Skip to Content

PlugIns


Buick Regal likely to be launch platform for next GM hybrid system

Last night, General Motors publicly unveiled the 2011 Buick Regal that goes on sale in North America in the first half of next year. The Regal will be Buick's new mid-sized sedan entry and is essentially just a re-grilled version of the Opel Insignia that went on sale in Europe last year. The North American Regal will be built at the Oshawa Ontario assembly plant in Canada beginning in calendar 2011 and will only be offered with a choice of direct-injected four-cylinder engines. However, the Regal is actually slated to go on sale in calendar ... Read more →

ETA says plug-in cars could "speed climate change" unless we get off coal Sebastian Blanco

Think that plugging in your vehicle will protect the earth? Sure, this was the message that EPRI and the NRDC sent following a 2008 study that found that, if 60 percent of the U.S. fleet of light ...

PEV 2009: GM's Lauckner wishes for bigger incentives to get drivers out of gas-powered vehicles Sam Abuelsamid

At this point, it's no secret that the Chevy Volt and other plug-in vehicles are not going to come cheap. The least-pricey full-speed electric vehicle may very well be the Nissan Leaf, which after ...

Webchat with Tony Posawatz and Felix Kramer, 3:30pm EST today Sam Abuelsamid

Readers of this site are probably quite familiar with the names of Felix Kramer and Tony Posawatz. Kramer is the founder of the California Cars Institute (CalCars) and major proponent of plug-in ...

Frankfurt Preview: More on Toyota's new lithium-ion Plug-in Prius Sam Abuelsamid

Toyota's new-generation plug-in hybrid Prius will be shown for the first time at the Frankfurt Motor Show next week, and now we've got some new images and details. As expected, the PHEV Prius will ...

Survey says... nearly half of Americans want to buy something like the Volt, but do they want to pay? 2 months ago on Autoblog Green

The Chevrolet Volt is a data driven design in many ways. The shape is driven by aerodynamic data. Its conception was in part driven by public perception data. Its powertrain architecture was driven by empirical data about how drivers actually use their cars. For example, roughly three quarters ...

Quick Drive: Buick/Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid prototype 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

We had a chance for a quick drive of a development prototype for Buick's upcoming plug-in hybrid crossover this week at the GM proving ground. The prototype was still wearing its Saturn grille and badging as that was the original intent of the program. When Rick Wagoner announced in late 2006 ...

Is retro-fitting older vehicles the solution to accelerating electrification? 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

Is the mass retrofitting of older vehicles the solution to a rapid transformation to an electrified vehicle fleet? Felix Kramer, founder of Cal Cars, certainly thinks so. The problem lies in the fact that there are nearly 250 million vehicles on the road in the U.S. with a median age of about ...

Breaking: Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid reborn as new Buick crossover 3 months ago on Autoblog Green

GM CEO Fritz Henderson may not believe in re-badging Pontiacs for other GM brands, but it looks like at least one Saturn model will live on. The mid-size Vue crossover will become a Buick in 2011, and a plug-in hybrid will be part of the program. The Two-mode hybrid system that was originally ...

REPORT: PSA says it's not working with Mitsubishi on plug-in hybrids 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

PSA, the parent company of Peugeot and Citroën, this morning denied a report that came out in the Japanese Nikkei business newspaper about a new tie-up with Mitsubishi. The paper had reported that PSA and Mitsubishi would be collaborating on plug-in hybrid vehicles. The two automakers are ...

REPORT: Toyota will launch series production PHEV Prius in 2012 4 months ago on Autoblog Green

According to Japan's Nikkei news agency, Toyota has decided to start series production of a plug-in version of the Prius hybrid in 2012. At launch, the automaker plans to build about 20,000-30,000 units a year of the plug-in hybrid. The report indicates that the model will be priced comparably ...

Hydro Quebec joins Ford Escape PHEV test program 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

Ford's Escape plug-in hybrid test program has found another electric utility partner for its field test program. Hydro-Quebec has been selected by Ford and the Electric Power Research Institute to join the three-year program. Hydro-Quebec has received one of the 21 Escape PHEV's built by Ford ...

