Green Car News

  • McLaren P1

    Not all cars are born equal. Some, if they're lucky, will be born as McLarens--supercars infused with technology from the race track, with one of the most famous names in motor sport. There are--believe it or not--parallels between the disparate worlds of green vehicles and hypercars, and not just because the new McLaren P1 you see here is actually a plug-in hybrid. Light weight is essential, allowing the engine to work as efficiently as possible. Acceleration, braking, cornering and, yes, gas mileage--all are improved with a light car. Efficiency of the drivetrain is important too...

  • Graph shows electric car sales beating early Prius sales (excerpt)
    Electric Car Sales? Doing Better Than The Prius Was, Thank You

    Hybrids still sell in fairly small proportions compared to regular internal combustion vehicles. Their introduction can be judged a fair success though. The Toyota Prius is California's top selling car, and Toyota has sold over 4 million hybrids since the first Prius rolled off the line little more...

  • 2012 Nissan Leaf winter test
    Plug-in Electric Car Sales in Canada For January 2013

    Earlier this month, we covered January's plug-in electric car sales in the U.S., noting that sales fell by about half from the last few months of the prior year. As a percentage, plug-in cars were 0.3 percent of the American market in January 2013--down from 0.5 percent in December, but still twice...

  • Egg-like nanoparticles for lithium-ion batteries. [Image: Zhi Wei She et al., Stanford University]
    New Lithium-Ion Battery Tech Could Appear In Next Few Years

    New battery technology is five years away, and always will be. Well, that's the impression you might get whenever new technology is announced. Some of it is very, very clever indeed, but much of it is only theoretical, and the rest has rarely been tested on suitably large scales. Silicon...

  • 2013 Honda Fit
    Comparing Subcompact Cars: Is Newer Better And More Fuel-Efficient?

    The choice of subcompact cars on the market has never been better. Not just better in terms of numbers either, but in quality, reliability, safety, equipment and every other factor the average buyer looks for in a car. Gas mileage isn't bad either, even if it doesn't match some of the paper-thin...

  • Dandelions could be used for tire rubber [Image: Flickr user jolly_janner]
    Green Tech: Tires Made From Dandelions Replace Rubber

    It isn't just fossil fuels that are a finite resource--rubber is another substance in high demand, and short supply. The latest estimates suggest that global demand for rubber is expected to outstrip supply by 20 percent, by 2020. That will inevitably lead to raised prices--bad news, considering...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S beta vehicle, Fremont, CA, October 2011

    It's never dull over at Tesla Motors, but tomorrow is a particularly important day. It may, in fact, be the most important day in the electric-car maker's history. That's because after the stock market closes, Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] will give the first hints about whether it could genuinely become a profitable independent carmaker. At 5:30 pm Eastern time, the company will hold its quarterly earnings call to discuss its Q4 financial results from October through December, as well as its full 2012 results. Tesla is widely expected to have lost money for the full year 2012. It was a year of...

  • 1958 Goggomobil Dart from the Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum [Photo: RM Auctions]
    Bruce Weiner Microcar Exhibits Make Nearly $8M At Auction

    How much would you pay for a car that could fit in the bed of most pickup trucks? If that car is a 1958 FMR Tg500 Tiger, like a Messerschmitt with four wheels, the answer is $280,000. Well, you might not pay that personally, but somebody did, as hundreds of microcars were auctioned at the Bruce...

  • Fisker Karma in Los Angeles
    Chinese Automakers Bidding For Fisker Automotive: Report

    Chinese companies Geely and Dongfeng are said to be among bidders from "different continents" looking for a controlling stake in troubled automaker Fisker Automotive. Fisker, which has suffered setback after setback over the last few years of its Karma range-extended sedan being on sale, is...

  • Fiat Lussino plug-in hybrid [Image: Joseph Martinez/Coroflot]
    Fiat Lussino: 100 MPG Hybrid Design Study Fiat Needs To Make

    Like celebrity reality TV shows, concept cars are a tantalizing glimpse into a life we can approximate, but never fully enjoy ourselves. Take this Fiat Lussino concept, for example. "Lussino" is derived from the Italian word lusso, or "luxury". "Ino" makes it "small luxury". It's the work of...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt plugged into Coulomb Technologies 240V wall charging unit
    More Electric-Car Owners Install Home Charging Stations

    More than anything else, one of the most appealing things about electric cars is being able to sit inside, every morning before going to work, to see a full battery gauge staring back at you. This isn't possible with internal combustion vehicles, because local planners get a little suspicious if...

