Green Car News
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Another day, another electric vehicle from another startup carmaker in China enters the fray. The Chinese company Nio has now officially launched its first vehicle for the masses—an all-electric 480-kilowatt (644-horsepower) SUV to take on Tesla's Model X at just over half the price. The new model, called ES8, has a starting price of 448,000 RMB ($68,000) before incentives, undercutting the Tesla Model X—which is not eligible for incentives in China—by 388,000 RMB ($59,000 USD). DON'T MISS: Chinese electric-car startup Nio gets $1 billion in funding: report Nio claims the...
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VW extends dirty-diesel bonus in Germany; 8 percent traded for new electric carA scrappage scheme in Germany launched by Volkswagen to take the dirtiest diesels off the road has been extended beyond its planned end date of this month. Two years after the diesel emissions scandal that cost it over $25 billion, Volkswagen is extending an incentive program aimed at owners of...
Mark Stevenson -
Most-accurate climate-change models suggest worst effects on global weatherThe denial of accepted climate science by the Trump Administration has now put the U.S. at odds with essentially every other nation in the world. Meanwhile, the news on the effects of higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is, if anything, getting worse. A recent analysis of...
John Voelcker -
BMW sold 100,000 plug-in cars this year: more than GM, probably Nissan too (Tesla TBD)You have to hand it to BMW. When the German automaker set out to eclipse last year's sales of plug-in cars by delivering 100,000 electrified vehicles globally this year, it was an ambitious goal. But as of the end of November, the automaker has achieved its goal—and in so doing has sold...
Mark Stevenson -
In an ideal world, this is how electric-car tax credits should workThe tax reform bill likely to be voted on by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives retained a number of provisions originally slated to be cut from the tax code. Among them was the federal income-tax credit for purchase of a plug-in electric vehicle. Three carmakers—General Motors...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Semi, 2019 Honda Insight, NEVS 9-3 (nee Saab), future of oil: Today's Car NewsToday, a surprise advance look at an important new hybrid model, bad news for global oil and gas, an old Saab as a new electric car, and Tesla gets more Semi orders. All this and more on Green Car Reports. The end-of-year holiday season is just starting, but the 2019 Honda Insight hybrid that will...
John Voelcker -
Electric vehicles have the potential to upend energy markets as their adoption becomes more widespread. But how much of an effect will they have? And on which specific markets? According to a recent report by Wood Mackenzie, the global power grids are likely safe for quite a while, but another market may be turned on its head. DON'T MISS: Decline of oil: Bloomberg suggests what it could look like The report, which assumes 125 million vehicles will join the global vehicle fleet by 2035, predicts some 1.8 million barrels per day of oil demand could be displaced. At the same time, global demand...
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Wal-Mart, Anheuser-Busch, DHL to test Tesla Semi; now UPS, Pepsi too (more updates)An Instagram post by an "outdoor living design and construction firm serving the Chicago Southland" seems to confirm at least several hundred reservations for Tesla's new all-electric truck. Elemental Landscapes of Illinois posted a screenshot of its reservation for three Tesla Semi trucks, showing...
Mark Stevenson -
First all-electric NEVS 9-3 sedans (nee Saab) built in China two weeks agoThe company that bought the remains of Swedish carmaker Saab, known as National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), finally celebrated the start of car production in China two weeks ago. NEVS first production vehicle is the 9-3 electric, of which it plans to produce 50,000 copies annually during phase...
Mark Stevenson -
World Bank will stop funding oil, gas exploration in 2019It's not just the world automotive industry that's grappling with rapid changes brought about by the need to reduce the effects of climate change. The world's fossil-fuel extraction, refining, and delivery industries are also faced with the reality that two centuries of burning their core products...
John Voelcker -
BMW batteries, Toyota electrification plans, electric-car charging stations, Kia Niro Plug-In driven: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got news about VW's Electrify America charging-station project, BMW's solid-state battery research, and a big pledge by Toyota, as well as our first drive of the 2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Over the weekend, as we do every seven days, we ran...
John Voelcker -
Weltmeister EX5: first electric car from $1 billion Chinese company you've never heard ofAfter numerous positions with BorgWarner, Fiat Group, Volvo, and China's largest automaker Geely, an executive named Freeman Shen has finally rolled out his own creation. That is the Weltmeiser EX5, the product of $1 billion in first-round funding from some of the largest players in Chinese tech...