Toyota to lease 200 PHEV Priuses in Japan starting in late 2009 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

They won't look like the second-generation Prius plug-in pictured above, but Toyota has announced the first of its non-European leasing programs for its new PHEV (see here). Starting late this year Toyota will start leasing 200 plug-capable Priuses to government and commercial fleets in Japan. A ...

CMU study indicates the Chevy Volt may be too expensive to be effective 9 months ago on Autoblog Green

Electric vehicle proponents never like to hear news like this, but another study has indicated that plug-in vehicles with longer battery ranges are going to be too expensive to be cost-effective, even though they will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The problem is that the cost of the batteries ...

Toyota VP says no Prius Plug-In MPG is available yet 9 months ago on Autoblog Green

Toyota's Vice President of communications Irv Miller has published a post on the company blog refuting a recent report that the small fleet of plug-in Priuses is averaging 65 mpg. The small group of converted PHEV Priuses that currently exist in the U.S. are mostly being used for demonstration ...

Ford picks Johnson Controls Saft for PHEV batteries, adds 7 utility partners to test program 9 months ago on Autoblog Green

Ford has announced that when it starts building its first series production plug-in hybrid in 2012, the lithium ion battery packs will be supplied by Johnson Controls-Saft. JCS has already been supplying the prototype packs for current test fleet of PHEV Ford Escapes as well as packs for some ...

CARB puts off plug-in hybrid conversion warranty, emissions decision 10 months ago on Autoblog Green

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has decided to take another look at rules it is currently mulling over that would have required PHEV conversion shops to follow the same rules for emissions tests and warranties as the automakers. When word of this decision got out, some voices were ...

Michigan engineering professor installs HyMotion PHEV kit in his Prius 10 months ago on Autoblog Green

Dr. John Patten of Western Michigan University recently installed one of HyMotion's L5 plug-in conversion kits in his Toyota Prius as part of his work in educating people on alternative energy. The HyMotion kit is the first commercially available system that allows Priuses to become plug-in ...

More on the delay of the plug-in Saturn Vue hybrid 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

The other day we mentioned that it looked like the plug-in hybrid version of the Saturn Vue had been delayed as result of GM's current financial calamity. GM spokesman Brian Corbett gave ABG the following update about the status of the PHEV Vue program. "Our original statement said that production ...

Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid delayed to 2011 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

During the General Motors third quarter earnings (or lack thereof) conference call on Friday, company executives discussed the vehicle introduction schedule for 2009 and 2010. Several cars that had been expected to debut during 2009 have been pushed back to the following year, including the Saab ...

Popular Mechanics tries out the A123/Hymotion PHEV Prius 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

At least a few dozen people around the country have now done one-off conversions of hybrids like the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape to transform them into plug-in vehicles. For those who may not have the hardware hacker gene in their DNA, the first commercially available plug-in conversion kit is now ...

Toyota believes strongly in the viability of PHEVs...for some applications 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Ever since the debut of the Chevy Volt concept in January 2007, some people have been wondering about Toyota's attitude toward plug-in vehicles. This situation was not helped by some negative comments by Toyota executives in fall 2007 denigrating the concept of a extended range EV. Toyota has since ...

British mag tries out the VW Golf Twin-Drive, 94.1 mpg (U.S.)! 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Volkswagen recently built twenty prototype diesel plug-in hybrid Golf prototypes for a field test of the technology. AutoExpress magazine in the UK recently had an opportunity to try out the so-called Twin-Drive Golf. The Twin-Drive combines a 1.5L diesel with electric drive and lithium ion ...

Senate passes plug-in tax credits in Wall Street bailout bill 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

When Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson first proposed last week that Congress should give him $700 billion to do with as he pleased in an attempt to save Wall St, the plan ran a staggering two and a half pages. That's because the plan essentially consisted of "Give Hank the money, and then go away ...

Chrysler's Jim Press making big claims for upcoming EVs 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Chrysler's co-president continued to talk up his employer's plans for electrically-driven vehicles this week at a media luncheon in California. Press told the gathering that he had driven three different producible prototypes of plug-in hybrid vehicles recently. The vehicles have been developed ...

