Green Car News

From the ridiculous to the intriguing, today is all about trademarks, it seems. Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] has applied for a new trademark, with the name 'Model E', specifically referring to "automobiles and structural parts therefor". The company filed for registration of the trademark on August 5...

Toyota has revealed a full teaser image of its Hybrid-R concept due at the 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show--and it's the hot hybrid hatch we were expecting. The company revealed a simple R logo a few weeks back, and rumors were rife it might find its way onto a next-generation Supra sports car. Then the...

Sometimes, you just can't make them up. A small Chinese electric car firm is currently seeking permission to name its new electric car technology 'Snowden'--named for the former U.S. intelligence contractor now in political asylum in Russia, after leaking top-secret mass surveillance details to the...

BMW has announced the recall of more than 1,500 2009-2010 BMW X5 diesel models to correct a fuel filter heater issue. The xDrive35d models, manufactured from June 13, 2009 through November 9, 2009, could be affected by an issue that causes the filter heater to remain on and overheat. The fuel...

The Tesla Model S is no stranger to awards and high scores, but its latest accolade could be its most important yet. Its five-star National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) crash test rating was revealed a few weeks back, but Tesla Motors (NSDQ:TSLA) has now revealed the car's score is...

What cars available in dealers today make the most efficient use of energy? The answer turns out to be four battery-electric vehicles and one plug-in hybrid. Gasoline and diesel cars don't even come close; internal combustion engines waste two-thirds to three-quarters of the energy in their fuel on...

Shai Agassi, founder of the now-defunct Better Place electric-car service in Israel, hasn't been in the public eye much of late. But on the business network LinkedIn this morning, he emerged to weigh in on the lessons of Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] and what the auto industry at large could learn from...

New York, your Taxi of Tomorrow is on its way--as the first examples have just rolled off the line at its factory in Mexico. Taxi of Tomorrow is another name for Nissan's NV200 van, chosen by the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission as the city's official taxi--replacing cars like the venerable...

Aside from movie characters and intoxicated individuals looking for somewhere to relieve themselves, nobody really uses public pay telephones any more. New York City has around 8,000 active payphone kiosks, which is a lot of real estate going to waste. So why not, as The New York Times writes, put...

There are many reasons for making a vehicle a hybrid--driveability, improving gas mileage--but "covert operations" is the best we've heard so far. You could sneak up on people in a Prius--as you'll probably have discovered in parking lots as pedestrians dive out in front of your near-silent...

Ford spent nine months justifying the 47-mpg fuel-efficiency rating of its new 2013 C-Max Hybrid--before it bowed to public pressure and lowered it to 43 mpg late Thursday. While its three latest hybrid models continue to sell well, the latest reversal draws attention to Ford's challenges when the...

We love our commenters: You all are an informed, passionate, and very active group, and we thank you. So, here's some news. As of this morning, we've switched our commenting system from the old homegrown one to the Disqus system you've likely seen on an increasing number of websites. There are two...

We've long known the best way to get people interested in electric cars is simply to let them drive or ride in them. It's easy enough to tell people they're quick, smooth and near-silent, but people are naturally skeptical of something they aren't familiar with. That includes politicians, but just...

As cars get greener, there's more controversy surrounding how we judge exactly how green they are. That tops the headlines this week in social media here at Green Car Reports, as Ford announced revised gas mileage stats for its 2013 C-Max Hybrid and promised to do better for 2014. In other news...

Oh, North Carolina: Are you cutting off your nose to spite your face? That's the impression at least some commentators have gained on learning of a state bill that will become law on August 25, with or without the signature of Gov. Pat McCrory. The bill would invalidate Durham County's Commute Trip...

The specification list and gas mileage for the 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage read more like a car from the 1980s--but it's coming to market with a distinctly 2013 price tag. A five-door, light weight and aerodynamically efficient hatchback, the Mirage straddles the minicar and subcompact markets, but its...

For Ford, it's all about "customer satisfaction"--a phrase it's repeated hundreds of times over the past nine months. During that time, it's grappled with the realization that not only did its 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid not achieve anywhere close to its 47-mpg EPA rating, but the shortfall had made...

Honda and Acura can't resist teasing us with its latest hybrid sports car, the NSX. We've seen concepts and disguised production models, and now there's a race car ready to hit the circuit, aimed at Japan's premier GT racing series. The Honda NSX Concept-GT is designed to comply with GT500...

There are few better ways of running an electric car than doing so on solar power, and that's now cheaper than ever according to a new report. The Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory produces an annual "Tracking the Sun" report (pdf file) into the prices of...

Audi has had its fair share of criticism from plug-in car fans, but the automaker now seems to be coming around to the idea of electric propulsion after some rather public dismissals of the technology. Audi's first production plug-in model will be the A3 e-tron plug-in hybrid arriving next year...