Green Car News

Back in April, GreenCarReports.com was lucky enough to get a ride in the world's only running version of the 2012 Tesla Model S electric sedan. It happened at the car's New York City preview, the first time since its unveiling in an LA rocket factory that it was seen in public. Now, a prototype of...

According to the director of EV solutions at the California based company Aerovironment, full EVs currently in the development stages and expected to be ready for production within the next three years outnumber the plug-in hybrids and EREV expected to reach the market within the same time frame...

As more and more hybrid vehicles take to the roads across the world, one question remains relatively unanswered.  What are we going to do with all of the batteries when they are no longer suitable for use in the hybrid vehicle they were designed for? Toyota believes they have come up with a valid...

Daimler/Smart EV will Use Li Ion batteries from Tesla

Even after 10 years, hybrid-electric vehicles are still foreign to large parts of the car-buying public. People aren't sure if they're worth the money, they worry that the battery may need replacing, and some still don't understand that you don't need to plug in a hybrid. Well, brace yourselves...

Over the past year, a team of specialists from Semcon, Volvo Cars, Vattenfall, ETC and Energimyndigheten (The Swedish Energy Agency) has been developing a set of plug-in hybrid demo vehicles at Volvo's Concept plant. The three vehicles will be complete this fall, and the team will use these...

As we enter the news day on Thursday, it appears that the "Cash For Clunkers" program could well be out of cash. The National Association of Auto Dealers (NADA) asked the US government to suspend the program as of midnight last night, and warned dealers they are at risk of not getting reimbursed if...

Prior to the unveiling of the Nissan LEAF, we brought you countless stories about promises and memorandums of understanding that Nissan had signed with numerous utility companies and municipalities spanning the globe.  These agreements were met to ensure that there would be adequate charging...

Toyota has earned an image as one of the "greenest" car companies in the world.  Some may even consider them tops in the category.  But they are quickly falling behind as many other major automakers and small start up companies either have EVs on the roads or will have EVs on the roads well...

Electric vehicles may be a common sight on the autobahns in the next decade. German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is intent on putting more EVs on the roads and her Cabinet is finishing a plan to do just that. The program would offer financial incentives beginning in 2012 to aid in the production and...

It's almost sold out in some areas, the solar sunroof is smashing sales projections, and now the 2010 Toyota Prius had added a further laurel to its overflowing cap: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has awarded the 2010 Prius its "Top Safety Pick" designation. That award goes to vehicles...

At an auto conference this week in Traverse City, MI, Nissan's Vice President of Product Planning for North America Larry Domnique spoke about the expected price of the upcoming, fully electric Nissan LEAF.  Dominique's words came in response to an earlier announcement from GM that the Volt...

Fisker Automotive has made a move to bolster their team of executives as they prepare for the launch of the Karma plug-in.  They recently added former Maserati of North America CEO Marti Eulberg to the team of top execs. Eulberg will join Fisker as their vice president for global sales and...

What if there was a way your plug-in electric vehicle could talk to your power grid, so you could decide when to charge, how long it would take, and what it would cost?   That's the question Ford Motor Company asked, then they set out to develop a system that would do just that. Today, they...

Toyota may be slow to actually adopt lithium-ion batteries into its cars, but it appears the company may be ahead of the pack when it come to basic scientific development. A report out of the Nikkei in Japan states that Toyota achieved the ability to fabricate single crystals of cobalt-oxide for...

  A few weeks ago, we got a note from reader Laila Folk asking about air conditioning in hybrid cars, specifically the 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid. She wrote: Can you get an answer from Ford Corporation regarding the inclusion of an electric motor driven air compressor for the A/C unit in the 2010...

We're pretty focused on the US car market here at GreenCarReports.com, so we don't write about cars we won't be able to buy all that often. Today, we're making an exception for a particularly significant technology advance. Next month, at the Frankfurt Motor Show, French automaker Peugeot will...

In March, when Toyota unveiled a concept version of the 2011 Scion iQ at the New York Auto Show, it said only that it was studying the idea of bringing the "micro-subcompact car" into the US. Now it looks like the iQ will arrive by September or October of 2010. That's a few months earlier than the...

There are many excellent reasons to buy a Toyota Prius, new or used, leading off with the hybrid's superb fuel economy: 50 miles per gallon for the new 2010 Toyota Prius. Now you can add to that list another justification. It turns out that the Toyota Prius will save you money on insurance. The...

It seems as though the days of exclusively driving gasoline powered vehicles may indeed be limited and eventually buyers will walk onto dealership lot in search of a new EV or plug-in hybrid.  Now there is growing concern about what will be on the window sticker of these advanced vehicles in place...