Green Car News

Now that VW has launched its new 2010 Golf hatchback, it will turn its attention to the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta sedan, which shares mechanicals with the Golf. This morning at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, VW will take the wraps off a new hybrid concept vehicle called the New Compact Coupe. It's widely...

The Nikkei Newspaper is reporting that worldwide vehicle regulations and safety rules pertaining to hybrid and electric vehicles will be determined by Japanese automakers and politicians. According to the report, the United Nations UNECE World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations will...

This year's North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan is about to get underway and EVs and hybrids will play a key role at the show.  Aside from the returning event called EcoXperience which gives showgoers a chance to drive select EVs in a controlled environment, the show is...

Coming off the successful launch of its 2011 Ford Fiesta subcompact at last month's Los Angeles Auto Show, Ford is following up with its even more important 2012 Ford Focus compact. This will be the first complete redesign of the North American Focus in more than a decade, and at last U.S. buyers...

BMW's ActiveHybrid X6 is one of the most powerful hybrid vehicles ever produced.  Outputting a combined 480 hp and 575 lb-ft of torque, this a hybrid to be reckoned with.  Its 0-60 mph time of 5.2 seconds from a vehicle weighing in at 5,700 lb is definitely astonishing, but does this vehicle live...

Mercedes entered the entry level luxury vehicle category years ago with it C230 Kompressor coupe.  The vehicle was a capable model with strong performance, solid handling and a refined driving experience.  Mercedes buyers showed little interest and sales were unexpectedly low.  Then BMW entered...

Next month's North American International Auto Show in Detroit promises to be greener than ever before. That's a recognition that more fuel-efficient and smaller cars are a permanent part of the U.S. automotive landscape, but it's also desperation to fill space in a show that's losing exhibitors...

One problem with raising fuel efficiency is that unless total miles driven rises radically, receipts from gasoline taxes will fall over time. And that poses a major problem for the steady stream of revenue needed for road construction and repairs. Taxing vehicle miles traveled has been one proposed...

Last April Hyundai unveiled their first ever plug-in hybrid at the Seoul Motor Show.   Known as the Hyundai Blue-Will, the concept is scheduled to make its debut here in the states at the 2010 NAIAS just weeks away.  Though only a concept, the company has stated that it may be a preview for...

According to Mercedes, the next generation S-Class will launch with a plug-in hybrid model available immediately. As Thomas Weber of Mercedes research and development said in an interview with Autocar, "It makes a lot of sense to bundle the high-price tech option to the sort of customers willing to...

Electric vehicles are significantly quieter than their traditional gas-powered counterparts. Maybe it's fitting then, that Volvo doesn't plan to say anything when they unveil their electric C30 at the Detroit Auto Show next week. Volvo spokesman, Dan Johnston, told Inside Line that the new...

Volvo has now released more details of the all-electric C30 concept car it will launch at next week's 2010 Detroit Auto Show. We covered early details a couple of weeks ago; here's the rest of the story on the little electric hatchback with no tailpipe. The electric C30 concept car will let the...

It's beginning to look as if the worst is over for U.S. auto sales. The year that just closed was, in the immortal words of Queen Elizabeth II, an annus horribilis, with only 10.4 million vehicles sold, down 21 percent on 2008 and the lowest total since 1982. But some light seems to be appearing on...

The lithium-ion battery pack for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicles officially went into volume production today. The 16-kilowatt-hour battery pack, containing 220 lithium-ion cells made by Korea's LG Chem, will be assembled in a 160,000-square-foot factory in Brownstown...

The world's cheapest car, India's tiny Tata Nano mini-car, will be sold in the U.S. starting three years from now, says its maker. Company chief Ratan Tata told reporters at the New Delhi Auto Show, underway today, that it is now adapting the Nano to meet stringent U.S. crash safety requirements...

Demand for hybrid vehicles has slowly been on the rise for quite some time.  In particular, Toyota models have fared well holding top sales spots across the board for hybrid vehicles.  Toyota sells more hybrid vehicles than all other automakers combined.  The company is not about to sit back and...

Small Cars Could Go Even Farther With New Technology

Well, when it rains, it pours.  No sooner than I start talking about NEV's, then major announcements of new entrants occur.  Now, Polaris Defense is tweeking the Polaris Ranger EV (shown), an off-road electric vehicle, to qualify as an electric Low Speed Vehicle (LSV), or neighborhood electric...

Today, 2010 Canadian Olympic Hockey Team Captain and Anaheim Ducks Hockey Team Captain, Scott Niedermayer, will take delivery of a Honda FCX Clarity during a press conference at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA.  The press release states that "Niedermayer, an avid outdoorsman and environmental...

Tianjin Qingyuan Electric Vehicle Co., the supplier of the ZX40S Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) sold domesticly by Miles Electric Vehicles, is hoping to sell most of its 2010 production of 3,000 vehicles in the United States - double last years sales.  It appears the NEV market is expanding...