Green Car News
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Electric cars are often touted as a way to avoid gas stations. But electric-car drivers in certain European countries will soon be going to them to charge. That's because a pair of European oil companies plan to add electric-car charging at certain fuel stations. CHECK OUT: Electric-Car Charging Station At Gas Station In Tar-Sands Land (Nov 2014) Both Royal Dutch Shell and France's Total plan to add charging stations, with Shell having already selected some potential locations. Certain Shell fuel stations in the U.K. and The Netherlands will offer electric-car charging later this year...
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Bill Nye Bolt EV, 3-liter VW diesel deal, Tesla Model 3 volume, sidewalk robots: The Week in ReverseWhat will happen to more than 80,000 Audi, Porsche, and Volkswagen vehicles powered by 3.0-liter V-6 diesels that were sold from 2009 through 2016? And just how far off base was Ford CEO Mark Fields in claiming that up to 1 million jobs could be lost under the fuel-economy standards now in place?...
John Voelcker -
Porsche plug-in hybrid, 2018 Subaru Legacy, Bill Nye's Bolt EV, wood-burning cars: Today's Car NewsToday, a much-loved TV scientist gets a Bolt EV, we drive a pricey luxury plug-in hybrid performance sedan, and we explain why cars don't burn wood any longer. Plus an excuse not to exercise! All this and more on Green Car Reports. One of the last acts of the now-departed Obama Administration was...
John Voelcker -
Science Guy Bill Nye buys Chevy Bolt EV, his seventh electric carBill Nye, better known as "The Science Guy" on the popular PBS children's series that bears his name, loves electric cars. He drove one of only a few hundred original GM EV1 two-seat electric cars almost 20 years ago. Three weeks ago, he took delivery of a brand-new "Kinetic Blue" 2017 Chevrolet...
John Voelcker -
2018 Porsche Panamera 4 E-Hybrid: first drive reviewIn the plug-in hybrid game, you move forward or get left behind. When the hybrid maker is Porsche, that applies to power as well as efficiency. The 2018 Porsche Panamera 4 E-Hybrid is the replacement for the previous Panamera S E-Hybrid, and it gets more power, performance, and efficiency in a...
Kirk Bell -
Electric cars vs bicycles: which has a higher carbon footprint?Electric cars are simply nicer and calmer to drive than conventional cars, and as their prices fall, that may be what will lure mass-market buyers over time. But they have undeniable benefit of lowering wells-to-wheels carbon emissions per mile driven, and they can also be powered entirely on...
John Voelcker -
When it comes to alternative fuels, the discussion usually centers around compressed natural gas, or biofuels like ethanol or biodiesel. But before the concept of low-carbon or carbon-neutral fuels even existed, a few early makers and desperate drivers tried something completely different. They powered their vehicles with wood, the same fuel used to power many of the earliest combustion-powered vehicles, including railroad locomotives and steamships. DON'T MISS: GM adds B20 biodiesel capability to Chevy, GMC diesel trucks, cars Wood-powered cars achieved prominence briefly during the early...
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Real-world data more important than faith in boosting electric cars"Big data" is often discussed as a useful tool for everyone from policymakers to corporate marketing departments. But could it also be used to help increase electric-car adoption? Last November, the Obama administration held the first-ever "Electric Vehicle Datathon" with that very goal in mind...
Stephen Edelstein -
Audi dealers warned, Tesla logo, electric Mercedes, Bosch cash for VW diesels: Today's Car NewsToday, spy shots of another electric luxury SUV under development, what Tesla's logo means, and why VW diesel owners will get cash from another company too. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We updated our piece, again, on Ford CEO Mark Fields' claim of 1 million jobs at risk from...
John Voelcker -
Audi tells its dealers to get with the (electric-car) programAs many electric-car buyers will tell you, franchised auto dealers can pose a large and tedious impediment to actually buying the plug-in car you want. From salespeople with no knowledge of the cars to test vehicles that haven't been recharged and have little battery range left, the hurdles are...
John Voelcker -
Bosch to pay VW diesel owners $330 million in emission scandal tooWith a judge set to weigh in on the settlement VW Group negotiated with its 3.0-liter V-6 diesel owners, Volkswagen seems to have settled most of the U.S. legal claims stemming from its diesel-emission cheating scandal. Total costs in the U.S. alone are now more than $20 billion, and among other...
John Voelcker -
Exxon says coal will endure; other analyses beg to differRenewable energy sources may eventually render fossil fuels irrelevant in energy generation, but when will the switch between the two energy sources occur? It's a question that fosters much debate among policymakers, environmental advocates, and financial analysts. For its part, ExxonMobil believes...
