Green Car News

  • Lotus Intelligent Precision Shift (IPS)

    Okay, so you first have to be able to afford a Lotus, which I can tell you is not in my financial plans for the future. However, if you are lucky enough to put a brand new Lotus on your to-do list, then you might want to wait until more about the future of their hybrid powertrain is unveiled. If you are a green conscious person, the wait could be well worth it; rumor has it that the powertrain is going to come from Toyota, a company that has made a household name of the word hybrid. According to Automotive News, a Toyota-supplied gasoline-electric drivetrain will be on the option list for the...

  • 2011 Hyunda Elantra (Avante) unveiled in Korea
    2011 Hyundai Elantra To Be Made In U.S.

    Hyundai has been moving up the ladder in terms of their position as a formidable opponent in the U.S. automotive market. Little victories have been had with each new model introduction, but lately the one that is making all the noise is the 2010/2011 Hyundai Sonata. Sales figures for the Sonata...

  • 2011 Toyota Prius
    2011 Toyota Prius Hybrid Prices Raised $250 For Every Model

    The 2010 Toyota Prius had an exceptionally long model year, introduced in early spring 2009 and delivered to dealers by May or June that year. But now the 2011 Prius hybrids are arriving at dealerships, and Toyota has levied a modest price increase of $250 across each of the four trim packages it...

  • Navarre Beach, Florida by SCFiasco on Flickr
    BP and Me: How The Oil Spill Changed My Mind on Electric Cars

    As a writer for a group of car sites with 3 million readers each month, I don't think I need to explain how much gasoline has changed my life. I've seen the world from street level because of it. It's fueled me. Oil has caused me agita this year, too. It's played havoc with a place I see myself...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt
    GM, Nissan, Tesla Focus On How To Recycle Used Electric-Car Batteries

    Electric cars may be coming out in force come December, but the spotlight is now on how their batteries will be resold and recycled several years down the road. There’s been a recent spate of announcements from Nissan, General Motors and Tesla on this topic. All three companies are looking...

  • Teaser for Infiniti luxury EV due in 2013
    Infiniti Offers First Glimpse Of Electric Vehicle Due In 2013

    The growing push towards smaller and more fuel efficient vehicles is leading the charge for changing consumer perceptions of what defines a luxury car--with size no longer the differentiator but rather technology, quality and design. We’ve already seen most of the major luxury brands release...

  • Volvo C30 electric concept, 2010 Detroit Auto Show

    The biggest challenge for battery electric vehicles is clearly the cost and the weight of today's lithium-ion battery packs. Now Volvo is experimenting with a new composite material that can store and release energy more quickly than a convention lithium-ion cell and, it says, might one day replace steel for making auto body panels. European consortium The material is being developed by a consortium of nine European companies and organizations, launched by the Imperial College in London and funded in part by the European Union. Volvo is the sole carmaker in the three-year project. The team...

  • BMW Concept Active E
    BMW Announces ActiveE Testing For Key Markets, Starts Summer 2011

    As BMW bring to an end the first round of BMW Mini E lease schemes in the U.K, drivers in New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Boston and Connecticut can look forward to signing up to help BMW test its ActiveE, two years before its MegaCity EV hits the market. Based on a...

  • 2011 Toyota Highlander Hybrid
    2011 Toyota Highlander Hybrid: New Styling, Higher Mileage

    The 2011 Toyota Highlander Hybrid has been restyled and made more powerful as part of a comprehensive freshening of the Toyota Highlander line, last fully redesigned for the 2008 model year. Along with more prosaic gasoline-powered Highlanders, the front-end styling has been updated. The hood and...

  • 2010 Smart Escooter Concept
    Smart All-Electric Escooter Concept Revealed Ahead Of 2010 Paris Auto Show

    Last year BMW rolled out its C1-E Concept, an all-electric scooter that represented the automaker’s vision of what a safe, environmentally-friendly and highly practical single track vehicle for city traffic could look like. Now BMW’s closest rival, Mercedes-Benz, through its Smart car...

  • Nissan Celebrates 20,000 Reservations For 2011 Leaf With U.S. Tour

    Remember the Freedom Drive, where a solitary 2011 Chevy Volt made its way from Texas to New York to publicize the extended-range electric vehicle’s launch? Finishing on Independence Day with a massive fireworks display, the tour gave out T-Shirts and offered test-drives to potential customers...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf prototype
    Nissan Leaf Orders Halted Until Next Year

    The Nissan Leaf has really shaken up the electric vehicle (EV) world, in a positive way. In fact, we have seen through reports from Nissan that the public is willing to entertain the idea of an all-electric vehicle. The question, however, continues to be how many people that really amounts to...

