Ferrari, Infiniti: Even laggards, skeptics come round to electric cars

Sergio MarchionneBack in 2013, Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo proclaimed, "I don’t believe in the electric cars"—all but solidifying the automaker's position for the future. Even as recently as 2016, current Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne called the possibility of an electric Ferrari "an obscene concept." Now the purveyor of some of the...

Carbon fiber from plants close to carbon-neutral? Scientists hopeful

McLaren Monocage II carbon fiber monocoque structureWhen it comes to materials with the most promise in automotive applications, carbon fiber and graphene each rank high on the list. Unlike graphene, however, real-world carbon fiber applications exist today—and they're helping automakers reduce the weight of cars coming tomorrow. There's one big, unfortunate, and somewhat ironic problem with...

Costa Rica to become Latin American electric-car pioneer?

Arenal volcano, Costa Rica, by Flickr user Adam Baker (Used under CC License)Costa Rica isn't what you'd call a bastion of automotive sales. The Central American country ,wedged between Nicaragua and Panama, is home to 4.8 million people who buy just 154,000 vehicles annually—less than 1 percent of the sales in the United States. But that won't deter the Costa Rican government from greening its fleet. It now aims to...

Fisker EMotion: what we learned about 300-mile electric car at CES

Fisker EMotionFisker Inc., the second namesake automaker from the Dutch auto designer, rolled out its first model at the Consumer Electronics Show last week and gave us some details on what to expect from the luxury electric car. The supercar-esque sedan, which Fisker hopes will steal customers away from rival Tesla, should produce 775 horsepower from its...

All renewable energy types to be cost-competitive by 2020: report

Wind farm outside Fort MacLeod, Alberta, Canada   [photographer: Joel Bennett]Renewable-energy generation costs are falling like photons onto a solar panel. By 2020, it's expected all types of renewable-energy generation will be able to compete with fossil fuels on cost. That's right: saving our environment will actually save electric utilities some money, too. DON'T MISS: Two-thirds of world's new energy capacity in 2016...

Tesla wins another, licensed to sell electric cars in Rhode Island

Rhode Island license plate. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.Tesla can now add another notch to its sales board. Rhode Island will allow the direct sale of Teslas and has issued a state dealer license to the company to open a dealer in Warwick. Additionally, the city itself issued its own license to the electric-vehicle manufacturer, which plans to take over the former site of a Hyundai dealer in the city...