Electric Cars
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Amid a topsy-turvy month of mostly bad news for Tesla, the company got one major reprieve on Monday. According to a Reuters report, a federal court in San Francisco has dismissed a lawsuit from shareholders over delays in Model 3 production. The suit against Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, claimed that production forecasts for the Model 3 were inflated and deceptive, leading investors to put money into Tesla based on forecasts that proved unrealistic. DON'T MISS: Tesla's CEO Elon Musk announces company will stay public, abandons private push In throwing out the lawsuit, Federal District Judge...
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Should classic cars be converted to electric power? Twitter pollThe latest trend in classic cars is converting them to electric power. Jaguar announced last Thursday that it will convert its ultimate classic, the 1960s E-type, to electric power. It will build the cars at its classic center in England, and is taking orders. Jaguar says its electric powertrain is...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla had VW funding lined up to go private, report saysAfter Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced earlier this month that he planned to take the company private, investment advisors hooked a big fish to provide the funding, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Monday. In a long report about the Tesla board's deliberations over taking the...
Eric C. Evarts -
Swords into plowshares: Kalashnikov builds Russian electric carRetro is apparently the new future. After Jaguar announced it would begin producing electric conversions of its classic E-type this weekend, and Electra Meccanica announced that its next car will be an electric replica of a Porsche 356 roadster, the latest retro-inspired electric car comes from the...
Eric C. Evarts -
Mercedes EQC electric crossover SUV teased in new videosA production prototype of the upcoming Mercedes-Benz EQC electric crossover SUV has taken a peek from under its veil ahead of its official reveal Sept. 4. Mercedes released two short videos of the car. One reveals a quick look at the left headlight that shows some of the car's angular grille and...
Eric C. Evarts -
2019 Chevy Volt gets higher prices with more equipmentIn June, we heard that the 2019 Chevrolet Volt will come with a faster charger and more luxury features. Now, CarsDirect has learned how much those features will add to the price. The price of the base Volt LT model will go up $300 to $34,395, including destination and before any applicable federal...
Eric C. Evarts -
With the annual classic car weekend going on in California, automakers are all working to outdo each other—and this year that means with electric cars. On Friday, Audi revealed its PB18 e-tron. Although it's a concept car, intended to combine the ideas from last year's self-driving Audi Aicon concept with the company's LeMans-winning R-18 e-tron Quattro hybrid race car. DON'T MISS: Battery legend Goodenough not done yet: new solid-state chemistry introduced Perhaps most interesting is that Audi says both the PB18 e-tron and the Aicon concept use solid-state batteries. It's not clear how...
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Electric Jaguar E-Type, EPA blowback, Tesla pileups, and giant hybrid drones: The Week in ReverseWho objected to the Trump administration's plans to freeze emissions and fuel-economy standards? What was recalled going back to the beginning of modern electric cars? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending August 24, 2018...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla's CEO Elon Musk announces company will stay public, abandons private pushTesla CEO Elon Musk announced late Friday via a statement on Tesla's website the automaker would give up plans to take the company private, just 17 days after the embattled executive announced on Twitter he was considering one of the largest leveraged buyouts in corporate history. Staying Public...
Eric C. Evarts -
2020 Kia Soul EV captured in spy photosKia has announced it will build an all-electric version of its Niro hatchback for 2019, but that apparently isn't stopping the company from planning an update for the Soul EV the following year. A spy photographer has captured images of an electric version of the redesigned 2020 Soul testing in...
Eric C. Evarts -
Jaguar E-Type Zero production, fuel-economy standards, and 2020 Kia Soul EV: Today's Car NewsJaguar plans to put the electric E-Type Zero into production. A study shows little support for reduced fuel economy standards in the United States. The 2020 Kia Soul EV steps out in front of the camera in a new round of spy photos. And what exactly are WLTP standards? All of this and more on Green...
Sean Szymkowski -
Explainer: What is WLTP and why should you care?Starting next month, Europe will implement the first phase of new fuel economy and emissions standards that were intended to take effect worldwide. Automakers are required to release initial ratings based on lab tests using the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) on Sept. 1...
