Green Car News
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Nearly every electric car on the market today comes with technology that enables you to remotely start its charging cycle, pre-cool the cabin, or check its state of charge using a smart phone or computer. But while owners of the $109,000 Tesla Roadster aren’t among those who had smart-phone connectivity built into their cars when they were made, a group of enthusiasts are on the brink of making remote battery monitoring of their sexy electric sports cars a reality. Called the Open Vehicle Monitoring System, the project started on the TeslaMotorsClub website when a group of like-minded...
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Porsche Cayenne Diesel To Arrive In U.S. Second Half Of 2012Hybrids, electrics, and various permutations in between get a lot of the attention when it comes to greener driving, but the dino-burning diesel deserves its place in the pantheon as well, at least for the time being. Porsche agrees--at least in the case of the Cayenne. The diesel version may be...
Nelson Ireson -
$9 A Gallon Too Much For Gas This Winter? Avoid Nome, AlaskaThe rising cost of gas is one of life's inevitabilities, though how quickly the price rises depends on where you live. If you live in Nome, Alaska, then you're in for an inevitable and very expensive winter. According to Yahoo (via AutoBlogGreen), you could soon be paying $9 for every gallon of...
Antony Ingram -
Volt Owners Speak Up, Say It's Safe, Rave About Their Electric CarsIt's been a tough few weeks of publicity for the Chevrolet Volt, the extended-range electric car that's the green halo vehicle at General Motors. Now, despite sales below GM's announced target and an NHTSA inquiry into fires in the lithium-ion battery pack several weeks after they were involved in...
John Voelcker -
2012 Chevy Sonic Test Drives: Carmaker Looks To Bloggers, Not JournalistsNormally, when an automaker brings a new car to the market, it invites automotive journalists to get behind the wheel to put the car through its paces and render their professional opinion on how the car drives, feels and performs. But as part of the launch of the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic, Chevrolet is...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
RIP Aptera: Lessons For Startup Electric-Car CompaniesOn Friday, Aptera CEO Paul Wilbur sent out an email with the news that the Aptera 2e -- the all-electric, two-seat, ultra-efficient car we’ve awaited for nearly five years -- wouldn’t be making it into production. As the long, drawn-out story that has been Aptera’s existence...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
At first glance, Nissan’s Pivo3 concept from this week’s Tokyo Motor Show looks pretty wild: Seating is staggered, with the driver ahead of two passenger seats; wheel-hub motors provide power; and aggressively configured four-wheel steering that allows the Pivo3 to be turned on a dime—well, a two-meter one.
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Aptera Shutting Down For GoodAptera has just released a statement, saying it will shut down operations today. As recently as two years ago, the southern California-based Aptera had plans to introduce an electric car and to sell up to 10,000 copies a year. It had even hoped to received approval for some of the same federal...
Martin Padgett -
New Electric Sports Car Does 0-60 In 2.3 Seconds, But There’s A Catch...Earlier on today we caught wind of a brand new electric car hitting the market just in time for the New Year. With classic sports car styling, a 0-60 time of 2.3 seconds and a price tag of $1100, it could make the perfect gift for the electric car fan that has everything. But while the Traxxas XO-1...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Honda AC-X Concept: Tokyo Motor Show Live PhotosHonda released some details of its Tokyo Motor Show concept cars three weeks ago, and now we can see what they look like in person. For U.S. buyers in particular, the most important of them is the Honda Advanced Cruiser-X (AC-X) Concept, a mid-size sedan that resembles nothing so much as a...
John Voelcker -
Today's Volt Update: GM Buyback, Owners Rally, Sales Goal UnmetPhew. Yesterday was quite a day indeed in Chevy Volt land. A bevy of news items hit the wires, following Monday's offer of loaner cars to Volt owners who weren't comfortable with their cars' safety until the NHTSA finishes its investigation into battery-pack fires in cars that had been wrecked in...
