Bengt Halvorson, Senior Editor
Articles
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Toyota Corolla Hybrid rated 52 mpg: Why Toyota says it won't cannibalize Prius sales Bengt HalvorsonLast week the U.S. EPA released final fuel economy numbers for the 2020 Toyota Corolla lineup. They include a confirmation of what Toyota had claimed when it introduced the lineup last fall: that...
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Tesla Model 3 could charge faster in Europe, charging network results suggestDeliveries of the Tesla Model 3 in Europe have just started. So too have some accounts of the most significant difference included in European-market versions of the electric sedan: their CCS Combo DC fast charging port. One of those first accounts has come from the European charging network...
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Cold-weather EV range: Polar Vortex, AAA, local news paint a bleak picture; don't panic!If you plan to drive an EV in winter weather you’ll need to charge more often to avoid “being stranded by a dead battery.” So sums AAA about its report on electric vehicle range, released this past week, which resulted in a very useful data set underscoring the reality of how EV...
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GM electric vehicles could be profitable early next decade, says CEOIncentives, credits, and compliance schemes can only get the electric vehicle market so far. The real test of its success will be when large, established automakers can get to a point when they can call them profitable. On Wednesday, on a call with analysts to discuss the company’s...
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Hyundai and Kia EVs may just avoid "compliance car" stigma, but is that enough?The Kia Niro EV that we drove earlier this week is one of the year’s best new green vehicles, and a great long-range electric car. However, unless you happen to live in one of several specific states and regions, the chances that you’ll see one are quite low. Based on conversations with...
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Green Car Reports is 10!Ten years ago this week, in February 2009, Green Car Reports published its first story—one packed with insight regarding the Chevrolet Volt, which was then still nearly two years away. Despite all that could have happened to the Volt in GM’s bankruptcy, it arrived on time and was...
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Just before reaching a tight series of esses on the Monterey Peninsula’s famous 17 Mile Drive, I clicked the left steering-wheel paddle to bump the Niro EV up a regeneration level—a...
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Audi Super Bowl ad: Heavenly electric-car future, hackneyed themes?Audi’s 2019 Super Bowl ad for Sunday’s Big Game focuses in on the brand’s electric and electrified future. Like many EV ads, it’s a head-scratcher. In a series of almost clichéd nods to Field of Dreams, Back to the Future, and other movies that would be familiar to...
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Chargeway Beacon to help shoppers and dealers navigate past EV charging confusionMultiple electric vehicles arriving this year promise a driving range of more than 200 miles. While that’s great news, and it’s bound to convince more households to make the jump to a fully electric vehicle—and to take road trips with it—it presents a new challenge to...
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Some of the fastest electric-car chargers were down: Would anyone have noticed yet? (Updated)UPDATE: As of Tuesday morning Electrify America said that it is "restoring full capacity to its entire network" after the potentially affected charging cables cleared extensive testing, and it called the original incident spurring the shutdown "an isolated event" at a private facility with a...
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Mazda rotary range-extended EV and diesel engine both coming, but no US hybrids for nowA look under the hood of Mazda’s future includes a patchwork of “what if” possibilities and a series of juggled timelines. Mazda is in a tough spot right now with regulators and in finding its place across many global markets. Part of the issue is that Mazda is considered an...
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Road-trip mission: 2020 Porsche Taycan charging is free and very fastAs Porsche is finding out with its Taycan electric car, it’s not always easy being the first—or the fastest. The 2020 Porsche Taycan will be the first production model built on an entirely new 800-volt architecture that helps allow much faster road-trip charging than any other electric...
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At CES earlier this month, GBatteries demonstrated that it could charge a 60-kwh battery pack, made up of off-the-shelf lithium-ion automotive cells, to half capacity in just 5 minutes, or to a full...
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From a global view, going electric could hike up small-car pricesAs soon as 2024, electric cars are expected to reach price parity with gas-powered cars, largely due to the falling costs of battery packs. Volkswagen’s chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch, earlier this week, provided some commentary to the German Welt am Sonntag that appears to be aimed at...
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Beyond the Big Screen: How Byton is developing three electric vehicles at onceIn the U.S. and other global markets—and to its investors—the fledgling China-based startup all-electric carmaker Byton has a lot to prove. Over the past year it’s given us a look at portions of its potentially game-changing vision. That’s included a dashboard-spanning...
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2020 Hyundai Ioniq: First look at refreshed interior, new featuresAlthough the Hyundai Ioniq lineup of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and fully electric models has only been for sale in the U.S. for about two years, this rival to the Toyota Prius is already due for some significant changes later this year, for what will be its third model year. Based on early details...
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GAC Motor shows electric three-row minivan concept, delays US brand launch to 2020China’s GAC Motor introduced a California-designed electric concept vehicle called the Entranze earlier this week in Detroit, at the 2019 North American International Auto Show. The concept, a family hauler with three rows of seating and room for up to seven, appears with its “Slick...
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Ford Mustang–inspired electric crossover will spawn “elegant” Lincoln EVFord’s Lincoln luxury brand is going to get a roomy, “elegant” electric model within the next few years, according to Ford’s North American president, Kumar Galhotra, who disclosed the product plan during an Automotive News World Congress presentation this week. The Lincoln...
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Considering how much of a commitment Nissan has made to electric vehicles over nearly a decade—mass-producing them on three continents—the lack of any parallel commitment to plug-in...
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Nissan electric crossover due in 2020 closely follows IMx conceptDespite its bold, early moves into the mass production of electric cars with the Nissan Leaf, which originally reached the market in late 2010, Nissan has taken a long, long time to release a true electric-car Second Act. With the arrival of a yet-unnamed fully electric crossover utility vehicle...
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Infiniti QX Inspiration concept sets design direction for brand’s electric futureThe future of Infiniti is electric. And today at the Detroit auto show the brand previewed the direction of a future electric Infiniti SUV—and the brand—with the QX Inspiration concept. With entirely new proportions allowed by electric powertrains, a cleaner, simplified exterior design...
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Volkswagen will make electric cars in Tennessee, at expanded plantVolkswagen today announced that it would use Chattanooga, Tennessee as its North American base for assembling electric cars. The decision to expand its Chattanooga facility means that many, if not all, of the vehicles that will be sold in the U.S. under Volkswagen’s new electric vehicle...
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Nissan elevates the sedan with IMs electric-car conceptAt the Detroit auto show, Nissan today revealed the IMs concept, a vision that sees the sedan as existing in a quite different, all-electric “elevated” form. At face value, the IMs serves as a sedan counterpoint to the IMx concept first shown at the 2017 Tokyo show and advances some of...
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2019 Hyundai Kona—and Kona Electric—named North American Utility Vehicle of the YearThe Jaguar I-Pace may be one of the boldest fully electric new-product moves of this year; but contrary to what was widely expected it didn’t win this year’s North American Utility Vehicle of the Year. That top SUV award went to the 2019 Hyundai Kona family, which includes the Kona...
Bengt Halvorson