Hybrids

Mitsubishi was one of the first to market with a production electric vehicle with its 'i' city car, and a new plug-in hybrid is set to join it at the Paris Motor Show this month. The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is based on the all-new Outlander that debuted at the Moscow Auto Show in July. The...

Hybrid and electric cars live and die by the performance of their battery packs, so battery development is an ongoing process to improve these vehicles. Eaton Corporation has announced it is currently working on a cost-effective power control system for hybrid vehicle batteries, designed to reduce...

Think of the high-gas mileage Toyota Prius, and you’re unlikely to make the jump to the high-octane, big-buck world of NASCAR racing. But thanks to the $50,000 charity Toyota Racing Dream Build Challenge event being sponsored by Toyota ahead of the 2012 SEMA show, the two worlds will collide...

By dropping the Toyota Prius's well-proven running gear into a compact, sporty body, Lexus has produced a desirable and talented little car. There wasn't a lot wrong with the CT 200h, but Lexus has updated it for the 2013 model year with some small changes to ensure it remains competitive. If it...

The greenest Jaguar we've driven here on GreenCarReports is the European-market XF 2.2D, but the smooth, economical diesel certainly isn't the limit of what Jaguar can achieve. Despite cutting a significantly larger figure on the road, the Jaguar XJ_e plug-in hybrid makes the fuel-sipping XF look...

Ready to challenge Infiniti's Emerg-E and the Acura NSX, Lexus is set to unveil a new hybrid coupe concept at the upcoming 2012 Australian International Motor Show. The car has been confirmed by Lexus chief executive Tony Cramb, and promises to be "an absolutely stunning vehicle... one of the...

As any graduate will tell you, the first few years out of college can be exciting, but financially tough. So for any recently-matriculated graduate, owning a car that gets good gas mileage is an important way to save those precious pennies and get out of debt as fast as possible. Now Toyota wants...

One of the great things about living in a free country is having the luxury of a choice of products and services. We may not always agree with someone's choice of car, but at the end of the day it's easy to appreciate their freedom to choose it. So when our friends at Jalopnik write about the joy...

Can you think of a desirable hybrid? We can think of a few, particularly when it comes to some of the hybrid luxury sedans on the market, such as the Porsche Panamera S Hybrid or Lexus GS 450h, and there are a few on the horizon too, like the Acura NSX plug-in hybrid supercar. But when questioned...

Infiniti's Emerg-E range-extended supercar has been seen at so many events now it's hard to believe that it's only now making its first appearance in North America. On display at the 62nd annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, a celebration of all things automotive, Infiniti will be hoping the...

Talk to any independent auto-repair mechanic, and you'll learn that the single most important item that keeps a shop in business is brakes. But hybrids and electric cars use their friction brakes far less aggressively than regular cars. That's because when the driver presses the pedal, some or all...

Several years ago, you could get a Federal tax credit for buying a hybrid-electric vehicle. That program has ended. Several manufacturers--Toyota, Honda, and Ford among them--reached their cap of 60,000 hybrids sold, and now hybrids represent 2 to 3 percent of the U.S. market without Federal...

Have you ever wondered whether you're paying over the odds for a car, compared to your neighbors in other states? We all know that prices differ abroad, but there can sometimes be hundreds of dollars between a car in one state, and the price people pay in another. We decided to investigate the...

The German automakers are becoming particularly adept at filling niches, and the increasing number of models offered with gasoline, diesel and hybrid alternatives is testament to this. Only last week we asked you which of the Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid or TDI you'd prefer, and this week we're asking...

Toyota’s new 2012 Prius C subcompact launched earlier this year, but it is already winning itself fans among old and new hybrid car drivers alike. Around $5,000 cheaper than the 2012 Prius Liftback, it offers the same 50 mpg combined as its larger sibling, but why are some car buyers choosing...

A car service, not for the rich, but for the rest of us. It’s a novel idea, and its time has come, thanks to on-demand car service startup Uber, which will soon start offering patrons a hybrid vehicle option for more affordable come-and-fetch-me rides. Uber is the San Francisco-based startup...

Volkswagen has long put faith in diesel technology as a way of offering both performance and economy to car buyers. In October, buyers will be granted a second option, however--with the launch of the 2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid. Using a 1.4-liter, turbocharged and hybrid-assisted four-cylinder...

As scientists have been warning for some time, the U.S. is at risk of losing its leadership in areas like Physics and Chemistry, thanks in part to a lack of public interest in the sciences. So when we found out that Toyota had paired its 2012 Prius V wagon with How Things Work for a web TV series...

The 2012 Toyota Prius gets the best EPA-rated gas mileage--50 miles per gallon combined--of any non-plug-in car sold in the U.S. But the Prius hybrid sometimes gets a bad rap. At least some of it is due to the notorious (and very funny) South Park episode in which a deadly attack of Smug afflicts...

You'll be familiar with diesel cars, and familiar with hybrids, but as yet no manufacturer sells a diesel-electric hybrid car in the U.S. In Europe, things are different. Earlier this year, Peugeot launched the world's first diesel hybrid car, the 3008 HYbrid4. Positioned to compete between...