Green Car News
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Tesla reported its fourth-quarter global deliveries on Wednesday, saying it delivered 1,550 Model 3 electric cars between October 1 and December 31 last year, but built 2,425 over the same period. That compares to a total of 260 Model 3s delivered in the third quarter, after a splashy "handover event" in which the first 30 cars were delivered to buyers. The Model 3, the electric car starting at $35,000, is intended to take the Silicon Valley startup to hundreds of thousands of vehicles a year, but it has been in "production hell" for several months, in the words of CEO Elon Musk. DON'T MISS...
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2017 electric-car sales (and insurance), auto-industry moaning, grid holds up just fine: Today's Car NewsToday, sales reports are coming in for last year—electric cars did well—and we explain why auto-company whining is nothing new. Also, fossil fuels aren't the only source of climate chance, and we look at plug-in car insurance rates. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Delivery...
John Voelcker -
No, electric cars (still) aren't crashing the grid. Again.Remember all those brownouts we experienced last week because everyone plugged in their electric cars? No? Oh right, that didn't happen. It still isn't happening. And it's unlikely to ever happen. That's the conclusion of a study by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), using infrastructure...
Mark Stevenson -
Insurance claims on electric cars vary hugely, though perhaps predictablyWhen buying a car, one point to consider during the process should be insurance costs. Aside from any finance or lease payment, and fuel costs if you cover lots of miles in a not-very-efficient vehicle, insurance is likely your biggest car-related expense. Thankfully, the Insurance Institute for...
Mark Stevenson -
Automaker push to delay, modify, or kill CAFE is nothing newAs automakers yet again lobby Washington to roll back planned fuel-economy targets for 2025, they've employed some familiar tactics to drive the point home to lawmakers. It cannot be done. It will cost too much. It will destroy the industry and kill jobs. Consumers do not want this. The science is...
Mark Stevenson -
Fossil fuels only part of human carbon emissions; land use, deforestation matter tooIn discussions of climate change, much of the focus has been on the combustion of fossil fuels: coal, oil and its gasoline and diesel-fuel derivatives, and natural gas. Collectively, the trillions of tons of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by man since the start of the industrial...
John Voelcker -
Today, we've got drive reports on the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car and a plug-in hybrid luxury sedan, plus fast charging in Germany, a startling move on new cars by China, and BMW i3s ratings from the EPA. 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. On the last day of last year, we chose the most important green-car news story of 2017: it was the Chinese decision to ban sales of cars with engines after some undetermined date in the future. We kicked off the New Year with a feel-good story and...
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2018 Mercedes-Benz C350e: plug-in hybrid luxury sedan drivenIt's been two and a half years since we drove the plug-in hybrid version of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan at its San Francisco launch event. It took a while for the car to go on sale in the U.S., which it did in January 2017. Now we've had a chance to spend a weekend with the Mercedes-Benz C350e...
John Voelcker -
2018 Nissan Leaf: an early Leaf driver's impressions (he has a Tesla too)First sales of the 2018 Nissan Leaf, the second generation of the pioneering electric car, should come this month. But Nissan has quietly been showing the 2018 Leaf to electric-car shoppers for several months now, hosting drives at dealerships and other venues. Several of our readers and...
John Voelcker -
Europe takes the lead in very fast electric-car chargingEuropeans will soon have the opportunity to enjoy quiet, emission-free, long-distance motoring with far shorter charge times when driving electric cars along Germany's autobahns. The charging network Allego has rolled out its first 175-kilowatt ultra-fast charging stations—dubbed "Ultra...
Mark Stevenson -
2018 BMW i3s: range, efficiency lower for sportier model of electric carAs a given generation of any vehicle ages, German companies in particular often spice up the allure of the aging car with new and sportier versions. Porsche is a master at rolling out new versions of its models across the entire life of a generation, but BMW has learned the trick too. Thus in the...
John Voelcker -
China is serious on fuel economy: 500-plus models to go out of productionChina has taken a major step toward cleaning up the new cars sold in the country beginning January 1. As numerous countries debate plans to end sales of fossil-fuel vehicles completely at points in the future, China has now forced the end of production for some 553 models, starting Monday. The...
