Ah, politics. Yesterday, Tesla paid off the balance of its U.S. government loan, using proceeds from its $1 billion-plus offering of stock and warrants last week, as CEO Elon Musk had said  Monday it would in a tweet. The amount settled yesterday was $451.8 million, following installments paid by Tesla last year a...Read more

We've been thinking a lot about natural-gas fueled vehicles, for reasons that will become clear in due course. Writing about green cars can occasionally be awkward, because there are different audiences for diesels versus hybrids, for plug-in electric cars, and for other types of alternative fuels. The purchase motivat...Read more

There are lots of very good plug-in electric cars for sale now, and some of them are starting to show up on used-car lots. We recently suggested some used hybrid-electric vehicles to avoid on the used-car lot--and now we turn to electric cars. Here are four vehicles we suggest you think long and hard before buying, no ...Read more

Two companies that make apps to let electric-car drivers locate nearby charging stations will merge, they announced today. Recargo and Xatori will combine their communities and unify their apps, creating a single directory of more than 20,000 charging points across the country. Recargo currently offers the Station Find...Read more

It may be that short sellers and naysayers aren't the only ones a bit surprised these days at the positive press received by electric-car maker Tesla. Yesterday, Germany luxury-car maker Audi issued a rather unusual press release in which it pointed out that it sells more cars than Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA]. That's not ...Read more

They both deliver smooth, all-electric power. They both plug into the wall to recharge their battery packs. And after two years, they're the first and second best-selling plug-in electric cars in the U.S. So which one is right for you: the Nissan Leaf, or the Chevrolet Volt? Both electric cars run on energy stored in ...Read more

Making a battery for an electric car is more like assembling microelectronics than the kind of auto-plant scenes we think of, involving huge steel stamping presses and battalions of automated welding robots. Last month, in addition to driving a 2013 Nissan Leaf through the Tennessee countryside, we visited Nissan's new...Read more

For a long time, the Toyota Prius was the only game in town for high fuel-efficiency vehicles. Starting with the 2004 model, it really came to define the public image of a hybrid car. Now, though, as hybrids and plug-in cars are slowly growing their share of the market, Prius sales have fallen--not just as a share of t...Read more

Sometime yesterday or today, the 100,000th modern plug-in electric car was delivered to a buyer somewhere in the U.S. The exact buyer and car will likely never be known. But any electric-car buyer taking delivery on either day can be forgiven for claiming a small share of the glory. The first modern plug-in car, a 2010...Read more

Investors in startup electric-car maker Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] have had quite the wild ride lately. Following its first-ever profitable quarter, with its share price soaring above $80, Tesla announced last Wednesday that it would issue new stock and warrants. Now, Tesla has quietly increased its offering, which could...Read more