Fuel Efficiency

Sometimes even well-informed industry analysts get it wrong. Or miss the forest for the trees. A recent posting by Pike Research, entlted "Europe Leads, U.S. Lags In Start-Stop Hybrids," correctly notes that adoption of start-stop systems is well advanced in Europe, but lags behind in the U.S. But...

If you're reading this site, there's a good chance that you're interested in driving green: saving fuel, perhaps reducing the overall impact of your transportation choices on the planet. Or maybe not. Maybe, like the vast majority of U.S. buyers, you're interested in better fuel economy not for...

To achieve ambitious 2016 Federal fuel-economy goals, carmakers are working hard to make their engines smaller and more efficient. That's not news. But it's increasingly looking like we'll have a new target for compact cars over the next few years: a rating of 40 miles per gallon highway, from an...

We've all driven through--or waited a long time at--intersections that have car-sensing traffic lights. Now Denso has modeled the next iterations of a "smart traffic light" system. It would use messaging between vehicles and the traffic-light controller to let the light make better decisions about...

Turbochargers have been with us in volume production only since the Seventies, but superchargers have a long and honorable automotive history. They were used on the Blower Bentleys that won Le Mans 80 years ago, and have appeared ever since on high-performance engines, often larger ones. A boost...

California, Massachusetts and Oregon have been named the top-rated states for energy efficiency, while New York, Vermont, Washington, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Maine rounded out the top ten. That's according to the annual State Energy Efficiency Scorecard report from the American...

No, it's not pronounced "hell" ... although that word was heard from many Modena fans when news first broke that Ferrari was planning a hybrid-electric drivetrain in some models. The first fruits of Ferrari's wide-ranging quest to improve the fuel efficiency of its models was unveiled at the Paris...

After many months of testing, qualifying, and mechanical challenges--not to mention reams of press releases--today the Progressive Automotive X-Prize announced the winners of its three categories, who will split $10 million in prize money. Both winners in the "alternative" classes for two-passenger...

Reading the news in our automotive world never fails to surprise and delight. Take, for example, our discovery of the soliticitousness exhibited by automakers who care deeply about the delicate and fragile feelings of car buyers. Yes, those same car buyers from whom an independent dealer's job is...

Sometimes, you'd think that hybrid-electric vehicles were the most important development in the automotive world, if not the entire geopolitical sphere, in the last 15 years. They're not. More than a decade after they launched into the U.S. market, their market share hovers just south of 3 percent...

It was so much easier just a few short years ago. Luxury cars wafted and sports machines roared, with nary a thought to gasoline consumed. Hybrids were for weenies, and everyone knew their place. But now? A hybrid Ferrari, a hybrid Porsche race car, an electric BMW ... what is the world coming to?...

It's Friday, so we're straying slightly afield from covering cars. In this case, we're turning our green lens toward jetliners to look at fuel economy in the sky. Anyone who travels on a jet more than once has likely more than doubled their non-flying carbon footprint, and there are unlikely to be...

America loves to complain about gas mileage and the cost of gasoline.  As it turns out, part of the problem is us. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found a 1.1 percent increase in self-reported obesity, which translates into extra weight that your vehicle has to haul...

For the Friday files, some cool new technology: How about a car that plugs in, but doesn't use that electricity to power the car? Nope, we're not talking about battery electric cars like the 2011 Nissan Leaf. Or range-extended EVs like the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. Or even conventional hybrids adapted...

If you've been to New York City lately, you may have noticed an increasing number of hybrid taxis on the roads: mostly Ford Escape Hybrid SUVs, but also Toyota Camry Hybrid and Nissan Altima Hybrid sedans, and a scattering of others too. It's part of a long-term plan to green the fleet of 14,000...

Almost a year ago, General Motors launched a little marketing campaign connecting its 2011 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car to the figure "230 mpg." As we pointed out at the time, they were basing that projection on a proposed formula for fuel usage patterns that made a lot of assumptions...

Auto industry analysts get paid to issue reports, and most of them are vastly better at data analysis and number crunching than we'll ever be. That doesn't mean, however, that sometimes their data isn't misleading. It's important to keep context in mind, and not miss the forest for the trees...

More than a year ago, we wrote an article pointing out the flaws in the U.S. practice of measuring a car's gasoline use with the familiar miles-per-gallon (MPG) measure. Now, no less a body than the august National Research Council has agreed with us. As  it noted in a pre-publication summary...

It's the Friday before a long holiday, which means most of you aren't around to read this. But for those who are, here's our bit of green-car randomness to launch the Independence Day celebrations. How would you like to own a semi-derelict, half-century-old, very odd-looking German car that holds a...

Like many site editors, we read our traffic stats religiously. Perhaps unlike other site editors, ours frequently make us laugh. We try to provide practical information on navigating your way through the confusing claims made about 'green' cars, whether they're hybrids, clean diesels, or just very...