Green Car News

  • 2014 Audi A8 TDI

    Just as the Volkswagen Group begins to wind down its diesel scandal in the United States, things may be ramping up in Europe. A German government task force discovered a new type of defeat device in Audi vehicles, which allows the cars to cheat emission tests. Both V-6 and V-8 powered Audi A8 diesels—built between 2009 and 2013—were equipped with the defeat device with a total of 24,000 cars affected. DON'T MISS: Settlement for Audi, Porsche, VW 3.0-liter diesel TDI owners announced Half of the cars were sold in Germany, according to Handelsblatt. Germany’s Transport...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Volt in Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, May 2017: what dominance looks like

    As certain as LeBron James reaching the NBA Finals, the Chevy Volt led the Canadian plug-in electric vehicle market in May. Barring a sales collapse in June, it will have led the category for a remarkable two-thirds of the months (48 of 72) in which electric vehicles from major carmakers have been...

  • 2017 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring
    Tesla insurance, $10K Leaf discounts, cleaner electric cars, CT6 Plug-In drive: Today's Car News

    Today, we've got a first drive of the Cadillac CT6 Plug-In hybrid luxury sedan, $10,000 discounts on Nissan Leaf electric cars, higher Tesla insurance rates, and Trump misstating a climate study that was deeply flawed to start with. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Over the weekend, we...

  • Electric-car wells-to-wheels emission equivalencies in MPG, May 2017 [Union of Concerned Scientists]
    Electric cars cleaner than any gas-only car for 97 percent of U.S. drivers

    Electric cars have no tailpipe emissions when running. But unless they're charged entirely on renewable energy—still statistically unlikely today—there are emissions associated with generating the electricity used to charge their batteries. For several years now, rigorous...

  • 2017 Tesla Model S
    AAA raises Tesla insurance rates 30 percent; company disputes analysis

    It's never a good day to learn one's insurance rates are rising, but AAA has decided the Tesla Model S and Model X warrant 30 percent increases. AAA combed through its own data and found Model S and Model X owners had abnormally high claim rates. The claim rates were also much costlier than...

  • 2017 Cadillac CT6 plug-in hybrid, New York City and Westchester County, NY, May 2017
    2017 Cadillac CT6 Plug-In: first drive of hybrid luxury sedan

    The 2017 Cadillac CT6 Plug-In will be a rare beast in the U.S.; fewer than 1,000 are likely to be sold each year. In many ways, that's a shame. This version of the CT6 large sedan is a worthy competitor among plug-in hybrid luxury cars, the rest of which will come from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and...

  • Audi e-tron Quattro concept - 2016 Consumer Electronics Show

    German automakers are beginning to play catch-up with electric vehicles, as Tesla continues to corner the market. Audi has once again reconfirmed its plans to bring three battery-powered electric vehicles to production by the year 2020. The German luxury brand reiterated the plan at the annual general meeting in Neckarsulm, Germany, and said it will continue electrifying its portfolio gradually thereafter. DON'T MISS: Two more electric cars to follow Audi e-tron SUV by 2020, maker says By the year 2025, Audi expects one-third of its portfolio to be fully or partially electrified. Audi plans...

  • President Donald Trump (Photo courtesy Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons)
    Study Trump cited in Paris pullout speech can't be taken seriously

    In his speech on Thursday announcing that the U.S. would pull out of the Paris climate treaty it signed last fall, President Donald Trump cited a number of statistics of the dire effects that treaty would supposedly have on the U.S. economy. In general, data, statistics, and analysis are...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV added to Maven car- and ride-sharing fleet in Los Angeles, California
    Plug-in electric car sales for May: best Bolt EV, Prime months yet; Leaf, Volt rise too (final update)

    Sales of four high-volume plug-in electric cars rose last month, with new monthly record for the Chevy Bolt EV and the Toyota Prius Prime. The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV 238-mile battery-electric hatchback logged its highest monthly total since sales began in December. Chevrolet delivered 1,566 Bolt...

  • 2017 Nissan Leaf
    Lots of ways to get $10K off 2017 Nissan Leaf electric car by end of June

    The 2017 Nissan Leaf might well be the hottest electric car deal on the market right now, with a slew of potential discounts. Nissan is working with numerous partners to provide $10,000 off a 2017 Leaf lease, which adds to the $7,500 federal income-tax credit, giving a total of $17,500 in...

  • 2017 Hyundai Ioniq Electric
    Tesla Model X sales, electric cars vs hybrids, Hyundai Ioniq battery, Paris pact pullout: The Week in Reverse

    Why didn't the Tesla Model X sell as well as Elon Musk suggested it could? What happens when a Hyundai Ioniq Electric battery uses up the last of its energy capacity? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, June 2...

  • 2017 Toyota Prius Prime, Catskill Mountains, NY, Nov 2016
    Electric Popemobile, Musk vs Trump, coal to wind, plug-in sales: Today's Car News

    Today, we update U.S. plug-in electric car sales data for May, look at a program to help coal miners get wind-farm jobs, explain Musk's view of Trump's Paris pullout, and highlight the unlikely place the newest Popemobile is actually made. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Donald Trump pulled...