  • PSA Peugeot Citroen Hybrid Air concept
    Citroen C3 Hybrid Air Concept: 2013 Geneva Motor Show

    French automaker Citroen has long been a pioneer of automotive technology, from headlights that turn as you steer on the Citroen DS, to hydropneumatic suspension so smooth it was licensed by Rolls-Royce. Its latest development, "Hybrid Air" technology, is possibly the most intriguing innovation...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S before DC-to-Boston road trip, Feb 2013 [photo: Aaron Schildkraut]

    It's been a week of Tesla Model S hullabaloo, centered around last Sunday's critical New York Times road test, Stalled Out on Tesla's Electric Highway. Now a set of defiant Tesla Model S owners are setting out to prove Times reporter John Broder wrong. They will replicate his trip from Maryland to Connecticut, fully recharging their electric luxury sport sedans to show that the cars are quite capable of making the trip he couldn't. Three cars will set off at about 11 am tomorrow from the Tesla Service Center in Rockville, Maryland. Two hours later, they'll arrive at the Delaware SuperCharger...

  • 2013 Honda CR-Z hybrid coupe [UK specification]
    2013 Honda CR-Z Hybrid Coupe: Quick Drive Report

    Honda launched the CR-Z hybrid coupe in 2010, aiming to defy the assertion that all hybrids are slow and boring. It has to be said that as defiant acts go, the CR-Z hasn't been entirely successful. Gearhead circles have criticized its so-so performance, while hybrid fans decry its average economy...

  • Parking lot
    NYC To Get 10,000 Electric-Car Charging Parking Spaces?

    New York City could be about to make a major step towards increasing electric car adoption in the city. NTC Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants a fifth of all new parking spaces to be wired up for, and set aside for electric vehicles. According to Transportation Nation, Bloomberg's prepared notes for...

  • 2016 Chevrolet Cruze spy shots
    2015 Chevrolet Cruze Spy Shots

    The next-generation Chevrolet Cruze will be the first car to use GM's new global compact platform, and the model has been spotted winter testing by our sister site Motor Authority. Due to be launched in 2014 as a 2015 model-year car, the next Cruze will be redesigned inside and out. Originally, the...

  • 2013 Ram 1500
    2014 Ram 1500 Pickup Truck To Get Diesel Engine

    The 2013 Ram 1500 pickup is already the most efficient vehicle in its class, a lead set to extend further when Chrysler introduces a diesel model to the range. The 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel will get Chrysler's 3.0-liter V-6 diesel engine, as seen in the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel. In that...

  • Nissan Leaf sales pass the 50,000 mark
    Nissan Leaf: World's Most Popular Electric Car At 50,000 Delivered

    Nissan's Leaf electric car has become the highest-selling electric car of all time. The company has now sold more than 50,000 examples of the Leaf, sold across Japan, Europe and the U.S. Since the car went on sale in 2010, those 50,000 Leaf owners have racked up over 161 million miles. In reality...

  • Biobot 20 tabletop biodiesel generator

    There are many facets to green motoring, but for some the prospect of buying a new hybrid or electric car is neither realistic nor desirable. For these people, biofuels may be an option, particularly those recycled from other products. Biodiesel made from used cooking oils is one such fuel, and is becoming a popular option for those with access to large quantities of cooking oil. On a large scale, it even powers large portions of McDonalds' delivery trucks. With the right tools though, you can make it in your garage. Biobot, a UK company, sells just such a tool for converting waste oil into...

  • Electric-car charging stations at Target in Fremont, CA [photo by Wilson F. via ChargePoint Network]
    How To Do Electric-Car Chargers Right: New Target Store In CA

    Electric-car drivers know the problem all too well. It's called "getting ICEd"--when a gasoline car parks in the spot for reserved for electric cars to use a public charging station. Now a new Target store, sited in a conventional suburban mall in Fremont, California, offers an example of how to...

  • 2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
    Zero-Emission 2014 Chevy Silverado Model Now Available

    It doesn't get much attention as a green vehicle, but the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck line is the best-selling vehicle line at General Motors. Now there's a zero-emission version, and it's available today. That means that you can acquire one even before this spring's launch of the all-new...

  • 2014 Fiat 500L
    More Fiats On The Way: Moving Beyond 500 To Bigger Cars?

    Fiat is best known for its small cars. Not just in the U.S, where the diminutive Fiat 500, the 500 Abarth, and larger 500L are its only offerings, but in its home markets in Europe, too. Large Fiats have rarely persisted--poor sales and uncompetitive products have often pushed them to the...

  • 2012 Fisker Karma
    Win A Fisker Karma In $500 Raffle, Help Green Foundation

    If you grew up in the early 90s, or were the parent or older sibling of someone growing up in the early 90s, you'll remember the Captain Planet cartoon. The environmental superhero always managed to vanquish whichever malevolent polluter was doing their dirty deed, thanks to his ring-wearing...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S
    Tesla's Elon Musk & NY Times: Disturbing Discrepancies On Model S Range Reporting

    Golly. Turns out nothing ignites the Internet quite like a rapid-fire online spat between Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and The New York Times, the Grey Lady of establishment journalism. Like many such controversies, common ground turns out to be easier to find than you might think: It's a fact that...

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