Green Car News
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On Monday, drivers of older gas and diesel cars in Britain were hit with new fees if they want to drive those cars into the city center in London. The new emissions charge of 12.5 British pounds ($16.30), follows similar charges on older vehicles in Paris, although it so far applies only to the same 8-square-mile area as London's central congestion zone. Driving such an older vehicle into the central zone will subject owners to the new emissions charge on top of the existing congestion charge, for a total of up to $31.50 a day. Drivers who don't pay can be subject to a $131 fine per instance...
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2020 Kia Soul EV first drive review: 243 electric miles in the boxThe newest version of Kia’s boxy electric car—or crossover—goes faster and farther on a charge, with much of its goodness intact.
Matthew Askari -
Ford Explorer plug-in, Karma Revero, German emissions collusion: Today's Car NewsEuropean prosecutors charged German automakers Volkswagen, Daimler, and BMW with collusion over emissions shortfalls. Fiat Chrysler will pay Tesla hundreds of millions of euros to meet emissions targets. The 2020 Ford Explorer will get a plug-in hybrid version in Europe. And Karma revealed a few...
Eric C. Evarts -
Fiat Chrysler to pay Tesla hundreds of millions for emissions creditsFiat Chrysler and Tesla are working out a symbiotic relationship for Europe so that FCA might avoid emissions fines.
Eric C. Evarts -
Karma Revero gets more power, BMW 3-cylinderThe car that started out as the Fisker Karma gets a BMW engine as its range extender.
Eric C. Evarts -
Ford Explorer Plug-In Hybrid released for EuropeThere's no plug-in hybrid version of the 2020 Ford Explorer yet for the U.S., but it's already due in the EU.
Eric C. Evarts -
BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen are being charged by the EU for attempting to block more effective (and expensive) emissions tech.
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Towing a camper with a Tesla Model X: Thank Elon for Superchargers!Towing a camper with an electric SUV may be the ultimate test of any fast-charger network. And, for one couple at least, Tesla has passed. “We were like pioneers in a Conestoga wagon,” says Fred Hooper, a Pennsylvanian veterinarian who, with his wife Jenny, just returned from a 7,700...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla sales, Audi e-tron range, Ford Escape Hybrid, Toyota hybrid patents: The Week in ReverseWhich startup automaker got a big boost toward production this week? What automakers opened some of its patent library for free until 2030? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending April 5, 2019. This week Tesla announced its...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla Autopilot updates, Lucid gets clearer, Faraday's Future: Today's Car NewsLucid Motors gets funding to build its Air. Faraday Future releases details on the future product it plans to build for China. Tesla has updated its Navigate on Autopilot system to be a little more autonomous. And we look at why the federal tax credit may need limits. All this and more on Green Car...
Eric C. Evarts -
Commentary: Overdue for reform, EV tax credit needs reasonable limitsNow that the federal plug-in tax credit has begun to wind down on the U.S.-made Chevrolet Bolt EV, members of Congress propose to do something about it. Democrats have proposed several bills in Congress to remove the manufacturer-based 200,000-car cap on the credits and extending them for 10 years...
Eric C. Evarts -
No more turn-signal affirmation for Tesla Navigate on AutopilotIn a blog post on Thursday, Tesla announced that drivers will no longer have to approve lane changes when the car's Navigate on Autopilot system is engaged. It's a small step, but also a pretty big leap toward self-driving cars. Navigate on Autopilot is Tesla's "on-ramp to off-ramp" self-driving...
Eric C. Evarts -
Last month the troubled electric car hopeful Faraday Future was given (another) new lease on life, via a new joint venture with The9, a Chinese online game company, that will produce a new model for the Chinese market based on Faraday’s nearly mothballed FF91. It’s now a lot clearer what that vehicle, to be produced as soon as next year, is. It isn’t a version of the FF91 but a van-like MPV—that Faraday Future teased in a photo released yesterday. DON’T MISS: Faraday Future gets new money from gaming company to build in China, and the US Faraday Future’s...
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Lucid Motors gets real as Saudi funding comes throughThe Lucid Air could soon make it to production, and shape up to be the closest rival to the Tesla Model S.
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla sales; Audi e-tron, Ford SUV range; pickup mpg; sporty Nio: Today's Car NewsTesla announced its production and delivery numbers so far for 2019—and they aren't very promising. Audi released long-awaited final range ratings for its upcoming e-tron quattro electric SUV. lFord also reveals the European range rating for its upcoming Mach E—or whatever they call...
Eric C. Evarts -
2019 Audi e-tron EPA range revealed: Nothing to brag about, but aiming for the real world?The 2019 Audi e-tron electric SUV's range will be rated at 204 miles, lower than initial estimates—although the automaker says the range should be repeatable in the real world.
Bengt Halvorson -
Ford electric SUV could meet 300-mile target, and then someFord has been teasing—even promising—a new Mustang inspired high-performance electric SUV, perhaps called Mach E or Mach 1, that it says will have a 300-mile range. Now the company has announced that the model has earned a 370-mile range rating in the generous European WLTP driving...
Eric C. Evarts -
Nio teases sleek ET7 coupe, to include next-generation power systemNio, one of a handful of Chinese electric carmakers aiming to be Tesla competitors, just teased its next mass-market car, expected to debut at the Shanghai auto show later this month. Its latest car looks set to be a four-door luxury fast-back, perhaps similar to shadows of a car known as the EVE...
Eric C. Evarts -
With electric pickup trucks from Ford, GM, and others—including newcomers like Rivian—looking likely to arrive in the next few years, the truck field could be on the verge of a clean, quiet, tailpipe-emissions-free shakeup. That said, you wouldn’t know this segment as being poised on a revolution. Progress in the efficiency and fuel economy of full-size trucks the past few years hasn’t come so rapidly, and it’s fair to sum it up as a series of small steps, canceled strategies, and sometimes contradictory moves. The Two-Mode Hybrid system, for instance, that was...
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Tesla reports sales down, citing delivery challenges in China and EuropeTesla claims that its Model 3 electric sedan again in the first quarter of the year outsold all other mid-size sedans from what it considers premium brands—selling 60 percent more units than the closest runner-up. That’s the good news from the California electric car maker, in a...
Bengt Halvorson -
VW ID Roomzz, Toyota hybrid patents, more grid storage from hydro: Today's Car NewsToyota plans to open its hybrid patents through 2030. Volkswagen introduces the ID Roomzz for the Shanghai auto show. Pumped hydro could deliver more energy storage than batteries. And readers weigh in on what new niche electrics they'd like to see on VW's new ID EV platform. All this and more on...
Eric C. Evarts -
Toyota shores up against electric-car threat, by sharing hybrid techAs some of the industry appears to be leapfrogging directly past hybrid vehicles, in favor of battery electrics—GM with its canceled Volt, for example—Toyota is making no such move. This morning it’s announced that it will open up its banks of patents related to hybrid systems...
Bengt Halvorson -
Which classic VW kit would you like to see revived as an EV? Twitter poll resultsVolkswagen is planning up to 70 new electric cars based on its upcoming affordability-focused mass-market MEB platform. But the company itself may not build them all. At the Geneva auto show last month, VW said it was seeking other partners to use the platform to develop lower-volume special...
Eric C. Evarts -
Pumped hydro could deliver 100 percent renewable electricityResearchers find that there are many more sites conducive to pumped hydro for encouraging renewable sources.
Eric C. Evarts