  • All sorts of vehicles have been pressed into service to carry Popes, from simple Fiats to giant Mercedes-Benz luxury landaulets. Francis, the current Pope, has a preference for small, simple, environmentally friendly cars—and largely does without the bulletproof glass enclosures found in some previous "Popemobiles." His latest vehicle is entirely electric and, perhaps to the surprise of some Europeans, it's made in Michigan. DON'T MISS: Strong demand for Opel Ampera-e in Norway moves up launch date Specifically, it's an Opel Ampera-e, the rebadged and minimally restyled European sibling...

  • Offshore wind farm
    From coal miner to wind-farm worker: Wyoming retraining program

    President Donald Trump has announced his intention to pull the United States from the Paris Climate Pact, but private companies and other entities are taking on the challenge of clean energy themselves. Goldwind Americas, a subsidiary of a leading Chinese wind-turbine manufacturer, continues to...

  • Havelaar Bison electric pickup truck
    Why Havelaar founder wanted an electric pickup truck: Japan's disaster

    A Canadian company by the name of Havelaar has tossed its hat into the electric pickup-truck ring with the reveal of its purpose-built Bison pickup. The launch underscores the potential many companies are trying to tap as the market for electric vehicles of various types continues to grow, slowly...

  • 'Revenge of the Electric Car' premiere: Elon Musk arrives in a Tesla Roadster
    U.S. out of Paris pact, so Elon Musk off Trump business councils

    Fulfilling a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump said yesterday that he will set in motion plans to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Pact that it joined last fall. In turn, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded that he will have to pull out of Trump's business advisory councils of CEOs and...

  • BMW M6 GT3 Art Car #18
    Leaf batteries, Bolt EV sales, former Saabs, Tesla Model X sales: Today's Car News

    Today, we look at what may have happened to the once-touted Tesla Model X sales, cover a report on the future of Nissan Leaf battery cells, describe the electric cars based on the former Saab 9-3 that are now being built in China, and report on last month's plug-in electric car sales. All this and...

  • 2017 Hyundai Ioniq Electric battery depleted
    Hyundai Ioniq Electric: what happens when battery is run down to the end?

    One owner has now run his 2017 Hyundai Ioniq Electric's battery down all the way to "empty" so other owners know what to expect. The Ioniq Electric is EPA-rated at 124 miles of range from the 28-kwh battery pack that powers an 88-kilowatt (118-horsepower) electric motor. The driver in the video...

  • 2016 Tesla Model X

    A few years ago, before the Tesla Model X electric SUV went into production, company CEO Elon Musk said he thought it could outsell the older Model S hatchback luxury sedan. That hasn't happened. In the first three months of this year, Tesla said it delivered 11,550 Model Xes—but 13,450 Model Ses. DON'T MISS: 2016 Tesla Model X first drive review The last quarter of 2016 had similar numbers: 9,500 for the Model X versus 12,700 for the Model S. The big electric crossover utility vehicle, in fact, now appears to make up only about 40 percent of the company's total production and sales. In...

  • 2016 Ford Fiesta
    Tesla vs VW poll, cleaner electric cars, CAFE-related jobs, electric work truck: Today's Car News

    Today, our readers weigh in on Volkswagen's claim that it will outdo Tesla, we look at jobs created by fuel-economy rules, the EU gets serious about emission testing, and BMW says that in a few years, you can sleep behind the wheel. All this and more on Green Car Reports. A top VW Group executive...

  • Havelaar Bison electric pickup
    Havelaar Bison all-electric utility truck announced by Canadian company

    The electric-vehicle market remains in infancy, but non-traditional automakers are beginning to explore and tap the potential market for multiple types of vehicles powered by batteries. Canadian company Havelaar is the most recent to try its hand at an electric vehicle; like a few other companies...

  • Electric cars dominate U.S. climate-friendly vehicles  [data: U.S. EIA; map: Climate Central]
    Electric cars are cleaner than hybrids in most places: mapped once again for your convenience

    The question is a reasonable one: electric cars may be zero-emission, but what about the electricity to recharge them? While renewable energy is growing globally, burning fossil fuels is still the source of most electric power today. The good news is that in most areas of the U.S., the "wells to...

  • Volkswagen Plant, Wolfsburg, Germany (photo by Richard Bartz)
    Lasting legacy of VW diesel scandal: EU gets serious about testing

    The Volkswagen diesel scandal left lasting imprints on the entire automotive industry, and may have changed the way regulators look at vehicles using the fuel forever. That's true not just in the United States, but elsewhere as well. The European Union is now increasing its efforts to make sure a...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV pre-production vehicles at Orion Township Assembly Plant, March 2016
    Fuel-efficiency rules create jobs too, contrary to industry plaints

    Fuel economy and emission standards have been a contentious issue in recent months as the auto industry and government officials clash over regulations and their potential benefits. Earlier this year, one of the largest pieces of evidence against more stringent fuel economy regulations came from...

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