Plug-In Hybrids

  • 2017 Toyota Prius Prime and 2017 Chevrolet Volt with Green Car Reports editor John Voelcker

    In May, the Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid was the highest-selling car with a plug in the U.S. for only the second time ever. Last month, however, the Chevrolet Volt recaptured its usual spot at the top of the plug-in sales charts for those manufacturers who report monthly sales. Chevy sold 1,745 Volts, slightly down from the May number of 1,845, but still enough to push the six-month total into five figures, at 10,932. DON'T MISS: Plug-in electric car sales for May: best Bolt EV, Prime months yet; Leaf, Volt rise too Added to that were deliveries of 1,642 Bolt EV 238-mile battery-electric...

  • Volvo S90 production in Daqing, China
    Volvo to electrify all cars from 2019: 'end of internal-combustion engine alone'

    Volvo has announced a major leap forward in an effort to embrace an electrified portfolio of vehicles. The Swedish automaker will go all-electrified come 2019; every single vehicle it launches will feature an electric motor in some usage. To be clear, this is not the immediate end of the...

  • 2017 Toyota Prius Prime Premium
    Why two-motor hybrid systems are better than those with just one

    Six years ago, we wrote that a number of single-motor hybrid systems were about to enter the market. They represented a new approach to a technology pioneered in 1997, when the first-generation Toyota Prius was launched in Japan. Through 2010, all the full-hybrid vehicles introduced by Ford and...

  • 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid
    2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid plug-in minivan recalled for faulty diode (updated)

    The 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid is, for the moment, a unique vehicle. It's the sole plug-in hybrid minivan for sale anywhere in North America, and its combination of seven seats and 33 miles of EPA-rated electric range have attracted huge interest. Deliveries of the partially electric minivan...

  • 2017 Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid
    Demand for Hyundai Ioniq hybrid, electric models higher than expected, company says

    The issue first came to light in a question from a reader. It boiled down to this: "What's going on with the Hyundai Ioniq Electric, and why can't I get one at my local dealer in California?" The e-mail even included a link to a Korean business-news article, which is unusual for reader queries...

  • 2017 Renault Zoe
    European electric and plug-in hybrid sales for Jan-April 2017

    Electric vehicle sales are holding steady in Europe; the latest sales data shows popular battery electric vehicles remain popular. Plug-in hybrids continue to hold their own as well, according to data aggregated from numerous individual national markets. The Renault Zoe, in particular, continues to...

  • 2017 Ford Fusion Energi

    Electric-car charging infrastructure in the United States is getting better, but still has a very long way to go. While anyone that's given even a passing glance to plug-in vehicles would likely tell you the same thing, I experienced the impact of a charging-free society first-hand while driving a Ford Fusion Energi. The plug-in hybrid Fusion takes the best parts of a Chevrolet Volt or Toyota Prius Prime—the ability to cover a useful distance on battery power alone—and inserts it into a vehicle with a handsome, much less polarizing design. DON'T MISS: 2017 Ford Fusion Hybrid...

  • 2017 Ford C-Max
    Best deals on hybrid, electric, fuel-efficient cars for June 2017

    Now that we're into a new month, it's time to check out the best deals on green cars—this time for the month of June. As always, Cars Direct has compiled its monthly list of the most budget friendly options for buyers looking to go green. It should be noted there's now a separate category for...

  • Honda Clarity series with Green Car Reports editor John Voelcker at Honda R&D Center, Tochigi, Japan
    Honda Clarity Electric, Plug-In Hybrid: first drives, impressions

    In March, we spent most of a day with the Honda Clarity Fuel Cell, the first of three variants of the Clarity mid-size sedan to go on sale in the U.S. Leases of the hydrogen-powered Clarity will be limited for the foreseeable future to residents of those areas of California near to hydrogen fueling...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Volt in Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, May 2017: what dominance looks like

    As certain as LeBron James reaching the NBA Finals, the Chevy Volt led the Canadian plug-in electric vehicle market in May. Barring a sales collapse in June, it will have led the category for a remarkable two-thirds of the months (48 of 72) in which electric vehicles from major carmakers have been...

  • 2017 Cadillac CT6 plug-in hybrid, New York City and Westchester County, NY, May 2017
    2017 Cadillac CT6 Plug-In: first drive of hybrid luxury sedan

    The 2017 Cadillac CT6 Plug-In will be a rare beast in the U.S.; fewer than 1,000 are likely to be sold each year. In many ways, that's a shame. This version of the CT6 large sedan is a worthy competitor among plug-in hybrid luxury cars, the rest of which will come from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV added to Maven car- and ride-sharing fleet in Los Angeles, California
    Plug-in electric car sales for May: best Bolt EV, Prime months yet; Leaf, Volt rise too (final update)

    Sales of four high-volume plug-in electric cars rose last month, with new monthly record for the Chevy Bolt EV and the Toyota Prius Prime. The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV 238-mile battery-electric hatchback logged its highest monthly total since sales began in December. Chevrolet delivered 1,566 Bolt...

