Green Car News
-
Hyundai announced in Detroit on Wednesday that it would bring to market eight new or redesigned crossovers by the end of the decade. The new utility vehicles will sport a wide range of powertrains including battery-electric, diesel, hydrogen fuel-cell, and gasoline. The first crossover to arrive on our shores will be the 2018 Hyundai Kona, which will go on sale in March. “The Kona is only the beginning of our product revolution for Hyundai,” said Mike O’Brien, Hyundai Motor America vice president. “These vehicles are aimed squarely at the sales leaders in each segment...
-
2017 Volkswagen e-Golf: weekend drive report and range testThe thought came like a flash while on the highway heading into New York's Catskill Mountains: This is what all cars will be like soon. The 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf is absolutely the most normal, invisible, unremarkable electric car you can buy today. No one knew it was electric, or paid it any...
John Voelcker -
Life with Renault Twizy: electric bopping around BermudaI well remember the first time I saw a Renault Twizy. Wandering along the Champs Elysees in Paris in the spring of 2012, I happened upon a Renault showroom hosting an electric car extravaganza. Amid flashing lights, blasting techno music, and vamping supermodels sat a couple of Renault Zoes, the...
David Noland -
Cargo space in popular electric cars: this video explains it allEnsuring electric cars fit the needs of their owners is a requirement for boosting electric-vehicle sales. Adequate cargo space for an owner is necessary no matter what kind of car is being considered. Now, in one handy video, YouTuber Bjorn Nyquist has shown just how much cargo space is provided...
Sean Szymkowski -
Electric-bus pledge, why Ioniq and Leaf lost, electric SUVs, climate-deniers embarrassed: Today's Car NewsToday, we explain the reasoning behind our Best Car To Buy 2018 award in more detail, take bets on all-electric SUVs, explain how a group of U.S. governors embarrassed the fossil-fuel-promoting Trump Administration at a climate summit, and hail some good news on electric buses. All this and more on...
John Voelcker -
Who will sell the first affordable AWD electric SUV? Poll resultsOf our eight Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy award winners since 2011, five have been compact five-door hatchbacks. It's a good, sensible format, by far the most popular segment in Europe and stronger even in Canada than in the U.S. Sadly, U.S. car buyers are not only ignoring small hatchbacks...
John Voelcker -
The 2018 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, a plug-in version of the much-lauded new minivan, won our Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2018 award because it brings a partially zero-emission vehicle into an entirely new market segment. The Pacifica is our favorite among minivans, though we'll be curious to drive the redesigned Toyota Sienna expected soon. After the $7,500 federal income-tax credit—assuming it survives—the plug-in hybrid Pacifica is essentially competitive on price with its gasoline-only counterpart, but delivers 32 mpg combined against the gas version's 22 mpg combined...
-
US governors release own plans to cut carbon at climate-change summitWhile President Trump has announced the U.S. will pull out of the Paris Climate Accord, the United States cannot formally exit the agreement until November 5, 2020. Despite the administration's stance and its many efforts to end U.S. action to reduce carbon emissions, numerous U.S. governors...
Sean Szymkowski -
These 12 cities will buy only electric buses from 2025 on; more expected to joinThe mayors of 12 major cities from around the world have taken a landmark step to increase the use of zero-emission public transportation late last month. Mayors of London, Paris, Los Angeles, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Quito, Vancouver, Mexico City, Milan, Seattle, Auckland, and Cape Town all signed...
Sean Szymkowski -
Green-car deals, EPA vs climate action, electric-car tax credit, Best Car To Buy 2018: Today's Car NewsToday, after lots of anticipation, we revealed our Best Car To Buy 2018. We've also got possibly good news on the electric-car tax credit, clearly bad news on EPA plans to kill the Clean Power Plan, and best green-car deals for November. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Over the weekend, as...
John Voelcker -
EPA head: new report that climate change is manmade has 'no bearing' on plans to end climate actionWhen top U.S. scientists released the fourth National Climate Assessment, it spelled out one blunt conclusion: human activity in releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere caused the climate change that has warmed the globe. Mandated for release every four years, the report will apparently have...
Sean Szymkowski -
Are car buyers the biggest problem for electric cars? (Yes, of course they are, but it's price)While it's clear that the transition to plug-in electric cars is accelerating across the globe, in the short term electric cars still face numerous hurdles. Charging infrastructure remains inconsistent, vehicle range is still an issue, and ultimately, the inherent and appropriate conservatism of...
