Toyota, Tesla Agree to Develop Electric Version of RAV4 by 2012(July 23) - Toyota Motor Corp. and Tesla Motors Inc., the electric-car maker, agreed to develop a battery- powered version of the RAV4 compact sport-utility vehicle that may go on sale in 2012.Tesla built a prototype that’s undergoing testing and plans to deliver more this year, the companies said in a statement yesterday. Chief Executive Officers Akio Toyoda of Toyota and Elon Musk of Tesla announced a partnership in May that included Toyota buying a $50 million stake in the Palo Alto, California- based company and Tesla purchasing Toyota’s former joint-venture assembly plant in Fremont, California. Complete Story

Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car is spunky, fun and promising(July 22) - Whew. Made it. The cute battery car had said it was full; enough juice to go 55 miles. The airport here was 45 miles distant — via the dreaded Washington, D.C., Beltway and thence the equally unpredictable I-95. Complete Story
 
Toyota's plug-in-hybrid Prius(July 21) - The cars are among 600 production models based on the 2010 Prius that Toyota is lending to organizations worldwide to fine-tune its design and help utilities better understand how the electric cars will affect grid operations. Each car features a larger battery than a standard Prius and can go 13 miles, and up to 62 mph, using only electricity. Complete Story
 
Al Unser, Jr. pilots Zap Alias to X Prize finals(July 21) - With a little help from Al Unser, Jr., electric car-maker Zap this week will move onto the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize finals. Unser will pilot Zap's spiffy three-wheeled sports car, Alias, thanks in part to the latest generation of Firestone Firehawk tires. Complete Story  
       

 
Mercedes' AMG E-Cell - a Tesla zapper?(July 16) - Expect a high-voltage price for this electric supercar. Not that it wants steal thunder from Tesla's updated battery-powered Roadster 2.5, of course, but Mercedes has taken the wraps off its take on an electric supercar, the SLS AMG E-Cell. Complete Story

Nissan Leaf: It drives likes a car--shocking!(July 16) - Nissan brought out a preproduction prototype of its coming Leaf electric vehicle and we got to drive it a few miles. How was it? It was like a real car, only a lot heavier and much quieter. Complete Story

Chevy’s Battery Warranty: Will It Ease Electric-Car Anxiety?(July 15) - Chevrolet’s decision to give customers an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty on the lithium-ion batteries in its coming Volt electric hybrid should eliminate some of the anxiety keeping people away from electric cars. Complete Story

 

Obama says electric car battery prices to tumble(July 15) - The cost of the high-powered batteries needed for a coming wave of electric cars is projected to drop by as much as 70 percent over the next five years, according to a U.S. government forecast.The forecast was released as President Barack Obama attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a battery plant being built in Holland, Michigan by a U.S. unit of South Korea's LG Chem and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Complete Story
 
Tesla Says It Is Testing an Electric Car Prototype for Toyota(July 14) -Just a few months after Toyota and Tesla Motors announced a collaboration on an electric car, a Tesla spokeswoman says a prototype has already been built and is undergoing testing. Complete Story
 
Automotive X Prize: Aptera comes out swinging (July 12) - With the Automotive X Prize competition, Aptera has stood apart from its competition--literally--being a germinating business that presents itself with a bold corporate image. Where the other competitors have been cramped in the shared garages, Aptera sets up shop alongside its impressive 18-wheeled hauler apart from the other teams. But this popular favorite was humbled in the Shakedown phase by the emergency-avoidance maneuver test, as captured on video. A key question I had entering this new, more vital phase, would Aptera be ready? Complete Story 
 
Electric Car Sets New Record for Pikes Peak Hill Climb(July 6) - An electric vehicle driving on Yokohama tires and powered by a new AC Propulsion motor broke the record for electric vehicles in the 2010 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado Springs, Colorado over the July 1st weekend. Complete Story
 
Electric Car Company, Awarded Contract to Build Limobuses for Don Brown Bus Sales(July 6) - Electric Car Company,, a vehicle conversion Company that specializes in electric conversions and manufacturing for the Livery and Fleet Markets, announced today that it has been awarded a 12 month contract with Don Brown Bus Sales, Inc. The Contract, valued at $750,000.00, calls for Electric Car Company, (ECC), to convert up to twenty-five (25) Federal Coach bus chassis into Imperial Coach limobuses. The Company plans to deliver the first two buses by mid-August of this year. Complete Story
 
Toyota’s Prius Ranked Top-Selling Car in Japan(July 6) - Holding the position for the 14th time in row, Toyota's Prius has been ranked the Japan's top-selling car for the month of June. The auto major sold 31,876 of the gas-electric cars, last month. This figure has surpassed the sale of Honda's fuel-efficient Fit. Complete Story
  
GM Takes Chevy Volt on the Road to Stir Up Interest(July 5) - General Motors is on an all-out push to ensure that its new Chevy Volt becomes the electric car of the mainstream U.S. market. On July 1 the company launched a cross country tour introducing American communities to the car from Austin, Texas to New York, New York. It’s pretty clear that the symbolism-freighted trip is designed to spur U.S. car buyers to hop aboard a revolutionary change in passenger car technology: the route covers 1,776 miles on a journey timed to end today, Complete Story
 
Strong trading debut for Tesla Motors sparks hopes for electric-car market(July 5) - Since its founding in 2003, luxury automaker Tesla Motors has never turned a profit. Its charismatic founder recently ran out of cash. It has sold fewer than 1,500 vehicles. Yet in a burst of enthusiasm for electric cars, investors are saluting the company's prospects, raising more than $200 million at its initial public offering Monday and, on its first day of trading Tuesday, sending share prices up again from $17 to $23.89. Complete Story

  
Nissan's 1st hybrid aims to almost double mileage(July 5) - Nissan said it aims to nearly double the mileage on its first hybrid car developed in-house compared with the gasoline engine version, while keeping costs down with a simple, single-motor system. Japan's No.3 automaker is due to launch a gasoline-electric Infiniti M sedan, called Fuga in Japan, late this year, lagging rivals Toyota Motor and Honda Motor by more than a decade in offering a proprietary hybrid model. Complete Story