John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
-
You can choose from two or more engine and transmission options in most gasoline cars, so why not offer a choice of battery-pack sizes in hybrids and plug-in electric cars?
That was the question...
-
Electric Car Life-Cycle Analysis: Renault Fluence ZE Vs Diesel, Gas ModelsThe environmental impact of plug-in electric cars is a source for much debate these days. They use less energy on a wells-to-wheels carbon basis than the vast majority of new cars sold in North America, even if they're recharged on coal-heavy electric grids. But the manufacturing impact is...
John Voelcker -
Mysterious Tesla Model S 'D' Photo Appears: What Could It Be?The Internets exploded yesterday following a photo tweeted by Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, with the caption, "About time to unveil the D and something else". Feverish speculation over what it meant took up terabytes of server space. Then, yesterday afternoon, a photo surfaced that purports to show a...
John Voelcker -
Volkswagen XL Sport With Ducati V-Twin Engine: Paris Motor Show PhotosOne of the best ways to make a very fast car is to start with a small vehicle that's extremely light and strong, and add a more powerful engine. That's the genesis of the Volkswagen XL Sport unveiled yesterday at the Paris Motor Show. If the small, lightweight vehicle happens to be the...
John Voelcker -
Elon Musk Tweets Tesla To Unveil 'D' On Oct 9th: Our GuessesDo you ever get the sense that Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has fun in his job? Last night, at 6:31 pm Pacific time, he tweeted a photo with the caption, "About time to unveil the D and something else". The photo showed a roller door with the letter "D" on it, the shadowy front end of what appeared...
John Voelcker -
Jeep Renegade Is 'Male,' While Fiat 500X Will Be More 'Female': AnalystThe 2015 Jeep Renegade, a subcompact crossover from Jeep's owner Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, won't go on sale for a few more months--although it's now in dealerships in Europe. The littlest Jeep will add incremental sales in North America, although its main markets are likely to be Asia and Europe...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Motors sales in China are "robust," and the company may have as many as 4,000 reservations for its Model S--which it only started selling in China five months ago.
The upbeat assessment came...
-
2016 Ford Super Duty Pickups To Adopt Aluminum Bodies TooOnly now are selected media getting a chance to spend time with the all-new 2015 Ford F-150 pickup truck, which has a cab and pickup bed made of aluminum. And it will be a couple of months yet before it appears in showrooms. But Ford is looking ahead. DON'T MISS: 2015 Ford F-150 SFE: Highest Gas...
John Voelcker -
Wrecked Tesla, Dopey Dealers, VW Passat Plug-In Hybrid, Sakti3 Batteries: Today's Car NewsWe've got two Tesla stories--one in which a car-dealer rep says something really dumb--plus a debate over green transport, VW's second plug-in hybrid, and the emergence of a secretive battery startup with ties to GM. All this and more today on Green Car Reports. On Saturday, we covered the prior...
John Voelcker -
Would Intelligent Cars Get Us Green Quicker Than Electric Cars?What technologies will have the most impact on making cars greener and transportation more sustainable--and provide that impact fastest? Suppose that the key isn't plug-in electric cars, but in fact connecting cars to each other and to the infrastructure around them--making traffic flow vastly more...
John Voelcker -
Sakti3 Battery Firm: Key To GM 200-Mile Electric Car, $100 Per kWh By End Of Decade?By all indications, there will be an all-electric 2017 Chevrolet Sonic EV for which General Motors is targeting a range of 200 miles. And one of the keys to achieving such a range from a compact car will be a more energy-dense battery than those used today. DON'T MISS: GM's 200-Mile Electric Sonic...
John Voelcker -
Volkswagen Passat GTE Plug-In Hybrid To Appear At Paris Motor ShowNow that German carmakers have started to work in earnest on plug-in hybrids, expect to see a whole lot more of them in the coming years--though not always in North America. Following the Volkswagen Golf GTE plug-in hybrid it unveiled last year, which is now on sale in Europe, the second VW to...
