Green Car News

With sales of Toyota hybrids booming in its home country and elsewhere across the globe, Toyota leads the competition in the hybrid market.  Seemingly every hybrid model developed by the company fares well including the newly released Lexus HS 250h.  So what could hold Toyota back in this hybrid...

Hyundai is set to present the world debut of two green vehicles at the Frankfurt Motor Show.  One, the ix-Metro will be present in concept form, the other the i10 Electric will be presented in production form. The ix-Metro, a hybrid electric CUV concept, is aimed at the European sub-B segment and...

We were going to let it slide, really. Just because the U.S. president of a major automaker calls the buyers of another carmaker's product "idiots" is no reason for us to sink to name calling. But the hoohah has continued, and the misunderstandings seem to be growing. We thought it was time to...

Now, this is cool. You've likely seen the Mercedes-Benz diesels of the 1980s and 1990s chugging along somewhere or other. But how much better are today's clean diesels than the solid old oil-burners of 20 years ago that still power those sturdy survivors? Back to the future: 1992 to 2009...

According to a recent study conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, 64% of upcoming EV sales will include the vehicle and the battery as stand alone products that are in a sense purchased separately. The study suggests that there is a direct correlation between immediate adoption of EV...

Of all of the Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as a writer, my favorite is the First Amendment, the one protecting the right to free speech. But that right doesn’t cover everything we speak, does it? Even as children, we learn that lying is wrong and that hurling insults is bad manners...

While literally hundreds of Toyota Prius owners have laid down thousands of dollars (in some cases, tens of thousands) by now for plug-in conversions, Toyota has proceeded slowly. Now it is showing what it says is the final version of its prototype Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid at the Frankfurt Motor...

As of November, you'll have two choices if you want a compact five-door hatchback with a clean diesel engine. One is the brand-new 2010 Audi A3 TDI, which was just given a base price of $30,775 today by Audi. It'll start arriving in dealerships in November. Longstanding diesel champ: Golf TDI The...

Toyota will show the final version of its prototype Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid at the Frankfurt Motor Show two weeks hence, trying to keep up with the flurry of electric, hybrid, and diesel concepts to be shown there. With numerous concepts from German automakers, and GM pulling out all the...

The crescendo is building towards the EEStor revolution. EEStor is the stealth-mode Texas startup developing ultracapacitors called EESUs that have several fold higher energy and power densities than lithium ion batteries, are scalable to any size, cost a fraction of what lithium-ion cells to do...

When the Cash for Clunkers (CARS) program here in the U.S. ended, I wondered how many of the buyers who took advantage of the rebate chose to purchase a hybrid. Buying a hybrid made the most sense, in my view, especially with the slight surge in gas prices just before the program launched. If I...

Recent announcements stating that both Honda and Toyota will soon enter the EV race has many thinking that since nearly every automaker plans an EV for the near future, EV may indeed dominate our roads in a short time.  That could not be further from the truth according to Carlos Ghosn, CEO of...

In late May, we reported on rumors that an electric version of Audi's R8 supercar would be at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Nary a day later, Edmunds Inside Line crushed our hopesand put the rumors to rest, citing an Audi representative who refuted the blogosphere's claims. We're not ready to say "we...

Charging anxiety may at first drive buyers away from the adoption of EV technology, but within a short amount of time, anxiety is expected to subside and the buyers will come. According to General Motors Tony Posawatz who is the vehicle line director for the Chevy Volt, "When consumers plug in...

Setting the residual value for any new vehicle is not an easy task.  The residual value factors in many thing including depreciation, desirability, reliability, brand name and the list goes on and on.  However, a residual value is important for determining lease rates and for banks to decide...

High Gear Media's the only place on the Web, where you can write about cars alongside the pros. This week, we're kicking off a new contest to get you to join the growing number of gearheads posting blogs, reviews and pics of their favorite machines--and this time we're hooking the best writers up...

Honestly, this post has very little to do with new cars for sale today. Instead, think of it another piece of green propaganda encouraging you to consider buying an emissions-free electric car when they start to enter the market in 2011 or thereabouts. The experimental alt-rock band They Might Be...

At the NAIAS this January in Detroit, Mercedes-Benz unveiled a triad of sleek EV concepts called BlueZERO. The modular build of the three concepts makes it possible for them to share architecture and technology, such as front-wheel drive, but have three different drive system configurations. That...

Toyota is planning to unveil three new hybrid concepts at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show including an intriguing 5-door hatch for their upscale Lexus brand. The LF-Ch (pictured above) is aimed squarely at the premium compact segment whose other notable players include the BMW 1-series and the...

While it may not evoke as much car lust as this past weekend's unveiling of the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept, BMW is rumored to be in negotiations with Toyota to borrow their iQ mini-car platform. In return, Toyota is reportedly interested in BMW's Mini division. Japan's largest automaker...