Bengt Halvorson, Senior Editor
Articles
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If you happen to be in California, rejoice; the 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric will arrive at dealerships in January, at just $37,495.
That brings the effective total to $29,995 for the Kona Electric,...
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Porsche already has a prototype that will charge faster than its 350-kw TaycanThe Porsche Taycan, when it arrives toward the end of 2019, will likely have the quickest, highest-power DC fast charging of any production vehicle. But Porsche apparently is already setting its sights higher. Yesterday, as part of a research consortium that includes BMW, it presented a prototype...
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2019 Audi e-tron side-camera system: Is the U.S. missing out?Side-camera systems, replacing side mirrors, have been one of the de rigueur symbols of the future on auto-show concept cars for, well, pretty much this entire century so far. While we’ve been eagerly anticipating the arrival of such systems for nearly as long—they’re not allowed...
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Hyundai plans to take hydrogen fuel-cell systems beyond vehiclesHyundai sees a lot of potential in hydrogen fuel-cell technology. And it may find success with it by looking well past cars and SUVs—to other uses that could, as the company puts it, “transcend the transportation sector.” With this week’s opening of a second plant making...
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Compact Audi, flagship VW crossover could show upscale side of VW electric platformAudi has recently released several hints that we’ll soon see a first concept tease of its smaller, more affordable electric vehicle, to be built on Volkswagen’s modular electric-vehicle architecture, termed MEB. And secondly, the Volkswagen brand is also soon expected to give a first...
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Ford hybrid police cars are pursuit-rated, ready for NYPD actionFord is in the process of applying hybrid technology to a vehicle type that seems like a natural fit for it: police cars. It’s about time. Ford claims to have the industry’s first pursuit-rated hybrid police car with the Police Responder Hybrid Sedan—the police-duty version of the...
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Pricing for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, like the upcoming 2019 Hyundai Nexo, hasn’t meant all that much up until now. That’s because both of the other fuel-cell vehicles currently...
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2019 Audi e-tron first drive: Redrawing the electric-vehicle boundariesRoad-tripping along in the 2019 Audi e-tron, your passenger might not even know (or care) that you’re in an all-electric utility vehicle—rather than just an extraordinarily quiet gasoline one. And as the driver, you might even forget. It gets right to Audi’s point behind the...
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Toyota Prius AWD-e: Going light on the rear motor helps it hit 50 mpgThe all-wheel drive version of the Toyota Prius introduced last week at the LA Auto Show earns an astoundingly good EPA fuel economy rating of 50 mpg combined—nearly as good as the 52 mpg earned by much of the Prius lineup (LE, XLE and Limited). But the system isn’t nearly as capable as...
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Lithium-ion vs. nickel-metal hydride: Toyota still likes both for its hybridsToyota continues to stay the course with nickel-metal hydride battery cells for many of its hybrid vehicles, even though most other hybrid vehicles from other brands have moved on to using lithium-ion cells exclusively. According to Prius chief engineer Shoichi Kaneko, in an interview this past...
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VW’s new U.S. CEO: The tipping point on EVs is already hereSome executives at major automakers continue to insist that electric cars remain years away from becoming a mainstream reality—and that it’s harder to sell them than traditional vehicles with gas tanks and tailpipes. Volkswagen of America’s new CEO, Scott Keogh, is most definitely...
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Here’s why Kia Soul EV and Kia Niro EV both get big 64-kwh battery packsOne key specification in the 2020 Kia Soul EV that was revealed at the LA Auto Show this week was a bit unexpected: its inclusion of a large, 64-kwh battery pack. That leaves two vehicles—the Soul EV and the 2019 Kia Niro EV—with the same big battery. And both will be arriving at U.S...
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At the LA Auto Show, Kia revealed a completely new generation of its Soul—including, once again, an all-electric Kia Soul EV that makes overtures to urbanites who need box-on-wheels utility,...
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2019 Kia Niro EV rated at 239 miles, on sale soonAt the LA Auto Show, Kia has provided some long-awaited U.S. market details for the Niro EV. Among the most important ones: With a large 64-kwh battery pack, it will offer an EPA-rated range of 239 miles. The Niro, which Kia describes as a “multi-function crossover format,” is built on...
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2020 Toyota Corolla Hybrid aims for 50 mpg—Prius tech meets frugal mainstreamWith the introduction of a 50-mile-per-gallon Corolla Hybrid at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Toyota is keeping true to a mission it undertook a long time ago: democratizing hybrid technology, and making it mainstream. The carmaker has long aimed to deploy its hybrid system aggressively into pretty...
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2019 Mazda 3 sedan and hatch aim for an X factor–and that’s not electricMazda has revealed its 2019 Mazda 3 compact car, in new-generation form, at the 2018 LA Auto Show. It’s not surprising, given the brand’s go-it-alone strategy this decade, that the new ‘3’ appears to take a different path than key global compact-car rivals in nearly every...
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Toyota Prius AWD-e earns 50 mpg with all-weather treads
If you want one of the highest-mileage non-plug-in vehicles on the market—like the Toyota Prius, Hyundai Ioniq, Kia Niro, or Honda Insight, there’s been one quite significant deal-breaker for many Snow Belt families: All-wheel drive simply isn’t a possibility. That’s due to...
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Rivian R1S electric SUV goes family style with 7 seats, 410-mile rangeTwo years from now, the electric-vehicle startup Rivian hopes to be making its R1T electric pickup truck at a former Mitsubishi (and Chrysler) plant in Normal, Illinois. If everything goes according to plan, shortly after that, in early 2021, it will start to deliver its other so-called electric...
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With the Rivian R1T pickup revealed this morning, just ahead of the Los Angeles auto show, and the R1S SUV expected to be shown here this week, a Michigan-based electric-vehicle startup called...
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2018 LA auto show preview: 10 green-vehicle intros that matterMost of the major auto shows, like the Los Angeles auto show, have always had two components: news-making and car-selling. And it’s the second part—the public days—that thrives today. People are attending traditional, consumer-focused auto shows in record numbers...
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Colorado sides with California standards but won't yet mandate electric vehiclesColorado last week formally joined the ranks of states that are in some way choosing to adopt California’s rules for emissions, rather than those of the federal government. With a unanimous vote by the state’s Air Quality Control Commission, Colorado is joining Pennsylvania and...
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2019 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid: At 39 mpg, the highest-mileage SUV without a charge portYesterday, when we brought you our 2019 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid first drive review, we missed one very important point. At 39 mpg, the RAV4 Hybrid is now the highest-mileage sport-utility vehicle (as the EPA lists them) without a charge port. All the more impressive is that it’s not a low...
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Commentary: Plug-in hybrids shouldn't just be California compliance carsWith 17 miles of all-electric range, all-wheel drive, and a rugged-hatchback body style, the Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid could be the perfect entry point for a lot of buyers who'd like to get started driving on electric power. Electric-car advocates, who've already moved on to one of several...
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2019 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid: First drive of 17-mile, 35-mpg plug-in crossoverTo understand the complicated path for Subaru’s first plug-in hybrid, first we needed to hike a mile in the automaker’s shoes. OK, more like 10 miles, actually—driving the 2019 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid gingerly up a dusty, bouldered, steep trail, past signage cautioning...
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