Mark Stevenson -
Some of us take for granted the difficulty and cost of owning a car, but more alternatives exist today than did 10 years ago. While many view car ownership as a monthly lease or financing payment, owning a car for others requires finding a place to keep it and perhaps the need to keep moving it around. That's where car sharing comes in. Whether the restrictions are financial, spatial, or—in the case of one Asian city-state—imposed by the government, car sharing can bring mobility to people who otherwise don't want or can't afford to own a car outright. DON'T MISS: BlueIndy...
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Toyota plans 1 million zero-emission vehicles a year by 2030: our analysisSales of plug-in electric cars are rising steadily in North America, Europe, and Asia, with roughly 2 million now on the world's roads. China is debating when it will ban sales of new vehicles with combustion engines. Meanwhile, Toyota—one of the four largest global automakers—is only...
John Voelcker -
Electrify America contracts with Greenlots for electric-car charging sites, installationsThe $2 billion electric-vehicle infrastructure program funded by Volkswagen as part of its diesel-emission scandal settlement has picked an installer to roll out some of the first phase of its electric-car charging network. Electrify America said on Monday it would contract with the Greenlots...
John Voelcker -
Four of Wards' Top 10 Engines are actually electric or electrified powertrainsThe industry trade journal WardsAuto has been giving out "Best Engine" awards for 24 years now, and this year's list includes some interesting choices. For starters, there are no engines from German manufacturers on the list: The sole luxury recipients this year are Infiniti and Jaguar. But more...
Mark Stevenson -
BMW partners with Solid Power to develop solid-state cells for electric carsWhile lithium-ion cells have powered all but a handful of plug-in electric cars since 2008, carmakers have looked further down the road toward solid-state battery cells with an eye toward launching them sometime during the 2020s. On Monday, BMW Group and Solid Power announced that the two companies...
John Voelcker -
Tesla motor, Shelby Cobra body, Kia battery: watch electric Cobra stun a race crowdIn 1962, a 39-year-old Carroll Shelby stuffed a Ford V-8 into an AC Ace to create one of the most sought after performance cars ever made, the AC Cobra. Some 50 years later, a group of engineers from British Columbia, Canada has brought Shelby's idea—small two-seat sports car, very big...
Mark Stevenson -
Which country may wipe the floor with the U.S. in the global race among makers of electric cars? What car may pose a significant threat to the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, December 15, 2017. Friday, we learned EV shoppers can breathe a little easier: The reconciled tax bill that will be voted on by the U.S. Congress did not end the tax credit for purchase of a plug-in electric car, as one draft initially had. While a new joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic will...
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Electric-car tax credit retained in Congressional tax reform bill: confirmed (update)We'll likely never know whether it was the influence of auto lobbyists, pressure from the actual public, or a letter signed by two dozen mayors. But however the sausage was made, it appears that the U.S. income-tax credit for purchase of a plug-in electric vehicle will not be killed after all...
John Voelcker -
Toyota batteries, Hyundai worries, bigger Nissan, electric-car production plants: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got two different takes on electric-car batteries, some new oversight for the EU to prevent the next Dieselgate, and a small electric delivery van that got bigger. All this and more on Green Car Reports. A new joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic will develop prismatic cells for...
John Voelcker -
Voltia conversion expands Nissan e-NV200 electric delivery van for LondonAs the United Kingdom joins other countries in committing to a future ban on fossil-fuel vehicles, commercial fleet operators that rely on diesel vehicles are left in a bit of a pickle. Nissan has an answer in its zero-emission eNV200 electric cargo van, but its small dimensions leave a lot to be...
Mark Stevenson -
Could Tennessee top Michigan in U.S. electric-car production (if not California)?Today, battery-electric cars are built in volume at only three locations across the entire United States. Tesla builds its three different electric models in Fremont, California; the new 2018 Nissan Leaf has just gone into production in Smyrna, Tennessee; and the Chevrolet Bolt EV is built at the...
John Voelcker -
Preventing the next Dieselgate: EU can now oversee, overrule new-car approval by member countriesWith the exception of California's longstanding ability to set its own tougher emission standards, any car legal to sell in one state of the U.S. is legal to sell in all of them. And aside from a handful of differences—daytime running lights, speedometers marked in km/h—Canadian-market...
John Voelcker