Green
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For the past 50 years, the German auto industry has enjoyed quite the roll of growth and success in the U.S., built largely on its expertise with one specific technology: the internal combustion engine. But now the importance of that advantage is fading, with electric cars on the rise and the highest-value component within them the battery pack. Increasingly, companies with headquarters in South Korea, Japan, and China—not Germany—have taken the lead not just on cells and chemistry but in the design of modules and sometimes the entire pack architecture. Meanwhile Volkswagen, for...
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Faraday Future posts "For Sale" signs, as Evergrande backer announces first EV
Faraday Future has been selling like crazy lately. Only, not its cars. The company announced last week that it is seeking a buyer for its original factory site in Las Vegas, where it announced at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show that it would build its future FF91 and FF81. It also announced then...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla Autopilot ranks next-to-last in study of self-driving systems
Tesla, its owners and fans, and its CEO Elon Musk crow a lot about the capabilities of its Autopilot self-driving system. In independent comparisons, though, other autonomous driving systems keep coming out ahead. The latest is from Navigant Research, an automotive consulting firm, and the results...
Eric C. Evarts -
Jaguar I-Pace range, electric BMWs, Ford factories, Fisker batteries: Today's Car News
BMW plans to have 10 plug-in models by next year. Ford announces where it plans to build a wider array of upcoming electric cars. Fisker postpones plans for solid-state batteries. And we assess why the Jaguar I-Pace has made us more anxious than other EVs. All this and more on Green Car Reports. At...
Eric C. Evarts -
Fisker solid-state batteries won't arrive until at least 2022
As part of its latest revelation of a new, mainstream electric SUV for 2021, startup automaker Fisker (the eponymous founder's second under his own name), implicitly made a somewhat startling admission: The solid-state batteries the company has been working on may not be ready any time soon...
Eric C. Evarts -
Ford plans to revamp Michigan plant for 2023 electric car production
Ford Motor Company yesterday announced a plan to build future electric vehicles at a Michigan plant that currently makes the Ford Mustang. Ironically, the plant won’t be where Ford will ramp up production next year of its Mustang-influenced all-electric performance SUV; but the move...
Bengt Halvorson -
At its annual shareholders meeting in Munich on Wednesday, BMW laid out plans to bring 12 new all-electric cars to market by 2025, including five in the next two years. Along with the company's existing i3, the first five will include the Mini Electric, due on sale later this year, the iX3 SUV next year, and the i4 sedan and iNext SUV in 2021. Alongside the 12 electric cars by 2025, the company said it will sell 13 plug-in hybrids, which will include upcoming longer-range plug-in versions of the 3-Series, 7-Series, X3, and X5. It showed the new lineup of plug-in hybrids, which deliver up to...
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Tesla Model 3 vs. Nissan Leaf, VW diesels, electric off-roaders: Today's Car News
Tesla is starting to have some competition. We lay out the pluses and minuses of the new base Tesla Model 3 against the new longer-range Nissan Leaf Plus. One of the biggest makers of recreational vehicles looks poised for more electric ones thanks to a new deal. And despite Volkswagen's big plans...
Eric C. Evarts -
Do Tesla stores still matter? Twitter poll results
Two weeks ago, Tesla announced it was closing all its stores and move all sales online, where the company does most of its business anyway. Last week, it said it would reopen most of them. That led us to wonder whether Tesla stores are still relevant. To gauge the answer among our own readers, our...
Eric C. Evarts -
Deal could bring more electric off-roaders: No more buzzing through the woods
One way to get more buyers interested in electric cars is to introduce electric power to other machines whose function is less critical, and where consumers can get used to the idea of driving electrically. That could be the outcome of a deal in which Bombardier Recreational Products has purchased...
Eric C. Evarts -
VW sold twice as many diesels in 2018 as in 2017
Volkswagen is scrambling to convert its business to building electric cars from building internal combustion cars to building electrics. But globally it hasn't put diesels behind it. According to a report by VW itself, global orders for its diesel vehicles rose from 39 percent of its products in...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla Model 3 Standard Range vs. Nissan Leaf Plus: What you get for your money
Until recently, there have been electric cars, and then there have been Teslas. Quite a few automakers were scrambling to build electric cars to meet increasing demand from California and other states, to earn ZEV credits, and to give their Corporate Average Fuel Economy numbers a booster shot...
