Green Car News
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Last fall, Fisker Automotive was awarded $529 million in low-interest loans by the Department of Energy, and the company has continued to rake in cash since then. In January, for instance, Fisker raised an additional $115 million in private capital. Last week, the DoE and Fisker announced that the $529 million of loans had closed. But there's more: The state of Delaware kicked in a further $21.5 million loan to Fisker two days ago. From loan to grant The Delaware loan will convert to a grant after five years, assuming Fisker meets certain goals. Those include investing $175 million or more in...
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Ford Fusion Hybrid Fastest To Pay Off PremiumWhen it comes to hybrids, there are two main factors that motivate buyers into paying the premium the vehicles demand over comparable non-hybrid models: money and the environment. Hybrids are cleaner than regular models in that they consume less fuel and thus produce fewer emissions, but at the...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Hurst Returns With 2010 Mustang Convertible Pace Car
Gold and Black Have Never Looked So Good On Modern Muscle
Jonathan McGrew -
Ford Hybrids: Tough Enough To Be Police Cars in New York City
As New York City works aggressively to reduce its carbon footprint and cut exhaust emissions, it has encouraged large fleets to switch to hybrids. From utility ConEd to the fleets of yellow cabs, more and more hybrids are showing up on city streets. The latest large fleet to go greener is the New...
John Voelcker -
2011 Hyundai Veloster To Replace Hyundai Tiburon
All a Part Of Hyundai’s Plan To Bring Seven Vehicles In Two Years
Jonathan McGrew -
2011 Nissan Leaf Is Gaining Momentum As Actual Order Numbers Come In
Nissan Says They Have a Healthy Crowd Of Responders
Jonathan McGrew -
Going green on the road may involve smaller engines, electric cars, and clean diesels, but it also requires making all engines far more fuel efficient. To that end, General Motors will announce this morning that it will invest almost one billion dollars in five separate plants to build a new, far more economical line of direct-injected aluminum small-block V-8 engines for future pickup trucks. Those pickup trucks remain GM's highest-volume single vehicle line, and are very profitable. And the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra are likely to be outfitted with V-8s for many years to come, so...
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Five More Myths About Electric Cars, Courtesy of Think
Yesterday, we published a piece called Five Myths About Electric Cars, Courtesy of Think, whose CEO Richard Canny sent them to us. Today we have five more, to finish off his list of 10 myths. Below is the second half of Canny's list (which is why it begins with # 6), along with our assessment of...
John Voelcker -
Opel Ampera, GM's Other Extended-Range EV, In Pre-Production
We write a lot about the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle here. It's a radical new car, GM's first electric car since the late EV1, and it'll be in dealerships in just six months. But GM has another electric car coming next year as well. It's the 2012 Opel Ampera. Ummmm, what's...
John Voelcker -
First Pre-Production Opel Amperas Roll Off The Line
The 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle isn’t due to hit showrooms until the end of the year but the first pre-production examples are already rolling off production lines at a GM assembly line in Warren, Michigan. Now, the first pre-production Opel Amperas, Europe’s version of...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Toyota Prius Owners Are Sensible and Level-Headed, In Other Words
Ah, yes, it must be about time for another outburst of Prius stereotyping. Three, two, one ... there! Did you hear it? Over there, in the slightly shrill tones of the ever-shrinking but still testy New York Observer (still printed on orange paper, so Nineties)? The paper attempted to survey New...
John Voelcker -
Natural-Gas Honda Civic To Oklahoma As U.S. Lags in NGVs
The U.S. buys more hybrids than any place else in the world except Japan. We have a handful of clean diesels, with sales slowly increasing. But the "other alt-fuel" for automobiles--natural gas--is barely a blip on the U.S. market. Nonetheless, Honda is plugging away (ahem) with its 2010 Honda...
John Voelcker -
Last Thursday was the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and the CEO of one electric-car maker took the occasion to speak out on some of the popular myths around the manufacturing and use of electric vehicles. Richard Canny, who runs the recently refinanced Think, published a list of "top 10 EV myths busted" to provide some rational counterpoints to a series of assertions about EVs. Some of the concerns are based in reality; others are simply ignorant. NOTE: We did a little streamlining and copy editing. Here's the first half of Canny's list, along with our comments on Think's rebuttal to each...
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Beijing Motor Show: World's Most Outrageous Plug-In Hybrid?
We go to a lot of auto shows, but we didn't make it to the Beijing Motor Show, which opened a couple of days ago. Which is a shame, because not only is China on track to become the world's largest single car market, but they have some truly outrageous concept cars. Our favorite is the Geely Emgrand...
John Voelcker -
2011 Nissan Leaf Logs 6000 Orders--Including Mine
While it's not quite the thundering herd that lined up for the new 2010 Chevrolet Camaro--or even the Apple iPad--Nissan says it has a healthy crowd of people interested in owning the 2011 Nissan Leaf electric car. The 2011 Leaf will be the first mass-market electric car sold in America in the...
Martin Padgett -
2011 Chevrolet Cruze To Out Shine Previous Models In Safety
The Chevrolet Cruze Is Becoming Globally Recognized As Safe
Jonathan McGrew -
New Entry Level Hyundai Verna To Replace Accent For U.S.
Hyundai Announce New Successor At 2010 Beijing Auto Show
Jonathan McGrew -
2011 Chevrolet Volt To Come To Select Dealerships In October
Whitacre Says Volt Will Come a Month Earlier Than Expected
Jonathan McGrew -
You've seen it all--Alpine hikers plummeting to their deaths, women losing tube tops and falling down spinning the big wheel, people losing their "stuff" when they bid exactly right on a Showcase Showdown. But have you ever seen one winner walk away with more than $112,000 on The Price is Right? Nope, and you still haven't. TV's longest running game show plays up Earth Day today with the first-ever giveaway of a 2010 Tesla Roadster, which will not be the new personal whip of one winner who failed to pick the right final number in the price of the $112,845 Roadster. We're showing it to you...
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Exclusive: VVC Reveals Its White Plastic V-Car, But No Photos
Just a month after being turned down for low-interest loans by the U.S. Department of Energy, the reclusive V-Vehicle Co. has shown a drivable prototype of its affordable, green V-Car to Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal and members of the press in Baton Rouge. While no photos were allowed, many more...
John Voelcker -
2011 Chevrolet Volt MPV5 Concept To Be Unveiled in Beijing
Tomorrow at the Beijing Motor Show, General Motors will unveil its a concept car that likely shows what will be its second unique model of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle. It's called the Chevrolet Volt MPV5 concept; "MPV" stands for Multi-Purpose Vehicle, which is what Asian and...
John Voelcker -
Ford Gets a Head Start With New 3-Cylinder Concept at 2010 Beijing Auto Show
Some Are Calling This New EcoBoost Ford’s Secret Weapon
Jonathan McGrew -
Earth Day Special: The 'Hybridest' Green Cities in the U.S.
Today is Earth Day, and in honor of that event--it started 40 years ago as a nationwide teach-in on environmental issues--we bring you a list of the greenest cities in the United States. It's not actually our list; it comes from Cars.com, which based its ranking on the percentage of car shoppers...
John Voelcker -
2011 Chevrolet Volt Electric Car To Reach Dealers In October
The three-year drumbeat of anticipation for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car has just gotten slightly louder. General Motors CEO Ed Whitacre announced yesterday that the car will arrive at selected Chevy dealers in October, a month earlier than expected. The first pre-production...
John Voelcker
