Electric Cars | featured news

The retailer opted not to have the chargers, many of which were outdated, replaced for free under a program in California, saying that customers rarely, if ever, used them.

We all know that one of the biggest challenges facing electric cars is the fact that recharging a battery pack is orders of magnitude slower than filling a gasoline car’s fuel tank.

Electric cars will become fairly commonplace in the not-too-distant future, especially in major cities that are equipped to charge these vehicles in parking lots and at home. About 3.2 million plug-in electric cars will be sold by 2015, with sales largely concentrated in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, and Chicago, according to auto industry analysts at Pike Research.

The Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf got top safety ratings in some of the first-ever tests of electric cars by an insurer-funded research group.

General Motors Co has withdrawn its application for $14 billion in subsidized loans from the U.S. Department of Energy, saying it has the financial strength to fund investment in more fuel-efficient and electric vehicles.

Retail stores around the USA are installing charging stations for electric vehicles to serve owners of electric cars, bikes and scooters.

The Chevrolet Volt has won the 2011 North American Car of the Year at the Detroit auto show. The car that runs on electricity for 40 miles before a backup gas engine kicks in beat out the Nissan Leaf, another electric, and Hyundai Sonata in the annual ceremony on the first day of media previews for the Detroit auto show.

Nissan's new electric car, the Leaf, will get the equivalent of 99 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving, based on government testing.

With the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf available by year's end, shoppers will for the first time be faced with choices that include whether they want a gas-powered car. Stalled for nearly a century, electric cars are about to move into the fast lane when the first of a new generation of vehicles reaches dealer showrooms next month.

General Electric, which makes charging stations, says it will order 25,000 electric cars in order to try to kick-start the market.