Along the Road to a Greener America, an Awful Lot of Roadkill
The global financial crisis helped slam the brakes on clean-tech dreams from electric cars to solar panels, but the roots of green energy's mid-life crisis run far deeper.
The global financial crisis helped slam the brakes on clean-tech dreams from electric cars to solar panels, but the roots of green energy's mid-life crisis run far deeper.
Used in everything from laptops to electric cars, lithium-ion batteries nonetheless have an image problem following several high-profile incidents involving smoke and fire.
Despite today's high gas prices, it's been one piece of bad news after another lately from electric car makers. Last week it was Smith Electric Vehicles calling off its IPO. On Tuesday it was Tesla Motors lowering its near-term outlook.
Electric car sales are nowhere near what the auto industry -- or Washington -- hoped they'd be by now, though Tesla Motors' hot Model S sedan doing great, and the the Chevy Volt is finally getting some traction. But is the electric revolution stalled, or just accelerating too slowly?
Tesla Motors has some good news for fans of the American maker of electric cars. The Model S -- its first reasonably priced vehicle -- may hit the streets as early as June. Will this be the vehicle that jump starts electric car sales?
Crude oil futures have taken a hit lately, delivering an 8.6% slide to speculators over the past five trading days. On Tuesday, June crude settled at a three-month low.
Let's go over some of the items that will help shape the week that lies ahead on Wall Street: Warren Buffett talks; plastic wins; organic food does too; GM reads its odometer; and recent IPOs check in.
General Motors really wants you to love the Chevy Volt, but the GM car everyone actually lusts after is the Camaro. Now, with automakers under pressure to improve fuel economy, GM faces a challenge -- how to update a gas-guzzling V8 icon for a greener world.
Purchase price is just the beginning of what it costs to own a car. Depreciation, insurance and maintenance costs can vary widely between competing models. But is there any way to estimate all of that in advance? A few experts have taken a stab at it.
GM CEO Dan Akerson is charged up about the politically manufactured controversy surrounding the Chevy Volt. "We did not engineer the car to become a political punching bag," he said. Tough words -- but rescuing the Volt's reputation will be a tough fight.
If you think a stock will fall, you can still profit on it -- by shorting it: Just sell shares you've "borrowed," then buy them later, ideally at a lower price. But it can be risky. Here are 5 companies you might be tempted to bet that way against -- and shouldn't.
Back in 2009, General Motors applied to the Department of Energy for $14.4 billion in loans to help it manufacture more fuel-efficient vehicles. Today, with the automaker making big strides in turning around its business, GM said it no longer needs or wants the money.
GM's long-anticipated plug-in electric hybrid hatchback picked up top honors at the huge auto industry show. The Volt was joined by Ford Motor's Explorer midsize sports-utility vehicle, which was awarded North American Truck of the Year.
Will the Chevy Volt -- General Motor's new plug-in hybrid unveiled today -- be a game changer, as CEO Daniel Akerson hopes? We'll soon find out as the car is scheduled to begin shipping to dealers next month.
General Motors' Chevrolet Volt, the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle set to debut in the U.S. next month, won Green Car Journal's 2011 Green Car of the Year award Thursday, beating out the Nissan Leaf, Lincoln MKZ Hybrid, Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and Ford Fiesta.














