Green Car News

If you’re in the market for an electric car one of the biggest decisions to make after you’ve decided to buy a plug-in vehicle is which one to choose. For one family in California, however the choice was far easier: Get one of each. And with good reason. Ten years ago marketing...

Last year, Toyota promised to launch a dozen new hybrid and plug-in hybrid models by the end of 2012. One of those new hybrid models may be unveiled in concept form at next month's Geneva Motor Show. Two Dutch websites are reporting that the company will use the show for the world debut of a Toyota...

The practice of home-building electric vehicles is not uncommon amongst hardcore EV enthusiasts. Our own Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield has converted her own EVs before, and several members on the website Ecomodder have done the same, often using the economy driver's favourite, the Geo Metro, as a...

Of all the electric vehicles planned by major automakers, few are more eagerly awaited than the BMW MegaCity 'i' all-electric urban car, expected to go into production late in 2013 or early in 2014. It's a BMW, which means it will be sporty and handle well. It's likely to be the smallest BMW since...

If you’re like us and find yourself flying too much you probably feel pretty guilty about that gas-guzzling rental car you have to use at your destination. But thanks to Enterprise Rent-a-Car, another option is now available to customers in Ontario, California: the 2011 Chevrolet Volt...

There’s something terribly fickle about the bright lights and flashy sets of the TV talk-show genre. But while Jay Leno’s chat show on NBC may have failed to receive positive viewing figures the bright orange 2009 Ford Focus electric prototype used in the show has just found a new home...

Electronic driving coaches designed to promote more fuel efficient driving are nothing new and have been appearing in production cars for the past several years, mostly in hybrids but regular models too. Some memorable driving coaches include Nissan’s Eco-Pedal, which works by activating a...

And the hybrids just keep on coming. Earlier this morning we wrote that BMW will launch a line of front-wheel-drive hybrids in 2014. Now, the British magazine AutoExpress suggests that a new generation of the Ford GT supercar will also offer hybrid-electric drive. Competition for Porsche If so, it...

Let’s be honest: Volvo isn’t the first company that comes to mind when thinking of electric vehicles. In fact, until the display of a crashed C30 Electric at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show earlier this year we’ve seen very little from Volvo’s plug-in fleet except a few...

It's not just Toyota that sells multiple models of hybrid cars now. German luxury brands are getting in on the act too. BMW announced today that it was forming a joint venture with France's Peugeot-Citroen to design and build hybrid-electric powertrains. The new enterprise is an expansion of the...

Dominion Virginia Power announced yesterday that is waiting for Virginia State Corporation Commission approval to offer two electricity tariffs exclusively to electric vehicle owners in a bid to encourage customers to make the switch to electric cars. As we’ve discovered before, more and more...

Jaguar has seen a lot of change in the last couple decades. Now no longer owned or controlled by Ford Motor Company, Jaguar is looking to see what it needs to do to sell more volume and stay in the luxury car market. You might remember the X-Type sedan, the company’s foray into the small...

The first business day of every month is when automakers release sales data for the previous month. Today, we got January's sales figures, which are an improvement over last January's. But the question that we keep hearing is: Which sells better, the 2011 Nissan Leaf or the 2011 Chevrolet Volt?...

Strange as it may seem from the CEO of a company now embarking the electric car bandwagon, Audi's boss Rupert Stadler still seems apathetic at best about EVs. Of course, the aim of any big business is to grow and make money, so perhaps Rupert is thinking of the lack of short-term financial gains to...

Buick plans to add its eAssist mild-hybrid system to the 2012 Regal sedan as an option, making the Regal its second model to offer the mileage-increasing system. According to trade publication Ward's Auto, Buick will introduce the option at the Chicago Auto Show next week. Last November, General...

Sometimes you just never know where you'll dredge up technical details on vehicles that carmakers haven't yet launched. Technology conferences can be a good source. Take, for instance, the Advanced Automotive Battery Conference (AABC) held last week in Pasadena, California. A battery systems...

One of the biggest drawbacks to electric car ownership today is the time it takes to recharge the car when the batteries are depleted. So it comes as no surprise that the time it takes a car to charge from empty is a big selling point. A few weeks ago, Ford seemingly pulled ahead of its rivals...

Whenever you sell out of something it is considered a good problem to have, at least to a point. Every manufacturer wants to be in the position where so many people like their cars that they have trouble keeping them in the hands of dealers. We have seen it with the third generation Toyota Prius...

Okay, okay…we have been talking a lot about the 2012 Ford Focus today and hopefully you have been able to check out the articles that interest you most. We have covered our First Drive experience, MyFord versus MyFord Touch, Hatch versus Sedan, Torque Vectoring Control and now Active Park...

Torque Vectoring Control sounds like something out of Iron Man or the Star Trek series. In this case it actually refers to a new system on the 2012 Ford Focus that simulates a limited slip differential. It is also a safety feature that many parents—and adults—will be happy to have...