  • 2017 Toyota Prius Prime Premium

    The challenge of reducing the energy used by traditional heating systems in battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars is one automakers still grapple with today. Reduced battery range in cold temperatures, combined with batteries working overtime to heat the cabin, can produce drastic declines in EPA-estimated range figures. The Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid, however, uses an advanced heat-pump design to minimize the loss of range. DON'T MISS: 2017 Toyota Prius Prime: first drive of new plug-in hybrid Toyota and Denso engineered the heat pump to include components from stationary...

  • 2018 Volvo XC60
    Volvo's current diesels may be its last: CEO

    Diesel has had an increasing rough ride during the current decade—scandals, emission crackdowns, a push for electric vehicles—and it's becoming clear that some automakers are reaching their limits. That includes Volvo, whose chief executive officer has declared its newest generation of...

  • Honda Clarity lineup: Electric, Plug-In Hybrid, Fuel Cell, at 2017 New York auto show
    Assessing the Honda Clarity range: how electric cars fit in, and why

    The 2017 Honda Clarity Fuel Cell is the only model of Honda's newest sedan presently on sale, though an all-electric version will arrive later this year. The hydrogen-powered mid-size sedan with a rated 366 miles of range is the one that's gotten by far the most publicity from Honda, as its...

  • 2017 Ford C-Max
    Best deals on hybrid, electric, fuel-efficient cars for May 2017

    It's time to take a look at the best deals on hybrid, electric, and fuel-efficient cars for the month of May, and as new-vehicle sales slow, there are plenty of deals to be had. As always, Cars Direct has compiled the best deals for the month, using deals available in Southern California unless...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Volt
    Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, Apr 2017: plus ça change...

    The Volt remains the undisputed king of the Canadian plug-in electric vehicle market. In April, the Chevy Volt enjoyed its 13th consecutive month as Canada's best-selling plug in electric vehicle, and its 46th month overall. While overshadowed by other vehicles in its home U.S. market, the Volt's...

  • Karma Revero 'Delivery' as spot
    First TV ad for Karma Revero drops as sales to start next month

    Everything old is new again, including the 2017 Karma Revero, a reborn 2012 Fisker Karma. Now its maker has released the first-ever television advertisement for the car, a spot that debuted during the 2017 U.S. Open Polo Championship, sponsored by Karma Automotive. Simply titled "Delivery," the...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car, owned by Brian Ro, Columbia, Maryland

    With four-figure sales for both its all-electric Chevrolet Bolt EV and the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid, GM probably led April's plug-in electric car sales. The "probably" comes because Tesla refuses to release its deliveries broken down either by month or by country, meaning there's no data to compare. GM's 3,102 deliveries—1,807 Volts, 1,292 Bolt EVs, 7 discontinued Spark EVs, and 2 stray discontinuedCadillac ELR coupes—comfortably beat the 1,063 Nissan Leafs sold last month. DON'T MISS: Even oil companies now acknowledge electric cars are coming The largest U.S. car company's...

  • Workhorse W-15 extended-range electric pickup truck
    Workhorse W-15 range-extended electric pickup truck revealed (video)

    Workhorse may have the ultimate proposal for commercial fleets with the reveal of its W-15 pickup truck, the first range-extended electric pickup truck to be built from the ground up with fleets in mind. While Tesla says it is developing an all-electric pickup, which will supposedly be revealed in...

  • 2017 Kia Niro Touring, Catskill Mountains, NY, March 2017
    Six things to know about new hybrid cars (if you haven't paid much attention lately)

    For the past few years, plug-in electric cars have gotten more publicity than their small share of the market deserved. That's exactly what had happened to hybrids a decade earlier—and hybrids still outsell cars with plugs, even if they're no longer getting outsize publicity. We've been...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Volt
    2018 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid carries over with few changes (updated)

    It appears that Chevy isn't following its own precedent as the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid enters its third model year. In the past, the Volt received a battery upgrade every other year that provided it with increasingly more electric range—but that's not the case for the largely unchanged...

  • 2017 Nissan Leaf
    Nissan's plans: reignite electric-car sales, boost lagging Mitsubishi

    The Nissan Leaf has been a fading light in the electric car market, but after a few years in the dark, it will soon get a chance to shine once more. Despite a battery capacity increase in 2016 and a quarter of a million in sales since its 2010 launch, the Leaf has been in dire need of a proper trip...

  • Volvo 40.1 concept
    Future Volvo electric car to be built in China

    Finally joining the bandwagon, Swedish manufacturer Volvo has confirmed that it will introduce its first all-electric vehicle to the market in 2019. The announcement was made last week at the 2017 Shanghai auto show. That proved to be an appropriate stage, as the Chinese-owned maker plans on having...

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