John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
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The arrival of the first affordable long-range electric car on the market has naturally led some owners to push the car in a way that they might not do with a plug-in car offering just 80 miles of...
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What percent of US full-size pickup trucks will plug in by 2025? Twitter poll resultsIf the U.S. is serious about reducing carbon emissions from road vehicles—under the current administration, the jury remains out—pickup trucks are key. More than half of the reduction in fuel consumption in pickup trucks projected under corporate average fuel economy rules comes from...
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GM suggests Congress fund EV charging, Toyota asks for hydrogen fueling supportIt's now abundantly clear that Tesla has created the roadmap on how to build a widespread DC fast-charging network that lets electric-car drivers travel long distances, even across the country. The Tesla Supercharger network can only be used by Tesla cars, however—and it remains entirely...
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CA needs 5 million zero-emission cars by 2030; will it reach 1.5 million by 2025?Last Thursday, Governor Jerry Brown said in his annual State of the State address that California would need 5 million zero-emission vehicles on its roads by 2030 to meet its goals for reducing carbon emissions. An executive order on Friday laid out new state actions toward that goal, including a...
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Porsche "Turbo Charging," 2018 Leaf leases and range, Georgia electric-car credit redux: Today's Car NewsToday, weekend news on the 2018 Nissan Leaf, more on ultra-fast charging from Porsche, carbon capture to come (maybe), and new solar-panel tariffs from Trump. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Over the weekend, as we do every seven days, we ran down last week's most important green-car...
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Porsche Mission E electric sedan buyers want, expect fast "Turbo Charging"Possibly no German carmaker was more shocked by the emergence of the Tesla Model S in 2012 than Porsche. Each of Porsche's models was a top performer in its segment for power, handling, and features, and sold at highly profitable prices. Then came the Tesla Model S, a five-seat hatchback sedan that...
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Several years ago, Georgia offered a generous state-tax credit for purchase of a zero-emission vehicle, and its sales of electric cars boomed.
When state politics interceded to kill that credit in...
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Looking at leases on 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car: how do they stack up?This past Tuesday, the 2018 Nissan Leaf—an entirely redesigned second generation of the pioneering electric car—officially went on sale in the U.S. It's quicker and has more features than its predecessors, not to mention a significantly longer range: 151 miles combined, according to the...
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2018 Nissan Leaf electric car gets 151-mile EPA range ratingWhen the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car was unveiled last fall, the company said it would have a range of "140 miles or more." That had risen to "150 miles or more" by the end of last year, and now we have the final confirmed figure. The EPA combined range rating for the second-generation Leaf is...
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Byton electric SUV, Tesla keeps Musk, BMW EV plans, lease vs buy, LAPD's fail: The Week in ReverseWhich legendary British luxury sedan intends to tackle the Tesla Model S head-on? How much of a role is there for radically more-efficient combustion engines in making future vehicles greener? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week...
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Electric cars: lease or buy? LAPD's BMWs, Tesla Autopilot crash, Exxon climate suits: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got the old and the new, from Ford Model T gas mileage to advanced electric cars that the LAPD isn't using. Also, why plug-in vehicle owners usually lease rather than buy, and another Tesla Model S crash with Autopilot involved. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Despite a...
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LAPD's unused electric cars gather dust sitting in garage, but why?Anyone who remembers the epic, metallic-tasting, technicolor smog in the Los Angeles Basin found into the 1990s understands why air quality matters there. While the worst of the uncontrolled tailpipe emissions have now been greatly reduced, and the air is cleaner, the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide...
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Leases are a minority of overall car sales in the U.S., though the numbers soar for pricier luxury vehicles versus the less expensive, plain-Jane vehicles that serve as daily transport for most...
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Bolt EV tires, BMW electric-car platforms, California vs Feds, Colorado charging sites: Today's Car NewsToday, we interviewed BMW's electric-car powertrain head, looked at tire swaps for Chevy Bolt EVs, covered some state news on emission limits and charging stations, and offered a PSA on climate change. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Low-rolling-resistance tires boost electric-car range...
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BMW says it can build electric cars and regular ones on same platforms: interviewAs the auto industry plans more electric cars in higher volumes for the 2020s, one of the great debates is whether they will need to be designed from the ground up solely for battery power. Doing so allows designers to offer larger cabins due to the more compact drive motors and electronics. One of...
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Earth continues to warm fast; is climate change lost in political turmoil?Mother Nature doesn't pay attention to politics. As a pair of articles in The Washington Post last week highlighted, climate change proceeds apace regardless of the daily news cycle. In other words, unless the U.S. and the world ramp up the pace of reducing carbon-dioxide emissions from all...
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Changing tires on Chevy Bolt EV electric car: your range, grip, and noise may varyOne of the many tactics used by carmakers to boost efficiency in their vehicles is fitting low-rolling-resistance tires. Specially designed to reduce the energy wasted as heat from the friction between the tire and the road, these tires can boost efficiency by a few percentage points in an electric...
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Jaguar XJ vs Tesla, next BMW i3 in 2022, billions for electric cars, Ford vs Sierra Club: Today's Car NewsToday, Ford gets slammed by the Sierra Club, the next BMW i3 electric car will likely be very different, the Jaguar XJ will reportedly go head-to-head with the Tesla Model S, and we're not big fans of some possible Volkswagen ID electric-car model names. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We...
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Ford CAFE rollback efforts, countering sustainability claims, slammed in Sierra Club video John VoelckerThe production values are high and the message is clear in a video released Tuesday by The Sierra Club.
The environmental advocacy group 's goal is simple: highlight the contrast between Ford Motor...
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Today's BMW i3 to evolve into lower-tech, higher-volume 2022 BMW iX1 SUV: reportModel naming conventions that are clear, consistent, and easy to understand across decades are a crucial part of explaining a vehicle lineup to buyers. By and large, German makers are good at arraying their lineups of sedans (and now SUVs) in "series" or "classes" that run from smallest to largest...
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What green tech best suits pickup trucks in 2030? Twitter poll resultsU.S. car buyers have increasingly ignored passenger sedans and hatchbacks and replaced them with utility vehicles of various sorts, and that's a trend that shows no sign of abating. One reason is that crossovers and SUVs now get better fuel economy than they did 10 years ago, when owning one...
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More efficient pickups, Tesla's next 10 years, US-made diesel, home solar and batteries: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got an update on Tesla's next 10 years, some thoughts on why far more fuel-efficient engines are more important than electric-car advocates may think, 25 plug-in cars from BMW, and a silent semi seen on the street. All this and more on Green Car Reports. What percentage of full-size...
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Tesla met promises in first 10-year Master Plan; Musk to stay 10 more yearsAt this point, a majority of the global auto industry agrees that Tesla and its electric cars have had a remarkable impact in less than 10 years. Founded 15 years ago by two Silicon Valley engineers, Tesla won funding from venture capital, private investment, and government loans that totaled...
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BMW will have 25 electric cars, plug-in hybrid models by 2025The last 12 to 18 months have seen a slew of global automakers promising rafts of new plug-in electric vehicles on sale by deadlines set several years into the future. Working to move past its worldwide diesel-emission scandal, for instance, VW Group has promised 30 battery-electric models on sale...
John Voelcker