Tesla founder, Chinese company launch SF Motors electric cars

SF Motors SF5In the beginning, there was Tesla, although it wasn't started by current CEO Elon Musk. While Musk has now become synonymous with the electric-car brand, Tesla was actually founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, who had previously founded and sold a eBook reader company. While both left the company in 2008, they have kept their hands in...

Classic Mini converted to electric previews 2019 Mini E to come

Classic Mini with electric powertrainWith a new, all-electric Mini E set to arrive in dealerships in a year or less, BMW wants to highlight the idea of a Mini Cooper powered by batteries. That's what led it to display an "old Mini" converted to electric power at a reception before last week's New York auto show. Sadly, the car wasn't on display at the show itself because—as...

Electric-car pioneer Paul Scott looks back on 15 years of plugging in

Paul Scott and Barbara with Zero electric motorcycle  [photo: Charles Ryan-Barber]Most of the U.S. was unaware that modern electric cars got their start in California between 1996 and 2002. Many of the earliest owners and EV advocates from those days remain involved 20 years later, though their names may be familiar only to a small group of activists. One of those people is Paul Scott, who's been part of several important...

Ford Model T: what was its fuel economy, really?

Frame from Sierra Club video, 'Tell Ford to Put Clean Cars in the Fast Lane,' Jan 2018In a recent video posted to YouTube, environmental advocacy group The Sierra Club dialed up production values to call out Ford's lobbying efforts to roll back fuel-economy standards. The video showed a man getting into a modern-day Ford, starting the engine, then noting the shift lever had an array of reverse gears but no forward drive. When the...

What you need to know about electric-car namesake Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla on Serbian dinar banknoteThis month marks the 75th year since the death of famed inventor and and electrical innovator Nikola Tesla, a man whose life is as interesting as his technical achievements. Tesla, a Serbian who was born in what's now Croatia, brought the world numerous innovations in electricity that, to this day, define how we live. On January 7th, Tesla was...

Electric cars ‘right around the corner’ in 1966: what took so long?

Illustration from December 1966 Popular Science article on electric carsLooking at yesterday's visions of tomorrow is always entertaining, from flying cars to cities of the future. In the case of the electric car, there have been two futures: one from 1890 to about 1910, and then another starting 100 years later in 2011. The intervening century saw many, many predictions about mass-market electric cars, but none of...