Green Car News
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It's that time of month again. Car sales reports spewed forth from the High Gear Media teletypes yesterday (September sales were up), and analysis stories followed. On the electric-car front, Nissan sold 1,031 Leaf battery-electric vehicles and Chevy shifted 723 Volts. While that's an improvement over last month's 302, it brings the Volt's 2011 sales total to just 3,895 (plus a further 326 last December, the month when the first Volt was delivered). The 2011 total for the Leaf, on the other hand, is now 7,199 (plus another 19 for December 2010, which was when Nissan sold its first 2011...
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Nissan Misses The Point, Offers Would-Be Leaf Owners 2011 ArmadaImagine this situation: You’re a fan of Nissan’s all-electric 2011 Leaf and you’ve put your name down on the waiting list to get one just as soon as it starts to be delivered in your area. But instead of getting an email telling you when you can visit your local dealer to finalize...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2013 Tesla Model X Crossover: What We Know Before Jan RevealTesla would like all eyes to focus on its 2012 Model S electric sport sedan this week. But there's a second model lurking in the background: the 2013 or 2014 Tesla Model X crossover, the next vehicle to use the platform that underlies the Model S. A lot of information has emerged in bits and pieces...
John Voelcker -
Tesla's 2012 Model S Charging Equipment. Redesign For Redesign's Sake?Last weekend, Tesla released more details about its up-coming 2012 Model S all-electric luxury sedan at an exclusive reservation-holder and media Model S event in Fremont, California. While some of the new information -- like the sub-4.5 second 0-60 time of the new Model S Sport variant -- got us...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2012 Mitsubishi i: First Drive, U.S.-Spec MiEVThe 2012 Mitsubishi i (what it’s called here) is the most efficient DOT-legal vehicle for sale in the U.S. market, with an official MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) rating of 112.
Bengt Halvorson -
2012 Tesla Model S: Photo GalleryThis week's most discussed car may well be the 2012 Tesla Model S. And that's by design. Startup electric-car company Tesla Motors opened its Fremont, California, factory for the last three days to let a select list of customers, reservation holders, and journalists from around the world see...
John Voelcker -
It may not be delivering its much-anticipated 2012 Model S Sedan to the its first customer until the middle of next year, but Californian electric automaker Tesla [NASDAQ: TSLA] is now trading higher than many of its traditional gasoline rivals on the NASDAQ exchange. At a high-point of $24.95 so far today, the electric automaker’s shares may be some way from the $35.32 high of November 2010, but hype from the recent Model S event at the NUMMI facility in Fremont, California has helped it to receive an Overweight Rating today by stock market analysts at JP Morgan Chase & Co. What is...
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GM, BMW Partner To Boost Fuel Efficiency: ReportGM and BMW are said to be working on an agreement to share fuel-saving technologies. GM would benefit from BMW's gas and diesel engine design, while BMW would gain access to GM's series hybrid designs.
Kurt Ernst -
2011 Brammo Enertia Electric Motorcycle: First Ride ReportWhen it comes to electric motorcycles, Brammo Inc. has a lot to live up to. Winner of the first two races of the 2011 TTXGP North American Series and lap-record holder at the Infineon Raceway, the Oregon-based firm can certainly make electric motorcycles which go fast. But while the world of...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Largest Electric-Car Charging Site: Would You Believe Houston?UPDATE: To answer the question posed in our headline: No, we do not believe Houston has the largest electric-car charging site. See below. When we think of Texas, we think of many things: open roads, desert landscapes, Beyoncé. And of course, we also think of oil, since Texas is one of the...
Richard Read -
2012 Tesla Model S: First Ride ReportOn Saturday, exactly one year after it took ownership of the former Toyota NUMMI facility in Fremont, California, Tesla Motors [NASDAQ:TSLA] held a series of test-drives aimed to show off the latest Model S Betas to the press and Model S reservation holders. We’ve already told you about some...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Pininfarina BlueCar Makes Debut In Paris Rental SchemeWhether electric cars are suitable for the wider market yet is still a topic undergoing heated debate, but several companies have found a use to which they're very much suited - inner city rental. This is the case for French billionaire entrepreneur Vincent Bolloré. Having commissioned the...
