Green Car News
-
Which legendary British luxury sedan intends to tackle the Tesla Model S head-on? How much of a role is there for radically more-efficient combustion engines in making future vehicles greener? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, January 26, 2018. Friday, we covered a news report that the LAPD's BMW i3 electric cars get very little use, but we also wanted to know why—and didn't get many answers. Unlike conventional cars, today most electric cars are leased rather than purchased; we looked at the reasons...
-
Electric cars: lease or buy? LAPD's BMWs, Tesla Autopilot crash, Exxon climate suits: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got the old and the new, from Ford Model T gas mileage to advanced electric cars that the LAPD isn't using. Also, why plug-in vehicle owners usually lease rather than buy, and another Tesla Model S crash with Autopilot involved. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Despite a...
John Voelcker -
NHTSA to investigate Tesla Model S on Autopilot that hit parked fire truck on freewayInvestigators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are scheduled to examine the crash of a Tesla Model S that hit a fire truck parked on a California freeway. The driver claimed the Model S was operating with Tesla's AutoPilot functionality turned on, according to a tweet sent by...
Mark Stevenson -
Exxon and climate change: two lawsuits, in opposite directions, on same groundsOne of the world's largest oil producers is about to enter a tit-for-tat battle over climate change with government officials from multiple states. New York, Massachusetts, New York City, and a slew of cities in California have brought multiple lawsuits against oil producers for a lack of...
Mark Stevenson -
LAPD's unused electric cars gather dust sitting in garage, but why?Anyone who remembers the epic, metallic-tasting, technicolor smog in the Los Angeles Basin found into the 1990s understands why air quality matters there. While the worst of the uncontrolled tailpipe emissions have now been greatly reduced, and the air is cleaner, the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide...
John Voelcker -
Ford Model T: what was its fuel economy, really?In a recent video posted to YouTube, environmental advocacy group The Sierra Club dialed up production values to call out Ford's lobbying efforts to roll back fuel-economy standards. The video showed a man getting into a modern-day Ford, starting the engine, then noting the shift lever had an array...
Mark Stevenson -
Leases are a minority of overall car sales in the U.S., though the numbers soar for pricier luxury vehicles versus the less expensive, plain-Jane vehicles that serve as daily transport for most drivers. That rule flips for electric cars: Most pricey Teslas appear to be purchased outright, while smaller and less expensive electric cars are largely leased rather than bought. Turns out there are a couple of very good reasons for that—ones that future buyers of plug-in electric vehicles may want to keep in mind. DON'T MISS: Electric Car Drivers Love 'Em, But Don't Buy 'Em: Why Leasing Rules...
-
Bolt EV tires, BMW electric-car platforms, California vs Feds, Colorado charging sites: Today's Car NewsToday, we interviewed BMW's electric-car powertrain head, looked at tire swaps for Chevy Bolt EVs, covered some state news on emission limits and charging stations, and offered a PSA on climate change. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Low-rolling-resistance tires boost electric-car range...
John Voelcker -
BMW says it can build electric cars and regular ones on same platforms: interviewAs the auto industry plans more electric cars in higher volumes for the 2020s, one of the great debates is whether they will need to be designed from the ground up solely for battery power. Doing so allows designers to offer larger cabins due to the more compact drive motors and electronics. One of...
John Voelcker -
What's the right ratio of public charging stations to plug-in electric cars sold?Electric vehicles still make up just a tiny slice of the vehicles on the road across the United States. Still, with impending regulations and more longer-range electric vehicles soon to arrive, governments far and wide recognize the need to encourage the installation and growth of public charging...
Mark Stevenson -
Colorado moves to put more electric cars onto state roads fasterA state at the forefront of U.S. electric-vehicle adoption has set an ambitious goal of nearly 1 million plug-in electric cars on its roads by 2030. Colorado, which counted 13,000 electric vehicles on the road at the end of 2017, rolled out an aggressive plan this week to achieve that goal. Its...
Mark Stevenson -
California talks to DC regulators on emission, fuel-economy rules Trump wants to cutAs automakers await the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's new fuel-economy rules for 2022 through 2025, due March 30, regulators from California and Washington are still hammering out the specifics. A meeting between state and federal regulators on fuel-economy and emissions targets...
