Hybrids

Next week is the annual Detroit Auto Show, one of the most important events on the automotive calendar and increasingly a place for car companies to show off new green technology. Given consumer tastes and the trends in the market, it should come as no surprise that the list of green cars, whether...

Honda has announced its next hybrid, the 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid, will be built at its Marysville, Ohio plant in the U.S. The Japanese carmaker is investing $23 million at the plant and hiring 50 new employees, ready for production of the two-motor hybrid before it goes on sale this fall. It makes...

The U.S. Department of Transport has become the latest group to look further into noisemaking devices for electric and hybrid vehicles. Several pressure and safety groups have proposed such devices in the past, reasoning that the silent nature of cars using electric power at low speeds would prove...

Prepare to be unsurprised: The U.S. West Coast features the highest proportion of hybrid and electric vehicles across the country--with almost one in ten new vehicles sold in the San Francisco metropolitan area alone a hybrid. That's according to research group Polk, which warns that generalizing...

The 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid is a comfortable, quiet, well appointed five-door compact hybrid hatchback that appears to get 35 to 40 mpg in most real-world usage. But it is not a 47-mpg car, from the bulk of the evidence available. The C-Max is selling well--much faster than the original Prius did...

Honda's 2014 Accord Plug-In Hybrid has become the first vehicle to meet California's latest new emissions standard. The plug-in Accord's per-mile output of only 20 milligrams of smog-forming emissions allows it to meet the California Air Resources Board's new SULEV20 standards. SULEV20, or "Super...

Electric vehicles are as different when crashed as they are when moving, and that difference has led to changes in procedure for first responders to accident scenes. Police, fire and other services now receive training in order to deal with high-voltage systems in crashed electric and hybrid...

It isn't just Hyundai and Kia in deep water over misleading MPG claims--now Ford is the subject of a lawsuit over the MPG of its hybrid models. The federal lawsuit concerns the fuel economy of its most recent hybrid models, the C-Max Hybrid and Fusion Hybrid. Filed on December 7, the lawsuit says...

It's quite easy to forget that cars have been using batteries for years before hybrids and electric vehicles arrived. The humble lead-acid battery, the planet's most recycled product, has been starting engines and providing power for car electrics ever since such a thing was required. Now, battery...

Starting with its rollout in the 2012 Buick Lacrosse, GM has steadily added its eAssist mild-hybrid system to an expanding roster of vehicles. Next year, it will be offered as an option on the 2014 Chevrolet Equinox and the 2014 GMC Terrain, which will be the first crossover utility vehicles to...

Luxury automaker Lexus has hit a major milestone in hybrid sales: Half a million units. Since the company's first hybrid, the Lexus RX 400h hit the roads in 2005, over 506,000 have followed. And it's the RX hybrid which is still the best-selling line, making up over half of Lexus's total hybrid...

Ford and Nissan are celebrating the results of the latest round of Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash testing--but rival Toyota won't be quite so joyful. The 2013 Ford Fusion and 2013 Nissan Altima have earned a Top Safety Pick+ from the IIHS, a new level above the previous Top Safety...

Once the perserve of the Japanese domestic market and the occasional videogame, the Nissan GT-R has subsequently become a performance icon. In its current iteration, it produces 545-horsepower from a 3.8-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6. 60 mph arrives in around three seconds and de-restricted it'll do...

While purchasing a hybrid vehicle is a relatively easy decision these days, the purchase of a plug-in hybrid can be significantly more difficult to justify, thanks to its greater expense. In terms of the Toyota Prius, a 2013 Prius Two with no options can be configured with a sticker price as low as...

Eco-minded shoppers have seen environmental issues take up more space in the news, and they've known that it was simply a matter of time before those concerns began affecting the sorts of vehicles we drive. Now, mainstream consumers are beginning to see the light. The change hasn't come overnight...

For decades, the stalwart of the taxi ranks has been the full-size sedan. Sturdy, simple and cheap to buy, cars like Ford's Crown Victoria have become part of the landscape in cities like New York. But with rising gas prices and concerns over emissions, things are really changing. While not yet a...

Ford is now clearly worried about the mileage ratings of its new 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid and 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid. Company officials said on Friday that while they complied with all EPA test requirements, a driver's individual style is critical to achieving published fuel-efficiency numbers. Both...

If 2012 was the year that several companies realised the importance of hybrid and electric vehicles, 2013 will be the year that we see the fruits of their labor. Volkswagen, initially reluctant to dabble in the plug-in market, is set to launch at least two new high-volume plug-in hybrids over the...

Nissan will add 15 new hybrid models to its global lineup by 2016, as well as several more plug-in electric cars, it said yesterday. Toshiyuki Shiga, the company's chief operating officer, made the commitment at a briefing in its headquarters town of Yokohama in which it analyzed progress toward...

2013 sees two significant Honda models subtly improved, the Civic sedan, and the CR-Z hybrid coupe. Both have come under criticism for different reasons, and a host of small updates and specification improvements should go some way to silencing the critics. 2013 Honda CR-Z Honda's small coupe has...