Bengt Halvorson, Senior Editor
Articles
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Honda was technically the first name in hybrids in the U.S. market—with the original 1999 Honda Insight two-seat hatchback.
But in recent years Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist (IMA)...
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On 'Pure' Gasoline, Your Mileage May Vary: What's The Difference?Unless you're the type to very closely read the fine print on the face of fuel pumps, you might not know that the vast majority of U.S. gasoline is truly ten-percent home grown—that's ten-percent ethanol, and with that ethanol almost certainly from corn. The upsides of adding more ethanol to...
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2013 Toyota Avalon Hybrid: First Drive ReportOver the past several years, 40 miles per gallon has become a sort of high water mark for compact cars, with a long list of special efficiency-focused models aiming to meet or exceed that number. Yet for those vehicles, we're talking highway mileage. The 2013 Toyota Avalon Hybrid, on the other...
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Electric-Car Charging: Why Some Households Are Paying Too MuchOwners of plug-in vehicles like the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt, and even the new Tesla Model S may be paying too much when they charge their car. Why? Because they haven’t signed up with the right utility plan. According to a recent survey from the California Center for Sustainable Energy...
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Portlandia Steps Up For Electric-Car Sharing: We're Not SurprisedYou've probably heard about what a model green city Portland, Oregon is, or how Portlanders shy away from car ownership—and, perhaps, how they can be a little uncomfortably earnest and politically correct. Is that how it really is? In short, yes. Now Portland, Oregon residents have another...
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Tesla Dodges Traditional Dealerships—And Questions RemainTesla Motors [NSDW: TSLA], by nearly all accounts, is an automaker that’s doing things differently. It’s based in Silicon Valley, not Detroit. And it’s transitioning from making a very modest number of Tesla Roadster models to, it plans, tens of thousands of all-electric Model S...
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Deliveries for the 2012 Tesla Model S have started, and in case you missed editor John Voelcker's first drive of the Model S this past week, one point of note was how calm and quiet the cabin remains...
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Apple Store Model Is Working For Tesla
Across Tesla’s ten new-design, retail-oriented stores (out of 14 total stores), there will have been over a million visitors so far in 2012.
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Ford Focus Wagon 1.0T EcoBoost: Quick DriveThree-cylinder engines have never found much traction in the U.S. Outside of the much-loved Chevrolet Sprint, Geo Metro, and Suzuki Swift, they've mostly been in the domain of obscure subcompact nameplates like the Subaru Justy and Daihatsu Charade, and in niche minicars like the Smart Fortwo. Now...
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2012 Toyota Highlander Hybrid: Quick Drive, Highest MPG With Third RowIf you need to carry up to seven people at once, and you're quite horrified by the mileage ratings on most of the three-row vehicles that are truly up to the task, we have the vehicle for you: the 2012 Toyota Highlander Hybrid. With EPA ratings of 28 mpg city, 28 highway, it's the highest-mileage...
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2013 Lexus ES 300h: First DriveWhen Lexus rolled out its HS 250h hybrid sedan a few years ago, there was a lot of head-scratching. The HS 250h was rather cramped inside, had a powertrain that was way too noisy for a Lexus, and was rated at just 35 mpg city, 34 highway—barely better than the Camry Hybrid of the time, which...
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Smart eBike: First RideGoing electric makes a lot of sense for the smallest city-commute vehicles—like the Smart Fortwo Electric Drive, which is still on the way. But in the meantime, it looks like a different Smart electric vehicle will arrive first: the Smart eBike. The Smart eBike is a bicycle, but an...
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Although a very small niche group might see minicars like the Scion iQ and Smart Fortwo as a fashion statement, or as a way to reap special parking or commuting benefits, for most Americans—and...
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Video: Tesla Model X Prototype In MotionFirst deliveries for Tesla’s all-electric Model X crossover are still a couple of years away, but the Silicon Valley-based automaker was already hard at work selling it to potential buyers at last week’s party-style premiere, held at the automaker’s design studios in Hawthorne...
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2014 Tesla Model X All-Electric Gullwing SUV: New Info, Photos“We’ve got a rocketship next door, and you know as Governor Moonbeam that I like rocketships,” quipped California Governor Jerry Brown, at the introduction of the upcoming 2014 Tesla Model S, gesturing toward the big SpaceX facility next door to Tesla’s Southern California...
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2014 Tesla Model X: Watch All-Electric Crossover's Live DebutElectric-car fans have waited eagerly for more details—or even a picture—of the third vehicle from EV maker Tesla [NSDQ: TSLA]. Aand now the time has arrived. Tonight, at 8 p.m. PST, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is expected to pull the wraps off the Model X, the company’s upcoming...
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Fast-Charging Adds Appeal To Electric Cars—Especially In PortlandIf you plan to get a Nissan Leaf or Mitsubishi i (or already have one), and you live in Portland, Oregon, consider yourself fortunate. Because all of these places have at least one DC fast charger reported as currently in operation.
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2013 VW e-Bugster Electric Concept: 2012 Detroit Auto Show VideoAt the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, Volkswagen rolled out an all-electric, two-seat coupe-speedster concept based on its iconic Beetle. With a powertrain borrowed from the VW Golf Blue e-Motion—including the 85-kW (114-hp) electric motor, 26.5-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack, plus...
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Volkswagen has for many years pushed clean-diesel TDI options to car buyers interested in better fuel-efficiency, with the Touareg Hybrid given a very small second stage. But for 2013 that's set to...
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Coupe Concept Previews 2013 Honda Accord, Return Of HybridAt the 2012 Detroit auto show, Honda has given us a first glimpse of the next-generation, 2013 Honda Accord—in Coupe form—as well as an outline of the technology and features that will debut in the next-generation of its best-selling Sedan and Coupe. And most noteworthy for green-car shoppers...
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Nissan Pivo3 Concept: New Ideas For A Production Electric MinicarAt first glance, Nissan’s Pivo3 concept from this week’s Tokyo Motor Show looks pretty wild: Seating is staggered, with the driver ahead of two passenger seats; wheel-hub motors provide power; and aggressively configured four-wheel steering that allows the Pivo3 to be turned on a dime—well, a...
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Subaru Mild-Hybrid System: With Tokyo Concept, New DetailsSubaru showed a potential direction for a next-generation C-segment (Impreza-sized) wagon in its Advanced Tourer Concept from the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show this week.
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2011 Mitsubishi PX-MiEV II Plug-In Hybrid Concept: Tokyo Motor ShowThe new PX-MiEV II Concept remains an important step in the automaker’s initiative to launch eight new electrified vehicles by 2015.
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2013 Nissan Altima (Mild) Hybrid: High Gas Mileage, V-6 PowerLikely starting with the 2013 Nissan Altima and extending to some of the automaker’s mid-size U.S. products, the automaker hopes to replace a rather large number of V-6 engines—potentially hundreds of thousands a year—with a more fuel-efficient four-cylinder mild-hybrid setup.
Bengt Halvorson