Mark Stevenson -
Mother Nature doesn't pay attention to politics. As a pair of articles in The Washington Post last week highlighted, climate change proceeds apace regardless of the daily news cycle. In other words, unless the U.S. and the world ramp up the pace of reducing carbon-dioxide emissions from all sources, the effects of a warming planet will continue past the rise of 2 degrees C scientists argue may avert the worst effects. DON'T MISS: Most-accurate climate-change models suggest worst effects on global weather The first article juxtaposed recent data from both NASA and the National Oceanic and...
-
Changing tires on Chevy Bolt EV electric car: your range, grip, and noise may varyOne of the many tactics used by carmakers to boost efficiency in their vehicles is fitting low-rolling-resistance tires. Specially designed to reduce the energy wasted as heat from the friction between the tire and the road, these tires can boost efficiency by a few percentage points in an electric...
John Voelcker -
Jaguar XJ vs Tesla, next BMW i3 in 2022, billions for electric cars, Ford vs Sierra Club: Today's Car NewsToday, Ford gets slammed by the Sierra Club, the next BMW i3 electric car will likely be very different, the Jaguar XJ will reportedly go head-to-head with the Tesla Model S, and we're not big fans of some possible Volkswagen ID electric-car model names. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We...
John Voelcker -
Ford CAFE rollback efforts, countering sustainability claims, slammed in Sierra Club videoThe production values are high and the message is clear in a video released Tuesday by The Sierra Club. The environmental advocacy group 's goal is simple: highlight the contrast between Ford Motor Company's claims of sustainability goals and its behind-the-scenes efforts to roll back U.S...
John Voelcker -
2020 Jaguar XJ luxury sedan to be reborn as all-electric Tesla Model S competitorAlmost since the two legendary British brands were brought together in 1998, Jaguar has played second fiddle to its sibling Land Rover. The maker of traditional, sporty British sedans was left in search of a mission as increasingly upscale Land Rovers and even pricier Range Rovers proliferated...
Mark Stevenson -
Volkwagen ID electric cars need names, but do these two work?Volkswagen continues to invest heavily in a future of plug-in electric vehicles as it attempts to clean the diesel soot from its face following its emissions-cheating scandal. Part of that initiative is coming up with new names for upcoming all-electric models to be sold under its ID electric...
Mark Stevenson -
Countries around the world—especially China, France, the U.K., and Norway—are aiming to phase out the sale of new fossil-fuel vehicles entirely between 2025 and 2040. So it's in automakers' best interests to begin planning and investing now in vehicle lineups that will comply with that regulatory environment when it comes. But the amounts of cash that will require are not trivial. In fact, they're relatively staggering. DON'T MISS: Ford to cut engine funding by one third, invest in electrics, autonomy In total, global automakers have earmarked more than $90 billion to develop...
-
Today's BMW i3 to evolve into lower-tech, higher-volume 2022 BMW iX1 SUV: reportModel naming conventions that are clear, consistent, and easy to understand across decades are a crucial part of explaining a vehicle lineup to buyers. By and large, German makers are good at arraying their lineups of sedans (and now SUVs) in "series" or "classes" that run from smallest to largest...
John Voelcker -
What green tech best suits pickup trucks in 2030? Twitter poll resultsU.S. car buyers have increasingly ignored passenger sedans and hatchbacks and replaced them with utility vehicles of various sorts, and that's a trend that shows no sign of abating. One reason is that crossovers and SUVs now get better fuel economy than they did 10 years ago, when owning one...
John Voelcker -
More efficient pickups, Tesla's next 10 years, US-made diesel, home solar and batteries: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got an update on Tesla's next 10 years, some thoughts on why far more fuel-efficient engines are more important than electric-car advocates may think, 25 plug-in cars from BMW, and a silent semi seen on the street. All this and more on Green Car Reports. What percentage of full-size...
John Voelcker -
More efficient gas engines as well as electric cars required to cut carbon emissionsAs nations, automakers, and utilities contemplate how to tackle climate change in real terms, a perfect storm of competition is brewing that will—ideally—produce positive change for the rest of us. Automakers and electric utilities have been incentivized to build electric vehicles and...
Mark Stevenson -
Tesla met promises in first 10-year Master Plan; Musk to stay 10 more yearsAt this point, a majority of the global auto industry agrees that Tesla and its electric cars have had a remarkable impact in less than 10 years. Founded 15 years ago by two Silicon Valley engineers, Tesla won funding from venture capital, private investment, and government loans that totaled...
John Voelcker