Sean Szymkowski -
In 2011, Green Car Reports launched an award for the new car, or family of cars, that represented the best green vehicle introduced for the model year. The Nissan Leaf won that year because it was the sole affordable battery-electric vehicle on the market. Over the next seven years, more than two dozen vehicles that plug in to the grid to recharge a battery that powers them have entered the market. DON'T MISS: 2018 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid - full review This year, the Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2018 is the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid plug-in minivan. One of a kind It wins because it's a...
-
Senate tax plan leaves electric-car purchase credit in placeThe battle over early termination of the U.S. income-tax credit for purchase of an electric car took a new turn on Thursday. HR1, the draft Tax Cut and Jobs Act introduced in the House of Representatives, would end the credit as of December 31. The U.S. Senate version of the tax-reform bill...
John Voelcker -
Best deals on hybrid, electric, fuel-efficient cars for November 2017This month's best deals for hybrid, electric, and fuel-efficient cars are in and buyers will find a handful of eco-friendly bargains. Most cars have held their spots from October 2017, but a few newcomers may surprise shoppers, including the brand-new 2018 Toyota Camry Hybrid. Read on to see where...
Sean Szymkowski -
Which car would you pick as Best Car To Buy 2018? Poll resultsAs we do every year at this time, our editors have gotten together, analyzed and discussed and argued, and come up with what we think is the Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2018. We covered our process in a series of articles, including one that lays out the qualifications and rules. To be...
John Voelcker -
Tesla's odds, crucial climate report, electric-car sales, Best Car To Buy finalists: The Week in ReverseWhich of three finalists will win the Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2018 award? What two important reports came out this week, and why did one of them embarrass the Trump Administration? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending...
John Voelcker -
RIP C-Max Energi, EU cuts carbon more, electric-car charging drone, fuel-cell Tesla: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got some far-out stories, from the hydrogen-powered Tesla to the flying drone that recharges your electric car while it's in motion. There's also a death notice for a plug-in hybrid, stiff new rules from the EU, and possible good news from the U.S. Senate. All this and more on Green...
John Voelcker -
The Ford C-Max, launched as a 2013 model, never really served the purpose its maker intended. The tall five-door compact hatchback was intended to be Ford's counter to the successful Toyota Prius hybrid line, more stylish and comfortable inside with almost the same fuel-economy rating. Its owners' real-world experience, however, bore no resemblance to the car's EPA fuel-economy ratings. DON'T MISS: 2013 Ford C-Max Energi Plug-In Hybrid: First Drive (Nov 2012) In the end, Ford was forced to reduce the C-Max Hybrid EPA ratings not once but twice, and the energy efficiency and electric range of...
-
How to recharge an electric car in the middle of nowhere: Amazon drone?Amazon, once a humble bookseller, now dips its toes into numerous technology realms. Its next potential act? Perhaps it will be drones that can charge electric cars on the fly. The online retailer and technology company filed an application to patent a drone specifically built for electric-car...
Sean Szymkowski -
EU to slash vehicle carbon emissions one third more from 2021 through 2030Europe already has tough standards for reducing carbon-dioxide emissions in current and future vehicles. Now they're going to get significantly tougher between 2021 and 2030. At its weekly cabinet meeting, held Wednesday, the European Union formally adopted far more stringent requirements for...
John Voelcker -
A Tesla Model S that runs on hydrogen fuel cells? Dutch firm claims it built oneTesla has never built anything but battery-electric cars. Now a Dutch gasoline company believes it's improved upon the Silicon Valley automaker's design with a hydrogen fuel cell—so much so that it wants to sell its solution to the general public. The Holthausen Group, a Dutch gasoline...
Sean Szymkowski -
Mystery electric BMW, US isolated, Tesla's long odds, Hyundai Ioniq, battery cobalt: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got two BMW electric-car stories (one on battery cobalt, another on a mystery debut later this month), the long odds Tesla faces, the unlikely prospect of Syria one-upping the U.S. on climate, and our last Best Car To Buy 2018 finalist. All this and more on Green Car Reports. The...
John Voelcker -
BMW to debut electric-car concept at LA show; electric Mini makes U.S. debutBMW will use media days at the Los Angeles auto show, which begin on November 29, to unveil a new electric car that's never before been seen. The electric model that will debut in California wasn't otherwise specified in the German maker's announcement, which called it simply "a world premiere...
John Voelcker