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Wireless charging is still not common, particularly with the disappearance of the Palm Pre, which was one of the main gadgets to utilize the trick for ultra-convenient connection to a battery-boosting charger. That makes Nissan's moves with its Leaf EV all the more interesting: To charge your 2013 Leaf, all you'll have to do is park it on the requisite spot of your garage. The setup is rather simple at first glimpse: Instead of flipping open a door on your car and connecting in a large electric plug, wired to a wall charger point, you reverse your Leaf over a large plastic pad on the floor.

Plug-in electric cars such as the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf have only just begun to penetrate the U.S. consumer market, but already automakers are thinking ahead to the next technological advance: a car that can recharge itself anytime and (almost) anywhere. [More]

Chris Paine, director of Who Killed the Electric Car?, is back with the story of the dead vehicle's remarkable resurrection. When Who Killed the Electric Car?

What if EVs could be charged up in the time it takes to go to the bathroom and grab a convenience store snack? Electric vehicles may be cleaner than gasoline-powered cars and cheap to charge, but they come with a major downside: It takes a lot of time to juice them up. But what if EVs could be charged up in the time it takes to go to the bathroom and run into a convenience store for a snack?

By Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co confirmed it will make its first all-electric vehicle, a version of the Chevrolet Spark minicar that will debut in 2013 and take aim at Nissan Motor Co Ltd's Leaf. [More]

Forget self-driving cars ; Nissan and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland (EPFL) have teamed up to work on mind-reading vehicle technology. Truly hands-free driving may not be too far off. Thought control via brain machine interface isn't a new idea--EPFL researchers are already working on mind-reading wheelchair systems

Photovoltaic cells that convert heat, not sunlight, to electricity may turn out to be the solution for capturing all the energy we waste through heat.

A new contract will bringing fast-charging access points to Northwest highways, enabling a wave of electric cars to make long-range journeys, with just quick stops for charging along the way. Live near I-5, and have a Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt? Your luck is in: Within six months all 276 miles of the interstate between Canada and Oregon will be peppered with electric charging points for your car of the future, in a project that'll turn it into the electric interstate of the 21st Century.

Toyota is charging ahead with three new plug-in EVs for 2012. Other automakers are being more cautious, but remember: Toyota got the Prius to sell when no one was excited about hybrids

NEW YORK -- Japanese automaker Nissan will replace Ford as supplier of New York City's iconic yellow taxicabs as this city abandons its earlier goal of having an all-hybrid cab fleet, after being twice thwarted by federal courts. But the deal with Nissan will allow the city to launch a pilot test next year to determine whether having all cabs as electric vehicles at some point in the future is an option it could pursue instead. [More]

Smartphones, MP3 players, tablets, laptops, netbooks--modern consumers never leave the house without more electronics than Robocop. We're addicted to using and spending money on mobile devices, which might explain why automakers lately can't stop trying to capture some of that trillion-dollar market for themselves. To wit: Today Microsoft and Toyota announced a strategic partnership to build the "ultimate 'mobile device.'" Touted as a 1 billion yen investment in Toyota Media Service (a lot more catchy than saying $12 million), the partnership will have both companies team up to build a global cloud platform to support next-gen telematics in Toyota's hybrid and plug-in vehicles