Green Car News
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After $300 million in claimed fleet preorders for its plug-in hybrid pickup truck, Workhorse will open its order books for everyone to claim a spot in the production schedule. The Workhorse W-15 will be the first publicly available vehicle from a company that began its electrification journey more than 10 years ago. It features 80 miles of all-electric range from a battery pack using Panasonic 18650 commodity cells to power a pair of electric motors at the front and rear of the truck. DON'T MISS: Workhorse CEO: $300 million in preorders for plug-in hybrid pickup trucks Since it was revealed...
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For 2018, only a dozen diesel vehicles on sale in U.S. (guess who has most)With the permanent end of diesel sales in the U.S. by three VW Group brands—Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche—the number of diesel passenger cars and light trucks has plummeted. In fact, for the 2018 model year thus far, there are only 11 basic models listed in an annual publication issued...
John Voelcker -
Cruise AV, GM's autonomous electric Bolt EV, to go into production in 2019How comfortable would you be in a taxi or car-service vehicle that had no steering wheel, accelerator or brake pedals? That's the question prompted by a photo that has already produced some subconscious anxiety among at least auto writers. How the public will react remains to be seen, but they'll...
John Voelcker -
2019 Audi e-tron electric SUV deliveries start in Europe this fallThe first member of Audi's forthcoming wave of electric cars is expected to start landing in European driveways this fall, possibly neck and neck with the Jaguar I-Pace. The all-electric Audi e-tron SUV will have dimensions similar to the Audi Q5 SUV and should offer enough charge from its...
Mark Stevenson -
50-mpg 2019 Honda Insight, Tesla Model 3 parts, electric Corvette, climate trolling: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got more details on the 2019 Honda Insight hybrid, some deep research into where Tesla Model 3 parts come from, an amusing troll by one head of state on another, and a very fast, very pricey all-electric Chevy Corvette. All this and more on Green Car Reports. The two-seat Smart minicar...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model 3: what parts breakdown says about high-volume electric carTesla CEO Elon Musk has aspirations of vertically integrating his companies as much as possible, trying to avoid traditional suppliers wherever he can. While Tesla has been successful in developing things like their electric motors in-house, the company still relies on others for many of the...
Bozi Tatarevic -
BMW has announced it will resurrect the diesel 5 Series sport sedan, in the form of a 540d model, one year after the introduction of a thoroughly updated 5 Series. The company says the diesel edition will list for $62,995, including destination, once it arrives at dealerships in February. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the new executive sedan is rated for 26 mpg city, 36 highway, 30 combined in all-wheel-drive form—the only driveline available. DON'T MISS: For 2018, only 12 diesel vehicles offered in U.S. (guess who has most) Those numbers might seem a bit low to...
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Genovation all-electric Chevy Corvette sports car debuts at CESThe idea of an all-electric Corvette is either either a wonderful marriage of American history and electric performance or complete sacrilege. Love it or hate it, it's now a reality. A company called Genovation rolled out the creation, the Genovation Extreme Electric (GXE), at the 2018 Consumer...
Mark Stevenson -
Special-edition 2018 Smart Fortwo electric minicar marks 10 years of two-seater in USBirthed from the uncommon alliance between watch company Swatch and Mercedes-Benz, Smart's goal was to bring a stylish city car to the masses with a level of personalization not seen in other models. The first Fortwo rolled off the line at Smartville (in Hambach, France) almost 20 years ago, but it...
Mark Stevenson -
Green-car deals, Porsche Mission E specs, 300,000 Leafs, California's EV lessons: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got some tantalizing performance specs on the future Porsche Mission E, electric-car lessons from California, our monthly green-car deals roundup, and a ringing decision in favor of renewable energy. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Mazda has essentially confirmed that it's...
John Voelcker -
U.S. regulator rejects coal, nuclear bailout, says renewable energy may double by 2020For much of last year, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry pursued a plan that, in essence, would prop up the financially challenged U.S. coal and nuclear industries. His proposal, submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last fall, provided financial subsidies to electric-generation...
John Voelcker -
Porsche Mission E electric sedan to offer 300 miles of range, 400 hp, at minimumThough generally mum on details, Porsche has been trickling out tidbits on its forthcoming MIssion E electric sedan since it first unveiled the concept at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show. Porsche let slip another detail in late December. It had already revealed a claimed 200-mile recharge within 15...
