Green Car News
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While global demand for the Hyundai Ioniq Electric appears to be strong, supplies have remained limited. The battery-electric compact hatchback, rated at 124 miles of range by the EPA, forgoes the "weird styling" of contenders like the previous Nissan Leaf. In the U.S., however, the all-electric Ioniq has been limited in sales to certain areas of Southern California—and also offered on an innovative "Unlimited+" subscription service. DON'T MISS: 2017 Hyundai Ioniq Electric: how 'Unlimited' subscription works (Mar 2017) Now, for 2018, the terms of the "Unlimited+" service—you can...
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Smart to go all-electric worldwide by 2020: Daimler CEOThe U.S. sales history of the Smart two-seat minicar started with a bang in 2008, when gasoline prices soared, and has waned since then. A complete redesign of the little ForTwo in the 2016 model year, with the Cabrio soft-top following for 2017, didn't do much for sales. That led parent company...
John Voelcker -
Electric I-Pace may lead Jaguar design, style into the futureIn January 2007, Jaguar dropped a bombshell, in the form of the C-XF concept sedan it unveiled at that year's Detroit auto show. The sleek, fastback shape, simple rectangular grille with recessed mesh, and swept-back cat's-eye headlights yanked Jaguar design out of its fusty retro-traditional...
John Voelcker -
Trucks can meet CAFE, Volt vs Prius Prime, 200 miles enough, Bolt EV traded for Tesla: Today's Car NewsToday we find out why one reader traded his brand new Chevy Bolt for a used Tesla Model S, why trucks aren't the problem for fuel economy requirements that automakers have claimed they are, how enthusiastic Canadians were to buy electric cars this year, and the latest trends and concerns in...
Eric C. Evarts -
McKinsey summarizes state of the art, latest trends in electric carsOver the seven years modern, mass-priced electric cars have been on sale, various bits of wisdom have emerged among their fans, advocates, and owners. One might be how much battery range is "enough" to prevent drivers from worrying constantly about whether they need to charge. Another might be...
John Voelcker -
Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, March 2018: Prius Prime rivals VoltThe Chevy Volt won its umpteenth monthly plug-in sales title in Canada last month, but soaring sales of other models were the big story in the Canuck electric vehicle market—which may have reached 1.75 percent of the market in March. The Volt tallied 555 March sales, Canada’s...
Matthew Klippenstein -
The automakers claimed that the standards were unrealistic given that consumers are flocking to crossovers and pickup trucks as gas prices remain low. According to a new report by the American Council for an Energy Efficient economy, and to our own analysis, trucks aren't the reason.
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Why I traded my Chevy Bolt EV for a Tesla: one reader's storyAs a nation, the U.S. takes lots of road trips, because most of the country has no viable mass transit between city pairs. If electric cars are ever to enter the mass market in North America, they have to be usable on those road trips. Last year, our reader Jay Lucas of Alexandria, Virginia, wrote...
John Voelcker -
Kona Electric info, context for EPA plan, CX-5 Diesel MIA, China learns from California: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got an apt pupil (China) learning from the master (California), a diesel crossover that's MIA, our context to keep perspective on the EPA's announced plans to let cars emit more, and some new info on the 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric. All this and more on Green Car Reports. California...
John Voelcker -
Buyers in seven Northeast states urged to consider electric carsWhen companies want to sell more of something, they market it. Now, at long last, electric cars are about to get the same treatment.
Eric C. Evarts -
5 things about the 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric we learned at the NY auto showAfter a Detroit auto show that was about little except pickup trucks and a new Jeep, followed by a tepid Chicago show, New York proved to be relatively rich in interesting new green cars. The standout was clearly the 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric, the 250-mile battery-electric small hatchback that...
John Voelcker -
8 things you should know about EPA plan to let cars emit more (cutting fuel economy as well)EPA administrator Scott Pruitt said yesterday the agency plans to modify rules limiting carbon-dioxide emissions for light-duty vehicles in model years 2022 through 2025. The agency, he said, had reached a determination that the limits put in place in 2012 under the Obama administration were...
