Green Car News
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GM's discontinuation of the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid—sorry, extended-range electric vehicle—technology last month came as a blow to many plug-in car fans. The car could allow 90 percent of Americans, according to federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data, to drive to work and back every day without using a drop of gas. For all intents and purposes it was an electric car that generated no range anxiety. If you went beyond its 53-mile electric range, you could just keep driving as far as you wanted on gas. DON'T MISS: GM to kill Chevy Volt production in 2019 (Updated) GM announced on...
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Long-range Nissan Leaf missing from LA Auto ShowOne key car was missing from the electric lineup at last month's LA auto show: the updated, long-range Nissan Leaf. Leaf fans have been eagerly anticipating the long-range car, potentially called e-Plus in some markets. Early reports note that it will have an all-new 60-kilowatt-hour battery good...
Eric C. Evarts -
Trump administration plans to end electric-car tax creditsAs tax credits begin to expire for some automakers and the electric-car industry begins to lobby to extend them, the Trump administration plans to end them altogether. President Donald Trump's Chief Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow told Reuters that the administration plans to end the $7,500 federal...
Eric C. Evarts -
Electric tipping point, Mazda electric plans, climate doom, more chargers: Today's Car NewsToday, we look at the tipping point for electric cars, which executives from VW and ChargePoint say is already here, and whether it has come soon enough to save the planet's climate. We also check in on Mazda's electric-car plans. All this and more on Green Car Reports. While many in the...
Eric C. Evarts -
VW’s new U.S. CEO: The tipping point on EVs is already hereSome executives at major automakers continue to insist that electric cars remain years away from becoming a mainstream reality—and that it’s harder to sell them than traditional vehicles with gas tanks and tailpipes. Volkswagen of America’s new CEO, Scott Keogh, is most definitely...
Bengt Halvorson -
ChargePoint raises $240 million to expand charging-station networkChargePoint, the largest network of electric car charging stations, announced last Wednesday that it has raised $240 million to become even bigger. The investment comes at a pivotal moment after ChargePoint CEO Pasquale Romano in September announced an ambitious goal to build enough chargers to...
Eric C. Evarts -
Sit down before you read this. Good. With all the dire warnings about climate-change coming from the most recent studies—from the Fourth National Climate Assessment released on Black Friday to an October report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which showed that catastrophic effects could hit by 2040—the latest news is even worse . The study by Wood Mackenzie, a global consultant to the energy industry—both renewable and fossil energy—comes out and says what has been on many observers' minds: It can't be fixed. DON'T MISS: Black Friday report shows...
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Mazda plans new dedicated electric carMazda may not have shown an electric car at last week's LA auto show, but it is poised to join the electric-car revolution. A new report in British Autocar magazine notes that the zoom-zoom automaker will introduce a new electric model in 2020 that won't be shared with other gas cars in Mazda's...
Eric C. Evarts -
Electric cars from Audi, Porsche: Explaining platform magicIt would be unthinkable for any automaker but Porsche to introduce a new car with a flat-6 engine hung out behind the rear axle. At this week’s 2018 LA Auto Show, the 2020 Porsche 911 duly made its debut in the hallowed configuration that has persisted since 1964. But with underpinnings...
John Voelcker -
LA Auto Show electrics, no Volts, 1 billion Tesla miles: The Week in ReverseWhich company plans on introducing a new electric pickup and SUV? What car caused a ruckus when its manufacturer announced it would be discontinued? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending November 30, 2018. This week was all...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla (again) says buyers must order today for full tax creditIf you want to buy a Tesla and get the full tax credit, today is your last day to order for Tesla to guarantee delivery by December 31. With the tick-over of the new year, the federal tax credits on Teslas will be reduced from $7,500 to $3,750. That could raise base price of a Tesla from $39,700...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla Autopilot milepost, Kia electric strategy, China's EV spying: Today's Car NewsAs the 2018 LA Auto Show winds down, we explore some questions that came out of it, starting with why Kia plans two electric models with the same long-range battery. Tesla announced at the show that its cars have now covered a billion miles driving on Autopilot. Electric cars in China send a lot...
Eric C. Evarts -
In this post "1984" world, most consumers acquiesce to sharing their data with companies in return for better, quicker, more convenient, cheaper, or even free services. How many, however, would voluntarily turn over data about everywhere they went and when to the government, particularly a Communist government? According to a new AP report, that's exactly what electric car drivers do in China every time they get behind the wheel. Local laws in China require more than 200 electric-car manufacturers—but not the makers of internal combustion cars—to transmit 61 data points, including...
