Category Archives: Electric/Hybrid

Interesting links dealing specifically with electric and hybrid transportation that doesn’t suck.

2013 Tesla Model S – Car and Driver

Posted on by

The Tesla Model S represents a pretty big milestone in the rise of the modern electric car simply because it’s a well thought out and executed car. It’s not a novelty based on outlandish looks or isolated performance statistics. Here is a practical electric powered car that you can purchase and use on a daily basis because it has enough storage space, performance and range to do so. If you are shopping for a car in this price range, then the Model S represents an electric option with very few compromises when compared side by side with its combustion engine competitors. Car and Driver’s contributing editor Csaba Csere brings us an in-depth review of the details of the entire car. The Model S certainly still has it’s own quirks, but I think it’s going to redefine a lot of people’s perception of EV capabilities.


Interesting fact: the touchscreen in the Model S is essentially a Mac Book Pro screen with no power consumption restraints.

Source: Car and Driver

Jay Leno Visits the Nissan Technical Center

Posted on by

Jay Leno lets us in on some of his VIP treatment by bringing his camera crew along with him on his recent trip to Nissan’s Technical Center in Japan to film these two videos. In the first video he gets to tour all of Nissan’s zero emissions and fuel cell vehicles. Jay checks out some of the electric vehicle concepts and then he gets a pleasant surprise from Nissan’s Chief Creative Officer, Shiro Nakamura, who gives him a sneak peek of the Terra fuel cell compact SUV that was debuted last week at the Paris Auto Show. Unlike some of the quirkier cars in the room, the Terra actually looks like it could go into production. I’m glad to see zero emissions vehicles starting to branch out into markets beyond funny looking compact cars.


Continue reading →

Toyota Motorsports Group EV P002 Improves Its Nurburbring Record

Posted on by

The Toyota EV P002 electric race car is having an outstanding year so far. Germany based Toyota Motorsports Group Gmbh built the car based off a Radical open cockpit chassis. The EV P002 develops 900 Nm of torque (664 ft-lbs) and 350 kw of power (470 hp) from two axial flux “pancake” motors. It’s capable of holding 42 kwh of energy (almost twice the size of the Nissan Leaf battery pack) on board with lithium ceramic batteries.

Continue reading →

EV West E36 BMW M3 Full Pikes Peak Run

Posted on by

EV West just posted the footage of the full Pikes Peak run of their 700 hp electric E36 BMW M3. It turns out their car was the first EV conversion to compete in the hill climb. They turned the power output down after they were getting a lot of power oversteer in qualifying. The result was a pretty clean and straight forward run up the mountain on race day. It was also pretty fast. They posted a time of 11:58.929 which was obviously the EV conversion record, but it was also good for fourth overall in the EV category.


Source: EV West on YouTube