Electric Vehicles

Having already given the tamest of family cars a hefty dose of testosterone – at least auditorily – Swedish company SoundRacer looks set to turn up the volume of electric vehicles – this time on the outside. Having garnered interest from several electric car and scooter manufacturers, the company decided to demonstrate its system at CeBIT by making some big noise with an RC car.  Read More

While it’s the sportier concepts that tend to get the lion’s share of attention at auto shows, there are usually some less sexy, yet still worthy, concepts on display. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle’s e-Co-Motion concept vehicle, which is making its world debut at the 2013 Geneva Auto Show, is one such beast. Designed as a zero-emission delivery van for transporting goods around a city, the e-Co-Motion concept is an exclusively electric-powered vehicle that would boast a range of up to 200 km (124 miles).  Read More

Spanish engineering company Applus+ Idiada has officially unveiled its Volar-e supercar prototype at the Circuit de Catalunya during the F1 Test Days in Barcelona. Developed for the European Commission and apparently based on the Rimac Concept One, the all-electric Volar-e boasts 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) acceleration of 3.4 seconds, does the standing quarter-mile in 10.3 seconds, and reaches its top speed of 300 km/h (186 mph) in only 12.1 sec.  Read More

Toyota rocked the automotive world a few hours ago with full details of a new form of transport it will exhibit at the Geneva Motor Show which begins tomorrow. Toyota's i-ROAD is a fully-enclosed, two-seater, three-wheeled, fully-electric, Personal Mobility Vehicle (PMV) which looks to be more a competitor for the motorcycle than anything we have seen before from the world's largest automotive manufacturer.  Read More

Purveyor of bespoke golf cars Garia has unveiled a brand new model, dubbed the “Garia Mansory Currus.” Boasting enough range to take you around all 18 holes and back home again, the Garia Mansory Currus can be used as a street-legal and rather luxurious mode of transportation in Europe.  Read More

As automotive electric technology advances and grows, we're seeing it move from small city cars to larger vehicles. Toyota and Tesla have both shown electric crossover models, and electric drivetrains are being swapped into existing vehicles like the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Now, Land Rover is preparing to show an electric update to the most unlikely of models ... the boxy, rugged Defender.  Read More

Fans of the all-electric, much-awarded Nissan LEAF can look forward to the next generation of the car arriving on showroom floors soon. Set to float gently to Earth at next month’s Geneva Auto Show, the new Nissan LEAF promises longer range, better ergonomics and driving experience, and a light to see where to plug the bloody thing in at night.  Read More

Alternative energy company Silex Power has announced its intention to enter the electric car market at the very top. The company intends to make a limited run of 300 units of its luxury Chreos EV by 2015, and, judging from the press release, the car boasts luxury, if perhaps aspirational, statistics to match – particularly with respect to range and charge times.  Read More

Regional German transport operator Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH (RNV) is set to carry out a pilot project to test the viability of wireless inductive charging technology of electric buses. The trial will see two electric buses fitted with Canadian transportation manufacturer Bombardier's PRIMOVE inductive charging technology that will enable them to be recharged wirelessly as they let passengers on and off at bus stops along the inner city route 63 in Mannheim, Germany.  Read More