2011

  • Brown 2011 Volkswagen TDI Sportwagen listed for sale after emissions repairs

    The brown diesel wagon I’m driving spent last winter confined to a dusty parking lot south of Colorado Springs. Thousands of other TDIs, ranging from Beetles to luxurious Audi Q7 crossovers, remain captive in massive holding facilities across the U.S. Some are finally heading home, to used car lots after VW and the government worked out a fix that removes the software cheats and makes the cars fully compliant with 2011-era emissions standards.

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf
    Lessons learned from early electric car: 2011 Nissan Leaf at 90,000 miles

    Being a pioneer isn't easy. When you're pioneering new automotive technology, it can be challenging and sometimes costly. Just ask anyone who owned an early turbocharged sport sedan, for instance. That also applies, in some cases, to some of the first modern electric cars, and in particular the...

  • Steve Marsh's 2011 Nissan Leaf: 11 Months, 36,000 Miles
    2011 Nissan Leaf electric car crosses 150,000 miles of commuting (updated)

    Many drivers with a 130-mile round-trip each day to work and back might deem the 73-mile EPA-rated range of a 2011 Nissan Leaf electric car far too little to qualify for the commute. Not Steve Marsh, though. The Washington resident continues to rack up miles in his early Leaf. He crossed 100,000...

  • 2011 Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid
    2011-2015 VW Touareg Hybrid SUVs Recalled For Battery Tray Fix

    Volkswagen is recalling a small number of Touareg Hybrid SUVs.

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt, before lease return, Hudson Valley, NY, Aug 2014 [photo: David Noland]
    Life With Chevy Volt: 3 Years & 35,000 Miles Later, It's Over

    It was a sad day. After three years, 34,752 miles, roughly 7,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity, and 327 gallons of gas, I said good-bye to my 2011 Chevy Volt last week. Its lease was up, and there was no one left in the family to drive it. I've been at the wheel of a Tesla Model S for the last 18...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf
    Certified Used Nissan Leaf Program Details Out--But Only In Japan

    Buying used cars is always a little bit of a risk--you can never quite be sure what condition the previous owner has left the car in. That's where manufacturer-certified used car programs come in, and Nissan is launching just such a thing for used examples of its Leaf electric car. While we still...

  • 2011 Tesla Roadster 2.5

    Battery life is the subject of lingering doubt for many electric vehicle owners, but doom and gloom degradation projections don't always come true. Not for the Tesla Roadster at any rate, which is confounding Tesla's own battery life expectations for the car. According to data recorded by Plug In America (PIA), Roadster battery packs are retaining around 80 to 85 percent capacity after 100,000 miles of driving--greater capacity after far greater distance than Tesla was expecting. It equates to a loss of only around 0.15 percent on average every thousand miles. Tesla's own 2006 predictions...

  • 2011 Tesla Roadster 2.5
    Got A Tesla Roadster And Want A Model S? Tesla Will Buy It Back

    Pretend for a moment that you're one of the fortunate folks who purchased a new Tesla Roadster while it was still in production. You're satisfied with the car, but now all anyone wants to talk about is the swanky new Tesla Model S. What's an early adopter to do? You could, or course, trade in that...

  • John Duncan takes delivery of one of the first 2011 Nissan LEAF EVs, near Portland OR, 12/15/2010
    Nissan Leaf Electric Car Reports Own Battery-Cell Failure Via Carwings

    Wouldn't it be nice if your car could tell you not just that something was wrong, but that something might be about to go wrong? A Nissan Leaf in Washington state did just that, and owner Rob Greenlee only found out when he got a call from his local dealership asking him to bring it in for a...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf
    2011 Nissan Leaf At Two Years: 32,000 Miles, No Signs Of Age

    Almost two years ago, I took delivery of one of the very first 2011 Nissan Leafs to be imported into the United Kingdom. With its two-year anniversary approaching, and more than 32,000 miles on the clock, has our family's opinion of the Nissan Leaf changed? What has life with the car been like? And...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf: One Year Drive Report
    2011 Nissan Leaf Long-Term Update: 25,000 Miles, No Woes

    Back in March 2011, we took delivery of a U.K. spec Nissan Leaf as our principal family car. Since then, we’ve kept you up-to-date with the car’s long-term progress, including reports after driving 5,000 miles in it, after covering the 11,000 mile mark, and after one year of ownership...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf: One Year Drive Report
    EVSE Upgrade Testing 6.6-kW Upgrade To Halve Leaf Charging Time

    In the world of electric cars, there are a great number of engineers who like to tweak, modify, and improve the various electric cars on the market today. So far we’ve seen everything from advanced remote monitoring devices to jet-powered range extenders, but now one prolific Californian...

