California (2)

Electric car maker Aptera has had to close its doors for the final time after failing to secure investment. The Californian firm, known for its kooky three-wheel electric concept, had plans for a four-door saloon type car, that was projected to get in the equivalent 190 miles to the gallon. The company had hoped to [...]

North America’s first all electric car sharing network has been launched in the city of San Diego, California. Car2go has now started to deploy 300 Smart Fortwo electric vehicles in the country as it attempts to meet the daily needs of members by providing a free-floating network of vehicles available on-demand for point-to-point trips. This [...]

The 2012 Chevrolet Volt will boast a low emissions package for California’s High Occupancy traffic lanes. The package, which will be standard on all models sold in the state next year, sees the engine and catalytic converter modified with a secondary air-injection pump that streams ambient air into the exhaust stream. This increases the vehicle’s [...]

The San Francisco Bay Area has launched a new Electric Vehicle Strategic Council with an additional $5million in funding. The council will be led by the region’s mayors, regional officials and clean tech industry executives. Its aim is to make the San Francisco Bay Area the electric vehicle capital of the USA by developing the [...]

Kicking hybrids out of carpool lanes in California has slowed traffic in the state, a new study by transportation engineers at the University of California, Berkeley. Transportation researchers from the University have found that pushing drivers out of the carpool lane has inadvertently slowed traffic across all lanes. Back in 2005, sole occupants driving hybrid [...]

Plug-in vehicles are expected to enjoy a rapid rise in annual sales – but they will be particularly successful in smaller states. According to Pike Research, yearly sales of the vehicles will reach 358,959 vehicles by 2017 – that’s a compound annual growth rate of 43 per cent between 2011 and 2017. Now Pike has [...]

The California Energy Commission has introduced its latest Investment Plan in a bid to change the types of vehicles that Californians drive. The Investment Plan is part of the Energy Commission’s Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Programme and sets aside $100million in state funds to leverage funding and investments. Over the next seven [...]

Californian electric car start-up Coda Automotive  has opened its first consumer store in the Westfield Century mall in Los Angeles. The firm which has yet to launch its sedan model, is hoping the new shopping centre location will help to drive interest in the brand, ready for when its first car launches in 2012. "We’re [...]

If you live in theCaliforniaarea, then you may soon be accepting deliveries from electric vehicles after UPS purchased 100 fully electric commercial delivery vehicles from Electric Vehicles International (EVI). The purchase marks the culmination of two years of EVI and UPS working together, including a 90day demonstration in autumn 2010. During that demonstration, UPS collected [...]

The way you drive could have a huge impact on the money you spend at the pump – and researchers at the University of California, Riverside, are determined to prove it. They have received a $1.2million grant from the Department of Energy to study and evaluate the technologies that provide feedback to drivers so they [...]