Green Car News
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Electric cars keep getting cleaner, despite efforts by the EPA and NHTSA to roll back pollution standards on cars and powerplants. That's the conclusion of the latest report from the Union of Concerned Scientists which annually measures the environmental impact of driving an electric car. The study rates the environmental impact relative to gas cars in equivalent miles per gallon. CHECK OUT: How much do electric cars really pollute, even without tailpipes? The organization updated its widely-used 2009 study with the latest data available from the EPA from 2018. It shows that counting the...
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2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 makes public debut at Paris auto showAfter hosting a private introduction for the car last month in Stockholm, Mercedes-Benz formally introduced its EQC electric crossover to the public at the Paris auto show on Tuesday. The EQC, which is about the same size as the gasoline-powered Mercedes-Benz GLC crossover, albeit with separate...
Eric C. Evarts -
Which electric SUV are you most excited about for 2019? Twitter poll resultsA few weeks ago, Green Car Reports asked our Twitter followers which new electric car for 2019 they were most excited about. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they chose the base, $35,000 Tesla Model 3 over three upcoming luxury electric SUVs. Yet 2019 is shaping up to be the year of the electric SUV, with...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla Model 3 sales, Honda Insight recall, Mazda electric lineup and California goes its own way: Today's Car NewsThe Tesla Model 3 is the fifth best-selling car in the United States. California overrules the EPA's emissions freeze. Honda recalls the 2019 Insight. Mazda announces its electric lineup with a familiar engine acting as a range extender. And Kia scraps plans for the Sorento diesel in the U.S. All...
Sean Szymkowski -
California overrules EPA emissions freeze for cars sold in the stateAt its meeting on Friday, the California Air Resources Board officially confirmed that it will stick with planned increases in emissions and fuel economy standards for cars sold in the state. The move was expected after CARB said in August that it would not follow the Trump Administration's move to...
Eric C. Evarts -
Kia smothers plans to bring Sorento diesel to AmericaThe Kia Sorento may not get a diesel version for the U.S. after all. On the eve of the Paris Motor Show and the introduction of the production-spec Kia Niro EV, company officials have confirmed that it’s shelved plans to bring any diesel model Stateside for now. The hold is officially...
Bengt Halvorson -
Tesla announced Tuesday that it delivered 55,843 Model 3s between July and September, confirming reports that the company's mass-market electric is the fifth bestselling car model in the United States. That slightly exceeded the number of Model 3s Tesla said it produced in the third quarter: 53,239. It indicates that the company still hasn't approached, at any sustained level over a longer time, chief executive Elon Musk's goal of producing 5,000 of the cars per week. Averaged over the quarter, the production number comes out to 4,295 cars per week. Musk said in a tweet in May that the...
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Mazda announces electric lineup, rotary range extenderThe electric-car revolution may give new life to an old gas engine. On Tuesday, timed to coincide with the Paris auto show, Mazda announced it will add plug-in capability and electric power to all of its models by 2030. Some will be plug-in hybrids or range-extended electric cars—with a...
Eric C. Evarts -
2019 Honda Insight recalled for rearview camera failureThe 2019 Honda Insight hybrid hasn't been on sale for long; and yet Honda is already recalling more than 6,000 of them for a rearview camera failure. The problem affects another 226,000 vehicles—2018 Accord models, possibly including some Accord Hybrids. The screen may show up blank, with...
Eric C. Evarts -
How fast is fast enough for charging? Take our Twitter pollAutomakers are launching a race to build electric cars that can charge as fast filling a gas tank. When the first electric cars launched in 2011, buyers and fans were clamoring for CHAdeMO fast charging that operates at about 50 kilowatts and could recharge a short-range electric car (to 80 percent...
Eric C. Evarts -
Audi plug-in hybrids, Pininfarina electric hypercar, Elon Musk settles lawsuit: Today's Car NewsAudi plans to expand its line of plug-in hybrid vehicles. Pininfarina taps Rimac to build its electric hypercar's powertrain. Tesla CEO Elon Musk settles his SEC lawsuit in a surprising way. A utility survey shows more support for renewable power than utility companies can handle. And we ask how...
Sean Szymkowski -
Pininfarina announces Rimac electric hypercar's powertrain, new Munich headquartersAutomobili Pininfarina, which is developing a multi-million-dollar electric hypercar under the classic Italian designer name, announced a deal to develop its cars' electric powertrain, as well as a new headquarters and executive team on Friday. The new company will partner with Croatian electric...
