Green Car News

Supplier Valeo is currently working on reducing the power consumption of the heating and cooling systems for plug-in and fully electric vehicles. The real challenge lies in reducing energy consumption during the coldest winter days and hottest summer nights.  According to Valeo, during extreme...

Many countries are determined to lead the way in both production and adoption of EVs in the near future.  Several of them including Japan, China, France, and the U.S. feel that they have a legitimate chance at becoming the worldwide leader in this expanding segment of vehicles.  But one country...

Another Manufacturer Is Trying Get It Together For a Hybrid Debut

"In the next year or so, after only a century or so of trying, the electric car may break free of the lunatic fringe and become a mainstream transportation option for everyday drivers." Those are the words of msnbc.com contributor, Dan Carney, in an article published yesterday about the imminent...

Awhile back, we speculated that Toyota's new, smaller-than-Prius hybrid would be based on the Auris Hybrid compact hatchback sold in Europe. We were wrong; in fact, the US will get a hybrid version of the already-high-mileage Toyota Yaris subcompact instead. But the Auris Hybrid is moving along...

According to reports from the Nikkei newspaper in Japan, Toyota will supply many vital components for hybrid vehicle manufactured by Mazda. This marks the first time a rival company has teamed up with Toyota in the hybrid segment. The vehicles coming from this collaborative effort could hit the...

Suzuki has officially announced that despite what many recent reports have stated, the Suzuki Kizashi is definitely bound for the U.S. by the end of the year.  With Suzuki's recent announcement of offering a midsize hybrid, this vehicle may be their only offering that fits the bill.  For more...

The Compact Audi Packs a Lot Of Value

Less than a week after it was first reported, Mercedes-Benz has confirmed its intentions to build an electric version of the SLS AMG Supercar. The all-wheel-drive green dream machine will pack 526 horsepower and 649 pound feet of torque. Power will be stored in a 400-volt liquid cooled...

In a study published this week by San Francisco-based Quality Planning Corporation, it appears that the drivers of hybrid vehicles are more likely to get a traffic ticket or into a collision than their gas-guzzling counterparts. This may seem odd, until you take a closer look at the data. For...

Back in 1998, a little known group called Renew America Roadtrip headed out on an adventure that was unheard of at the time. They drove cross country in a fully electric EV1. Their goal then was to prove that an EV could capably motor across our nation using the existing infrastructure. Well...

The price of gasoline may be falling now that the Fourth of July holiday is behind us, but that doesn't mean that car buyers have given up on fuel economy. According to Carmax, which operates 100 used-car superstores and says it's the country's largest used-car seller, last month's searches for...

This is One Product That GM Should Get Kudos For

Nissan-Renault has a partnership with a California-based company called Better Place to interface its electric cars into a battery swapping infrastructure. The concept is to sell people cars without a battery, but make those cars' battery sockets standardized so that drivers can pull into a battery...

There's been a fair amount of grumbling about so-called "Prius perks," including parking spaces set aside for hybrid vehicles at Ikea, Whole Foods, and other retailers. In fact, the spaces--although designated "hybrid"--are more properly allocated to any alternative-fuel vehicle. That includes...

There's nothing the media love more than a nice juicy auto problem. Imagine that your car's headlamps failed, and replacing them cost you THOUSANDS. OF. DOLLARS  !!! Well, that's the premise of a late June story in AdAge, which discussed a potential problem with the optional xenon high-intensity...

Aabar Investments of Abu Dhabi has completed their purchase of 40 percent of Daimler's stake in Tesla Motors.  The announcement was made on Monday and Aabar looks towards a future joint venture between the two companies. A few month back, Daimler surprisingly invested in Tesla.  Though the...

Suzuki is making a concerted effort to break out of the small fuel efficient car market.  By doing so, they aim to expand their reach but won't break away from fuel efficiency in the process of building a larger vehicle.  Their intent is to produce a larger, hybrid powered vehicle to expand its...

The Future of Design For GM Might Have a Bright Spark

How could Mercedes-Benz possibly improve on their gorgeous S-class sedan? It's already the very definition of sleek design and lithe handling. But apparently, looks and handling weren't enough. They made it a hybrid. But not just any hybrid. Mercedes upped the ante and made it a certified...