Green Car News
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Following news in late November that General Motors would kill off the Chevrolet Volt, one of the pioneers of modern plug-in cars, a senior GM executive has hinted—strongly—that it won't be back. On Friday, in the Q&A session after the company's investor conference, incoming company president Mark Reuss doused those hopes. In response to a question about building future hybrids, Reuss said, "Hybrids are just countermeasures to an ICE," referring to an internal combustion engine. DON'T MISS: Cadillac to become “lead electric vehicle brand” for GM to rival Tesla...
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Long-range Cadillac SUV to lead GM's next electric-car push, in 3 yearsOn Sunday night, General Motors showed renderings of a future long-range, all-electric SUV to be offered roughly three years hence by its Cadillac luxury brand. The look at the brand's first battery-electric vehicle came as part of the 2019 Detroit auto-show debut for the 2020 Cadillac XT6, a...
John Voelcker -
2019 CES: Quiet year for green-car and self-driving newsAs always, the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show held this week in Las Vegas was massive. Hundreds of thousands of attendees, workers, and support staff converged at multiple venues to show off their latest wares, meet with clients, partners, and the media and try to break through the news clutter...
John Voelcker -
Peak gas-engine, Nissan Leaf, Tesla sales, electric Cadillacs and Harleys: The Week in ReverseWhat company will sell and manage installation of home chargers for new Audi e-tron electric models? Which engines were involved in the latest diesel emissions settlement? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending Jan. 11, 2018...
Eric C. Evarts -
Jeep and Ram diesels, Cadillac electrics, MyChevy updates, Audi chargers: Today's Car NewsGM announced a major restructuring that will result in more electric cars, with Cadillac as its focus. Fiat Chrysler will fix its dirty Ram pickup and Jeep Grand Cherokee EcoDiesels. And Audi has partnered with Amazon to get home chargers installed for its e-tron customers. All this and more on...
Eric C. Evarts -
Audi e-tron electric SUV buyers can leave the charger installation to AmazonGiven how often automakers expect electric-car drivers to charge at home—80 to 90 percent of the time, by most estimates—it’s surprising that more attention isn’t paid to making sure that those drivers can get the most out of home charging. With its e-tron electric SUV...
Bengt Halvorson -
General Motors’ Cadillac brand has fought to restore its luster as a brand for technology and innovation, with repeated attempts that fell short of a resounding success. Finally, it appears that Cadillac might be turning toward a future that may have a better chance of restoring the brand’s glory days: electric luxury cars. In an investor conference call on Friday, GM announced that Cadillac will be the first of GM’s brands to get a vehicle based on the automaker’s so-called BEV3 platform—the global electric vehicle platform that is expected to launch starting in...
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Socket to me: MyChevy app tells Bolt EV drivers where to chargeToo many apps! That's one of the complaints electric car drivers have about charging electric cars. With the time it takes to charge one of the biggest complaints is mapping your way to a charger only to arrive and find it's occupied or out of service. Now General Motors has forged an agreement...
Eric C. Evarts -
No buybacks: FCA settlement for Ram pickup, Jeep Grand Cherokee Ecodiesel ownersFiat Chrysler Automobiles will settle with federal regulators and pay owners of diesel-powered truck and SUVs for noncompliant emissions software, the company announced Thursday. The settlement could cost the automaker up to $800 million. The affected vehicles are 2014-2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla drops 75Ds, Nissan Leaf Plus, EPA head, peak internal-combustion: Today's Car NewsWe look at what sets the Nissan Leaf Plus apart. President Trump nominates Andrew Wheeler as EPA chief. And analysts report that the world may already have reached peak sales for internal combustion engines. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company will...
Eric C. Evarts -
Trump nominates coal-lobbyist Wheeler to head EPAIn the midst of a government shutdown, President Donald Trump formally nominated Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to head the agency on Wednesday. Wheeler is a former lobbyist for coal mining company Murray Energy when the Obama administration was working to pass new restrictions on power...
Eric C. Evarts -
Musk axes affordable Tesla Model S, X 75DIn a tweet Wednesday afternoon, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company will quit selling low-end, short-range versions of its Model S sedan and Model X SUV. The move will dramatically raise effective prices on those models and may push potential buyers into higher-spec Model 3s instead...