Fleet tests of plug-in Prius moved up to early 2009, no retail timetable yet 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Toyota President, Katsuaki Watanabe this week announced that the start of fleet testing for plug-in capable Priuses had been moved up by a year. At this year's Detroit Auto Show, Watanabe announced that several hundred Priuses with the ability to be plugged in would be delivered to government and ...

Toyota wants hybrids across the board, remains dubious of plug-ins 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Speaking at this week's Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, MI, Toyota advanced powertrain program manager Justin Ward reiterated the company's plans to offer hybrid drive systems in every one of its model lines by the end of the next decade. Toyota already has more vehicles with hybrid ...

AutoblogGreen on the Radio 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Listen in to a fascinating conversation that took place yesterday on green car politics, featured on the radio show, "Your Call." (KALW, 91.7 FM, San Francisco, CA). The show gave me a chance to discuss some of my research on "The Clean Car Movement," and also featured Meghan Sinott (Organizer for ...

Obama: 1 million plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2015 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has proposed a new ten-year $150 billion energy plan today in Michigan. A large part of the plan centers around transportation -- both the use of petroleum and the types of cars we are to drive in the future. For automakers, $4 billion in loans and loan ...

GM's hybrid powertrain director gives PHEV update 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

A row of Saturn Vue PHEVs in Milford's building 16 garage GM may have been late to the party when it came to hybrids, but they are now throwing resources at a bunch of different parallel paths that including electric drive. There are already cars and CUVs with mild hybrid systems and full-size SUVs ...

First International Plug-In Hybrid Convention 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

"Plug-In 2008: A Short Drive to Tomorrow" is the world's first convention dedicated exclusively to plug-in hybrid technology. The event tales place next week, July 21-24, in San Jose, CA. See the full agenda of speakers and further details here. The convention is a testament to how quickly plug-In ...

American Electric Power says grid ready for PHEVs 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Michael Morris, Chairman and CEO of American Electric Power, believes that the U.S. electrical grid is capable of supporting up to 60 million plug-in hybrid vehicles right now. In a speech at the Detroit Economic Club, the chief of the biggest electricity supplier in the United States said that up ...

Mercedes wants to eliminate petroleum from its lineup by 2015 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

By the middle of the next decade Mercedes-Benz wants its entire lineup to be able to operate entirely free of petroleum. The German giant is working on a variety of technologies that will help provide crude oil free transport such as battery electrics, fuel cells and highly efficient internal ...

Ford's Mark Fields calls for government aid in PHEV development 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

According to Ford's President of the Americas, Mark Fields, plug-in hybrid vehicles need to be a "national priority" and the United States government should be offering assistance for their development. Fields goes on to say that the governments of competing nations are funding the development of ...

Toyota exec throws wet blanket on PHEV dreams 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

While Toyota CEO Katsuaki Watanabe was in Tokyo talking up plans to start production of lithium ion batteries at the Panasonic EV Energy joint venture late next year, an American Toyota Exec was dampening expectations for the PHEVs in Washington. Bill Reinert, national manager of the Advanced ...

Google.org to host PHEV conference next week 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

The non-profit branch of the an obscure web-search company that goes by the name of Google.org has been investing in a lot of green technology over the last few years. Next week in Washington, D.C., Google.org is sponsoring a conference to discuss what the US government's role should be in promoting ...

Next Page →


Featured Galleries

  • Toyota iQ Livery
  • Tesla Store Monaco
  • 2009 Rolls-Royce Phantom
  • Smart ED production
  • Tesla Roadster audio recording for video games
  • Production i-MiEVs in the UK
  • Hyundai 2.4L direct injected Theta II
  • Mercedes-Benz Citaro FuelCELL-Hybrid bus
  • Chevy Volt hits the streets in Royal Oak
  • 2010 Nissan LEAF
  • 2010 Mercedes-Benz ML450 hybrid
  • Renault Fluence ZE concept

Categories

Autoblog

Daily Finance

Download Squad

Engadget

Joystiq

Autoblog Spanish

Switched.com

FanHouse

Asylum