Green Car News
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Today, we put two criticisms of electric cars into context, look at plug-in vehicle sales for the U.S. last month, fill you in on self-driving cars in The Netherlands, and consider when peak demand for oil could arrive. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We published the first cut at our monthly plug-in electric car sales report for July, which will be updated throughout the day. A small Dutch startup company hopes to put self-driving electric cars on city streets as early as next year. Another day, another new propaganda video that distorts the facts about electric cars: we debunk it...
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Mazda exec: engines can get cleaner, EVs will die without subsidiesSmall Japanese automaker Mazda is in a tough spot. It's been on its own for most of a decade now, after Ford sold its shares in the company, and now Mazda must fund numerous new models all by itself. With global sales of just 1.5 million vehicles, it's one-seventh the size of Toyota or Volkswagen...
John Voelcker -
Decline of oil: Bloomberg suggests what it could look likePredictions on the future of global energy vary greatly, but many analysts largely believe that peak demand for the oil industry is coming relatively soon. The world's largest oil companies, however, see it differently: they say their business will only continue to grow through the year 2040. Exxon...
Sean Szymkowski -
New propaganda video on electric-car tax credits: time to debunk!The U.S. federal income-tax credit for purchase of an electric car has seen its share of attacks over the years. Now a new video seeks to twist the facts to paint those subsidies in a bad light. While facts don't lie, it's easy to create a new narrative by taking carefully chosen facts out of...
Sean Szymkowski -
Startup Amber's self-driving cars to hit Dutch streets in 2018?While Uber, Tesla, and Google are fighting over who will be first to deploy self-driving cars on a large scale, the Dutch underdogs at mobility startup Amber are planning a surprise move to overtake them all. If all goes according to plan, Amber’s self-driving cars will hit the streets of...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
2018 Leaf electric car undisguised; EPA to tout coal; Tesla Model 3 Easter eggs, deposits: Today's Car NewsToday, more Tesla Model 3 news, coal may supplant climate change at the EPA, the fate of diesels could be dire, and big rigs won't be in the self-driving fast lane—and least not yet. All this and more on Green Car Reports. A Norwegian crew caught the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car without...
John Voelcker -
One year ago today, a communications staffer (since departed) wrote that Tesla had received 373,000 reservations for its future Model 3—a number first issued in April 2016. In a splashy event for owners, fans, and media, a few dozen early-production Model 3 electric cars were delivered last Friday. During the year leading up to that event, Tesla repeatedly declined to discuss the number of Model 3 reservations. DON'T MISS: Tesla Model 3 drive reports, reviews: raves for sporty electric car It appears to be continuing that practice since the event, in response to questions on CEO Elon...
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EPA museum may axe climate-change display, add one on coalThe museum at the Environmental Protection Agency may soon be in for an overhaul to reflect the agenda of the Trump administration. It's no secret Scott Pruitt, current EPA administrator and climate-science denier, has worked to deregulate many of the agency's regulatory efforts to promote fossil...
Sean Szymkowski -
Tesla Model 3 Easter eggs, discovered by board member Steve JurvetsonThe few dozen 2017 Tesla Model 3 owners who've already taken delivery of their electric cars will find a few surprises inside if they look closely enough. The Silicon Valley automaker handed over the first examples of its new Model 3 to customers, one of whom happens to be Steve Jurvetson...
Sean Szymkowski -
What will happen to diesels for U.S. cars, light trucks by 2025? Poll resultsWith electric-car battery prices falling faster than predicted even five years ago, carmakers face tough and costly choices in choosing powertrains for the lineups in 2020 and after. Pressed by stiff carbon-emission reduction laws in Europe and heavy regulations to encourage electric cars in China...
John Voelcker -
2018 Nissan Leaf caught without camouflage in ad shootIts maker has begun the countdown to the early-September unveiling of the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car with a series of staged teaser photos and factoids. But with the prevalence of smartphone cameras, it's harder and harder for carmakers to keep their new models completely under wraps. Which is...
John Voelcker -
Model 3 mania, Porsche fast charging, electric Buick SUV, gas-mileage rollback? Today's Car NewsToday, it's mostly about the Tesla Model 3, but we also have a future electric SUV closely related to the Bolt EV, some startling and dire news for fuel-economy rules, and a change of heart from Fiat Chrysler. All this and more on Green Car Reports. The big news over the weekend and again today was...
