The conflict between the New York Times and Tesla Motors over a stranded Tesla Model S is getting complicated. More...

Is public awareness about electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf actually increasing, or not? A new study, released this week, says potential buyers still have major misconceptions about the EV segment. More...

Range is inevitably the Number One question when electric cars come to mind. When people hear about electric vehicles that can go only 60, 80, maybe 100 miles before needing a charge, they get scared.

This happens even if they know that the vast majority of their personal trips are for distances far shorter than these range figures. The average commute in America, for instance, is somewhere around 40 miles round trip, which means even the most limited range would still be satisfactory nearly all the time.

“But what if...?” That’s the typical response from doubtful shoppers. What if I get stuck in bad traffic? What if I need to go somewhere else while I’m out? What if the charging station I planned to use isn’t functioning today? Plus, the big one: what if I’m planning a cross-country trip? Or for that matter, any kind of trip longer than a typical commute. More...

Cruise Missile: If you still haven’t gotten over the news that Tom and Katie have split up, you can console yourself with bidding on a Porsche 928 driven by the couch-jumper himself in the 1983 film Risky Business. It’s one of three that appeared in the movie, and is expected to go for about $60,000, way more than you’d have to pay for a mint 928 that was never driven by a slightly unhinged movie star. The car goes on sale July 28 at the Profiles in History’s Hollywood Treasures from the Vault sale.

Herbie Goes F1 Racing?: Rumors are swirling about a Volkswagen entry in Formula 1, the world’s most popular motorsport and the place where fortunes go to die. F1 is a big draw in developing nations where car sales are increasing, and VW thinks getting its name out in front of all those potential customers could be a good business decision. The twist, however, is that VW would likely race the car under the name of one of the other companies it owns, such as Audi or Porsche, both of which have richer racing histories than Volkswagen.

If You Want Economy You Have To Pay For It: Electric cars are supposed to free us from shelling out for ever-more-expensive gasoline, right? So what’s the point of an electric car that costs $1 million? Prestige, apparently. The Rimac Concept One has a claimed range of 373 miles and a 0-60 time of 2.8 seconds. It has an electric motor at each wheel and puts out the equivalent of 1,088 horsepower. Only 88 will be made, and presumably sold to customers who aren’t smart enough to calculate how much gas they can buy for a million bucks. More...

American car buyers have followed an interesting pattern over the last few years – gas prices go up, we buy fuel-efficient vehicles; gas prices go down, and it’s back to the guzzlers. It happened in June, too, as average fuel economy for new cars fell to the second-lowest point this year. But a curious thing came with it.

Even as customers were running right back to the low-MPG vehicles, they also returned to hybrids and electric vehicles. In fact, compared to a year ago, sales of alternative-energy vehicles were up by 164-percent in June, according to a recent report from Kelley Blue Book.

Americans bought 23,778 hybrid and electric cars last month, the fifth straight month of more than 20,000 even though gas prices fell to their lowest point since January. But it's not all good news. More...

Chevrolet is finishing testing and gearing up for production of the long-awaited subcompact Spark EV (electric vehicle)—and we caught the very first photos of a U.S. spec Spark at a local car wash.

The ultra-clean Spark, as seen here, has a new front fascia, including a new grille and freshened fog lamps. It also sports a charging port in front of the driver's door.

We're guessing an on-sale date of early 2013, and a model year designation of 2014.

Photo: Eugene Sergienko for Brenda Priddy & Company

Chevrolet New Car Buyer’s Guide

Electric Vehicle Buying Guide

2013 Chevrolet Spark