Eric C. Evarts -
Earlier this week, at an event coordinated with the Consumer Electronics Show, Nissan introduced the Leaf Plus, a new longer-range of Nissan’s compact electric car. The 2019 Nissan Leaf Plus, which will reach dealerships this spring, finally offers more than the 200 miles that many Americans seem to see as the new minimum for driving range. It has a 62-kwh battery pack and Nissan expects it to be rated at an estimated 226 miles. DON'T MISS: 2019 Nissan Leaf Plus revealed: 226-mile range, quicker acceleration Although many will hone in on the Plus model’s greater range...
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Was 2018 the peak for internal-combustion car sales?Electric-car sales are growing. Total car sales around the world are shrinking. Put the two together, and the conclusion from many analysts is that sales of cars powered by internal combustion engines around the world have already peaked. From 2019 onward, they're likely to do nothing but shrink...
Eric C. Evarts -
2019 Nissan Leaf Plus, 2020 Mini Cooper S E, more fuel-cell semis: Today's Car NewsMini plans to revive its electric hatchback as a sporty electric model for the 60th anniversary of the original. New charging agreements aim to make charging easier and greener. And Toyota will build 10 more hydrogen fuel-cell powered semi-trucks for Los Angeles. All this and more on Green Car...
Eric C. Evarts -
Toyota and Kenworth to build 10 fuel-cell semis for LA port dutyThe word "drayage" isn't commonly used, even among green-car fans, but it's used by the shipping and logistics industries to refer to the transport of goods over short distances. Drayage turns out to be the sweet spot for early efforts to put zero-emission heavy trucks on the road, including a...
John Voelcker -
eMotorWerks lays groundwork for vehicle-to-grid chargingAt first glance, a new business agreement between home charger manufacturer eMotorWerks and utility software provider LO3 Energy sounds strictly like the stuff of dull business contract lawyers. Dig a little deeper, though, and it could be the kernel of the next generation electrical system, long...
Eric C. Evarts -
2020 Mini Cooper S E: Speedy electric hatchback due for Mini's 60th birthdayAs one of the pioneers of electric cars, Mini isn't content to build a more efficient, emissions-free version of its basic hatchback when it develops its first production electric car. Instead, it hopes to reimagine the electric car as a life-sized slot car that takes advantage of the electric...
Eric C. Evarts -
It's easy to plug in an electric car. What trips up many new electric-car drivers is paying to charge. At some charging stations, drivers pay by the kilowatt-hour. At others, they pay for the time they park their car in the space, or pay a base rate for parking plus a smaller amount for the charge. Some charging stations take credit cards. Others can only be activated with a special RFID tag associated with an account on a particular network. Electrify America thinks it has a better way. It calls it Plug&Charge. READ THIS: Blink charging network joins interoperability push In partnership...
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2019 Nissan Leaf Plus revealed: 226-mile range, quicker accelerationNissan unveiled Tuesday a new version of the 2019 Leaf electric car, called the Leaf Plus or Leaf e+, that can go well over 200 miles on a charge. Although such a model has been a long time coming, the 2019 Nissan Leaf Plus stands as strong evidence that in the eight years since the first...
Bengt Halvorson -
Tesla sales, VW tech, electric Harley-Davidson: Today's Car NewsWith final sales reports out from the whole auto industry, we built some context around Tesla's end-of-the-year sales numbers. The Model 3 is setting the pace among luxury cars. Volkswagen buys wireless tech from Volvo. Harley-Davidson announces pricing and a date for buyers interested in...
Eric C. Evarts -
What effect will lower tax credits on Tesla and GM plug-ins have? Twitter poll resultsFor a bunch of electric-car owning acolytes, our readers are surprisingly sanguine about the reduction and eventual expiration of plug-in tax credits on electric-car sales. We've reported extensively on the expiring tax credits, which will affect models from Tesla and GM in 2019. When Congress set...
Eric C. Evarts -
Leading the way: Tesla trounces luxury competitors in year-end sales tallyNow that Tesla has released its final sales numbers for the end of last year, we finally have a yardstick to measure the company’s sales success. In the third quarter, Tesla made a point of noting that, with the Model 3 approaching full production, it became the fifth...
Eric C. Evarts -
Volkswagen buys wireless car service from VolvoIn automotive electronics news that doesn't come from this week's CES, Volkswagen announced late last month that it is buying wireless automotive technology from Volvo. The technology is expected to enable VW's upcoming We car sharing program as well as to allow drivers to control some vehicle...
Eric C. Evarts