John Voelcker -
2012 Toyota Prius C Compact Hybrid: 2011 Tokyo Motor Show Debut Live GalleryAmong the concept cars and pre-production prototypes being unveiled at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show this week, there were a handful of production-ready cars quietly making their public debut. Among them was Toyota’s 2012 Prius C hybrid hatchback. Smaller than the 2012 Prius, the 2012 Prius C...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
One of the cars we were most excited to see at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show was the Suzuki Regina concept, one of the trio of city car concepts revealed by Suzuki in Tokyo. As a light weight, compact city car powered by a regular gasoline engine it could be considered a fairly old-fashioned take on fuel efficiency and the retro lines of the concept do nothing to dispel that image. There's more than a hint of classic Citroën about the design with the rear echoing the 1950s DS and several other details reminiscient of the Citroën Ami. Those fantastic retro shapes hide some distinctly...
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Electric-Car-Hating Top Gear Names Fisker Karma Luxury Car Of The YearFor as long as we can remember, there’s been an ongoing love-to-hate relationship between the BBC's Top Gear show and electric cars. Until yesterday that is, when Top Gear Magazine caught everyone off guard by announcing that its Luxury Car of The Year was none other than the $95,900 Fisker...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Subaru Mild-Hybrid System: With Tokyo Concept, New DetailsSubaru showed a potential direction for a next-generation C-segment (Impreza-sized) wagon in its Advanced Tourer Concept from the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show this week.
Bengt Halvorson -
Luxury Hybrid Sedan Face-Off: BMW 5 v Infiniti M v Lexus GSA battle is about to commence, and it could get messy. While Toyota's Prius dominates at the lower end of the hybrid market and is set to tighten its hold further with the Prius V and Prius C, Toyota subsidiary Lexus is set to field its GS 450h luxury hybrid sedan against the Infiniti M35h (a Green...
Antony Ingram -
Nissan Gives 2012 Leaf Sporty Makeover, Announces 2012 Leaf NismoAdmit it: You like the 2012 Nissan Leaf, but you yearn for the extra performance and sporting pedigree of Nissan’s custom-built, mid-engined, Nissan Leaf Nismo RC race car. Sadly, you’re unlikely to ever be given the chance to own your very own Nissan Leaf Nismo RC, but Nissan has just...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2011 Mitsubishi PX-MiEV II Plug-In Hybrid Concept: Tokyo Motor ShowThe new PX-MiEV II Concept remains an important step in the automaker’s initiative to launch eight new electrified vehicles by 2015.
Bengt Halvorson -
The advocacy group Consumer Watchdog has called for the EPA to test whether the Hyundai Elantra lives up to its EPA gas-mileage ratings in real-world use; owners have complained that it doesn't.
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November Plug-In Car Sales: Volt Sparks, Leafs FallIt's the first of the month again, and that means: It's sales report time! Last month, Chevrolet sold 1,139 Volts and Nissan sold 672 Leafs. The November numbers bring totals for 2011, with only December left, to 8,720 Leafs delivered (plus 18 last December) and 6,142 Volts (plus 326 last...
John Voelcker -
Volkswagen Unveils Plug-in Hybrid SUV Concept: 2011 Tokyo Motor ShowUnsurprisingly, the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show has been dominated by Japanese automakers showing off their latest green car technology and futuristic concepts on home turf. But that didn't stop German automaker Volkswagen from unveiling its own plug-in hybrid crossover concept, the Cross-Coupe Plug-in...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
BMW, Toyota Release More Information On Green Engine PartnershipEarlier this week our sister site Motor Authority reported that the European arms of BMW and Toyota had plans to work together on exchanging diesel and hybrid car technology in a mutually beneficial agreement. Now the two firms have outlined the full details of the agreement in a press conference...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Chevy Volt Electric Car Owners Most Satisfied, Consumer Reports SaysDespite the NHTSA inquiry into battery-pack fires following severe crash tests of the Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car, the car's 5,000 or so owners to date seem to be unworried. Comments on Volt owner forums largely dismiss worries about any risk of fire during accidents, and many owners...
John Voelcker -
2012 Mitsubishi 'i' Electric Car: Woody Trim And Surfboards Too! (Video)We look at a lot of concept and production cars during auto shows, but rarely does one make us laugh right out loud. The special version of the 2012 Mitsubishi 'i' electric car on display at the Los Angeles Auto Show a couple of weeks ago, however, did just that. Perhaps in honor of southern...
John Voelcker