Green Car News

Between 1973 and 1978, Porsche race teams were sponsored by Martini, favorite tipple of fictional British spy James Bond. Now the pairing is set to make a comeback with a special edition of Porsche’s highly-anticipated 2014 918 Spyder plug-in hybrid. Still a year away from launch, the latest...

It’s a well-known fact that most Americans prefer to drive cars with automatic gearboxes over ones with manual transmissions, while others are unsure of how to drive stick at all. So it’s no surprise that Chrysler -- whose manual transmission 2013 Dodge Dart launched earlier this year...

There are currently 10,000 or so publicly-available electric car charging stations in the U.S., in addition to countless private charging stations in homes and businesses across the nation. The current number of charging stations in the U.S. today makes electric cars trump all other...

When we think hybrid, we don't often think luxury mega-sedan, but that's exactly what you get with the new 2013 Lexus 600h L. While it shares much of its core elements with the previous model, a new look and some updates to the powertrain give the BMW ActiveHybrid 7 and the Mercedes-Benz S400...

BMW has big plans for its i brand of plug-in electric cars, giving the lineup its own visual design language and its first foray into online sales. But beyond the i3 subcompact electric city car and the i8 plug-in hybrid sports coupe, there will be other BMW i models--some of which, apparently...

Under very few circumstances will the Lamborghini Aventador supercar ever count as a green car. But as the nuns used to say, "Everyone can do better. Everyone!" Indeed, even supercars can save fuel when they're not under full throttle. To that end, it appears that the next generation of Lambo's...

If you're selling a futuristic vehicle, why not sell it using futuristic means? That's the strategy BMW is looking to take with its i3 and i8 plug-in cars, when both go on sale in Europe in a few years time. The German automaker may well have just opened a specialised showroom for the cars in...

General Electric scientists have developed a prototype electric motor designed to improve the performance and efficiency of hybrid and electric vehicles. The Interior Permanent Magnet traction motor improves on existing designs in several key areas, and would result in hybrids and electric vehicles...

When General Motors began producing the Chevrolet Volt in 2010, many staunch electric car fans dismissed it, saying its on-board gasoline engine meant it was only a hybrid, not a true electric car. With sixty-three percent of all Chevrolet Volt trips to date being made in electric-only mode, most...

If you've driven a Toyota, Lexus or Honda hybrid, or any recent Nissan automatic, you'll be familiar with continuously-variable transmissions (CVT). You'll be familiar with the smoothness, the quiet running at low speeds, and the way the revs soar when you ask for a bit more power. But with CVT...

When it comes to compact cars, one body style does not a product line make. Ford, for example, offers both hatchback and sedan body styles on its Focus line, while Honda offers the Civic in sedan or coupe form. Kia goes one better, offering its Forte in coupe, hatchback or sedan variants, which...

Tesla Motors [NSDW: TSLA], by nearly all accounts, is an automaker that’s doing things differently. It’s based in Silicon Valley, not Detroit. And it’s transitioning from making a very modest number of Tesla Roadster models to, it plans, tens of thousands of all-electric Model S...

Pickup trucks aren't typically the apple of the gas miser's eye, drinking their fair share and then some, all too often used for anything but their intended purpose of hauling and towing. But their inefficiency is precisely why gas mileage improvements are important in the pickup world, and why...

Range anxiety, or the fear that an electric car will run out of charge before you reach your destination. is a real and present fear for many first-time electric car drivers and buyers. Even though research clearly shows that present electric cars can satisfy the requirements of 95 percent of all...

Although we try very hard to put cars through a variety of tests on a variety of roads when we carry out our first drive reports, it’s not always possible to gauge what day-to-day life would really be like for real-life owners. So when possible, we try to spend more than a few hours with a...

According to a recent, very peppy General Motors ad campaign, many Chevrolet Volt owners are brimming with enthusiasm about their plug-in hybrid. Then again, having Chevy Volt owners evangelize about their cars in an ad designed to sell the plug-in hybrid is hardly a fair yardstick to gauge how...

What aspects of modern motoring would you be prepared to give up to achieve 125 mpg fuel efficiency? Carmakers have made huge strides in recent years to improve fuel efficiency, but they've had to balance these economy needs with the demand for ever increasing equipment and safety levels, and...

For some, cars are much more than merely a method of transport. Much of the stereotypical gearhead backlash against electric and hybrid vehicles is to do with the perception that the vehicles are transportation for tree huggers, hippies and people who believe that people shouldn't have fun. It's...

Will your next car be smaller than your current one? If you answered yes, then you're in good company, as a recent JD Power survey shows that 27 percent of new car buyers have downsized in the last year. The 2012 U.S. Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) study, showed that only 13...

If you examine the demographics of the ‘average’ electric car buyer, you’re likely to find out that they are educated to at least college level, drive less than 50 miles per day, and have a household income of at least $125,000 a year. The mean age of an electric car buyer? Just...