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Batteries are the key component in building practical electric cars. And for its first all-electric Leaf in 2011, Nissan developed its own proprietary lithium-ion battery pack--even planning and setting up its own assembly facilities to build them. That trajectory started back in 2007, but today, the landscape of electric-car battery supply and procurement is vastly different. Perhaps most notably, batteries are integrated into the entire automotive supply chain. So, seven years later, just how committed is Nissan to keeping battery development, engineering, and assembly in-house? DON'T MISS...
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2015 Honda Fit Gas Mileage: True 40-MPG Subcompact, Or Not?The 2015 Honda Fit subcompact is an entirely new model, and for North America, it's built in a new plant in Mexico. That means that its launch was necessarily slow and cautious--in fact, it was delayed two months--and then a bumper upgrade to reinforce crash-safety welds hardly sped up the...
John Voelcker -
Plug-In Electric Car Sales In Sept: Leaf Up Again, Volt Down: FINAL UPDATEWith U.S. sales of plug-in electric cars now averaging more than 10,000 vehicles each month, September sales achieved that mark but fell short of the sizzling pace of the last two months. Sales of the Nissan Leaf totaled 2,881 last month, bringing year-to-date deliveries to 21,882. That's almost a...
John Voelcker -
Mysterious Tesla Model S 'D' Photo Appears: What Could It Be?The Internets exploded yesterday following a photo tweeted by Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, with the caption, "About time to unveil the D and something else". Feverish speculation over what it meant took up terabytes of server space. Then, yesterday afternoon, a photo surfaced that purports to show a...
John Voelcker -
Elon Musk Tweets Tesla To Unveil 'D' On Oct 9th: Our GuessesDo you ever get the sense that Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has fun in his job? Last night, at 6:31 pm Pacific time, he tweeted a photo with the caption, "About time to unveil the D and something else". The photo showed a roller door with the letter "D" on it, the shadowy front end of what appeared...
John Voelcker -
2015 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel Production To Double: 1 In 5 Trucks To Get DieselRam is increasing EcoDiesel truck production to meet demand.
Stephen Edelstein -
Tesla Motors sales in China are "robust," and the company may have as many as 4,000 reservations for its Model S--which it only started selling in China five months ago. The upbeat assessment came from Patrick Archambault, a Goldman Sachs analyst who has followed Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] since its initial public offering several years ago. Tesla only releases sales figures quarterly, so we won't know its sales from July through the end of this month until sometime in November. DON'T MISS: Tesla In Deal To Build 400 Charging Stations In China With the Chinese national government discussing and...
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2015 Honda CR-V: New Engine, CVT For Higher Gas Mileage, New Features, Mild RestyleThe 2015 CR-V boasts improved gas mileage thanks to a new CVT.
Stephen Edelstein -
Iowa Dealers Shut Down Tesla Test Drives As Rep Humiliates ThemSometimes you almost have to feel sorry for car dealers--or, more specifically, their ineptness at the public-relations end of their fight against electric-car maker Tesla Motors and its direct Internet sales to car buyers. Consider Bruce Anderson, president of the Iowa Automobile Dealers...
John Voelcker -
Prius Competitors, Lutz On Tesla, Toyota Fuel-Cell Ad: The Week In Reverse (Video)Why is Senator Harry Reid a new convert to electric-car incentives? And, are you part of what Toyota calls the "bold few" who will usher in a zero-emission future? This is the Week In Reverse for Friday, September 26, 2014, right here at Green Car Reports. Friday, we covered a comment by former GM...
John Voelcker -
Tesla A 'Fringe Brand': Former GM Product Czar Bob Lutz (Video)When an unknown automotive startup from Silicon Valley unveiled an all-electric sports car with supercar performance back in 2006, the shock was enough to make industry giant GM sit up and pay attention. That, plus the desire to gain some of the green halo seized by Toyota's Prius hybrid, led GM's...
John Voelcker -
National Drive Electric Week: 150 Cities, 90,000 People, Electric Cars All OverNational Plug-In Day became National Drive Electric Week for the first time, with seven days worth of electric-car events.