Eric C. Evarts -
A second automaker has signed on to Amazon's Home Services charger installation program. We took a Chevrolet Bolt EV to the top of the Continental Divide to see how its range fares in mountain driving. A new UN climate report calls for optimism in tackling climate change. And our latest Twitter poll asks readers which electric SUV they would buy now that the Tesla Model Y is an option. All this and more on Green Car Reports. To make charging installations easier, Kia joined Audi in pointing its plug-in carbuyers to Amazon to buy a home charger. The company's Amazon page lists three charger...
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Which electric SUV would you buy? Take our Twitter poll
The Tesla Model Y will be the first model from the company to launch into a sea of electric competitors. Mainstream automakers, from Audi, BMW and Jaguar to Hyundai and Kia have announced new electric SUVs that are either already on the market or will be in the next few months. The Model Y is not...
Eric C. Evarts -
UN global climate report restores hope, lays out roadmap
A new UN report on global climate change isn't quite as dire as one it issued last October. That special report on warming of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) showed that the effects of climate change could become catastrophic by 2040, at least 10 years earlier than scientists had...
Eric C. Evarts -
2020 Tesla Model Y competitors, no more Mid Range Model 3, new Fisker SUV: Today's Car News
Today, we run down all the current and near-term competitors to the upcoming Tesla Model Y, and look at everything we know about the car to this point. In the meantime, Tesla dropped the Mid Range Model 3 this weekend. And one-time Tesla rival Fisker revealed that it will launch its new lineup with...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla Model 3 Mid Range disappears from automaker's lineup
The Tesla Model 3 Mid Range didn't last long. Tesla quietly dropped the middle trim level over the weekend, which had offered buyers 264 miles of range. The company introduced the car last November in lieu of the entry-level Standard Range car—although Tesla opened that most affordable Model...
Eric C. Evarts -
Will Aston Martin RapideE be James Bond's new electric ride?
To chase down criminals in a new carbon-constrained era, Agent 007 will need a new kind of Q Ship. But he won't stray far from the royal stable. Introducing the latest, kinder, gentler, reportedly less misogynistic Bond: James Bond, and his new all-electric Aston Martin RapideE, which will appear...
Eric C. Evarts -
Which two companies announced expanded lines of plug-in hybrids this week? What big decision did Tesla take back? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending March 15, 2019. The big news this week was Tesla's unveiling of its long-awaited Model Y small, more affordable SUV. The car debuted in LA on Thursday night, complete with new specs and even pricing information. While we were there, we took a closer look at how the Model Y compares with the Model 3 on which it's based. Earlier in the week, Tesla reversed its earlier...
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2020 Tesla Model Y reveal, more VW diesel charges, Audi reuses batteries: Today's Car News
The 2020 Tesla Model Y officially broke cover Thursday night in LA. The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed new charges against Volkswagen, related to its diesels. And Audi has found a unique way to reuse battery packs from its upcoming e-tron SUV lineup. All this and more on Green Car...
Eric C. Evarts -
Audi plans to put old EV batteries to work in factory tugs
Factory tugs in Audi's Ingolstadt factory now sport the latest in second-hand lithium-ion batteries. With automakers on the hook in jurisdictions around the world to take back and properly reuse or recycle all the batteries they install in electric cars, various automakers are experimenting with...
Eric C. Evarts -
Mazda rotary hybrids, plug-in hybrid Ford F-250, EPA ethanol push: Today's Report
The EPA releases a proposal to increase ethanol blends, even in the summer when it can increase smog. Mazda may have more plans for its rotary engine technology than a single new hybrid. Conversion company XL Hybrids releases its new Heavy Duty Ford F-250 Hybrid pickup. And we run down the best...
Eric C. Evarts -
Best deals on electric, plug-in, and hybrid cars for March 2019
As more and more long-range electric cars such as the Audi e-tron quattro, the long-range Nissan Leaf Plus, and the Kia Niro and Soul EVs make their way onto the market, some are starting to offer great deals. Every month, our partners at CarsDirect.com sift through all the deals offered that month...
Eric C. Evarts -
Mazda range-extended electric car may help the rotary live on
The Wankel rotary, the peculiar pistonless internal combustion engine design that Mazda built so much of its heritage around, may see a resurgence after all. Earlier reports and remarks from Mazda executives have suggested that while the rotary will make a comeback, it will be relegated to...
Bengt Halvorson