Stephen Edelstein -
An automaker's logo can and perhaps should be as recognizable as its cars, if not more. That makes logo design a very important task. Tesla's logo is certainly not anonymous, but it turns out there's more to it than may be immediately apparent. DON'T MISS: Why Faraday Future's luxury electric car is named FF 91 What looks like simply a stylized "T" is actually a reference to the company's products, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a recent tweet (via Motor1). The Tesla logo is intended to represent the cross-section of an electric motor, Musk explained to a querying Twitter follower. Musk seemed...
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Emissions rules could cost 1 million jobs, Ford CEO tells Trump: what's behind that number? (further updated)Among his actions during a whirlwind first week in office, U.S. President Donald Trump met last week with the CEOs of U.S. automakers Fiat Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors. He met on two consecutive days with Mark Fields, CEO of Ford, in fact. Fields was part of a group of manufacturing...
John Voelcker -
Electric-car sales; Tesla, BMW miss top safety tier; fuel economy popular: Today's Car NewsToday is the first day of the month, so we report on electric-car sales. We also look at the popularity of fast charging, learn what the IIHS said about the safety of the Tesla Model S and BMW i3, and cover VW's latest diesel-scandal settlement. All this and more on Green Car Reports. How important...
John Voelcker -
Settlement for Audi, Porsche, VW 3.0-liter diesel TDI owners announcedVolkswagen today announced that it had reached a settlement with owners of Audi, Porsche, and VW vehicles fitted with its 3.0-liter V-6 diesel engine. Different remedies apply depending on the vehicle's model year: 2009 through 2012 cars will be bought back, while 2013 through 2016 vehicles will be...
John Voelcker -
BMW i3, Tesla Model S electric cars miss top IIHS safety ratingsTwo of the most prominent electric cars have missed out on the highest award given for vehicle safety by the influential IIHS: Top Safety Pick+. Funded by the insurance industry, the IIHS—which operates independently of the federal government—says that neither the BMW i3 nor the Tesla...
Andrew Ganz -
Plug-in electric car sales for Jan: Bolt EV over 1,100 in second monthWhile the auto industry at large waited to see if January sales continued as strong as last year's record-breaking total, electric-car fans waited for a different number. That was the number of Chevrolet Bolt EVs sold last month, the car's first full month on sale, albeit in a small number of...
John Voelcker -
Regardless of political persuasion, there are some issues almost everyone can agree on. One of them, for example, is likely gas prices. It's hard to imagine anyone who enjoys paying more every time they fill up their car. DON'T MISS: Emissions/MPG rules could cost 1 million jobs, Ford CEO tells Trump: what's behind that number? Which might explain the results of a recent phone poll by the Consumer Federation of America on the subject of fuel-economy standards. Conducted last December, the poll found that two-thirds of respondents who said they voted for Donald Trump support strong...
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China happy to become world's climate-change leader if U.S. lagsUnder the administration of President Barack Obama, the U.S. joined the rest of the world and took a leading role in global efforts to avert irreversible climate change. But that seems unlikely to continue under the Trump administration, which has nominated climate-science deniers to numerous key...
Stephen Edelstein -
How important is fast-charging to sell electric cars? Poll resultsThose unfamiliar with electric cars often don't know that several different types of battery charging exist. Overnight recharging at home can be done either with 120-volt household current or, for longer-range cars, with a 240-volt charging station installed by the car owner. Then there's DC fast...
John Voelcker -
Ford CEO on emissions rules, Paris climate agreement, Hydrogen Council: Today's Car NewsToday, Ford CEO Mark Fields reportedly told President Donald Trump that current emissions rules could risk up to 1 million jobs, Trump is expected to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement, and 13 companies form the Hydrogen Council to promote fuel cells. All this and more on Green Car...
Stephen Edelstein -
EU cracks down as diesel scandal exposes lax tests country by countryThe Volkswagen diesel scandal has led to much greater scrutiny on the methods regulatory agencies use to test vehicle emissions, particularly in Europe. Even before news of Volkswagen's diesel "defeat device" software broke, the European fuel-economy testing cycle was known to be overly optimistic...
Stephen Edelstein -
U.S. to pull out of Paris climate-change agreement under TrumpAs seemed likely from the day Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, the country will pull out of the global Paris Climate Agreement to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The move had been signaled even before the election by the new president's choice of noted climate-science...
John Voelcker