Syndicate
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It's always good to understand how the huge global energy industry views the worlds of today and tomorrow. At last month's Shell Eco-Marathon fuel-efficiency competition, sponsor Shell Oil provided seminars for attending journalists to explain how the company views the energy landscape from now through 2050. DON'T MISS: Shell Eco Marathon: Why Odd Cars Built By Students Matter If there was a bottom line, it would have been that we will add a variety of additional fuels and energy-storage modes to the present gasoline and diesel liquid hydrocarbons. And that evolution will require a great deal...
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BMW i3 Tear-Down Videos Show Electric Car's Radical DesignNew tear-down videos expose more of the BMW i3 electric car's secrets.
Stephen Edelstein -
2016 Chevrolet Volt Priced From $33,995, Or $1,175 Lower Than 2015 VoltThe 2016 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid will be priced from $33,995 when it goes on sale sometime this fall, a GM executive said this morning. The price, which includes delivery, is $1,175 lower than that of the outgoing 2015 Volt. The old Volt lacks the 50-mile range, 41-mpg fuel efficiency, and...
John Voelcker -
Tesla's New Powerwall Batteries: 7 Or 10 kWh For $3,000 Or $3,500Tesla unveils its new line of batteries for energy storage.
Stephen Edelstein -
Third Row Seats, Good Gas Mileage: What Are Your Options?If you need to fit more than five into your vehicle—even just sometimes—and the thought of getting less than 25 miles per gallon in daily driving repulses you, the pickings for U.S. vehicle shoppers are still surprisingly slim. Why are there no hybrid minivans at all, no three-row...
Bengt Halvorson -
Tesla's Big Bet: Batteries For Energy Storage A 'Major New Product'Tomorrow night, if its strong hints are accurate, Tesla Motors will announce that it plans to offer lithium-ion battery packs for home and business energy storage. Such storage comes at a cost on top of that of the photovoltaic solar panels that generate the energy. But the promise is that such...
John Voelcker -
Wind, natural gas, and solar power generation are set to increase in 2015 while coal decreases, government figures say.
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Will Tesla Model 3 Electric Car Hit 2017 Production Date?Electric-car maker Tesla Motors has done many remarkable things in its short decade of existence--including a few the auto industry viewed as impossible. But the company has never managed to get a car into volume production on the date it first announced. That applied to its Roadster, the Model S...
John Voelcker -
Why Nothing Competes With Tesla Today, Plug-In Hybrids IncludedTwo years ago, the launch of the Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid produced the first ostensible large luxury plug-in sedan competitor to the Tesla Model S electric car. The Porsche is a plug-in hybrid, with an electric range of 15 or 16 miles; the Tesla is all-electric, with ranges of 208 to 275 miles...
John Voelcker -
New Toyota Film Appropriates Musk 'BS' Comment On Hydrogen For Its TitleToyota launches a series of videos on renewable hydrogen.
Stephen Edelstein -
Where Can Tesla Legally Sell Cars Directly To You? State-By-State Map: LATEST UPDATEEvery month, and often more frequently, a new story appears about the state-by-state battle between Tesla Motors and auto-dealer lobbyists. In some states, Tesla is permitted to sell its electric cars online, deliver them to customers, and open as many Tesla Store showrooms as it wants. In others...
John Voelcker -
Hybrid Car Repairs Getting Cheaper, But Not For Regular CarsHybrid repair costs have dropped over the past five years, a survey of costs finds.
Stephen Edelstein -
As predicted, the plug-in hybrid version of the 2016 Cadillac CT6 large luxury sedan was released today at the Shanghai Motor Show, using an adaptation of GM's second-generation Voltec hybrid system. What wasn't predicted was the startling size of its battery pack: 18.4 kilowatt-hours, identical to that used in the 2016 Chevrolet Volt. That means Cadillac is fitting a battery that's essentially double the size of any other plug-in hybrid on the market today--and should probably achieve 30 or more miles of electric range with it. DON'T MISS: 47-MPG Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid: Volt's Sibling...
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Electric Car Pioneers Celebrate 10 Years Of Driving On Grid PowerSee the people who have been driving electric cars longer than the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt have been on sale.
Stephen Edelstein -
GM Confirms Electric-Car Name Will Be 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EVWell, they did it. General Motors confirmed yesterday that its upcoming 200-mile battery-electric car will be named the Chevrolet Bolt EV. That's Bolt-with-a-B, not Volt-with-a-V. The Volt-with-a-V is Chevy's now-established plug-in hybrid compact hatchback. DON'T MISS: Why 'Bolt' Is A Really...
John Voelcker -
2015 Tesla Model S 70D: First Drive Of New Electric Car Base ModelLast week, the new base version of the Tesla Model S, known as the 70D, hit the electric-car world like a thunderclap. No early-warning publicity, no teasing tweet from Elon. Just the sudden appearance on the Tesla website configurator of the new model--with dual motors, all-wheel drive, a 70-kWh...
David Noland -
Electric-Car Battery Costs Fell 8 Percent A Year For Market Leaders: StudyFive years into the era of modern electric cars, the biggest cost remains the battery pack. Now there's data to confirm that not only are the costs of the battery cells falling, but that they are falling at rates pretty much in line with historical declines. A study published last month not only...
John Voelcker -
EPA Insider: Agency Bluffed Carmakers To Get CAFE StandardsThe EPA initially asked for higher truck fuel-economy than it actually wanted, a new book claims.
Stephen Edelstein -
Startup automaker Elio Motors put on its first-ever car-show press conference last week, taking the last slot on Thursday's media schedule at the New York Auto Show. Founder and CEO Paul Elio appeared at a simple podium in front of a bright-orange prototype Elio three-wheeled vehicle. He spoke briefly, then answered questions from the press. DON'T MISS: Elio 84-MPG Three-Wheel Prototype: Driven In Parking Lot: Video (Jun 2014) There was none of the dramatic music, special lighting effects, and other showmanship used by the major manufacturers. Elio's small booth was somewhat obscured by the...
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Tesla Motors Releases Quarterly Sales: 10,030 Cars Sold Globally Jan-MarTesla Motors started deliveries of its all-electric Roadster more than six years ago. Since then, the Silicon Valley electric-car maker has released its sales data in various ways at various times, usually only during quarterly earnings reports. Today, the company announced that it would provide...
John Voelcker -
47-MPG Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid: Volt's Sibling Without A Plug May Be First Of Several: MORE UPDATESIt's rare that a carmaker entirely replaces a car after just three model years, but the all-new 2016 Chevrolet Malibu is remarkable in more ways than that. Chevy will offer a full-hybrid model of the new 2016 Malibu that goes head to head with hybrid mid-size sedans from Toyota, Ford, Honda...
John Voelcker -
BMW i8 Plug-In Hybrid Coupe Production Will Double To Meet DemandBMW is increasing i8 production to cut wait times.
Stephen Edelstein -
Decades Of Promises: 'Dude, Where's My Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Car?'Designing, engineering, testing, producing, and selling cars run by anything other than gasoline engines is hard, expensive, and challenging. Carmakers routinely lose money on the first generation of new technologies--Toyota, for example, with its first-generation Prius hybrid. But while hybrid...
John Voelcker -
Which States Have The Most Diesel Vehicles? New Data Gives ResultsJust as diesel fuel isn't available at every single gas station, diesel vehicles are unevenly distributed in the United States. And despite double-digit rises in registration numbers, the preponderance of diesel engines in North America remain in trucks--especially heavy-duty trucks--rather than...
John Voelcker