Mark Stevenson -
As they say, it's what's inside that counts. That's doubly so for Fisker, Inc., the second auto company founded by famed automotive designer Henrik Fisker. The first declared bankruptcy; its new Chinese owners renamed it Karma. In an interview with Car and Driver, Fisker (the man) claims solid-state batteries will still be part of his company's arsenal—release date: TBD—and an innovative charging solution as well. DON'T MISS: Fisker EMotion electric luxury sedan to be shown at CES in January While few doubt Fisker's ability to pen a pretty car—he's had a major hand in iconic...
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One Tesla Model S plus one 97-year-old grandfather: video magic"I hear you got an electric car," says a 97-year-old man, looking every bit like a 97-year-old man, suspenders and all. "Is it outside?" The man behind the camera is Zev Gitalis, and the man in front of the camera is his grandfather. DON'T MISS: South's good ol' boy drag racers whupped by Tesla...
Mark Stevenson -
2017's most important green car story: internal-combustion engine ban in ChinaThe most important green-car story of 2017 came on September 10, in a report by the Associated Press that covered articles in two Chinese state media outlets on a statement by a deputy industry minister. Speaking at "an auto industry forum," the AP wrote, Xin Guobin said his ministry has begun...
John Voelcker -
Electric-car road-trip charging, Volvo EVs, Ford's future, Smart ED Cabrio drive: The Week in ReverseWhich startup luxury electric-car maker is now in even more perilous straits? What did we conclude about electric-car charging during road trips? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the holiday week ending on Friday, December 29, 2017...
John Voelcker -
Electric truck costs, Faraday Future fiasco, electric cars in Canada, Trump and climate: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got news roundups from Canada and covering Faraday Future, an assessment of the Trump Administration's (regrettable) record on climate change, and a look at why electric heavy trucks could trounce their diesel competitors. All this and more on Green Car Reports. A year ago, few people...
John Voelcker -
Canadian electric-car news: apartment charging, electric trucks, Electra Meccanica SoloOf all the Canadian electric-car news that rounds out 2017, the Vancouver suburb of Richmond’s new requirement that 100 percent of apartments and condominiums be ready for plug-in vehicles may be the most significant. Access to charging in multi-unit residential buildings, or MURBs, has long...
Matthew Klippenstein -
Struggling Faraday Future and its founding investor Jia Yueting are facing financial and legal woes that threaten the company's existence. Jia specifically has been placed on an official list of debt defaulters on a website run by the Chinese government after the LeEco founder failed to follow a court order stipulating he pay a debt of more than 470 million yuan ($71 million) to a securities company. The China Securities Regulatory Commission has also issued an order for Jia to return to China to provide financing for one of his other struggling companies. DON'T MISS: Bowing to inevitable...
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If electric semi tractors are real, their running-cost advantage could be hugeEmotions play a big role in purchases of passenger vehicles, but fleet decisions are generally driven by numbers, spreadsheets, and the almighty dollar. And it's in the equation of overall cost where early adopters of electric and other alternative-fuel semis could make a financial killing. Haulers...
Mark Stevenson -
Electric Volvos coming, future Fords, renewables vs diesel, 2017's key green-car stories: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got speculation on future Fords, details on upcoming electric Volvos, a battle between diesel power and renewable energy, and poll results on 2017's most important green-car news story. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We've learned some details about Volvo's plans for electric...
John Voelcker -
What was our most important story of 2017? Twitter poll resultsYear-end roundups are an unavoidable necessity of the media business. They let editors and writers opine, and they fill space when there may be little real news. They also serve the more valuable function of forcing a longer-term perspective on the hundreds of news items a month that flow through...
John Voelcker -
Ford: China will lead our electric-car effort, 300-mile electric SUV to be built in MexicoAs we start to look toward the 2019 model year, it's worth noting that Ford hasn't introduced a single new hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or electric vehicle since 2013. In fact, the company is now clearing the decks and killing off old models. The C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid tall hatchback went out of...
John Voelcker -
Why diesel beats solar for disaster recovery in places like Puerto RicoCall it the Ikea mindset. On populated islands, space is at a premium, just like those stereotypical Swedish kitchens you see when you stroll through your local assemble-it-yourself retailer. That space restriction is a major reason fossil fuels remain a better power-generation option than...
Mark Stevenson