Green Car News

Plant-based diesel has been available for many years now but making a true gasoline-like hydrocarbon from plant oils has proven a lot more difficult. Chemists at the University of California, Davis think they've cracked it, though, using a new technique to make "biogasoline" from plant waste...

With awareness of the 2014 BMW i3 battery-electric car starting to rise--it will arrive at dealers in late April or early May--it's sometimes easy to forget that BMW has a second plug-in car following close behind. And unlike the i3, whose looks are controversial, there's very little debate over...

The 2014 Geneva Motor Show is almost upon us, and true to form there's much higher green car content than at other recent shows. Geneva has cultivated an image of forward-thinking vehicles and manufacturers are all too happy to oblige when the Swiss show rolls along. This year includes everything...

One of the major incentives for buying a plug-in electric car in California is the coveted sticker allowing single-occupant travel in the carpool lanes on the state's crowded freeways. Now, the supply of stickers for plug-in hybrids that can travel on battery power alone but also have an engine as...

This afternoon, Tesla Motors released details on its proposed "Gigafactory" to build lithium-ion cells for its future electric cars. To provide enough cell capacity to build a projected 500,000 electric vehicles in the year 2020, Tesla would require more cells than last year's entire global...

A free app from Esurance claims to predict future gas prices.

If you like the MINI but want something a little more practical, then this could be the car for you. It's the MINI Clubman Concept and it's set to debut at the Geneva Motor Show next week. Though even a brief glance tells you there's little concept-like about the new car. In contrast to the...

There are now more than a dozen plug-in electric cars for sale in the U.S., but not all electric cars are created equal. And a pair of recent articles about service challenges experienced by owners of the Toyota RAV4 EV underscores that buyers should be fully aware of the context in which their...

Nissan has released its first preview image of the new Nissan Juke, set to be revealed at the Geneva Motor Show next week. The new model is said to look even more striking than before, as well as offering greater efficiency and better refinement than the current model. The Juke was originally...

The assets of the bankrupt Fisker Automotive are now in the process of being transferred to winning bidder Wanxiang America, but already the new owners have started to discuss their plans for the automaker. The latest news nugget is that Wanxiang hopes to restart production of the Karma...

The 210,000 plug-in electric vehicles sold around the world last year used a lot of lithium-ion batteries. But if startup automaker Tesla Motors has its way, it will soon need as many lithium-ion cells (of the 18650 format it uses) as are now built worldwide. That's why the company plans to release...

The Tesla Model S was named Best Overall car, while the Toyota Prius once again took Best Green Car honors.

Honda, Nissan, and Toyota make headlines today.

If you're driving into rural areas to spend time with nature, there's nothing more noticeable than a bright yellow New York City taxi cab to do it in. A couple of months ago, we had a chance to test out Nissan's new "Taxi of Tomorrow" for New York City, based on its NV200 small commercial van--but...

Residents of condominiums and other multiple dwellings who drive plug-in electric cars are fast becoming a challenge for the managers and boards that run those buildings. Early this month, a $450 charging cable was destroyed by a vandal in a Venice, Florida, condominium parking garage while it was...

For every success story in the electric car world, there's also a less than successful endeavor. Coda would find itself in the latter category. Years of hype deflated like a burst balloon when the company went bankrupt in May 2013. The company's cars are still available though, through a firm...

The Toyota Prius Family is the most popular car line California for the second year in a row.

Honda has announced through its EV sales division that the Fit EV model year production will end early, with production of the last of the 2014 Fit EVs this fall. [UPDATE: Honda North America subsequently clarified that Fit EV production will end on schedule this fall, not "early." Honda added that...

Ford, Hyundai, and Nissan make headlines today.

Nissan is very quietly gathering additional electric-car "intelligence" about satisfaction, details, and features from Tesla Model S owners.