John Voelcker -
Caveat emptor. Or, for those less conversant in Latin, buyer beware.
That's the lesson that should always be applied when buying a used car. Especially one with obvious damage.
Especially a used...
-
Iowa Dealers Shut Down Tesla Test Drives As Rep Humiliates ThemSometimes you almost have to feel sorry for car dealers--or, more specifically, their ineptness at the public-relations end of their fight against electric-car maker Tesla Motors and its direct Internet sales to car buyers. Consider Bruce Anderson, president of the Iowa Automobile Dealers...
John Voelcker -
Prius Competitors, Lutz On Tesla, Toyota Fuel-Cell Ad: The Week In Reverse (Video)Why is Senator Harry Reid a new convert to electric-car incentives? And, are you part of what Toyota calls the "bold few" who will usher in a zero-emission future? This is the Week In Reverse for Friday, September 26, 2014, right here at Green Car Reports. Friday, we covered a comment by former GM...
John Voelcker -
ELR Electric Coupe Update, Biofuel For Jets, 'Fringe' Brand Tesla: Today's Car NewsIs Tesla Motors actually a "fringe brand," as famous former GM executive Bob Lutz recently maintained? We've laid out his reasoning; you be the judge. Meanwhile, GM will update its electric Cadillac ELR, Southwest flies jets on biofuel, and natural gas is best used in...electric cars? All this and...
John Voelcker -
Updated 2016 Cadillac ELR Electric Coupe For LA Auto ShowWhile much of the electric-car world is anticipating the next Chevy Volt, which will launch in January, GM's other range-extended electric car will be getting some changes before then. According to Edmunds, an updated 2016 Cadillac ELR will debut in November at the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show. DON'T...
John Voelcker -
Best Use For Abundant U.S. Natural Gas: Powering Electric CarsNatural-gas vehicles have never had much acceptance in the North American passenger car market, and even trucks powered by it are struggling. While natural gas is presently abundant in North America, courtesy of the controversial process of hydrofracturing ("fracking"), a new study suggests there's...
John Voelcker -
When an unknown automotive startup from Silicon Valley unveiled an all-electric sports car with supercar performance back in 2006, the shock was enough to make industry giant GM sit up and pay...
-
BMW i3 Lease Deals, Tesla Convertible, Compressed-Air Hybrid: Today's Car NewsFrom a heavily updated Toyota Yaris to lease deals on the BMW i3 electric car, today seems to be small-car day--although a convertible conversion of the big luxury Tesla Model S offsets all of that. Plus, we dig into what makes a new French compressed-air hybrid concept car work. All this and more...
John Voelcker -
2014 BMW i3 Lease Deals Appear: $369/Month For Electric CarIt's a pretty standard part of the car-launch cycle: The earliest buyers pay sticker price or more, and then the discounting starts to set in. Accordingly, with the BMW i3 electric car on the market for five months now, we're starting to see more aggressive marketing on the part of dealers. One...
John Voelcker -
Citroen Compressed-Air Hybrid For Paris Motor Show: Cactus Airflow 2L ConceptA hybrid system, broadly defined, is any two power sources that combine to provide torque to drive a car's wheels. While most are hybrid-electric--a combustion engine plus one or two electric motors powered by a battery pack--other types exist as well. France's PSA Peugeot Citroën is...
John Voelcker -
2016 Toyota Prius Hybrid: Sportier, But Facing New Competition
Time was, the Toyota Prius hybrid was the unquestioned technology champion and king of the fuel-efficiency battles. No longer, though. Now, as Toyota starts to plan for the launch of its fourth-generation flagship hybrid car, the legendary Prius faces more competition than ever before from newer...
John Voelcker -
Will Ultracapacitors Save Start-Stop Systems From Consumer Wrath?Start-stop systems, which switch off a car's engine while it's stopped to boost fuel efficiency, are now entering the U.S. market in serious numbers. Many European makers, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and MINI, are fitting them as standard on 2015 models, and there are more to come: By 2022, some...
John Voelcker