Politics

An EPA report says carmakers are on schedule to meet the 54.5-mpg CAFE deadline.

It's baaaaaaaaack. The U.S. Department of Energy's $25 billion low-interest loan program may be about to start awarding new loans. The DoE's Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) program endured intense political criticism for funding not only electric-car maker Tesla Motors but also...

Germany will offer electric-car drivers free parking and access to bus lanes.

The Union of Concerned Scientists says California's green transport policies will save drivers money.

What technologies will have the most impact on making cars greener and transportation more sustainable--and provide that impact fastest? Suppose that the key isn't plug-in electric cars, but in fact connecting cars to each other and to the infrastructure around them--making traffic flow vastly more...

Governor Jerry Brown marked National Drive Electric week by signing six electric-car bills.

Today, most plug-in electric car buyers qualify for a Federal income-tax credit of $2,500 to $7,500--but Senator Harry Reid thinks those incentives should be expanded. He proposes to overcome one challenge with that incentive: Buyers must wait up to 15 months to realize the benefit, which they...

Have we just seen the first crack in the facade of auto-dealer opposition to Tesla Motors selling cars directly to retail buyers? An opinion piece in auto-industry trade journal Ward's Auto concludes with the following remarkable sentences: We can keep Tesla busy defending what are basically...

California has been a world pioneer for decades in reducing vehicle emissions, including its 20-year effort to get significant numbers of zero-emission vehicles on the roads. It's also had intermittent programs to encourage the trade-in of older cars that qualify as "gross emitters" for newer and...

A new California law would require landlords to let tenants install charging stations.

Helsinki plans to eliminate private cars with well-coordinated public transportation options.

California may put an income cap on its electric-car tax rebate.

If you've got any plans to buy a 2015 Lexus NX 300h when it hits the U.S, you might be surprised to learn that it's not actually a car. According to the EPA, your new luxury crossover vehicle is nothing more than a light truck. It doesn't look like a truck. It doesn't drive like a truck. So why is...

The auto industry came very near to the precipice in 2009, and it agreed to significant new regulations to enable it to step back from the brink. Now, it turns out that it's not only meeting, but actually beating, the required reductions in emissions. That means that, according to the U.S...

The concern that very quiet hybrid and electric cars may pose a danger to unaware pedestrians has been around for a decade or more now. Back in 2010, Congress required the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to develop rules for adding alert noises to cars running on silent electric...

Fully a year ago, a Tesla supporter started a petition on WhiteHouse.gov asking president Barack Obama to let Tesla Motors sell its electric cars directly to consumers in all 50 states. While it got the necessary 100,000 signatures, it has taken the White House a year to respond--and its answer is...

We're starting to hear a lot about hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles from Hyundai, Toyota, and Honda--and we're going to hear a great deal more about them in the years to come. The first 2015 Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell was leased last month, and Toyota will bring its own hydrogen-powered vehicle into...

Whether you call them fuel-economy standards or carbon-emission limits, new vehicles sold in North America, Europe, China, and elsewhere are subject to regulations that will require them to get more energy-efficient. Now, another country is discussing new regulations that would require both new and...

In an action sure to appease fans of a greener transportation future, the U.S. Supreme Court has chosen to decline oil and ethanol companies' appeal to a decision to uphold California's Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS). That means the LCFS now has one fewer obstacle in its aim to encourage the...

Early this year, we wrote about efforts in the Georgia state legislature to kill the state's $5,000 income-tax credit for purchasing a battery-electric vehicle. Among the most generous state incentives in the nation, Georgia's credit has put the metropolitan Atlanta area among the top areas where...