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Chevy Spark EV will go on sale in Maryland

The single-charge range of a Chevrolet Spark electric vehicle may not blow away anyone who's used to driving on a topped off tank of gas. But a full charge will actually get a Spark EV about halfway across the state of Maryland. Which is good because that state will be the first on the East Coast to sell the battery-electric model. General Motors said this week that Chevy Spark EV sales will start in Maryland this spring, and that federal and Maryland tax credits will get the out-of-pocket price of the Spark EV below the $18,000 threshold. GM took the opportunity to tout the Spark EV's 119 miles per gallon equivalent rating and says Maryland has sufficient charging infrastructure for drivers to welcome the EV without too much trouble. Last June, Spark EV distribution was reported to be ready to extend beyond the Pacific Coast. Specifically, Ohio was thought to be next in line to get Spark electric vehicles after four state car dealerships listed the model on their websites. GM's Randy Fox, however, quashed that real quick, saying only California and Oregon had sufficient infrastructure to support the Spark EV. GM first announced the Spark EV for public (or at least American) consumption back in 2011. Last year, the General sold 1,145 Spark EVs, up 87 percent from 2013. For more on the Maryland expansion, take a look at GM's press release below. Chevrolet Spark EV Plugs into Maryland Customer demand drives addition of East Coast; features locally sourced drive unit 2015-01-22 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Chevrolet will start selling the Spark EV in Maryland this spring, expanding the pure electric mini-car's "range" to the East Coast. The Spark EV is the most efficient U.S. retail electric vehicle on the market, delivering an EPA-estimated combined city/highway 119 MPGe fuel economy equivalent and 82 miles of EPA-estimated combined city/highway range. It is priced as low as $17,845, after federal and Maryland tax credits – and it features a locally sourced electric motor and drive unit, manufactured at General Motors' Baltimore Operations facility in White Marsh, Md. "The Spark EV has been one of the most well-received electric vehicles in the industry and customer demand helped make the decision to expand its availability to Maryland," said Steve Majoros, Chevrolet director of car marketing.

Hillary Clinton takes to campaign trail in a van called Scooby

It still seems way too early to even starting thinking about the 2016 presidential election, but candidates are already throwing their hats in the ring. Among the officially announced hopefuls so far is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. To kick off her run for office, she recently embarked on a long-distance road trip from her home in New York to the campaign battleground of Iowa. Rather than a limo, she was driven there in a conversion van (pictured above) that Clinton named Scooby after Hanna-Barbera's famous, mystery-solving dog. According to Yahoo Autos, the vehicle itself is a Chevrolet Express that has been customized by the Explorer Van Company, and Time says that it's also armored. Clinton isn't behind the wheel, though. All those years in public office mean that the Secret Service does the driving. Of course, the vehicle in Scooby Doo was named the Mystery Machine, and Scooby was mostly brown, not black. To explain the somewhat odd naming, Clinton traveled around in a brown van during her 2000 Senate campaign in New York, and it earned the nickname Scooby, according to Time. Apparently, the moniker has stuck for her latest ride. If the start of the Clinton campaign seems early, she isn't the first White House hopeful to arrive in Iowa this year. A bunch of possible Republican candidates already met at summits in the state at least twice to gain favor ahead of the caucus there. No word on what they were driving...

Brief website update hints 2016 Chevy Volt will get 43 mpg, 106 MPGe

Customers in California can already order the 2016 Chevrolet Volt and be the first to own the new, range-extended EV in August. It appears there's now a possibility that buyers of the updated model might get slightly better economy than Chevy's initial announcement from the 2015 Detroit Auto Show in January, too. According to the eagle-eyed folks at GM-Volt.com, Chevy has been subtly tweaking the spec page for the 2016 Volt. It briefly showed the model getting 43 miles per gallon combined fuel economy and 106 mpge, rather than the originally released figures of 41 mpg and 102 mpge. Shortly afterward, the internal-combustion mileage returned to 41 mpg, but 106 mpge remained. A GM spokesperson told Hybrid Cars the changes happened by mistake. "We have not finalized numbers yet. We expect to announce in July." The economy isn't the only statistic to see an adjustment, though. The total range was reportedly briefly shown as 420 miles, and then returned to a 430-mile rating, according to Hybrid Cars. The Volt's output has also been slightly tweaked from the original figures. It's now displayed as 150 horsepower and 293 pound-feet of torque, versus the preliminary numbers of 149 hp and 294 lb-ft. These tiny changes likely have a negligible impact on real-world driving, but they suggest that Chevy's team is still working to squeeze as much as possible from the latest Volt's powertrain. If the final figures are coming in July, then the engineers still have just a few weeks to improve the ratings even more.