Fuel Efficiency

Drivers are not helpless in the face of government plans to roll back fuel economy standards. A joint August proposal from the EPA and NHTSA to freeze planned increases in fuel economy standards is out for public comments until Oct. 23. Public comments can make a difference. DON'T MISS: Trump...

Just as the Trump administration moves to roll back fuel economy standards, a new survey shows that Americans are dissatisfied with the fuel economy their cars already get. The American Customer Satisfaction Index survey for cars was released Tuesday, and among the 10 attributes the survey studied...

The SEC issues subpoenas to Tesla over CEO Elon Musk's plan to take the company private. Switzerland halts registrations of some diesels from Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. New records show internal pushback at the EPA over freezing fuel-economy regulations. And we run down the best deals on green cars...

GM files patents for three new active aerodynamic aids. A reader's family finds enough charging outlets to make a 2,000-mile road trip in a Chevy Bolt EV. Our readers report they often find electric-car chargers that don't work. And a report draws some surprising conclusions about electric cars'...

General Motors filed patent applications in June for three types of active aerodynamic systems that could make cars more efficient and potentially even give electric cars longer ranges. The three patent applications were all filed as part of Chevrolet's design for the new eighth-generation...

Shale oil's prevalence in the American oil market may present a large obstacle for rising fuel economy standards. Shale oil creates gasoline with a lower octane rating than gasoline created by conventional crude oil. This is due to higher concentrations of elemental components such as Naphtha...

Last week we listed seven of the most bizarre "green" cars (and some not-so-green) of the 20th century, most of which were rolled out in response to depression, war recovery, or out-of-control gas prices. This week, we'll look at seven more from the 21st century, which seems to have had a...

Chevrolet announced last week that its upcoming 2019 Silverado full-size pickup will offer a new turbo-4 in place of the base V-6 in some models. Like the V-8s in some of GM's large pickups, the new engine will have active cylinder management that cuts two of the four cylinders during light loads...

Truck driver Bob Sliwa hit the road on Thursday night in his carbon-fiber-bodied, diesel-powered semi truck, as he attempts to set a fuel economy record for big rigs by the time he pulls into Jacksonville, Fla., next Wednesday. The endeavor, sponsored by Shell and the North American Council for...

Cars 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.

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...

Japan began investigating the company last year for falsifying fuel-economy and emissions reports at its two factories in the country, and Subaru has now confirmed that final testing data was manipulated on more than 900 cars going back to 2002.

Bob Sliwa aims to set a new semi-truck fuel-economy record when he leaves San Diego, Calif., on May 17 in his Shell Airflow Starship truck. Hauling his full-sized trailer fully loaded to the truck's 80,000 pounds capacity, he aims to set the fuel economy record for a loaded Class 8 truck in a...

Rather than continue to ratchet standards up to 54.5 mpg by 2025, as the current law requires, the new proposal would stall out fuel economy increases at just short of 42 mpg in 2020, and hold them there through 2026.

Automakers may complain about rising gas mileage standards, but as several have proved over the years, they don't always have to meet them. Another strategy, employed regularly over the years by a few automakers is to ignore the fuel economy standards and just pay the penalties for missing them...

As promised, the Trump administration has embarked on regulatory rollbacks across many fronts, some immediate and others taking longer. It remains unclear whether the EPA's plan to loosen carbon-dioxide emission limits for 2022 through 2025 vehicles will survive inevitable court challenges...

These are not good times for the makers or owners of diesel cars, particularly in their European stronghold, where on average half of all new vehicles had been sold with diesel engines. Strict new real-world emission tests have proven hard to meet, consumers are starting to shy away from buying new...

Two years ago this month, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles essentially threw in the towel on the "automobiles" part of its name. Canceling the compact Dodge Dart and the mid-size Chrysler 200 sedans, the company doubled down on the pickup trucks and utility vehicles that had long been its profit centers...

Journalism as an industry is under great pressure these days. There are far more people writing "content" than in past decades, and in general they are having to produce more of it for less money than they did 10, 20, or 50 years ago. That's no excuse, however, for getting the basics wrong. DON'T...

Despite the sturm und drang around the announcement by embattled EPA chief Scott Pruitt that he will relax emission limits for 2022 through 2025 vehicles, not much will happen immediately. His determination last week that the Obama administration was "incorrect" and that the limits on those...