Plugless charging for 80 percent of electric cars by end of 2017: Evatran

Evatran Plugless wireless charger for Tesla Model SWireless charging for electric cars has been talked about almost as long as modern electric cars have been on sale. The thought of charging an electric car without having to wrestle with a bulky charging cable can certainly be appealing. So far, though, wireless-charging systems have only been available in limited quantities from a handful of...

Infiniti variable-compression engine: more complexity, incremental gains

Infiniti VC-Turbo engineTo meet stricter global emissions standards, carmakers are trying to squeeze every last bit of efficiency out of internal-combustion engines. That has led Infiniti to turn to a technology engineers have toyed with for some time, one that so far hasn't been used in production cars. General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, and Saab have all experimented with...

CA to restrict use of term Autopilot: Tesla-owning pilot weighs in

Tesla AutopilotA recent news item from California aimed directly at Tesla's Autopilot system has me musing on words, meanings, and life and death. Last week, that state's Department of Motor Vehicles published the draft of a proposed new regulation that “…prohibits the advertisement of lower levels of automated systems, where the human driver is...

Fisker is coming back, he says, with 400-mile electric car

Henrik FiskerHenrik Fisker has designed some remarkable cars, among them Aston Martins, the BMW Z8, and of course the striking Fisker Karma range-extended electric luxury sedan. That vehicle, launched in 2012 by his namesake company, saw production of less than 3,000 units before the company collapsed in bankruptcy. The same vehicle will relaunch next year as...

Electric Citroën e-Mehari open-air utility vehicle now on sale in France

Citroën e-MehariIn 1968, Citroën unveiled a rather curious utility vehicle. Called the Mehari, it featured minimalist bodywork made of ABS plastic, and an air-cooled two-cylinder engine and front-wheel-drive components shared with the Citroën 2CV. It went on to become something of a cult classic, with around 150,000 built before production ended in...

EPA’s emissions sleuth: the most powerful man you’ve never heard of

Chris Grundler, director of EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality [photo: EPA via Flickr]Current Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards require U.S. automakers to achieve a fleet average of 54.5 mpg (equivalent to roughly 40 mpg on the window sticker) by 2025. But who ensures that companies are actually complying with the CAFE mandate? As automakers work to meet stricter emissions standards, the little-known staff of regulatory...

LG Chem logs another electric-car win: Faraday Future to buy batteries

wireframe of possible Faraday Future production vehicle, from company promotional video at CES 2016South Korean firm LG Chem is one of the largest suppliers of lithium-ion battery cells for electric cars. It already counts 25 separate auto brands among its clients, and parent company LG contracted with General Motors to provide extensive development work on the Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car. Now LG Chem is adding another, much new carmaker to...