-tech rival, Google. But for those who still refuse to believe that Tim Cook & Co. could do such a thing, consider this new bombshell: according to...Read More»

For several years, Tesla Motors and Toyota had a thing going on. The affair started in 2010, when the two automakers began collaborating on the Toyota RAV4 EV. Last May, Tesla and Toyota announced that they were breaking up, but according to Auto News, Tesla CEO Elon Musk may soon try to rekindle...Read More»

Well, this is interesting: according to Auto News, BMW wants to share its electric-car technology with other automakers. Why is that interesting? Because Tesla Motors did something very similar last month. Was BMW inspired by Tesla CEO Elon Musk's (nominally) altruistic act? Or is BMW trying to...Read More»

Yesterday, something unusual happened. In the wee hours of the morning, Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla would conduct a live battery-swap on the Model S this Thursday night (i.e. tomorrow) at 8pm Pacific Time. Why is that unusual? Because a high-profile start-up called Better Place built an entire...Read More»

How will we be fueling our cars 20 or 30 years from now? Will we plug in, as some of us soon will with EVs such as the 2011 Nissan Leaf, but not have to worry about battery life? Or will we be gassing up, much like we do today, but with home-grown cellulosic ethanol that's far more sustainable than...Read More»

If you swapped out your car battery some cold morning this winter, and for some reason you kept the old one, recycle it now. Don't even think about setting it aside somewhere, perhaps at the back of the garage, in the basement, or on a tool bench, where it might corrode or leak. Thankfully, there...Read More»

At the 2010 Chicago Auto Show, which kicks off Wednesday morning, Ford will have several introductions. Among them are two green versions of its 2011 Ford Transit Connect small commercial van. All-electric van First, Ford launches its very first all-electric car, to be known as the Transit Connect...Read More»

GM's audacious attempt to leapfrog the popular Toyota Prius, with its green halo, has gotten it more publicity than any General Motors car in decades. The car is the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle. And now we've driven it. For more than an hour, we piloted a pre-production...Read More»

High Gear Media has partnered with Tesla Motors on a new writing contest where YOU can win a tour and road test of the 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport. You can submit as many articles as you like and enter multiple times. Enter now! Well, maybe you actually knew some of these seven if you're a true Tesla...Read More»

Grab any science magazine from the last century, and you'll see ideas and sketches for cars of the future, from atomic-powered to levitating. But the future is here already, and it's going on sale at a showroom near you over the next three model years. Here's our roundup of the most significant new...Read More»

Toyota has been a late and cautious entrant into the field of plug-in vehicles, gradually rolling out a small fleet of Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid versions of the third-generation Prius. But for the first time, the company has announced that it will put the car on sale to regular consumers. The...Read More»

Lithium-ion batteries are part of the path to the Promised Land of electric vehicles. The all-electric 2009 Tesla Roadster was the first sports car to run on lithium cells, and the 2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 was the first hybrid electric vehicle to feature them. Now Porsche has joined in, offering a...Read More»

Over the past year, the little Mitsubishi MiEV electric minicar has been making the rounds in the U.S. and abroad, with test fleets in the works in a number of countries. And although Mitsubishi hasn't yet announced how the MiEV might be sold or leased to the public in the U.S., it hasn't hesitated...Read More»

Shai Agassi, the founder and CEO of Better Place, is by all accounts a supremely charismatic entrepreneur. He has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to wire Israel with electric-car recharging stations and battery quick-swap facilities, and will offer to sell his customers as many miles as they...Read More»

What is it?: Mild hybrid version of the big Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan The basics: Teutonic solidity, impeccable equipment, better fuel economy On sale: This fall Price: $87,950 Exactly one year ago, our editor Marty Padgett wrote about the European launch of the 2009 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid...Read More»

Audi of America's President Johan de Nysschen may have put his foot in his mouth by calling buyers of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt "idiots," but Audi headquarters seems to like electric cars. Enough, at any rate, to trumpet the complete specs of its all-wheel-drive, all-electric e-Tron concept car...Read More»

Whether you’re concerned about national security or have green motivations as well, you might be eagerly awaiting electric cars and plug-ins in hopes of escaping your reliance on OPEC and foreign oil, but as of late there’s been plenty of coverage suggesting that future battery supply could be...Read More»