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UPDATE, February 8, 2009: Speaking in a sort-of-webchat on Digg, Toyota president Jim Lentz said of the Woz complaint, "We are working with him on the operation of the cruise control." Please forgive us while we quietly smirk. ++++++++++ It's obviously pile-on-Toyota week. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Toyota PR are trading barely-polite disagreements, and Japan is making Toyota investigate a new Prius braking problem. Equally bad, on Monday a celebrity came forward to claim he'd experienced sudden acceleration in his new 2010 Toyota Prius while using the cruise control. Since he's...
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If Tesla Roadster Production Ends in 2012, Show Us The MoneyWhenever we're asked whether electric-car startup Tesla Motors will make it, we respond with our own question: What's the last carmaker started from scratch in the U.S. by entrepreneurs that's still with us, and when did it launch? The answer is Chrysler, and the year was 1924. In other words...
John Voelcker -
Toyota and Lexus Recalls: Is Your Hybrid Affected?So much has happened around the Toyota and Lexus accelerator safety recalls over the last week that it's hard to keep it all straight. So we're taking our first stab at it by sorting out the impact of the recall on the many hybrids offered by Toyota and Lexus. The full scope of the latest recall...
John Voelcker -
To Boost Gas-Free Car Sales, Make $7,500 Tax Credit a RebateSpeakers throughout today's Electric Drive Transportation Association conference agree: Plug-in electric cars that use little or no gasoline are coming. It's no longer an "if", it's now a "when." To help boost early adoption of cars that run mostly or entirely on grid power, the Federal government...
John Voelcker -
Ford CEO: Fuel-Efficient Engines Pose Tough Fight for HybridsFord has built hundreds of thousands of hybrids since 2004, but unlike Toyota, it hasn't staked its future on the pricey technology that mates an electric motor to a combustion engine. Ford's CEO Alan Mulally says that's because hybrids will face continuing competition from increasingly more...
John Voelcker -
Early EVs Won't Need Many Public Charge Points, Says NYCNew York City often startles people, and it stayed true to form in a recent analysis done by McKinsey & Company for the city's PlaNYC planning group, "Exploring Electric Vehicle Adoption in New York City." In particular, one of the report's conclusions may come as a shock to many...
John Voelcker -
With the 2010 Detroit Auto Show behind us, we're fast coming up on the Chicago Auto Show, which starts February 10. Now we've gotten our first teaser image, for the Kia Ray concept car that will be unveiled in the spacious precincts of McCormack Hall. Kia says the Ray is meant to demonstrate how its designers "would approach packaging a plug-in hybrid," which in this case appears to be a sporty coupe or hatchback with a full-width strip of LED taillights. Owned by Hyundai, the Kia brand has done well in the U.S. recently. Its mostly small and increasingly sporty cars have gotten more...
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Hybrid Owners Howl As California HOV-Lane Access Ends in DecemberAll good things must come to an end, and it's the same with the wildwood weed ... err, with California's HOV-Lane access perk for owners of three hybrids: the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid, and Honda Insight. They are set to expire on December 31 of this year. Originally passed in 2005, the law...
John Voelcker -
UPDATE: Low-Thirties 2011 Chevrolet Volt Price Is AFTER Tax CreditUPDATE: Well, it sounded too good to be true, and perhaps it was. We asked GM spokesman Dave Darovitz for comments on CEO Whitacre's "low-thirties" price for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. Darovitz tells GreenCarReports.com that while Chevy "has not officially announced final Volt pricing, a price in the...
John Voelcker -
Jay Leno Gets 2013 Ford Focus Electric, But What Would Conan Drive?With the "Green Car Challenge" segment of his soon-to-be-terminated 10 pm show, Jay Leno has been a frequent proponent of electric cars--among them the upcoming electric version of the Ford Focus. Now that car has a name, as Ford happened to mention during a 2010 Detroit Auto Show press event. The...
John Voelcker -
Best Green Car of the 2010 Detroit Auto Show: 2012 Ford FocusWe're back home from the mind-numbing madness of the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, unpacking, sorting press kits (well, these days they're just USB drives), and trying to work out what we thought of it all. This year, there's no question about the best green car there: It was the 2011 Ford Focus compact...
John Voelcker -
2010 Detroit Auto Show: Ford To Bring Hybrid Batteries Back HomeFord was on a roll at this year's Detroit Auto Show. It launched its new 2011 Ford Focus compact sedan and hatchback, which got rave reviews, and its 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid won North American Car of the Year. The company added a late-breaking press conference on Monday to make a further...
