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Car dealers may be the same all over the world, at least when it comes to electric cars. In 2014, Consumer Reports did a study that showed 50 out of 85 dealerships visited nationwide either outright discouraged its secret shoppers from buying electric cars or tried to talk them into buying a gas or diesel model instead. Few answered questions correctly about electric car incentives, charging, or battery warranties. A study in February by McKinsey & Co showed a similar trend in Beijing and Shanghai, where dealer salespeople suggested gas cars before they recommended electrics, despite...
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Why are so many electric cars (still) only sold in California?Car buyers don't have to live under California's golden sunshine to want electric cars. Yet, in some months, buyers in California purchase more than half of all the electric cars sold in the U.S. According to reader Mike Kamm (H/T Mike), even several of the electric cars that used to be sold in the...
Eric C. Evarts -
Consumer Reports won't recommend Tesla Model 3 (Updated)Update: This article has been updated to reflect a Twitter response from Elon Musk, saying that if the company verifies the braking problem with the Model 3, the company will fix customers' cars, even if it requires a hardware repair. Consumer Reports, the consumer product testing magazine famed...
Eric C. Evarts -
Elon Musk announces Tesla Model 3 AWD, performance Model 3 specsIt wasn't quite a message in a bottle, but Tesla boss Elon Musk tweeted Saturday night some specifications and a ballpark price for his company's long-awaited all-wheel-drive and performance versions of the Model 3. The all-wheel-drive Model 3 will add $5,000 to the base Model 3's price and offer...
Aaron Cole -
Sweden builds life-size slot-car track for long-distance electric-car chargingLike so many things, Sweden is taking a different approach to charging electric cars for long trips. The country has built a 1.2-mile-long slot-car track into a road near Arlanda airport outside Stockholm to test a new approach to charging electric cars and trucks, according to a report in New...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla Model 3 rated and updated, two new hybrids, Canadian Bolt EVs, and more Superchargers: The Week in ReverseWhich new hybrid started production this week in the United States? What electric car is back-ordered for a year? What systems of the Tesla Model 3 did the insurance industry test and rate this week? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the...
Eric C. Evarts -
As Tesla works to ramp up Model 3 output to two-three times the levels of its previous models, the company is apparently anticipating the need for more Superchargers to charge them. According to the crowdsourced website Supercharge.info, Tesla added 121 new Supercharging stations since the beginning of the year, with 1,324 new individual Superchargers worldwide. The vast majority of the new stations have 10 or 12 stalls with chargers. Two new 40-stall stations in the California desert offer lounges where Tesla drivers can get out of the heat and shop for other Tesla merchandise, like...
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IIHS rates Tesla Model 3 automatic emergency braking and forward collision warningAfter a spate of crashes involving drivers using Tesla's Autopilot system, the press is awash in speculation about its effectiveness. Now the IIHS, which rates accident avoidance systems across many automakers, has given the Tesla Model 3 its highest rating of "Superior" in its front crash...
Eric C. Evarts -
Report: Tesla moves to set up operations in ChinaFollowing a report last year that Tesla has received approval to build a factory in Shanghai, the company is setting up independent operations in China. According to a Wall Street Journal report on Monday (subscription required), Tesla is the first automaker to take advantage of new Chinese laws...
Eric C. Evarts -
Report: Tesla rejected additional driver sensors for AutopilotIn Tesla’s earnings call last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk addressed a spate of crashes with cars using the automaker’s Autopilot system, noting that the crashes usually seem to involve experienced Tesla drivers who become complacent in using the system. On Monday, an article in the Wall...
Eric C. Evarts -
2019 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid first driveElectrified cars are all too often about numbers: electric-only range, charging time, kilowatt-hours, and, of course, value. When it comes to an electrified luxury crossover like the 2019 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid, the default knee-jerk reaction is to throw out that last one. Except…...
Andrew Ganz -
Automakers play high-stakes CARB game to earn zero emissions vehicle creditsEditor's note: Green Car Reports covers a lot of electric cars—and there are a lot more to cover these days, thanks to California's complex requirements that major automakers produce zero emissions vehicles for sale. For fans of clean cars—as well as opponents—it's difficult to...
John Briggs -
Which electric car can California and Oregon buyers take home for less than $200 a month and get $1,000 for doing so? What electric car war recalled this week? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending May 11, 2018. Friday, we learned of a new lease deal on the new 2018 Honda Clarity Electric car. It may not have much range, but at least buyers can drive it cheap. General Motors expanded its software recall on 2017 Chevy Bolt EVs to include 2018 models to ensure that drivers will get more warning before battery problems shut...
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Tesla Model S Electric Car: Software Changes Since 2012 (UPDATED)Even though the Tesla Model S has retained its same basic shape since it went on sale in 2012, what's going on under the hood has been anything but stagnant. The automaker's over-the-air updates for the electric car have put the old guard on notice: People expect their cars to act like the...
David Noland -
CFA study shows better gas mileage standards offset cost of modern safety techCars that get good gas mileage aren't unsafe. In fact, gas savings have more than paid for safety improvements in modern cars, as well as for the technology needed to make the gains in fuel economy.
Eric C. Evarts -
2018 Honda Clarity PHEV revisited: is this the car Bill Clinton wanted built?With new stewardship comes new perspective—sometimes on old things. Here at Green Car Reports, we have driven the 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-in Hybrid a couple of times. New reviewers sometimes bring new context and background to subjects we've covered before. And that's the case with the...
Eric C. Evarts -
7 things we learned in 9 years, and where green cars are headedMore than four years ago, this site looked back at its first five years of coverage to assess what had changed—and what we'd learned. Now, we're repeating the exercise. By February 2014, Green Car Reports had published about 9,800 news articles. The number is now up to more than 16,800. Much...
John Voelcker -
Tesla reportedly locks out contractors in midst of Model 3 ramp upLast Wednesday, during Tesla's earnings call, we learned that CEO Elon Musk planned to restructure the company and to cut the number of contractors used at Tesla's factories. That day came suddenly this morning. Electrek reported this morning that it had obtained an internal memo from Musk noting...
Eric C. Evarts -
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.
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1912 electric truck: Take that, Tesla Semi!Commercial Truck company of Philadelphia built 5-ton electric trucks as far back as 1912. We know because two of these C-T Model A 10 trucks showed up for sale on simultaneously on Hemmings Motor News last month.
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla's future, going to court over diesels and emissions, collectible Prius, 'Lexus lanes' and Autopilot stunt: The Week in ReverseWhat's the latest type of vehicle to go electric? And what's likely to deliver your next case of Budweiser? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, April 20, 2018. On Friday, we learned that federal investigators, are...
Eric C. Evarts -
VW executive charged, Tesla rebuked, Nissan Rogue Hybrid, electric Winnebago, and Kia Niro: Today's Car NewsFormer Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn was charged in federal court with fraud over his role in hiding VW's diesel emissions cheating. Tesla was thrown off the investigation into a fatal crash in one of its Model X SUVs by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) after making a public...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla earnings, cash-burn up; Model 3 production, barelyThe company has not reached its goal of producing 5,000 Model 3 cars a week, reporting a maximum production of 2,270 cars a week the week before it shut down the line the third week in April, which it said was to remove production bottlenecks.
Eric C. Evarts -
Electrify America switches on the first 350 KW Fast Charging station in Chicopee, Mass.This Chicopee location consisted of four parking slots being served by four charging units.
John Briggs