Green Car News

The Land Rover Defender is as much an automotive icon in Great Britain as the Jaguar E-Type, MGB or the Austin Mini. It's not as glamorous as any of them, but the car's chunky styling, go-anywhere ability and incredible longevity have resulted in the design barely changing since its introduction in...

Fuel cell vehicles have been garnering more attention recently, with the high-profile agreements between Toyota and BMW, and Renault-Nissan, Daimler and Ford. Not yet ready for the mainstream, fuel cell vehicles have so far been restricted to limited-run production models like the Honda FCX...

Electric car-friendly Oregon may join the growing list of states imposing a dedicated tax on electric vehicles. Like other states looking to tax electric and fuel efficient cars, Oregon is pre-empting a rise in the number of electric vehicles on the roads and a subsequent fall in revenue from gas...

Rinspeed isn't the only unusual carmaker to originate from Switzerland. Fellow Swiss automaker Sbarro is another which periodically releases something weird and wonderful into auto show halls, and this year it's the turn of the Réact E.V. E.V. doesn't, as you might expect, stand for electric...

Electric cars aren't evenly distributed across the U.S. By far the largest single market for them is California. And in a sign of increasing adoption rates--there are now roughly 75,000 plug-in cars on the nation's roads--some electric-car drivers are facing a new problem. Charging stations in...

Almost two years ago, I took delivery of one of the very first 2011 Nissan Leafs to be imported into the United Kingdom. With its two-year anniversary approaching, and more than 32,000 miles on the clock, has our family's opinion of the Nissan Leaf changed? What has life with the car been like? And...

No, seriously--it's a plug-in hybrid. It's not the most conventional of plug-in hybrids, of course. Unless we've missed something, Toyota's Prius Plug-In has no 903-horsepower version, nor does any Prius cost over a million dollars. But then, you can't expect something too conventional from...

Last November, Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia found themselves in hot, and rather deep water. An EPA investigation found each manufacturer had overstated its gas mileage window stickers on 13 models--some by as much as 6 mpg. Hyundai has now agreed to settle lawsuits that followed the...

Unusual urban microcars have been a staple of Japanese auto shows for years, but as electric propulsion becomes more realistic and city landscapes change, most big carmakers have now developed some kind of tiny urban electric vehicle. Latest to debut is Toyota's i-Road concept, due at next week's...

You probably started driving in a car with three, four, maybe five speeds to choose between. Manual transmissions led the way for a while with gears--five and six became commonplace, while the average auto might only have had four gears. Since then, an increasing quest for efficiency has seen that...

With the 2014 BMW i3 electric car launch getting closer, the rumor mill is heating up. BMW will unveil its first production battery electric car at this fall's Frankfurt Motor Show, after showing a number of concept cars in both four-door and coupe forms. It has already given rides in BMW i3 test...

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is looking into possible defects with 2004-2009 Toyota Prius steering shafts. No official recall has yet been announced, and will only follow if the NHTSA grants a defect petition claiming the steering column linkage was improperly...

Chances are, somebody reading this lives in a fairly cold climate. You also probably want to save money on fuel, and may have considered diesel. But have you considered the effect that cold weather might have on a diesel vehicle? One tale from The Car Guide shows why diesel vehicles may not be your...

Every year, the organizers of the 24 Heures du Mans--the world's most famous and prestigious endurance race--set aside a special garage for a car that pushes technological boundaries. Garage 56, as it's known, has hosted some spectacular vehicles. This year will see a hydrogen vehicle occupy Garage...

The Geneva Motor Show is almost upon us. Physically small in size next to many international shows, there's nevertheless plenty to look at, particularly if you're interested in green transport and concept vehicles. This year should be another spectacular one for green vehicles, with a few...

Last month, Virginia governor Bob McDonnell proposed dropping the state's tax on gasoline, the revenue from which has become stagnant in recent years. To make up for axing the state's gas tax, revenue would have to come from elsewhere--extra sales tax, new car registration fees, and a new $100...

Imagine a paradise for electric-car drivers, where half the car's cost is subsidized and there's a nationwide network of DC quick-charging stations so plentiful that there's one for every four cars. Such a place exists, actually. It's called Estonia. The tiny country of 1.2 million people, nestled...

We hadn't driven a 2013 Nissan Sentra, the all-new compact sedan, until last week. And our drive was hardly representative, since we spent the bulk of it in the peculiar world of freeway traffic in Los Angeles. That means traffic moving at average speeds of anywhere from 60 to 85 mph, with...

After 1,386 days of waiting, I first glimpsed my new 2013 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan at a local discount tire store. The Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] delivery rep who was bringing the car up from the New Jersey distribution center to my house in New York's Hudson Valley had called me from the...

There's a train of thought that goes thus: If you're going to launch an electric concept car, you may as well give it outrageous performance and range statistics as it'll never see the light of day anyway, and nobody can prove you wrong. Someone at Silex Power clearly thinks along similar lines, as...