Eric C. Evarts -
The Audi e-tron electric crossover won't be the only new model with a plug coming soon. The company plans up to 12 new plug-in models by 2025, Audi revealed at the launch event for the e-tron quattro SUV in California last month, according to a report in British magazine Autocar. In addition to the e-tron SUV, the company will produce a fastback version of the SUV known as the e-tron Sportback, as well as the e-tron GT, a four-door luxury sedan designed to compete with the Tesla Model S. DON'T MISS: Audi e-tron electric crossover debuts to battle Tesla Audi also plans to debut several new...
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Report: Utility survey shows overwhelming support for renewable powerAmericans want renewable electricity, and they want it now. That's the conclusion of a new study that has large power providers buzzing with nerves, according to a recent report on Vox. The report, done for the Edison Electric Institute and presented at a recent meeting of the utility trade group...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla CEO Elon Musk settles lawsuit with SEC for $40M, will step down as chairmanTesla CEO Elon Musk on Saturday settled a lawsuit with federal regulators alleging that the controversial executive bilked investors and lied when he announced the automaker had "funding secured" to buy back millions in shares to take the company private. The Securities and Exchange Commission...
Aaron Cole -
Volkswagen electrics, Musk sued, BMW i3 range increase, California incentives: The Week in ReverseWhich electric car will get access to a fast charger network much like Teslas? What was the result of the SEC's investigation into Tesla chief Elon Musk? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending Sept. 28, 2018. Friday, Volkswagen...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla sued, 2019 BMW i3, EPA to scrap science office, and VW MEB platform: Today's Car NewsThe SEC sues Tesla chief Elon Musk for securities fraud. The 2019 BMW i3 gains a larger battery pack. The EPA reportedly plans to eliminate its science office. VW details its mass-production MEB platform for electric cars. And the Trump Administration's fuel economy proposal acknowledges man-made...
Sean Szymkowski -
Trump fuel-economy proposal writes off rising global temperaturesIt's not that the Trump administration doesn't believe in climate change. It just doesn't want to do anything about it. In a 500-page draft environmental impact statement concerning the EPA's and NHTSA's joint proposal to roll back fuel-economy and emissions regulations, the NHTSA reports that it...
Eric C. Evarts -
Volkswagen last week laid out the basics for its set of electric-car components that plans to use to underpin a million new all-electric vehicles each year by 2025. With those components on the Modular Electric Toolkit (MEB), VW claims that it has the first pure-EV platform designed for high-volume production. It’s a claim that may be contested. The Nissan Leaf probably comes the closest; it was certainly designed for high volume, but its platform was adapted from other Nissan compact cars. And at this point, many in the industry might argue with Tesla’s earlier assertions that...
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EPA reportedly plans to eliminate science officeScience looks to no longer be a high priority at the EPA. The New York Times reported Thursday that the EPA plans to eliminate the powerful Office of the Science Advisor, merging it with another office under the Deputy Administrator for Science. The move represents a significant demotion of the...
Eric C. Evarts -
2019 BMW i3 to get bigger battery with 153-mile rangeThe 2019 BMW i3 will get a larger battery, good for 153 miles of range, up from 115 miles for the 2018 model, the automaker announced Friday. BMW refers to the new battery in the 2019 model as the 120 amp-hour battery, which delivers total energy storage of 42.2 kilowatt-hours with the i3's...
Eric C. Evarts -
SEC sues Tesla CEO Elon Musk over going-private tweetThe Securities and Exchange Commission sued Tesla CEO Elon Musk for securities fraud Thursday over his Aug. 7 tweet when he announced he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private. In the complaint, filed in federal court in Manhattan, the SEC said Musk made "'false and misleading public...
Eric C. Evarts -
2019 Jaguar I-Pace, California electric-car rebates, and latest Elio Motors plans: Today's Car NewsWe spend three days with the 2019 Jaguar I-Pace for a real-world review. California considers upping its electric-car rebate. Elio Motors ditches plans to build its own engines. And electric cars may not be so innocent when it comes to parking in designated charging spots. All of this and more on...
Sean Szymkowski -
Elio Motors to buy engines, abandons building its ownElio Motors, which has been struggling since 2009 to build its own ultra-cheap, small, fuel-efficient, three-wheeled car, announced Thursday that it will source an engine from a major automaker. Previously, the company planned to build its own 3-cylinder engine with up to 55 horsepower for its...
Eric C. Evarts