Green Car News

Smart is doubling up on electric vehicles with its next generation small cars--as its Electric Drive will come in both two- and four-seat formats. It's been known for a while that Smart would revive the ForFour name with its next city car. The company previously sold a car with this name in Europe...

There have been several rumors flying around as to the full details of Ford's new 1.5-liter Ecoboost engine. The first of these relates to how many cylinders the new unit has. Ford's crypic press release didn't make this clear, with no menion of a cylinder count. Road & Track however has heard...

People love their SUVs. You can't move for the things these days, but the good news is they could be getting smaller. An influx of compact SUVs and crossovers in recent years has struck a chord with buyers, and sales have grown at a faster rate than the rest of the industry in the first three...

I've now had my 2013 Tesla Model S for six weeks since it was delivered in late February, and I'm getting used to living with it. I've recharged at the Supercharger network, measured its vampire current usage at night, tested the impact of speed on range, and even experienced my first software...

History makes fools of us all sometimes, none more so than when we dismiss certain ideas out of hand, only for them to come back years later and eat our words. That's why we're always intrigued by companies claiming to reinvent the engine. One of them might well do so, given the right resources...

Regular readers may be familiar with the Nissan NV200 van, soon to be pressed into service in New York City as the much vaunted/maligned (delete as appropriate) "Taxi of Tomorrow". You may also be aware that Nissan is testing an electric version, the eNV200. It's currently in test fleets across the...

There was a time when the average vehicle could be expected to go wrong on a fairly regular basis. That's not the case these days, and in general cars are more reliable than ever--even if repair costs are increasing. Well, they are for regular vehicles anyway, as a study by CarMD suggests the cost...

One of the many cutting-edge features of my new 2013 Tesla Model S is the ability to download software updates over its cellular connection. With its touch-screen controls and electronic motor and battery systems, the Model S all-electric sport sedan is almost certainly the most highly computerized...

Volvo doesn't sell any diesel vehicles in the U.S, but if and when it decides to change that it'll certainly have some of the more advanced units on sale. The company's new diesel engine family, launched this fall in Europe, features what Volvo calls 'i-ART' technology to help cut fuel consumption...

27 hydrogen refueling stations sounds like quite a healthy amount for such an expensive installation. It's easy to put up a new electric car charging post, but a lot more effort and cost is required for a hydrogen filling station. If you're thinking these have all sprung up in a state near you in...

The 2013 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid is the third year for the carmaker's first hybrid-electric vehicle. And Hyundai's made some minor updates to the mid-size hybrid sedan that competes head-to-head with the Toyota Camry Hybrid (which pioneered the segment), the Ford Fusion Hybrid, and later this year...

Renault didn't endear itself to the U.S. back in the 1980s, with products like the Alliance and Le Car. It's almost a shame they aren't in the States today though, with a range of excellent performance hatchbacks to entice thrill-seeking buyers, and a burgeoning range of electric vehicles at...

Whatever the future energy mix, it's becoming apparent that coal and gas are both hugely consumptive and not entirely great for the environment--even if they provide large swathes of the world with their energy. Renewable energies like solar, wind and hydro on the other hand supply only a small...

I've been surprised and delighted by how efficiently my new 2013 Tesla Model S has been running at higher speeds. Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] hammers home the message that high speeds can drastically reduce the range of any Model S. It cautions that its original range figure of 230 miles for my 60-kWh...

The last few weeks have made painful reading for fans of electric car startup Fisker Automotive. It seems fate has a few more nails to bang in to Fisker's coffin. Automotive News reports the company is now facing a federal lawsuit from 160 employees laid off on Friday, for breaking laws requiring...

Make a car desirable enough, and people will buy it whatever is powering the wheels. That's the theory anyway, but in a world of unease over the suitability of electric cars, the Henrik Fisker has taken the more comfortable, usable route to creating an electric car: The range-extended Fisker Karma...

If last month's U.S. plug-in electric car sales figures could be characterized as "March Madness" -- Leaf sales tripled, Tesla took the Q1 sales crown, but the Mitsubishi i-MiEV was down 90 percent -- the Canadian market was one of "March Modestness". Sales were up, and there were a few surprises...

Is Chrysler planning to introduce a third diesel-powered vehicle, after its 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel and the Ram 1500 diesel pickup truck? According to Saad Chehab, head of the Chrysler brand, the automaker is considering a diesel version of its full-size four-door sedan model, the...

Not to be judgemental, but getting people interested in a vehicle that looks like the Sim-CEL probably won't be the easiest of tasks. Beauty is more than skin deep, but it's still the first thing you notice--and the slug-like vehicle above is a vehicle to appreciate on engineering, rather than...

Newspapers keep in their files pre-written obituaries for people who are old, known to be ill, or famous. We have a feeling we should start dusting off the one we wrote awhile back for Fisker Automotive, which laid off the bulk of its remaining employees this morning at 8 am Pacific time. Numerous...