Green Car News

  • 2018 Ford Police Responder Hybrid Sedan pursuit-rated police car

    Ford made a big splash last year when it announced it would launch 13 new electrified vehicles within five years. That was widely misreported as 13 new "electric" vehicles, which is to say either battery-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles—which isn't the case. It includes conventional hybrids as well. Today, Ford announced the second of the 13, which turns out to be a ruggedized version of its Ford Fusion Hybrid mid-size sedan that's been adapted for heavy-duty police use. DON'T MISS: LAPD Gets Tesla Model S, BMW i3 Electric Cars As Police Cruisers (Sep 2015) The Ford Police Responder...

  • Teaser photo of Chevrolet FNR-X plug-in crossover utility concept for 2017 Shanghai auto show
    Is Chevy FNR-X concept the plug-in hybrid CrossVolt SUV?

    It's a single teaser shot, obviously of a Chevy front end, with unmistakable design nods to the Camaro muscle car. But the image of the Chevrolet FNR-X concept, to be unveiled at the Shanghai auto show less than two weeks hence, may be the first clue to some new GM plug-in hybrid offerings in the...

  • Tesla Model 3 test car, Los Altos, CA, Apr 8, 2017  [clip from YouTube video by OMG_Tesla}
    Tesla Model 3 caught on video during daylight testing

    The emergence of spy photos, and more recently video, has always been one of the standard indicators of a car nearing production. With production still said to start this July, pre-production versions of the Tesla Model 3 electric car should have been popping up in spy photos by now. Two weeks ago...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car at EVgo fast-charging station, Newport Centre, Jersey City, NJ
    Self-driving Leaf, Cruze Diesel drive, fast-charging Bolt EV, Tesla loses court case: The Week in Reverse

    What's it like to ride in a fully autonomous Nissan Leaf electric car for several miles through varied city traffic? What more did we learn about the fast-charging behavior of the 238-mile 2017 Chevy Bolt EV? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car...

  • Aston Martin DBX concept
    Plug-in minivan, used VW TDI diesel prices, Kia Optima Hybrid drive, EPA testing: Today's Car News

    Today, we have good news on electric-car buyers, a grim EPA budget, an apparently failed new battery, and production of the first plug-in hybrid minivan to hit the market. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Four out of 10 drivers globally would consider buying an electric car today, but the...

  • 2017 Kia Optima Hybrid, Catskill Mountains, NY, April 2017
    2017 Kia Optima Hybrid: gas mileage review of mid-size sedan

    The 2017 Kia Optima Hybrid is one of a pair of hybrid mid-size sedans from the Korean maker Hyundai-Kia. It shares its underpinnings, though not a single body panel or styling flourish, with the higher-volume Hyundai Sonata Hybrid. We found it to be a comfortable, stylish sedan that gave us good...

  • 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid

    It's a well-reviewed new minivan design from the company that invented the modern minivan three decades ago. Unlike any other minivan, however, its large battery pack gives it 33 miles of EPA-rated electric range, and it can drive largely on battery alone despite its size, its seven seats, and its gaping cargo capacity. It's the 2017 Chrysler Pacific Hybrid (a plug-in hybrid despite its name), and according to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, it's going into production today. DON'T MISS: 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid: first drive of plug-in hybrid minivan For several weeks, eager shoppers have...

  • 2015 Volkswagen Golf TDI SE
    Asking prices climb for used VW TDI diesels as buybacks proceed

    If you have your eyes on a used Volkswagen or Audi TDI turbodiesel, you may wind up having to pay more today for 2009 through 2015 models than you would have when they were new. At least right now, only 2015 model-year versions of VW and Audi vehicles sold with the 2.0-liter turbodiesel 4-cylinder...

  • 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor strapped to a dyno
    Trump budget slashes EPA emission testing, hits makers with higher fees

    The prospect of ongoing operations as usual continues to darken for the Environmental Protection Agency. According to a detailed internal budget document published in the The Washington Post, the Trump administration wants to eliminate virtually all federal funding for the agency’s vehicle...

  • 2015 Nissan Leaf
    Four of 10 drivers globally would consider an electric car

    It’s been merely six years since the first modern electric car hit the streets, and the segment looks ready to take off. Over 43,000 people residing in 52 countries all around the globe were asked whether they are considering buying an electric car in the next five years. On average, four out...

  • 2018 Subaru Outback
    Cruze Diesel first drive, Tesla loss, Mazda rotary, updated Outback: Today's Car News

    Today, we have a popular updated crossover utility wagon, a defeat for Tesla, a first drive of the new Cruze Diesel, and a radical range extender for electric cars. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Mazda's been working quietly on a rotary-engine range extender for electric cars; now it has...

