Grid

It guest-stars Fernando Alonso.

It's like a tiny nostalgia trip back to 1990.

Longtime electric-vehicle drivers will tell you that, when it comes maximizing efficiency while driving, smoothness counts. And it looks like the same goes for the electricity of the buildings charging those vehicles. Which is why General Electric is running a pilot program of plug-in vehicle chargers in New York, Wired reports.

Gran Turismo 6 is the driving game for the last-generation of video game consoles. Forza Motorsport 5 is the game for the next-generation of consoles. Doesn't seem like there's much middle ground, does it? Don't tell that to the folks behind Grid Autosports, though. The sequel to G

Lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems is officially unplugging from the grid. The company, which was acquired by Wanxiang Group last year, is selling its grid-storage business to Japan-based NEC Corp. The company's Massachusetts and Missouri facilities are going along with it.

Honda is joining a pre-existing vehicle-to-grid (V2G) demonstration project involving the University of Delaware and NRG Energy. Honda will use one of its Accord Plug-in Hybrid models as a back-up grid-power source when conventional power supply drops and demand surges. NRG Energy started funding its testing system with the university earlier this year.

At least now we know the answer to that age-old joke, "How many Nissan Leafs does it take to power an office building?" The answer is a tidy half-dozen.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, rumors of the grid's demise on account of more plug-in vehicles are greatly exaggerated. And, while time is money, when it comes to electric-vehicle charging, more money means less time. At least, less time during peak demand.

"We're not the problem." That's the main message from a Southern California Edison (SCE) report about the charging habits of the utility's plug-in vehicle-driving customers. SCE serves about 180 Southern California cities and says there's little near-term risk for an increase in plug-in vehicle adoption overloading the grid. That's because about half of the plug

Talk to utility grid operators and, for the most part, they will tell you that electric vehicles pose little-to-no threat to the electric grid in the US. Except, sometimes, EVs can make the power go out. Not from the simple act of plugging in and charging, but from a more traditional danger: crashing. Someone alert Sebastian Blanco

Coda Energy has been officially unveiled. As Coda Holdings, Inc., and its Coda Automotive electric carmaker subsidiary, has closed bankruptcy sale proceedings, the energy storage division is now ready for business.

Your Monday green-car buzzkill is brought to you buy University of Michigan research professor John DeCicco, who says more electric vehicles won't do much to slow global warming if energy-production methods aren't addressed.

The steady drip of GRID 2 teasing, leading up to the game's May 28 release date, continues with a video, a press release and some new images from Codemasters.

Motoring journalist Chris Harris may be less than understated in most of his video reporting, but if this new promotional video for Codemasters' upcoming racer Grid 2 is any indication, he can take direction. Intended to remind us of just how true-to-life the new racing title will be, Harris spends the video chasing Seyth Miersma

Codemasters is promising all kinds of wunderbar things for Grid2 like "new standards for a racing multiplayer experience" and "the most visceral and exhilarating racing yet." The 24-karat test of those claims will have to wait until we can get controllers in our hands, but not for too much longer: The game will be shipping to stores on May 28 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation3 and PC.

Charging infrastructure, higher vehicle costs and less-than-desired single-charge range estimates are among the hurdles to more plug-in vehicles in the US – having the necessary juice from the grid is pretty much a foregone conclusion. Not so in India, apparently.

I would think if you were to draft a list of the top three "fear factors" impinging mass adoption of electric vehicles, it might look something like this...

The racing-fueled programmers at Codemasters have been pretty busy of late, it seems. The crew recently pinned a bow on their latest racing game, F1 2012, and has just shown off another highly anticipated sequel, GRID 2, at the Eurogamer Expo.