John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
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With a backlog of more than 10,000 depositors for the Tesla Model S, its maker is making and delivering electric luxury sedans as fast as it can.
Among other benefits, that may allow Tesla Motors...
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DoE Backpedals, Will Fund Slight Hydrogen Fueling Station ExpansionIt appears that the U.S. Department of Energy has had a change of heart. Four years ago, then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu was widely known as a skeptic about hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Last summer, he appeared to relent--and now the DoE has said it will launch a campaign to promote hydrogen...
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Tesla Model S Update: 3,000th Electric Sedan Delivered In CAIn the last few weeks, it's almost become a cliche: drivers in Silicon Valley say they see as many Tesla Model S electric luxury sedans on the roads as they do Nissan Leafs or Chevrolet Volts. With a likely total production of perhaps 6,000 cars thus far, the Model S is outnumbered on U.S. roads by...
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CA Drivers Want Carpool-Lane Access, Honda Gives It To Them (But There's A Catch)Say "carpool lane" or "HOV Access" or "white sticker" or "green sticker," and most California commuters will begin to drool uncontrollably. The ability to drive in relatively uncrowded High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes with just a single person in the vehicle is a privilege that Californians will...
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On Picking Data: Car And Driver's Deceptive Electric-Car Sales GraphEvery month we report on sales of plug-in electric cars, which tripled last year over the total in 2011. As virtually every analyst and commentator has pointed out, electric cars have done better in their early years than hybrids did in theirs. So how is it that Car and Driver, the well-known...
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Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Cars Not Viable, Says Volkswagen CEOLeave it to the Germans to be blunt. Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn has rendered his company's verdict on the future of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles: They're not viable. Fuel-cell cars suffer from a lack of infrastructure, he said, will be far too costly for consumers, and use a fuel that...
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Accessories are a huge part of the auto business, and for every car, somewhere there's a business (or a few dozen) offering aftermarket items the manufacturer hasn't, can't, or won't provide.
And so...
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New York Auto Show Preview: Green Production Cars & ConceptsMedia days at the New York International Auto Show start a week from today, and there's a big slate of green cars coming this year. This year's show will offer everything from vehicles heading into production that you'll find in showrooms in a few months to concepts that have little chance of being...
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Charging Etiquette Fail: Why Electric-Car Owners Resent Plug-In HybridsWith almost 100,000 plug-in electric cars on U.S. roads now, congestion at charging stations is starting to crop up. And that has brought to light an issue of electric-car charging etiquette that may prove challenging: Should battery-electric cars get precedence over plug-in hybrids? The question...
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2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid: New York Auto Show PreviewNext week at the New York Auto Show, the 2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid will be unveiled. It's the first-ever production hybrid vehicle from the small Japanese maker of sturdy all-wheel drive cars and crossovers. Subaru announced the debut of the 2014 XV Crosstrek Hybrid in a press release this...
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All-Electric Sports Car Coming Next Month From Detroit Startup?Tesla did it, Mercedes-Benz is doing it, so why can't a Detroit company do it too? In this case, "it" is building a pricey, limited-production, two-seat all-electric sports car. Detroit Electric, a famous name adopted by a five-year-old startup in the Motor City, will reveal its plans next month...
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2014 Jeep Cherokee: New Off-Road Video Of Downsized CrossoverEight days from now, the 2014 Jeep Cherokee 4x4 crossover will be unveiled to the world at the New York Auto Show's media preview days. Jeep released the first photos and details of the 2014 Cherokee three weeks ago, and now it's served up a video to whet our appetites further. The video is meant...
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Electric-car owners tend to be enthusiastic evangelists for the good points of driving on grid power.
At least, the ones we hear from usually are.
But there's another group of plug-in electric car...
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Why Fisker Left Fisker: Would Have Been 'Wrong To Stay'The news that Henrik Fisker had left Fisker Automotive came on Wednesday, leaving electric-car advocates and Fisker Karma fans wondering just what had happened. Fisker himself cited "major disagreements" over the company's "business strategy." A statement released within hours by Fisker Automotive...
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Nest: Where One Electric-Car Charger Grew To ThreeWhile we're nearing 100,000 plug-in electric cars on U.S. roads, they're not evenly distributed--and the largest group of them is in California. This has led to occasional congestion at charging stations, and now it turns out that happens at workplaces too. Venture-funded startup Nest Labs, a media...
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Renault Zoe Electric Car Road-Test Video: No Translation NeededWhat the Nissan Leaf is in the U.S.--the highest-volume battery electric vehicle on the market--the Renault Zoe hopes to be in Europe. French carmaker Renault has a wide-ranging alliance with Nissan that includes electric cars. Together, the two carmakers have delivered more than 70,000 electric...
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2012 Tax Credits For Electric Cars And Charging StationsOne month from today is Tax Day, April 15. Let us repeat that: Your Federal income taxes (and your state and local taxes too, if you live in places with their own income taxes) must be filed 31 days from today. So consider this our friendly reminder to start getting your paperwork in order if you...
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Obama: Use Oil & Gas Lease Dollars To Fund Gasoline-Free CarsThe sequester is now with us, and Congress has lower approval ratings than South American death squads, but President Obama is doggedly pursuing his green agenda nonetheless. Today, he will announce a plan to divert $2 billion of Federal oil and gas lease revenues over the next decade from general...
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Why would Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk take a Sharpie to the sun visor of an all-but-new Tesla Model S electric sport sedan?
It wasn't a question we'd considered until a reader tipped us off to a photo...
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Volkswagen e-Up Electric Minicar: Forbidden Fruit For Europe OnlyThe next 18 months will see a number of plug-in vehicles enter the market from Volkswagen, as the company has promised for several years. Today, first details of the Volkswagen e-Up minicar were released--with the car being shown at the company's Annual Press and Investors Conference, held at its...
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2013 Nissan Leaf TV Ad: Selling Electric-Car Fun, Finally!The 2013 Nissan Leaf electric car has some lofty sales goals associated with it--certainly higher than the 9,750 deliveries that Nissan averaged each year in 2011 and 2012. So it's encouraging to see a new television ad for the 2013 Leaf that actually highlights the fun and special features of...
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U.S. Biofuels & Ethanol Mandate: More Vulnerable Than Ever Now?Since 2007, U.S. fuel producers have been required by law to include more and more ethanol and other biofuels in their blends. Now, Pike Research suggests, the biofuels mandate enacted as part of the 2007 U.S. Energy Act may be vulnerable to renewed political pressure. Pike notes that the drawbacks...
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Nissan Leaf Electric Car Reports Own Battery-Cell Failure Via CarwingsWouldn't it be nice if your car could tell you not just that something was wrong, but that something might be about to go wrong? A Nissan Leaf in Washington state did just that, and owner Rob Greenlee only found out when he got a call from his local dealership asking him to bring it in for a...
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2015 Volkswagen Golf For U.S.: Preview Of New York Auto Show
The latest seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf hatchback was formally launched last fall at the Paris Motor Show. It's now on sale in Germany, but the models to be sold in the U.S. will be unveiled for the first time in two weeks, at the New York Auto Show. They'll go on sale during the first half...
John Voelcker