John Voelcker -
Among the Detroit Three automakers, General Motors has a quarter of a century of electric-car experience, from the legendary EV1 to the 238-mile Chevrolet Bolt EV. Ford launched hybrids in 2004, before any other maker, but its battery-electric efforts thus far have been strictly compliance cars. Chrysler, however, was by far the most pessimistic: CEO Sergio Marchionne spent several years telling consumers not to buy the company's Fiat 500e electric car, because each one lost more than $10,000 for the company. DON'T MISS: 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid plug-in minivan recalled for faulty diode...
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Porsche prototype 350-kw electric car fast-charging station installedPorsche has big plans to expand the capability of the Combined Charging System (CCS) DC standard into much higher voltages to allow much faster electric-car charging. Now, it's completed a first step: at the brand's new branch office in Berlin-Adlershof, Porsche has installed a prototype...
Sean Szymkowski -
'Fossil fuels are dead,' says CSX railroad chief: no more new trains for coal, everThe industrial revolution that began around 1750 was powered in large part by coal, and the carbon-rich fuel had 200 good years after that. By the middle of the last century, however, serious studies had begun of its deleterious effects on human health—and that was before the climate-change...
John Voelcker -
Green4U electric race car revealed; targets Le Mans, may spawn street-legal variantThe name Green4U is likely not well-known by many, but the company aims to change that with the introduction of an all-electric race car. The company is the latest project by Don Panoz, best known as the founder of Panoz Motorsport and the sports-car brand which bears his name. Most importantly...
Sean Szymkowski -
NHTSA to review gas-mileage rules: could freeze 2021 limits, even roll back (updated)The U.S. Department of Transportation said yesterday the NHTSA is preparing to revise corporate average fuel economy requirements for model years 2022 through 2025. The proposed version of those regulations, which was issued by the Obama Administration in 2012, included steady increases for each of...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model 3 drive reports, reviews: raves for sporty electric carThe first, earliest production versions of the Tesla Model 3 electric car were delivered to their owners in a splashy "Handover Party" late last week. A few journalists got short drives at the event, but only one outlet was granted a Model 3 before the party to enable a more comprehensive review...
John Voelcker -
The Chevrolet Bolt EV, initially intended to be adapted from the next-generation Chevy Sonic subcompact, ended up with unique underpinnings designed solely for use as a battery-electric vehicle. Carmakers virtually never limit dedicated architectures to a single vehicle—they're simply too expensive to develop—so it's long been expected that the Chevy Bolt EV platform would spawn other vehicles. Now InsideEVs has an exclusive report on what one such Bolt EV derivative may be: a small Buick crossover utility vehicle. DON'T MISS: GM goal: profitable, affordable electric cars built in...
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2017 Tesla Model 3 prices, features, details, specifications from Handover PartyThirty of the earliest Tesla Model 3 buyers took delivery of their electric cars last night in a gala event for owners, investors, and friends the company had dubbed the Handover Party. The highly anticipated Model 3, the vehicle Tesla hopes will boost its production to hundreds of thousands of...
John Voelcker -
One electric car owner's experiences in adding solar panels: why, what, and how (updated)The purchase of an electric car that plugs into the power grid to recharge its battery often gets drivers thinking about the source of their energy. We haven't seen data from recent years looking at the overlap between electric-car drivers and home solar panels. But early analyses in California...
John Voelcker -
Battery progress, diesel approvals, Toyota solid-state cells, CAFE rules, Bollinger B1: The Week in ReverseWhich new electric vehicle wowed a crowd that didn't expect it to be as cool as it turned out? What environmental regulation is the NHTSA seemingly getting ready to roll back under Trump? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on...
John Voelcker -
Electric car vs horse, Bollinger B1 utility truck, science sidelined, EPA diesel approvals: Today's Car NewsToday, a pair of diesel approvals from the EPA, all the details on the startling and very cool Bollinger B1 all-electric utility truck, grim news about climate scientists, and a question to mull: are gasoline cars doomed to suffer the fate of the horse? All this and more on Green Car Reports...
John Voelcker -
Will electric cars take over as quickly as cars displaced horses from 1900 to 1925?So here's a question for you: when was the last time you traveled by horse to ... well, to anywhere other than the stable you started from? In 1900, horses were the de facto way for Americans to travel, whether riding them or in horse-drawn carts. By 1925, that had changed: 15 years of the Ford...
John Voelcker