Green Car News

Mention Mercedes-Benz, and most Americans envision luxurious full-size or mid-size sedans, or perhaps the successful ML crossover sport utility vehicle. They probably won't imagine a compact five-door hatchback with a three-pointed star on the nose, but that car--or a coupe or crossover derived...

There’s a new race among automakers and independent startups all around the world, and that is to be the leader in the advanced world of high-performance electric cars. And while major automakers like Audi and Mercedes-Benz are dabbling in the field of road-going cars with their respective...

General Motors announced this morning that it would jointly design and engineer "future electric vehicles" with Korea's LG Group, in a statement that raised more questions than it answered. The announcement, the company said, will "help GM expand the number and types of electric vehicles it makes...

Every time a new car launches, someone somewhere will try and improve on whatever its maker produced. Traditionally, this has meant improvements on things like seating, engine power and entertainment systems -- but in the world of eco-driving, devices which help improve the driver's awareness of...

The 2012 Chevrolet Volt will soon be arriving at Chevrolet dealers nationwide as General Motors makes the plug-in hybrid electric car available to all fifty states before the end of this year. But on year on from the launch of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, what are the differences between the 2011 and...

The word "hybrid" means many things. It can be interpreted as "high gas mileage," or "annoying leftie smugmobile," or--by engineers--an automotive powertrain that uses two different sources to generate the torque that moves the car. But among "full hybrids"--those powertrains that can move the car...

Historically, German automakers were slow to move into hybrid-electric vehicles, relying exclusively on diesel engines to boost fuel efficiency. That's in the past, though, and the Volkswagen Group is aggressively spreading its hybrid powertrain across models from many of its brands. But while VW...

President Obama may be aiming to get 1 million plug in vehicles on the roads of the U.S. by 2015, but a recent study by Pike Research predicts that by 2017 there will only be 5.2 million plug-in vehicles worldwide. In total, more than 14 million hybrid and plug-in electric cars will be on the roads...

The reviews of the 2012 Toyota Camry mid-size sedan are in now, and the consensus is that it's a competitively priced mild refresh with unadventurous styling. Which may be exactly what Camry buyers are looking for. But on one metric--gas mileage--the 2012 Camry line shines. The 2012 Toyota Camry...

The electric auto industry -- more than the conventional auto industry -- is an extremely volatile and competitive place. And unlike the mainstream auto industry, small-scale and boutique companies like Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive actually compete for the custom of electric car buyers...

The good folks over at Consumer Reports are the ultimate rationalists when it comes to testing and buying cars. They don't use media-fleet cars, but buy their test vehicles anonymously. Their rigorous assessments make hard-nosed fleet buyers look like flighty schoolgirls in comparison. In the...

It's human nature to take on challenges, and for many in the electric car industry that means embarking upon huge road trips in cars not known for their long ranges. We've seen trips from Alaska to Mexico in an electric race car and 25,000 miles in a Tesla Roadster, amongst others. Minddrive's idea...

Here at GreenCarReports we like to cover every aspect of owning and driving an electric car -- from choosing the right model for you through to learning how to get the best range and buying a dedicated charging station. But what about getting your electric car charging station installed? Do you...

There are lots of different Land Speed Record categories, and each year one or two of them fall to new challengers. So it's not surprising that new records for production diesel and biodiesel trucks were set this weekend at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. What is surprising is the vehicle that...

The LA Times published a story over the weekend about a pilot program that the city of Los Angeles is set to begin, involving the dynamic pricing of parking spaces. By April of next year, in a 4.5-square-mile area that is frequented by 500 000 workers and shoppers daily, the price of a parking...

China appears to have abandoned its plans to gain an early advantage on Western carmakers by beating them to the market with mass-produced electric vehicles. As China develops more and more as a nation the demand for cars is increasing at a huge rate. The Chinese government had initially intended...

In a startling announcement, Ford and Toyota announced this morning that the two companies would jointly develop a hybrid system for rear-wheel-drive light trucks and sport utility vehicles. The system would be roughly competitive with the General Motors Two-Mode Hybrid system now used in...

Electric car manufacturer Fisker Automotive is in the process of raising a $200 million funding round that would value the company at $2.2 billion, according to a report by Fortune. It would be the company's third funding round in six months. Fisker Automotive raised $190 million just five months...

We’re just a few weeks away from the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, and already know about some of the electric and plug-in cars that are due to be unveiled there. But a report from The Financial Times hints that Volkswagen could be preparing an as-yet undheard of single-seat urban electric car to...

Toyota may not have a single electric car available for sale yet, but that isn’t going to stop it from attempting to set a electric car lap record at the 12.93 mile Nordschleife at the Nürburgring in Germany -- in a car it has built for that very purpose. At 9 minutes and 1.338 seconds...