Stephen Edelstein -
Time was, the Toyota Prius hybrid was the unquestioned technology champion and king of the fuel-efficiency battles. No longer, though. Now, as Toyota starts to plan for the launch of its fourth-generation flagship hybrid car, the legendary Prius faces more competition than ever before from newer plug-in electric cars and even some diesel vehicles. An article in trade journal Automotive News (subscription required) reports that Toyota dealers have now seen the design of the new Prius, which will be sportier and more streamlined. MORE: All-New 2016 Toyota Prius: What We Know So Far The latest...
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2016 Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid: Revealed At Paris Motor ShowPity poor Mitsubishi, whose Outlander Plug-In Hybrid has been on sale in Europe and Asia for almost two years. But the plug-in hybrid SUV's U.S. debut has been delayed several times, and now is set for the fall of 2015, likely as a 2016 model. Now we can get a glimpse of what the revised plug-in...
John Voelcker -
Toyota Fuel-Cell Ad Asks: Are You 'The Bold Few' Or A 'Handbrake'?The piano music is somber, the announcer's voice well modulated and filled with gentle concern. Over the next year, we'll be faced with a decision to support, oppose, or even ignore the future of hydrogen-fueled propulsion. Indeed, and most likely the discussion--whether it's a flat decision is...
John Voelcker -
Feds Should Boost Electric-Car Incentives: Harry Reid, Nevada SenatorToday, most plug-in electric car buyers qualify for a Federal income-tax credit of $2,500 to $7,500--but Senator Harry Reid thinks those incentives should be expanded. He proposes to overcome one challenge with that incentive: Buyers must wait up to 15 months to realize the benefit, which they...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Battery Cost: New Report Suggests Model 3 To Cost $50K Or MoreIt's likely the biggest question for the future of electric cars: How low can battery cost go, and how fast? Tesla Motors is thought to have the lowest cost-per-kilowatt-hour in the electric-car business, with some estimates suggesting the company is already approaching the crucial $200/kWh level...
John Voelcker -
2016 Mercedes-Benz S550 Plug-In Hybrid: First DriveThe 2016 Mercedes-Benz S550 Plug-In Hybrid luxury sedan will arrive in the U.S. next spring. We've now driven a prototype of the U.S.-spec car, which is quiet, luxurious, and likely to carry a six-figure price tag. And it will be followed within a year by two more plug-in hybrids using the same...
John Voelcker -
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 months. My wife, a fanatical stick-shift devotee, refuses to give up her Mini Cooper. And my 18-year-old daughter--the Volt's primary driver since I got the Tesla--has gone off to college. DON'T MISS: Tesla Model S Vs Chevy Volt: Owner Compares Electric Cars After three years of ownership, I've...
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2014 Toyota Prius V: Hybrid Wagon Ultimate GuideThe Prius name has been around since the very first Prius sedan back in 1999, but for quite a while Toyota's flagship hybrid was a single-model range. The Prius C subcompact and Prius V changed that, and we've put together a guide on the latter to help you make the right decision when choosing your...
Antony Ingram -
FINAL UPDATE: Plug-In Electric Car Sales In Aug: All-Time Leaf High, Volt Best In 12 MonthsThe best-selling electric car in the world, the Nissan Leaf, logged its best-ever U.S. sales in August, selling a record 3,186 units. This marks its 18th consecutive month of year-over-year sales increases, and brings the eight-month total to 18,941 and the total sold in almost four years to more...
John Voelcker -
2014 MINI Cooper: Gas Mileage Review With 3-Cyl Engine + ManualThe 2014 MINI Cooper hardtop is the first entire, top-to-bottom redesign of the iconic British minicar. In its base form, with a new 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine and a six-speed manual gearbox, it runs a bit more than $20,000 and is rated at 34 mpg combined. But it's longer, wider...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Gigafactory Going To Nevada, Apparently (First One, Anyhow)A press conference to be held this afternoon may answer one of the major questions for the future of electric-car maker Tesla Motors: Where will it locate its gigafactory? The answer appears to be Nevada. The office of state governor Brian Sandoval said he would make a "major economic development...
John Voelcker -
2014 BMW i3 REx 38-HP Range Extender Vs. 14,000-Foot Mountain: Who Wins?Steep climbs are the enemy of electric car drivers. While modern electric vehicles are more than capable of powering up a hill, with ample torque, the effect on a car with limited range can be significant. It's less of a problem with a range-extended electric vehicle like the 2014 BMW i3 REx, but a...
Antony Ingram