Green Car Reports -
You won't have to be a prince to drive an electric Jaguar E-type (though financially it may help). Jaguar announced Thursday that it plans to produce and sell classic E-type coupes similar to the one that carried Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from Windsor Castle to their wedding reception starting in 2020—complete with its electric powertrain. The beautiful coupes are based off the E-type Zero concept shown last year and won't actually be new; the production two-seaters are original Jaguar E-types restored at the company's Classic Works center and converted to electric power. DON'T...
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Tesla push for 5,000 Model 3s per week left many unfinishedAt the end of June, Tesla pushed hard to finish 5,000 Model 3s a week. It may have pushed too hard. New internal documents acquired and reported by Business Insider show that of the 5,031 cars produced in the last week of June, 4,300 had some problem that required rework. In auto industry...
Eric C. Evarts -
Ford recalls Focus Electric, Fusion Energi, and C-Max Energi charge cordsFord announced a recall on Wednesday of the 120-volt charge cords supplied with nearly all of the plug-in hybrid and electric cars it built through 2015. The cars affected include the 2012 to 2015 Focus Electric, the 2013 to 2015 Ford C-Max Energi, and the 2013 to 2015 Ford Fusion Energi. Ford says...
Eric C. Evarts -
Lots of Teslas spill all over Northern CaliforniaWatching Tesla—and Teslas—has become practically a spectator sport, especially for those who live near the factory. As production of the company's most popular car, the Model 3, has ramped up that sport has become easier—at least for people in the San Francisco Bay Area. It seems...
Eric C. Evarts -
Van builder Workhorse unveils hybrid helicopterSometimes building electric cars may be about more than building electric cars. At an event in New York City last weekend, Workhorse, which is known for converting delivery vans to plug-in hybrid power, aimed a little higher. It revealed a hybrid helicopter, according to an Ars Technica report. The...
Eric C. Evarts -
EPA plans to roll back emissions standards on power plantsAfter wiping out plans to continue boosting fuel economy standards earlier this month, the EPA on Tuesday proposed rolling back emissions standards on electric power plants. The new proposed rule, which the EPA calls the "Affordable Clean Energy" rule, would eliminate Obama-era standards that would...
Eric C. Evarts -
The 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric boasts the greatest range of any electric car built by a full-range automaker: 258 miles, according to the EPA. That bests the Nissan Leaf's 151 miles and Chevrolet Bolt EV's 238 miles, and it nearly ties the Tesla Model S 75D's 259-mile range. The news was first reported by Inside EVs. The official range rating is even longer than the 250 miles that Hyundai estimated when it unveiled the car last spring at the Geneva Motor Show. DON'T MISS: 2019 is the year of the electric SUV Along with the range rating, the EPA released official MPGe ratings for the Kona...
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What plug-in car would you send your kids back to school in? Twitter poll resultsIt's back-to-school time and some families want electric cars. Last week, we asked our Twitter followers which plug-in car they might choose to send their kids back to school. Options ranged from the relatively affordable Nissan Leaf that offers great lease deals, to a plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt, to...
Eric C. Evarts -
How much would you spend on an electric car? Take our Twitter pollPrices on electric cars are going up. Several factors account for this. For starters, tax credits on electric cars from the two most popular electric-car makers, Tesla and Chevrolet, which is raising effective prices. An even bigger factor raising average prices for electric cars may be the fact...
Eric C. Evarts -
New report inside Tesla factory says Model 3 production improvingA new independent report from inside Tesla's Fremont factory shows production of the Model 3 is becoming sustainable. The report, from automotive analysts Eversource ISI Research in London and first carried in FT Alphaville, shows Model 3 production improving, and that the new General Assembly line...
Eric C. Evarts -
Saudi investment fund reportedly wants stake in Lucid MotorsThe Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund may be planning to buy a stake in potential Tesla rival Lucid Motors, according to a Reuters report. Tesla CEO Elon Musk suggested last week that he had held talks with the same Saudi investment fund. The report says that the fund has drawn up a term sheet to...
Eric C. Evarts -
2019 Ford Fusion Energi gets longer electric rangeFord is boosting the battery size and electric range of its Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid sedan for 2019. The new battery will store 9 kwh, up from 7 kwh, to give the 2019 Fusion Energi a range of 25 electric miles, up from 21 miles. The bigger battery should make the Fusion Energi more competitive...
Eric C. Evarts