  • Tesla Store Los Angeles [photo: Misha Bruk / MBH Architects]
    Tesla loses bid to sell cars in Utah, dealer lobbyists win

    Tesla has once again been denied permission to sell its cars directly to buyers in the battleground state of Utah. Via a unanimous decision, the Utah Supreme Court handed Tesla Motors another setback this week. The state’s top court upheld a 2015 decision that denied the electric-car maker a...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel

    When the first Chevrolet Cruze Diesel was launched back in 2014, it made a lot of sense. Diesel was in vogue. German manufacturers were pushing diesel power in a huge way, with Volkswagen's "Clean Diesel" leading the charge. Oh, how things have changed. DON'T MISS: Volkswagen diesel scandal - all our stories Diesel for passenger cars today is, for lack of a better word, despised. Governments in Europe, long a paradise of diesel power, are actively trying to ban the technology, while millions of Volkswagen owners are facing buybacks—the unlucky ones are facing questionable repairs and...

  • The White House, Washington, D.C.  [Creative Commons license by dcjohn]
    Green groups gird for battle with White House: is it 'war'?

    Last Wednesday, a broad coalition of environmental groups sued the Trump Administration over an executive order that lifted a moratorium on issuing new leases for coal mining on federal lands. That order would have eliminated the requirement for an environmental impact study on the impacts of any...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Volt in Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, March 2017: Chevy charges ahead

    The Chevy Volt likely continued its winning ways atop the Canadian plug-in electric vehicle sales charts in March. Its 377 sales give it a comfortable margin over the Tesla Model S's high mark of 325, set in March 2016 before the Model X became available. The Chevy Bolt's 241 units were nearly...

  • Mazda Demio EV test-fleet electric car in Japan (aka Mazda2)
    Mazda's electric car gets patents for rotary range-extender engine

    Recent patent filings suggest Mazda’s next Wankel engine will equip a battery-powered car, not a rear-wheel drive heir to emblematic sports coupes like its RX-7 and RX-8. Mazda has invested more time and money into the rotary engine than any other automaker, so executives are reluctant to let...

  • 2018 Buick Regal TourX
    Electric bikes, plug-in sales update, self-driving Tesla perpsective, corporate carbon plans vs Trump: Today's Car News

    Today, we have an update on our monthly electric-car sales report, then some perspective on those numbers, surprising news from Buick, and a shock for Tesla fans. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Electric cars get generous national and state incentives in many places, but perhaps electric...

  • 2017 Nissan Leaf
    Putting plug-in electric car sales in perspective: they're still very low

    Volume sales of plug-in cars, both battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models, began more than six years ago. From a first-year total of about 17,000 in 2011, they rose tenfold over five years, to roughly 160,000 last year in the U.S. But it's important to understand that despite their growth rate...

  • 2017 Toyota Prius Prime and 2017 Chevrolet Volt with Green Car Reports editor John Voelcker

    The Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid again took the crown among plug-in electric cars whose makers report monthly sales. A total of 2,132 Volts were sold in March, bringing its three-month sales to 5,563 units, higher than any other car with a plug over the same period. Its stablemate, the Chevy Bolt EV electric car, however, logged only 978 sales, a disappointing number for the 238-mile electric car now in the process of a lengthy national rollout. DON'T MISS: Plug-in electric car sales for Feb: Volt outsells Prius Prime, Bolt EV, Leaf The underwhelming nature of the Bolt EV sales is indicated...

  • Walmart store sign (via Wikimedia)
    Large corporations, manufacturers stick with climate pledges despite Trump

    The new U.S. president, Donald Trump, is working to eradicate every Obama policy to limit the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. Having variously called the science behind climate change a "Chinese plot" to hurt the U.S. and referred to it using an expletive for bovine excrement...

  • Smart ebike electric bicycle
    Why electric bikes may deserve purchase incentives too

    If plug-in electric cars and trucks receive purchase incentives from national and state governments, what about electric bicycles? That's just what a recent report from the European Cyclists Federation suggests. It recommends directing purchase incentives and infrastructure subsidies towards...

  • 2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2017 Geneva auto show
    More Bolt EV charging, VW diesel costs, London emission fees, Mercedes vs hydrogen: Today's Car News

    Today, we have a total of what the diesel scandal has cost VW, more details on Chevy Bolt EV fast-charging rates, an update on London's stiff charges for older, more polluting cars, and a moral question to ponder. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Hong Kong closed a tax loophole, one that...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car at EVgo fast-charging station, Newport Centre, Jersey City, NJ
    More details on fast-charging rate in 2017 Chevy Bolt EV electric car

    For a few years now, Tesla has shown what a nationwide network of DC fast-charging sites for long-range electric cars should look like. Its Supercharger network now covers virtually all of the lower 48 states, and until earlier this year, it was completely free to Tesla drivers. The Chevrolet Bolt...

  • Mark Webber driving a 2016 Porsche 919 Hybrid in London
    London's $27 entry charge for pre-2016 diesel cars to start April 2019

    For more than 13 years, London has collected a stiff charge from motor vehicles entering the congested core of the city during weekday business hours. Known as the congestion charge, the fee of £11.50 a day, or $14.50 (£10 with automatic payment, or $12.50) is levied from 6 am to 7 pm...

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