Antony Ingram -
We already know a lot about the all-electric 2012 Tesla Model S sedan -- but at a press event ahead of tonight’s exclusive VIP event at the former Toyota NUMMI facility in Fremont, California, Tesla [NASDAQ:TSLA] CEO Elon Musk announced Tesla was making a faster Model S for those with a sporty side. Cutting the brisk 0-60 time of the standard Model S from 5.6 second to under 4.5 seconds, the sportier version features the same 85 kilowatt-hour, 300 miles-per-charge battery pack found in the 2012 Model S Signature series. “That’s quicker than a [Porsche] 911 [Carrera],”...
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Facing Tough Competition, Toyota Doubles Down On Prius HybridsFuel efficiency is on every automaker's mind, and will be through at least 2025. Toyota sells the most fuel-efficient gasoline vehicle on the U.S. market, the 2012 Prius hybrid. It's rated at 51 mpg city, 48 mpg highway, and a combined 50 mpg by the EPA. Tougher competitors But the competition is...
John Voelcker -
2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas Sedan Priced At $26,905, Cleanest Combustion Car SoldHonda released the bulk of its 2012 Civic range this spring, but one model lagged behind: the Civic Natural Gas, the all-new version of what had been called the Civic GX. As the new name indicates, the 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas runs solely on compressed natural gas. It's the only natural-gas...
John Voelcker -
How Would You Sell An All-Electric ATV? A Killer Wasp, Perhaps?
Historically, electric vehicles haven’t had an easy time of it thanks to the old stereotype that they are slow, boring and can’t cope with the real world. We all know that isn’t true -- but what would you to to convince the general public that your new electric off-road...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Tall, Skinny Tires: Newest Green-Car Efficiency TrendThere are many unusual things about the BMW i3 Concept electric minicar revealed last month, including its glass doors and roof, not to mention BMW's first production battery-electric powertrain. But the BMW i3 is also at the leading edge of another efficiency trend: tall, narrow tires that reduce...
John Voelcker -
2012 Nissan Leaf Now Available In Colorado, Northeastern StatesNissan announced yesterday that it has added six new states to its list of places you can buy its all-electric Leaf hatchback; Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York. While the 2011 Nissan Leaf wasn’t ready for cold weather, the 2012 Leaf should cope with...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Exit one BMW hybrid, enter another. Next March will see the U.S. launch of the 2012 BMW ActiveHybrid 5, the second hybrid sedan in the Germany luxury-car maker's lineup. And the ActiveHybrid 5 marks an important evolution: It's the first BMW that uses the single-motor hybrid system jointly developed with Daimler to offer full-hybrid capability, namely the ability to run solely on electric power (up to 37 mph, BMW says). The company also says the system can run electrically for as much as 2.5 miles, and we give them credit for noting that the distance assumes an average speed of just 22 mph...
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Crazy European Road Trip For Electric Cars Does 2,000 Miles In 14 DaysAsk most people what the largest drawback to owning an electric car is, and they’ll tell you that limited range means they are only really suitable for life in large cities. But don’t tell that to the group of Europeans lead by former round-the-world Solar Taxi driver Louis Palmer...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2012 Buick Lacrosse eAssist: TV Ad Sells MPGs, Avoids H-Word (Video)The 2012 Buick Lacrosse with eAssist is now beginning to roll into dealerships across the country, and we've been curious to see how GM would market the car. On our preview drive this spring of a prototype Lacrosse with eAssist, we noticed that the dreaded H-word (hybrid) had been virtually...
John Voelcker -
Hyundai Developing 10-Speed Automatic For Future Luxury CarsEngines might be getting smaller in the pursuit of saving fuel but transmissions are going the opposite direction. Over the last few years different carmakers have rapidly increased the number of ratios available to drivers, with Mercedes-Benz giving us 7-speed autos, Lexus developing an 8-speed...
Antony Ingram -
2012 Tesla Model S Electric Sedan: What Do You Want To Know?This Saturday, we’ll be heading to the California factory where Tesla Motors plans to build its much-anticipated 2012 Model S electric sports sedan. While we’re there, we’ll be given a full tour of the former NUMMI factory in Fremont, California. where the Model S will be...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
EPA, NHTSA Delay Full 54.5 MPG Rules For 2025 Until NovemberIt was the proposal that brought every automaker selling in the North America market out in a cold sweat. Now, Reuters brings news that the NHTSA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are delaying the 54.5 MPG, 2025 average fleet fuel economy figure proposal until November. The reason given...
Antony Ingram