Green Car News

  • 2012 Chevrolet Volt

    Imagine the following scenario: you and your partner are rapidly approaching retirement, looking to downsize your car, and trying to plan for your financial future. You’re ready to buy a new car, but you want something that’s relatively green and cheap to run. Could the 2013 Chevrolet Volt offer you everything you need in a retirement car? Running costs Many retirees find they only make regular short trips in an average day, with the occasional longer road trip a few times a year. Thanks to its on-board 16.5 kilowatt-hour battery pack, the Volt can travel an EPA-approved 38 miles...

  • Norway's Driving School Leaf
    Nissan Leaf Joins Drivers’ Ed, Passes No-Gas Student

    Do you remember learning to drive? The chances are, like us, you learned to drive in a gasoline car, even if you drive an electric car today. Last month however, Norwegian Solveig Marie Ødegård became the first person in the world to learn to drive and pass her test in an all-electric...

  • 2015 Smart Fortwo test mule spy shots
    Next-Generation Smart ForTwo Caught Testing In Spy Shots

    The next generation of Smart's ForTwo minicar can't come along too soon. The current model is out of its depth in the U.S. and even getting a little long-in-the-tooth in its European homelands, so the 2015 model, expected to go on sale in 2014, is eagerly anticipated. Caught here in spy shots by...

  • Areion 3-D printed race car (Image: Materialise)
    Want A Racy New Electric Car? Why Not Print One? (Video)

    3-D printing is perhaps one of the most exciting new technological developments of recent years. It could completely revolutionize the way products are made, allowing them to be printed at source in any color or shape you can think of. Areion's 3-D printed race car has been constructed using...

  • 2012 Toyota Prius
    NASCAR Star Builds Racing Prius In Toyota Charity Challenge

    Think of the high-gas mileage Toyota Prius, and you’re unlikely to make the jump to the high-octane, big-buck world of NASCAR racing. But thanks to the $50,000 charity Toyota Racing Dream Build Challenge event being sponsored by Toyota ahead of the 2012 SEMA show, the two worlds will collide...

  • Solar Panels by Flickr user Chandra Marsono
    Elon Musk: Solar Really Is The Future For Electric Cars

    Electric cars are only as green as the means by which they get their power. While producing zero local emissions and propelled using efficient electric motors, ideally that electricity would be from a renewable source, rather than by burning fossil fuels or even using nuclear. That's not always...

  • Avtovaz El Lada electric car

    Remember the Yugo? It was a small, cheap econobox, based on 1970s Fiat underpinnings and imported to the U.S. from its home country of Serbia. They actually sold over 100,000 in the U.S. between 1985 and 1992, but the model is derided as slow, unreliable and thoroughly undesirable. The image of Russian carmaker Lada is much the same in Europe, where several of its models were sold throughout the 1980s and 1990s. And now, Lada is jumping on the electric car bandwagon with a new car, revealed at the 2012 Moscow Auto Show. Normally such news would be treated with trepidation, but the combination...

  • ECOtality Blink charging station for electric & plug-in cars
    Portland, Dallas Have Most Electric Car Charging Stations Per Head

    Ask most Americans to name the cities with the most public charging stations for electric cars per head of population, and they’ll likely mention Los Angeles and perhaps San Francisco. According to PlugShare (via good.is), however, Portland, Oregon and Dallas, Texas top the list. PlugShare...

  • 2013 Volkswagen Beetle TDI
    Fun Cars With Good Gas Mileage To Suit Every Budget

    It's not difficult to find cars with high gas mileage these days. Car manufacturers have made a stirling effort in recent years to push economy up, without sacrificing performance or equipment. So if you're in the market for a new green car, but want a little fun every time you drive it, what are...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S, brief test drive, New York City, July 2012
    Why Low, Zero Emission Automakers Win With New Gas Mileage Rules

    On Tuesday this week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray La Hood and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced new gas mileage targets that will require the average fuel economy of all new cars and light-duty trucks sold in the U.S. to reach 54.5 mpg by 2025. We’ve already covered what the new...

  • 2012 Chevrolet Volt
    August Set To Be Best Month Yet For Chevy Volt Sales

    At the start of each month we report sales figures on each electric car currently on sale in the U.S. Over the last few years, the highest electric sales have been a two-horse race between the 2012 Nissan Leaf and 2012 Chevrolet Volt. And for several months now, the Volt has been leading. That...

  • 2013 Ford Escape
    2013 Ford Escape: Why You Need To Look Beyond Gas Mileage

    Ford’s all-new 2013 Escape compact crossover may have only been on sale for a few months, but it is already proving a strong seller at Ford dealerships across the U.S. On paper, there’s little difference between the gas mileage figures of the entry-level 2.5-liter, four-cylinder Ford...