  • Nissan Leaf: Lost Battery Capacity

    When a potential engineering or safety problem with a new or nearly-new car arises, the task of reassuring concerned owners normally falls to the relevant press departments and middle-management. But growing public concern about the rapid battery capacity loss exhibited by some Nissan Leafs in Arizona has prompted Carla Bailo, Senior Vice President of Nissan America’s Research and Development team, to write an open letter to Nissan Leaf owners in an attempt to explain what Nissan is doing to resolve the problem. Posted a week after Mark Perry, Nissan North America’s Product...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf
    How To Keep Your Nissan Leaf’s Battery Pack Happy In Hot Weather

    Just like humans, lithium-ion battery packs don’t like extremes of temperature, which is why automakers often build plug-in cars with liquid-cooled battery packs. Unlike the 2012 Chevrolet Volt and 2012 Tesla Model S however, the Nissan Leaf doesn't have any liquid cooling for its battery...

  • Steve Marsh's 2011 Nissan Leaf: 11 Months, 36,000 Miles
    Nissan Leaf: Does A Battery Inspection Give Peace Of Mind?

    When a Nissan dealer services an all-electric Nissan Leaf, the garage’s diagnostic computer produces a Battery Information Sheet that can give the owner a an at-a-glance assessment of how healthy the battery is in his or her Leaf. But with several dozen Leaf owners, mainly in warmer states...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf SL
    More Nissan Leaf Battery Loss, Nissan Doesn’t Blink

    Last week, Nissan gave an official response to the handful of Arizona drivers of its 2011 Leaf electric car that had experienced the first signs of battery capacity loss. A week on, with more reports from owners claiming a lost battery capacity bar and in two instances, two capacity bars, Nissan...

  • Nissan Leaf: Lost Battery Capacity
    2011 Nissan Leaf Battery Capacity Loss: Nissan Responds

    Just under a month ago, we reported a few cases in which owners of 2011 Nissan Leafs had noticed the first of twelve lights on their car’s battery capacity gauge had switched off, indicating a marked deterioration in battery capacity after just one year. Now Nissan has released an official...

  • Nissan Leaf: Lost Battery Capacity
    2011 Nissan Leafs Start Losing Capacity Bars: Should You Worry?

    It had to happen some time, just not perhaps as quickly as this. Since Nissan’s all-electric Leaf hatchback launched in late 2010, many have been watching with interest to see how long it would be before the car’s 24 kilowatt-hour battery pack showed the gradual reduction in range and...

  • 2010 Honda Civic Hybrid

    Now in its third generation, the Honda Civic Hybrid is one of the stalwarts of the compact hybrid class, having been around in one form or another since its introduction to the U.S. in 2002. Here we're looking at the popular 2006-2011 model, as one of our Five Best Used Green Cars To Buy. While not as overtly green, nor as economical as the 2004-2009 Toyota Prius we looked at yesterday, the Civic Hybrid is well worth considering if you're in the market for a used green car. History The first generation of Civic Hybrid was first launched in 2001 in the Japanese market, but only reached U.S...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf: One Year Drive Report
    2011 Nissan Leaf: One-Year Drive Report

    On March 28, 2011, I took delivery of a European-specification 2011 Nissan Leaf. Yesterday, a few days short of our 1-year anniversary with the car, its odometer passed the 15,000 mile mark. But what have we learned about Nissan’s first electric car after living with it daily for a year?...

  • 2012 Chevrolet Volt
    GM: We’ll Replace Chevrolet Volt 120-Volt Charging Units

    General Motors announced yesterday that it would replace the 120-Volt charging unit provided with every Chevrolet Volt, to provide what GM spokesman Randy Fox called a "more consistent charging experience." Back in July, we reported that some of the charging units provided in Volts were...

  • 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
    Hyundai To Update Sonata, Hybrid Model For 2014

    Hyundai's best-selling model in the U.S, the Sonata, is set to be revamped in 2014, to ensure it remains competitive with fresher competition like the 2013 Toyota Camry, 2013 Ford Fusion, 2013 Chevrolet Malibu and 2013 Honda Accord, all of which are new models. Reuters has revealed (via Automotive...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf SL
    Drive Report: Electric-Car Neophyte Uses 2011 Nissan Leaf For A Week

    The reviews of the Nissan Leaf electric car have already been posted, and one GreenCarReports writer even owns a Leaf, but this isn't going to be your standard review with driving impressions. It's no secret that I'm not exactly a green-car kind of guy. When the opportunity arose this winter to...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf Software Update
    Nissan Leaf Software Update: Here’s What’s Different

    A little over a week ago, we told you that Nissan had announced a complementary voluntary service campaign for all 2011/12 Nissan Leafs. With Nissan strongly encouraging owners to have their Leafs updated to the latest operating system, we decided to get the software in our own 2011 Leaf upgraded...

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