Mark Stevenson -
Is one of your New Year's resolutions to go green? We're here to help with this month's deals on electric, plug-in hybrid, hybrid, and other efficient vehicles. Against last month, the cars offering the best incentives haven't changed—but the incentives themselves have. Click ahead to find out where you can save the most as you kick off 2018. Hybrids The Kia Optima is again the best hybrid deal on the market in January, with a record $5,000 in factory cash in western states ($4,000 elsewhere), says CarsDirect. If you'd rather have a low-interest financing deal instead, Kia is currently...
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How optimistic are you on efforts to address climate-change impacts? Twitter poll resultsIt remains entirely unclear if the world as a whole will be able to cut its emissions of carbon dioxide fast enough to keep the global temperature rise below 2 degrees C over the next few decades. That's the level at which scientists say the most dire effects of climate change may be lessened or...
John Voelcker -
300,000th Nissan Leaf electric car delivered as new version kicks offNissan, the first automaker in the world to launch a mass-priced electric car, has a reason to celebrate this week. The automaker said on Monday it delivered the 300,000th example of its electric hatchback, the Nissan Leaf—though it did not detail whether it was one of the new...
Mark Stevenson -
Mazda rotary engine may find new life in self-driving Toyota e-Palette projectMazda's famed rotary engine may spin once again. The automaker confirmed the development of a range-extending rotary engine with Toyota for use in a shared future project. Toyota revealed the e-Palette concept on Monday at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The vehicle, a...
Sean Szymkowski -
Hyundai Nexo SUV, 238-mile Kia Niro EV, electric-car range, Range Rover P400e: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got news from the huge Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, including a surprise electric-car concept from Kia, a hydrogen fuel-cell SUV from Hyundai, and the debut of the Fisker EMotion luxury electric car. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Yesterday afternoon at the massive CES...
John Voelcker -
2018 Kia Soul EV gets bigger battery, range boost from 93 to 111 milesUpdates to conventional cars come in a predictable pattern. Once a new model is launched, it gets only minor tweaks to features, prices, and paint colors for two or three years. Then in the third or fourth year, it gets what the industry calls a "mid-cycle refresh": some updated sheetmetal, perhaps...
John Voelcker -
No doubt the hoi polloi are prepared for emissions-free vehicle zones, what with their bicycles and their little electric cars. But what is the aristocracy to do when its high-end luxury SUVs are banned from city streets in central London? Enter the 2019 Land Rover Range Rover P400e plug-in hybrid SUV, the brand’s first proper plug-in hybrid vehicle—joined by the smaller Range Rover Sport P400e that shares its powertrain. DON'T MISS: 2019 Range Rover Sport P400e plug-in hybrid: technical details With a claimed 31 miles of electric range from a 13.1-kilowatt-hour battery pack, the...
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California OKs more than half a billion dollars to clean up freight trucks, trains, busesCalifornia is using the growing sums of money it receives from its emission cap-and-trade auction for good, including to tackle up some of the state's most egregious transportation polluters. In mid-December, California announced it would invest $663 million in a plan to clean up particularly dirty...
Mark Stevenson -
German magazine compares real-world electric-car ranges, efficiencies in cold weatherIt's 41 degrees F outside. Your electric car, rated for 100 miles, has been charging all night in the cold. Ahead of you lies a 80-mile drive. How confident are you that you'll make it to your destination? What if you want to set your climate control to a comfortable 70 degrees F? Germany's...
Mark Stevenson -
What will your next car be? Take our Twitter pollSeven years after the first mass-priced modern electric car was sold in the U.S., more car buyers than ever are at least dimly aware that such vehicles exist. Sales of cars that plug in have risen every year, with one slight dip in 2015, but they were still just 1 percent of the U.S. market of 17.5...
John Voelcker -
Kia Niro EV concept at CES: 238 miles of range from 64-kwh batteryIt's well known that a battery-electric version of the Kia Niro will join the lineup soon, completing a range that now comprises the Niro Hybrid and the recently launched plug-in hybrid. Most observers had assumed the Niro EV would use the same underpinnings as its corporate sibling the Hyundai...
John Voelcker -
Production Hyundai Nexo hydrogen fuel-cell SUV appears at CESThe world of cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells is still small and low-volume, but Korean maker Hyundai unveiled its production entry into that group on Monday. The sprawling Consumer Electronics Show is increasingly a showcase for advanced-technology and zero-emission vehicles, and the Korean...
John Voelcker