John Voelcker -
Toyota announced this morning that it would launch a family of Prius vehicles, and unveiled a concept vehicle at the Detroit Auto Show that may foreshadow the shape of a new Toyota Prius coupe. The FT-CH concept shows a possible shape for a highly aerodynamic compact hybrid (or CH) vehicle. Toyota ascribes to it "spirit and functionality" that "thrives in the inner-city environment" with nimble, responsive handling and maneuverability. Smaller, lighter, less thirsty It is lighter, and hence even more fuel efficient, than the current 2010 Toyota Prius. It is also 22 inches shorter than the...
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Update: Green Cars at the 2010 Detroit Auto ShowNext month's North American International Auto Show in Detroit promises to be greener than ever before. That's a recognition that more fuel-efficient and smaller cars are a permanent part of the U.S. automotive landscape, but it's also desperation to fill space in a show that's losing exhibitors...
John Voelcker -
2011 Chevrolet Volt Lithium-Ion Battery Pack Goes Into ProductionThe lithium-ion battery pack for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicles officially went into volume production today. The 16-kilowatt-hour battery pack, containing 220 lithium-ion cells made by Korea's LG Chem, will be assembled in a 160,000-square-foot factory in Brownstown...
John Voelcker -
Tata Nano, World's Cheapest Car, To Be Sold in U.S. in 2012The world's cheapest car, India's tiny Tata Nano mini-car, will be sold in the U.S. starting three years from now, says its maker. Company chief Ratan Tata told reporters at the New Delhi Auto Show, underway today, that it is now adapting the Nano to meet stringent U.S. crash safety requirements...
John Voelcker -
Diesel Hybrids From Peugeot and Mercedes Get Closer to RealityPeugeot is still on track to launch the world's first diesel-hybrid vehicle late this year. Its 3008 HYbrid4 Concept is a thinly disguised version of a crossover fitted with a mild-hybrid system that will go into production late this year as a 2011 model. Now other manufacturers are joining the...
John Voelcker -
Want An Electric Vehicle? Wait Until Real Carmakers Build ThemOur mission here at GreenCarReports.com is to cover the greener end of automobiles, for both new-car buyers and enthusiasts. But unlike other sites, we rarely cover conversions to add plug-in capability to existing cars or hybrids. Why? First, they're not available to mainstream car buyers and are...
John Voelcker -
Toyota and GM are the auto industry's heavyweights. Each has stumbled this year; General Motors collapsed into bankruptcy and Toyota is beset with embarrassing recalls that may dent its reputation for reliability. Each also has a plug-in car coming. The 2011 Chevy Volt will hit dealers in less than a year's time, and a plug-in version of the Toyota Prius will be go on sale sometime before the end of 2011, with small numbers being tested in fleet use starting next month. So how do these two heavyweight plug-in cars stack up to each other? BODY STYLE & SIZE Both are five-door hatchbacks...
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EPA's Most Climate-Friendly Cars: All About Fuel EfficiencyThe dirty little secrets of Top 10 lists are in the methodology, as Forbes found out with its weirdly inaccurate "10 Dirtiest Cars" list. (It's the end of the year, so it's time for a lot of Top 10s.) But we see no such problems in the EPA Green Vehicle Guide, which rates vehicles not only on...
John Voelcker -
World's First Hybrid Motorcycle To Launch In IndiaWe don't cover electric two-wheelers much here at GreenCarReports.com. They're not cars, and while millions are sold each year in China, we don't see many of them in the United States. But we thought it was worthwhile to note the launch of the world's first hybrid two-wheeler. We're not entirely...
John Voelcker -
Detroit Auto Show Preview: Electric Volvo C30 HatchbackAdvance news on the green concept cars to be shown at next month's Detroit Auto Show continues to trickle out. The latest: a further evolution of the all-electric Volvo C30 three-door hatchback concept. It's the second European electric concept car. It joins the BMW Concept ActiveE electric car...
John Voelcker -
Nissan Tuning 2011 LEAF EV To Be Audible, Not AudaciousIf the mechanical prototype TheCarConnection.com recently drove was any indication, the 2011 Nissan LEAF will be an extremely quiet vehicle, free of the motor and drivetrain whine that accompanies some other electric cars.
Bengt Halvorson -
Detroit Auto Show Preview: BMW Concept ActiveE Electric CarA little more than a year ago, the all-electric Mini E stole the limelight at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show. Now, BMW has released details of its next all-electric concept car, which will formally debut at next month's Detroit Auto Show. The BMW Concept ActiveE electric car is based on the BMW...
John Voelcker