The all-electric Ford F-150 teased for the first time last week is something to get excited about—especially as an electric version of the top-selling vehicle in America.  The model isn’t likely to show up at dealerships for at least another couple years, though. And there are electric F-150 pickups already in use today. About a dozen of them ply the streets and highways around Montreal, Quebec, and are the product of Montreal’s Ecotuned, a shop that “aims to be a leader in the field of electric vehicle conversion in North America.” Ecotuned has made about 15 electric truck conversions th ..read more

Norway has only 5.26 million people—about half the size of Los Angeles County in population, and with only about 35 percent of LA\’s vehicles on its roads. But there\’s one measure in which Norway trumps America\’s most saturated EV market. Per capita, Norway has more electric car owners and drivers than anywhere else in the world. But why? Widespread incentives play a part, as do steep taxes on gas and diesel vehicles—and the fuels themselves—but what else is it about the country and its people? Is it because Norway, with the second longest coastline in the world behind Canada, including all ..read more

Since even before the first market deliveries of its Leaf electric car in late 2010, Nissan has made frequent mention about the need to create second-use demand for the Leaf\’s battery packs. It turns out, they may need to see many of those ideas put into place. According to comments made last month by a Nissan-Renault executive, citing charging and battery degradation data from Nissan on the 400,000+ Leafs sold globally, the battery packs are going to easily outlast the life of the vehicles—not just the ones that are in accidents. “We are going to have to recover those batteries,” said Franci ..read more

Plug-in hybrids like the 2019 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid are pitched as great solutions for families who can’t quite make the leap to a fully electric vehicle for road trips but want to keep their local driving—and, perhaps their commute—tailpipe-emissions-free.  The vast majority of plug-in hybrids on the market today don’t exactly live up to that billing. Too many of these models require dainty (and slow) driving to keep the gasoline engine off, and even then they don’t have enough battery capacity to go a typical commute distance with the climate control. Further, some completely give up ..read more

Colorado, which is taking steps to adopt California’s EV mandate, has always had a different wildcard factor affecting road trips: altitude. The state has the highest portions of the Interstate highway system, including routes spanning past 11,000 feet and varying several thousand feet. Even with a number of electric cars like the Chevrolet Bolt EV now offering well over 200 miles of EPA-estimated range, the range anxiety that was once the norm for any highway trip in more level states still looms large here, where the long grades can be a true test. That’s exactly what I had in mind when I he ..read more

If more power, a 226-mile range, and a $39,405 base price—before considering the full $7,500 federal EV tax credit you can still get—collectively seems like the sweet spot for the Leaf, you probably have GM to thank. Nissan has admitted that it never planned to push the Leaf above a 40-kwh battery pack and beyond a rated range of 150 miles. But with the introduction of the Chevrolet Bolt EV in 2015, it stepped up its plans for the second-generation Leaf, which made its debut last year. By shoehorning a new 62-kwh pack into the 2019 Leaf Plus, Nissan now has an electric car that, as we found th ..read more

The daily news cycle already provides plenty of fodder for taking sides for or against electric cars. In the real world it’s just not that polarizing. Most people who decide to embrace electric vehicles probably understand that EVs do anything but preclude driving enjoyment; and many want to share that enthusiasm with others. That’s part of what the founder of the ever-scrappy 24 Hours of Lemons, Jay Lamm, sees as a culture clash—one that just melts away as soon as people from seemingly very different cultural places get down to nuts and bolts, with a day at the racetrack. DON\’T MISS: Veggie ..read more

Last week, when we brought you an account of how an electric car wouldn\’t work in the midst of a medical emergency—in the Midwest, in the winter—boy, did we (and he) get an earful from our readers. That convergence amounted to the perfect storm of difficulty for any electric car—and it\’s one that doesn\’t happen often. Still, when it does, what parent wouldn\’t want to be prepared to conquer it? Some readers suggested an ambulance ride, followed by an Uber or a taxi to get home from the hospital, saying this would have allowed an electric car to meet his more regular needs. Many accused him ..read more

Hybrid technology isn’t just for cars or trucks. Anywhere there’s waste heat or kinetic energy that can be recaptured—which means virtually every mode of transportation—there’s an opportunity for hybrid tech to make the entire mission more fuel-efficient. Such is also the case for big passenger jets. According to the Los Angeles Times, Airbus is looking into the possibility of going hybrid with the replacement for one version of its most mainstream jetliners, the narrow-body A320neo. A hybrid passenger plane might use electric propulsion at the wings and a single jet engine at the rear. Operat ..read more

Delivering pizzas in big, aging passenger cars is the norm in many neighborhoods in the nation, and it’s wasteful. In most of those locales, there’s a solid fair-weather alternative to firing up the engine (or taking the electric car) for another delivery just a mile or two away: e-bikes.  Domino’s tested the use of e-bikes for delivery in Houston, Miami, and New York earlier this year, with claimed improvements in delivery and service for customers and better “team member satisfaction.”  The company is expanding the effort beyond the pilot program stage. The bikes will be available ..read more