Car Throttle

There has been a lot of hubbub over GM's much-trumpeted 230 miles per gallon figure on the range-extended Chevrolet Volt. The back and forth on whether or not that is a correct number (GM says the EPA cycle will result in that rating) has been intense. Now its Fisker's turn to make a splash, announcing the MPG rating for the Karma. In Fisker's announced figures, they are using results from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) methedology for measuring plug-in hybrids. Speaking of which, Fisker still continues to call the Karma a plug-in hybrid when really it's a range-extended electric vehicle. Anyways, the Karma will achieve 3.5L/100km (or 67.2 mpg U.S) and CO2 emissions of 83 grams per kilometer. Fisker says that "941 million liters (248 million gallons)

Compatibility can be a huge headache. You know, power cords, headphone jacks, etc. Wouldn't it be nice if everything was just standardized? Certainly would. Automakers are trying to avoid that same headache on a much bigger and more important scale; the future of the automobile. Because of that, the companies are working on a standardized electric vehicle charging plug. I'm glad it's something that's being discussed ahead of time before tons of non-compatible vehicles are out there on the road. This is exactly what needs to be done in order to help open the doors to electric vehicle adoption. Eliminating confusion over things like this will reduce anxiety and help break down barriers in people's minds. It's just makes sense. Say you're an potential buyer of either a pure

Chrysler is trying to show it's serious about it's ENVI Electric Vehicles division by releasing a minivan using their technology to a fleet customer. The announcement is designed to coincide with Earth Month (pictures were released on Earth Day). I was waiting to see if the company would have a press release on the program following the pictures, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Chrysler showed three electrified vehicles as part of it's ENVI electric vehicles program. I speculated at the time that the only model with a real chance at production was the Lotus Europa-based Dodge EV (Now Circuit). The others seemed just an attempt to show everyone that it was working on a family-friendly vehicles. The Circuit EV still will be the one going

Toshiba is an advanced technology manufacturer, making everything from laptops to power plants that power those laptops. The company had invested considerably into battery technology, which it currently sells primarily to electric bicycle manufacturers. Now the company wants to get into the automotive battery game, and Toshiba announced last-year their intention to manufacture 3 million cells per month by 2010. The company has developed a quick-charge technology that promises a lot for the future of electric vehicles. As recently as a few months ago, Toshiba was able to recharge their SCiB lithium batteries (Toshiba's name) to 90% capacity in as little as 5 minutes. Now, they've announced their ability to reduce that time to an incredible 90 seconds. 90% in 90 seconds. To me that seems just

Fisker scaring you, Jaguar? After receiving a £340 million loan (Around $450 million at current exchange rates) from the European Central Bank (EIB), it looks like Jaguar is moving quickly to show it's putting the money to good use. The loan was given to Jaguar-Land Rover to speed up by the European Central Bank to speed up investment and production of green technologies. Jaguar must have been working on the EREV Jaguar XJ ahead of time and showed it to the EIB in order to garner the necessary funds to produce it. Otherwise, 2011 is an very quick time frame to see this hit production. In the high-ende luxury market, the electrified Jaguar XJ would go head to head with the Fisker Karma. Who would have thought? An