  • Rotary engine

    While the Wankel rotary engine, Mazda’s power plant of choice for many years, has a fantastic power to weight ratio, it isn’t exactly what you’d call a green engine. As a consequence, since the Mazda RX-8 ended its production in June this year, you won’t find a rotary engine powering any new Mazda on sale in the U.S. today. That doesn’t mean the Wankel engine is dead, however. Speaking at this week’s Moscow Motor Show, Mazda president and CEO Takashi Yamanouchi confirmed to Autocar that Mazda was preparing to give the rotary engine a new lease of life: in a...

  • A3 e-tron charging station installation
    Landlords Vs Tenants With Electric Cars: Study Proposes Solutions

    If you live in an apartment or condo, you’ll know that gaining permission to charge an electric car in your shared parking lot isn’t always that easy. Often, miscommunication, legal worries and plain old ignorance come into play, preventing plug-in owners from charging their car, but...

  • 2012 Chevrolet Sonic hatchback, road test, Catskill Mountains, Oct 2011
    GM Recalls 2012 Chevrolet Sonic For Faulty Windshield Washer System

    The 2012 Chevrolet Sonic, General Motors’ popular subcompact car, is being recalled to fix a potential fault with the windshield wiper hose. According to the official recall posted on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s SaferCar website, the recall affects 44,668 cars...

  • 2013 Buick Encore
    2013 Buick Encore: 28 MPG Combined, Best U.S. Crossover

    GM has released details of the 2013 Buick Encore's official EPA fuel economy. Set to become one of the most efficient cars in its class, the Encore will managed a combined 28 mpg, with 25 mpg city and 33 mpg highway from its 1.4-liter, turbocharged gasoline engine. That, says Buick, is enough to...

  • 2013 Lexus CT 200h
    2013 Lexus CT 200h Compact Hybrid: If It Ain't Broke...

    By dropping the Toyota Prius's well-proven running gear into a compact, sporty body, Lexus has produced a desirable and talented little car. There wasn't a lot wrong with the CT 200h, but Lexus has updated it for the 2013 model year with some small changes to ensure it remains competitive. If it...

  • 2014 Volkswagen XL1 spy shots - Image courtesy of Motor Authority
    Prototype 2014 Volkswagen XL1 Ultra-Efficient Car Spied Testing

    Last year at the 2011 Qatar Motor Show, Volkswagen wooed the audience with its XL1 plug-in hybrid concept car, a vehicle it said would get an amazing 0.9 liters per 100 kilometers, or 260 mpg. Now, a road-going prototype version of the gas-sipping two-seater has been spotted undergoing extensive...

  • Fuel gauge

    Yesterday, we revealed the news that the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for 2025 have been confirmed after a long political battle. Essentially, the standards will require a carmaker's range of cars and trucks to meet an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. That sounds like a difficult target to hit--after all, the most efficient hybrid-electric cars on sale at the moment average around 50 mpg, and getting large sedans and sports cars to meet that target won't be an easy task. For most cars and light trucks, it will require efficiency to double. The expected benefits are...

  • Nissan Leaf Charging Port Cover
    Five Official Nissan Leaf Accessories You Can’t Buy In The U.S.

    As with many other cars sold around the world, there are small differences between the 2012 Nissan Leaf sold in the U.S. and the 2012 Nissan Leaf found in other countries. While Leaf owners in other countries may end up paying more for their cars, they often get more features included as standard...

  • 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport
    2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport Blends Fuel Efficiency And Driveability

    We have a serious question for compact crossover shoppers: with fuel-efficient four-cylinder turbo options from the likes of Hyundai and Ford, why would you even consider shopping for a V-6? We recently had a chance to drive the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport at an elevation of 8,400 feet, and we can...

  • Mahindra Reva NXR electric car (Image: Mahindra)
    NXR Electric Car To Replace Infamous G-Wiz

    If there's a more vilified electric car than the Reva G-Wiz, we're not aware of it. The Indian electric quadricycle has been the butt of jokes for years, with everything from its poor performance, circus clown car looks and concerns over safety coming in for criticism. Nothing lasts forever, and...

  • Jaguar XJ_e prototype
    Jaguar XJ_e: 60 MPG Luxury Plug-In Enters Future Car Challenge

    The greenest Jaguar we've driven here on GreenCarReports is the European-market XF 2.2D, but the smooth, economical diesel certainly isn't the limit of what Jaguar can achieve. Despite cutting a significantly larger figure on the road, the Jaguar XJ_e plug-in hybrid makes the fuel-sipping XF look...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S, brief test drive, New York City, July 2012
    2012 Tesla Model S Electric Sedan: 238 Miles Of Range, Says Motor Trend

    Whether you drive gas, electric or anything else, there are dozens of different factors that affect your car's efficiency. That's why, even though Tesla Motors claims a range of 265 miles for its 85 kWh Model S, we've been eager to see how far it can go in realistic day-to-day driving. Thanks to...

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