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Here’s why Kia Soul EV and Kia Niro EV both get big 64-kwh battery packsOne key specification in the 2020 Kia Soul EV that was revealed at the LA Auto Show this week was a bit unexpected: its inclusion of a large, 64-kwh battery pack. That leaves two vehicles—the Soul EV and the 2019 Kia Niro EV—with the same big battery. And both will be arriving at U.S...
Bengt Halvorson -
EV Drive coalition begins lobbying effort to save tax creditMembers of the lame-duck Congress all got letters on their desks Tuesday stating why the electric-car tax credit should be revised and extended. Along with a five-point fact sheet made public Tuesday, the effort is the first salvo in a battle by the newly-formed EV Drive Coalition to extend the...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla drivers log 1 billion miles on AutopilotSelf-driving systems are like teenage drivers: They get better with practice. Tesla announced in a Tweet on Thursday that its cars logged 1 billion miles driving on Autopilot. That's a key milestone, since Teslas driving on Autopilot (and driven by humans) send data about what they see on the road...
Eric C. Evarts -
Kia Soul and Niro electrics, Mitsubishi Evo comeback, Audi e-tron GT: Today's Car NewsAt the LA Auto Show, Kia revealed two upcoming electric cars, the 2019 Niro EV and 2020 Soul EV. Mitsubishi recycled its rally-star Evo name for a new performance electric crossover concept. Audi introduced its second all-electric model, the e-tron GT. And our Twitter followers told us what they're...
Eric C. Evarts -
2020 Kia Soul EV has more punch, faster charging, and a lot more batteryAt the LA Auto Show, Kia revealed a completely new generation of its Soul—including, once again, an all-electric Kia Soul EV that makes overtures to urbanites who need box-on-wheels utility, affordability, parking ease, and some design flair but also want an electric car. The Soul EV is, once...
Bengt Halvorson -
If this Thanksgiving season proved anything, it is that our Twitter followers are a grateful group. In what often seemed a year of bad news for green cars, at least from the standpoint of U.S. domestic policy, we found several individual developments to be grateful for. Most notably, there was the mass-market introduction of the Tesla Model 3, perhaps the most highly-anticipated electric-car debut in history, with more than 400,000 advanced deposits. According to a recent interview with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, it almost didn't make it. (Musk told CNBC on Sunday that the company had only...
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2019 Kia Niro EV rated at 239 miles, on sale soonAt the LA Auto Show, Kia has provided some long-awaited U.S. market details for the Niro EV. Among the most important ones: With a large 64-kwh battery pack, it will offer an EPA-rated range of 239 miles. The Niro, which Kia describes as a “multi-function crossover format,” is built on...
Bengt Halvorson -
Mitsubishi Evo rally sedan morphs into electric crossover conceptElectric power has come to drag racers, hill-climb cars, and Formula E racers. Why not rally cars? At least that's Mitsubishi's idea with its new e-Evolution concept that debuted Wednesday at the LA Auto Show. Unlike the winged sedan that took the off-road rally racing world by storm 15 years ago...
Eric C. Evarts -
2020 Toyota Corolla Hybrid aims for 50 mpg—Prius tech meets frugal mainstreamWith the introduction of a 50-mile-per-gallon Corolla Hybrid at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Toyota is keeping true to a mission it undertook a long time ago: democratizing hybrid technology, and making it mainstream. The carmaker has long aimed to deploy its hybrid system aggressively into pretty...
Bengt Halvorson -
Audi e-tron GT electric sports car is its take on Porsche TaycanThe four-door e-Tron GT concept that Audi introduced Wednesday at the 2018 LA Auto Show is “very, very, very, very, very close to production.” Those are the words of Audi design boss Marc Lichte, not ours. The design study will earn the distinction of being the first battery-powered...
Green Car Reports -
2019 Mazda 3 sedan and hatch aim for an X factor–and that’s not electricMazda has revealed its 2019 Mazda 3 compact car, in new-generation form, at the 2018 LA Auto Show. It’s not surprising, given the brand’s go-it-alone strategy this decade, that the new ‘3’ appears to take a different path than key global compact-car rivals in nearly every...
Bengt Halvorson