John Voelcker -
It's the mystery model, the all-but-legendary vehicle still just beyond reach, years after its maker first announced plans to offer diesel engines. Specifically, it's the diesel version of the Mazda CX-5 compact crossover utility vehicle, first revealed in 2016 and later announced as a 2018 model. In November 2016, a Mazda executive confirmed the CX-5 diesel would arrive in showrooms during the fall of 2017, following the launch of a redesigned and updated CX-5 that spring. DON'T MISS: Mazda diesel to arrive fall 2017, it says, in new CX-5 crossover The redesigned CX-5 arrived on schedule;...
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What China learned from California about getting electric cars on its roadsIn the U.S., California has long been viewed culturally as the crazy, free-spirited cousin. As Californians like to point out, their state of 40 million people is also the world's sixth-largest economy all by itself. Resolutely progressive, it has regulated vehicle emissions for five decades and...
John Voelcker -
Plug-in electric car sales for March: Prius Prime romps, monthly data an endangered species? (update)The monthly report on sales of plug-in electric cars may well have come to a close this month. General Motors, makers of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Volt, said it will only release sales figures quarterly starting after its Tuesday release of deliveries for the month of March. Interestingly, the...
John Voelcker -
Model 3 production update, Prius Prime stomps Chevy, are monthly sales a goner? Today's Car NewsToday, we've got last month's sales numbers for plug-in electric cars (and a possible obituary for monthly sales data), a broken promise from Tesla on Model 3 production, and our latest Twitter poll. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Our latest Twitter poll asks our followers whether they...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model 3 production crossed 2,000 last week; is it sustainable?Tesla reported Tuesday that it built 34,494 electric cars in the first quarter of 2018, by far its largest quarterly production total ever. But all eyes were on one number: the production of Model 3 sedans, which was 9,766 vehicles out of that total. Of the rest, 11,730 were Model S hatchback...
John Voelcker -
Will electric cars grow faster or slower than expected? Take our Twitter pollInnovative technology in the auto industry—turbochargers or catalytic converters or disc brakes, say—tends to launch in high-end vehicles and filter down to the mass market over many years, often decades. Technology tipping points in society happen more rapidly and become indispensable...
John Voelcker -
Today, we've got some history on a Classic Mini converted to all-electric, more efforts from China's government to promote plug-in cars, a new hydrogen station in California, and a (very short) first drive in the 2019 Jaguar I-Pace electric luxury crossover. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Over the weekend, as we do every seven days, we ran down last week's most important green-car stories. We also got an eagerly awaited first drive in the 2019 Jaguar I-Pace electric car, but it was limited. To four minutes. In a parking lot, through an autocross course. Still, we have some...
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Nissan Leaf refurbished batteries offered for older electric cars, in JapanWith more than 300,000 Nissan Leaf electric cars on the road, some more than six years old, battery degradation is becoming more and more of an issue. The different rates of capacity loss are a topic of much discussion among Leaf owners, but it now seems likely that Nissan's choice of passive air...
John Voelcker -
China plans to standardize electric-car tech nationally to expand its global leadSales of plug-in electric vehicles in China were almost four times those in the U.S. last year, and the gap is expected to widen this year. The world's largest car market is engineering a massive shift over the next two decades away from cars with combustion engines toward battery-powered cars. It...
John Voelcker -
California now has 33 hydrogen fueling stations for 4,200 fuel-cell cars so farHydrogen fuel first went on sale in California in January 2015, more than three years ago, though it had been dispensed free at a dozen or so prototype locations before that. Five years ago, the state set a goal of 100 hydrogen fueling stations throughout the state by 2020, a deadline that now...
John Voelcker -
Classic Mini converted to electric previews 2019 Mini E to comeWith a new, all-electric Mini E set to arrive in dealerships in a year or less, BMW wants to highlight the idea of a Mini Cooper powered by batteries. That's what led it to display an "old Mini" converted to electric power at a reception before last week's New York auto show. Sadly, the car wasn't...
John Voelcker -
2019 Jaguar I-Pace: brief first drive of all-electric luxury crossoverA parking lot in suburban New Jersey isn’t the first place I’d look for a revolution. According to Jaguar, it’s where ours will start. After just over four minutes behind the wheel of the 2019 Jaguar I-Pace, the electric Jaguar feels like the beginning of something. DON'T MISS...
Aaron Cole