  • 2011 Nissan LEAF prototype

    Ever wonder where all those electric vehicle (EV) batteries are going to go once they lack the punch to get the job done? This is a question I have asked myself many times because I know how many times I have had to put a new conventional car battery into may own cars or even had to replace the battery in my laptop or phone. We know they are eventually going to run out of juice. Apparently, those of us here at AllSmallCars.com and High Gear Media aren’t the only ones thinking about this issue; Nissan and Sumitomo Corporation have announced a new joint venture as of September 15, 2010...

  • Third-generation Subaru four-cylinder boxer engine
    Subaru Unveils More Efficient Four-Cylinder Boxer Engine

    Subaru is sticking to its almost trademark horizontally opposed or ‘boxer’ engine for its future lineup of cars, improving on the design, making it more refined and fuel efficient with each generation. The third and latest generation of the engine--the first major redesign in 21...

  • BYD e6 electric crossover, Electric Avenue, 2010 Detroit Auto Show
    As BYD Sales Slide, American EV Company Heads To China

    In a week where US Coda Automotive has launched its 2011 Sedan, an all-electric vehicle based upon the chinese-made Hafei Saibao, China’s own electric car industry is undergoing some interesting changes. BYD, backed by U.S. businessman Warren Buffet, has been making loud noises in the...

  • 2010 GM EN-V Concept
    So Much For World Car-Free Day; Most of the World WANTS Cars

    Yesterday was was World Car-Free Day. Did you notice? Nope, us either. Because while it may be amusing--for a few seconds--to imagine a world without vehicles, it's also sorta silly. It's like imagining a world without vapid blond stars who get way, way, WAY too much press. Might be nice, never...

  • 2010 MINI Scooter E Concept
    2010 Paris Auto Show Preview: MINI Scooter E Concept

    In less than a week MINI is set to unveil a new concept vehicle at the 2010 Paris Auto Show but unlike previous designs from the iconic British brand, this one only has two wheels. The concept is the new 2010 MINI Scooter E, the latest line in electric vehicles from MINI and the first with two...

  • Renault Kangoo Express Z.E. electric van
    2011 Renault Kangoo Express Z.E: Value For Money EV Van

    Renault may not have much of an impact to U.S. motorists, but thanks to their partnership with Nissan, they have a large part to play in the future of electric vehicles. The French company has been a market leader in the European light commercial vehicle (LCV) market since 1998, so it's only...

  • 2011 Mazda2 exterior and detail

    It's always important for writers to check their cultural biases when analyzing the auto market. Or at least admit them up front. So we appreciate our colleague Scott Burgess being honest about his point of view: He doesn't like subcompacts. Nope. Doesn't have any time for 'em. Animus up front In his review of the 2011 Mazda Mazda2 five-door subcompact hatchback, he admits his animus and then lets it permeate his choice of words. First, the admission: "Full disclosure: I'm not a subcompact man. I'm a big-boned American. I have big dreams, big hopes and big thighs, so little cars typically...

  • 2010 Dodge Caliber RT
    Dodge Caliber Gets Suspension Upgrades for 2011

    The Dodge Caliber is one of those cars that are more about substance than about style. It is no secret that the Caliber won’t win any style contests, but what it doesn’t have in looks it tries to make up for in functionality. One of those functional upgrades for 2011 includes the...

  • 2009 Toyota Corolla
    2009 Toyota Corolla Makes Top 10 Most Stolen Cars

    Finding out that your car has been stolen is probably one of the worst feelings you can have as a car owner, especially if it gets stolen while you our out and about. The good news is that some cars just aren’t popular cars to steal. The bad news is that the cars that are popular to steal...

  • Citroen Survolt Concept at Le Mans
    EVs On Track: Electric Car Versus Electric Bike

    We've speculated before on the future of hot rodding in the world of electric cars, but one aspect that's already taking off is electric vehicle racing. We've seen Think having a crack with the City EVCup, and the TTX GP is becoming a popular series for electric motorcycles. And it was a TTX GP...

  • Prototype Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid being recharged at curbside station
    California Wants 1 Million Electric Cars On Its Road By 2020

    During his 2008 campaign for president, Barack Obama famously said that he wanted one million plug-in cars on U.S. roads by 2015. That's a goal that many experts continue to think will be extremely hard to attain. Now California has adopted the same goal for the state alone, but with a different...

  • GE WattStation Commercial - Screenshot
    GE WattStation Ad Helps Alleviate Range Anxiety, Makes Charging Sexy

    What happens when the humble charging station gets a makeover courtesy of a top San Francisco design firm, a choice of colors and an TV advert full of young, happy, carefree friends making an EV road trip? The GE WattStation. Developed by General Electric as its answer to the demand for electric...

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