Plug-In Hybrids

  • 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...

  • Buick Velite 5, for sale in China, at 2017 Shanghai auto show   [photo: Ronan Glon]

    China is hugely important to General Motors, as it is to virtually any global automaker. It's the largest market in the country and, recently, it has put in place an increasing set of requirements that more vehicles sold there be fully or partially electric. It also happens to be by far the largest market for Buicks in the world, to the stupefaction of numerous U.S. car buyers. DON'T MISS: Honda to launch electric car in China next year too, joining Toyota, reluctantly The Buick brand carried strong cachet for decades during which ordinary Chinese people couldn't buy cars at all, simply...

  • Jeep Yuntu concept, 2017 Shanghai auto show    [photo: Ronan Glon]
    Jeep Yuntu Concept for Shanghai may have plug-in hybrid powertrain

    The Jeep Yunto Concept made its debut Wednesday at the Shanghai auto show, and it appears to be a plug-in hybrid. The automaker has been tight-lipped about the concept's drivetrain, but the vehicle on display in China clearly shows "PHEV" badges on the front doors. No surprise there, as the Chinese...

  • Chevrolet FNR-X Concept for plug-in hybrid crossover, 2017 Shanghai auto show   [photo: Ronan Glon]
    Chevrolet FNR-X plug-in hybrid crossover concept debuts in Shanghai: live photos

    After being teased last week, the Chevrolet FNR-X Concept crossover made its debut yesterday at the Shanghai auto show. The new shape, which sports a plug-in hybrid powertrain, is intended to showcase the design talents of Chevy's Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center in Shanghai It's the second...

  • 2018 Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid, 2017 Geneva auto show
    What's the best Porsche Panamera? It's a plug-in hybrid now

    The top 2018 Porsche Panamera that money can buy now comes with a plug. That’s according to Porsche Cars North America’s Chief Operating Officer Joe Lawrence, who said as much to Green Car Reports last week during the 2017 New York auto show. “I think what we have with the (2018...

  • 2017 Cadillac CT6 Plug-In Hybrid
    2017 Cadillac CT6 plug-in hybrid sedan reviewed by LA Times

    While the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid and the Chevy Malibu Hybrid rack up four-figure sales in most months, the third vehicle to use elements of that same drivetrain remains all but invisible in the U.S. That's the 2017 Cadillac CT6 Plug-In Hybrid, a version of the CT6 large luxury sedan from...

  • 2017 Honda Clarity Electric
    Honda Clarity Electric, Plug-In Hybrid sedans revealed at NY auto show

    At the New York auto show this morning, Honda revealed the second and third powertrains for its Clarity mid-size sedan, now offered only in California with a hydrogen fuel-cell powertrain. The 2017 Honda Clarity Electric and 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid are powered by a battery pack and a...

  • Teaser photo of Chevrolet FNR-X plug-in crossover utility concept for 2017 Shanghai auto show

    It's a single teaser shot, obviously of a Chevy front end, with unmistakable design nods to the Camaro muscle car. But the image of the Chevrolet FNR-X concept, to be unveiled at the Shanghai auto show less than two weeks hence, may be the first clue to some new GM plug-in hybrid offerings in the future. Along with a plug-in hybrid version of the upcoming small Cadillac XT4 crossover, it may expand the company's Volt-based hybrids and plug-in hybrids into a thriving segment: all-wheel drive crossover utility vehicles. DON'T MISS: Is 2019 Cadillac XT4 crossover the next plug-in hybrid for...

  • 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid
    Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid: full production to start today for plug-in minivan

    It's a well-reviewed new minivan design from the company that invented the modern minivan three decades ago. Unlike any other minivan, however, its large battery pack gives it 33 miles of EPA-rated electric range, and it can drive largely on battery alone despite its size, its seven seats, and its...

  • 2017 Nissan Leaf
    Putting plug-in electric car sales in perspective: they're still very low

    Volume sales of plug-in cars, both battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models, began more than six years ago. From a first-year total of about 17,000 in 2011, they rose tenfold over five years, to roughly 160,000 last year in the U.S. But it's important to understand that despite their growth rate...

  • 2017 Toyota Prius Prime and 2017 Chevrolet Volt with Green Car Reports editor John Voelcker
    Plug-in electric car sales for Mar: Leaf beats Bolt EV, plug-in hybrids beat electrics (updated)

    The Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid again took the crown among plug-in electric cars whose makers report monthly sales. A total of 2,132 Volts were sold in March, bringing its three-month sales to 5,563 units, higher than any other car with a plug over the same period. Its stablemate, the Chevy Bolt...

  • Buick Velite 5 to be sold in China (Chevrolet Volt in North America)
    GM confirms Chevy Volt to be sold as Buick Velite 5 in China

    In the 20 years since General Motors and its Chinese partner SAIC reintroduced the Buick brand to China, more than 8 million Buicks have been sold in what is now the world's largest car market. That's because the last Chinese emperor drove a Buick in the 1930s, and the brand retained a huge cachet...

  • 2013 Chevrolet Volt in Venice, California [photo: Chris Williams]
    What does a Chevy Volt do when it runs out of gas and battery charge?

    Unlike conventional hybrids and many plug-in hybrids, the first-generation Chevrolet Volt makes extensive use of both electric and gasoline power. With a fully-charged battery pack, it will drive on electric power alone until the charge is depleted, at which point the onboard gasoline engine...

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