We can imagine the day when you'll be able to charge the battery on your plug-in hybrid car at night, because your smart meter reminded you that nighttime electricity is cheapest.
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Another start-up, Fisker Automotive, will debut with the sexy Karma, a plug-in hybrid sports car, then launch a sedan of its own.
Of course, there are some high-profile debuts, most notably the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, perhaps the most-hyped car in history, and the Nissan Leaf all-electric, both due in November.
And that means Honda is bringing both an urban, battery-operated commuter car and a plug-in hybrid concept to Los Angeles.
Austin, Texas, is leading a growing number of cities in calling for car companies to produce plug-in hybrid vehicles that can go hundreds of miles on a gallon of gas.
The latest rendering of Porsche's plug-in hybrid 918 Spyder super sports car.
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The plug-in hybrid is an interesting bridge to the electric car, so settle down all you Prius owners!
In green car news, Ford's new 2013 C-MAX plug-in hybrid was rated the most fuel-efficient plug-in hybrid available in the US this week.
By comparison, many of the hybrid and plug-in models making the Greenest Car list this year are practical enough to be everyday drivers, including two family friendly station wagons, the Toyota Prius v and Ford C-Max Hybrid.
GM's plug-in electric hybrid, the Volt, won the coveted North American Car of the Year award, while Ford won the award for best truck.
This is a significant step toward actual production of the company's next super sports car, a Porsche that marries unique plug-in hybrid technology and outstanding performance in a visually stunning and purely Porsche package.
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The new BMW i3, a tiny electric car, and the BMW i8, a plug-in hybrid, both due in 2013, are the first fruits of that effort.
The growing smorgasbord in new car showrooms includes 43 hybrid-electric vehicles, four plug-in hybrids and 12 pure electric cars.
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Sales-wise, Volt has continued tacking to and fro depending on how many of the car GM is manufacturing and, especially, how well the company is doing in meeting the strong demand for a California-ized, car-pool-lane-eligible version of the plug-in hybrid that was introduced last year.
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The company has created hundreds of American automotive jobs and its first model, the Roadster sports car, lit a fire under Detroit to begin producing electric and plug-in hybrid electric cars but with less success.
The marquee green car for the show was the Fusion Energi, a production-intent plug-in hybrid with, Ford says, a combined fuel economy of over 100 MPGe (a measure of gasoline-gallon energy equivalence).
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But as an apartment dweller with nowhere to plug in a car, the only greener Ford option that would work for me is the C-Max Hybrid.
The car company delayed the launch of its first and only commercially available model, the plug-in hybrid called Karma, and that caused A123 to lower its 2011 sales forecast significantly.
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