John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
-
To say the Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car has become a political punching bag would be to understate the obvious.
Now, GM is slowly, carefully trying to get the facts about the Volt out...
-
Gas Mileage Highest Ever For New Cars Sold In JanuaryWell, here's a bit of good news. The sales-weighted average gas mileage for all vehicles sold in the U.S. was the highest it's ever been, reaching 22.9 miles per gallon. That's almost 1 mpg higher than the 22.0 mpg figure for January 2011, according to an analysis by TrueCar. While 22.9 mpg may not...
John Voelcker -
Obama 2012 Budget Proposes Higher Tax Credit For Plug-In CarsTwo days ago, President Barack Obama released his proposed U.S. government budget for the fiscal year starting in October. And in it, he followed through on a promise from his State of the Union address last month, by proposing to cut up to $4 billion in subsidies to the oil and gas industry. The...
John Voelcker -
2012 Honda Civic Hybrid: Hammer It, How High Is Gas Mileage?Honda has managed to raise the gas mileage ratings on all of its new 2012 Civic models, including the 2012 Civic Hybrid, which is rated at a combined 44 mpg. In a road test over several days last May, we managed to get a real-world 45.3 mpg over a route that was about two-thirds highway, one-thirds...
John Voelcker -
Morgan Plus E Electric Roadster: Modern Battery In Classic CarMorgan Motor Company is now the largest UK-owned car company in Britain. Its Plus 4 "classic" model, the latest evolution of a 1930s roadster design, is still built with ash body framing and the century-old "sliding pillar" front suspension. Nonetheless, the quirky family-owned British maker of...
John Voelcker -
Eric Bolling Doesn't Know How The Volt Works, Even After Driving OneImagine the horror. There you are, driving your electric car through the Lincoln Tunnel to Manhattan from New Jersey. Your battery pack gives up its last few electrons, so your car slows to a halt in the narrow tube, blocking traffic, causing a cacophony of curses and horn-honking. That's the...
John Voelcker -
Yesterday, Hyundai threw one of the better-attended press events at the Chicago Auto Show, launching two new models to expand its successful Elantra compact lineup.
We've already shown you live...
-
2013 Volkswagen Beetle TDI: Live Gallery From Chicago Auto ShowWhile Volkswagen didn't host a press conference to launch its new diesel Beetle, the carmaker put the 2013 Beetle TDI on display at the Chicago Auto Show in its first U.S. appearance. It's really the return of a long-lost friend, since VW sold the previous-generation New Beetle with a 1.9-liter...
John Voelcker -
2012 Toyota Prius C: First Drive Report And Full DetailsThe 2012 Toyota Prius C may be the most surprising entry in the expanding Prius range. It's smaller, less unusually styled, and about $5,000 less expensive than the standard Prius liftback. And it's more fun to drive (relatively) than its larger siblings. It also gets real-world gas mileage of 50...
John Voelcker -
Fisker Lays Off Workers, Seeks New Government-Loan TermsThe bad news just keeps on coming from electric-car startup Fisker Automotive. The company said today that it has laid off employees and contractors at both its new Anaheim, California, headquarters and its assembly facility in Wilmington, Delaware. Layoffs by car companies are hardly new, but...
John Voelcker -
2012 Toyota Yaris LE Subcompact Hatchback: Drive ReportIt was quite small and very, very red. This weekend's test car, a 2012 Toyota Yaris LE three-door liftback, attracted far more attention than we expected. Pedestrians and other drivers turned their heads. Even our New York City garage attendant mumbled, unprompted, "Muy bonita, muy, muy bonita!" as...
John Voelcker -
Indiana Think Electric-Car Plant Stilled, Owners Quiet On FutureA year ago, we visited the Think electric-car plant in Elkhart, Indiana. At the time, several dozen workers were turning out a trickle of Think City electric vehicles assembled from kits shipped in from Finland--with big plans for ramping up production. That never happened. Instead, last June...
John Voelcker -
Gas prices always soar in the springtime.
Northerners venture out of their houses more as milder weather arrives, and the market anticipates higher consumption for summer vacation trips.
This year,...
-
Kia Trackster Concept: 2012 Chicago Auto Show PreviewLike much of the auto press, we'll be at next week's Chicago Auto Show to see the covers come off the concepts and production cars. While Chicago has traditionally been a truck show, at least one maker is unveiling a concept for a small and economical--but still sporty and cool--compact car. The...
John Voelcker -
How Does The 2013 Dodge Dart Get 40 MPG? It's The TransmissionWhen the covers came off the 2013 Dodge Dart at last month's Detroit Auto Show, the new compact sedan got high marks for style, interior design, and putting Chrysler back in the car game. The Dart lineup will also include a model that gets 40 mpg on the EPA highway cycle, but so far Dodge has been...
John Voelcker -
Chevy Steps Up Volt Sales Efforts With 'Quad $0' Lease In California
With last month's sales of the 2012 Chevy Volt less than half what they were in December, Chevrolet has stepped up its efforts to sell its innovative but pricey range-extended electric car. And it's doing it the old-fashioned way, by "putting money on the hood," as salespeople say. According to...
John Voelcker -
KSPG To Test Clever V-Twin Range Extender In Electric Fiat 500Range extenders, small gasoline engines that produce electricity to run electric cars after their battery packs discharge, will likely see huge innovation in the coming years. While the Chevy Volt and Fisker Karma both use off-the-shelf GM engines as range extenders, many companies are working on...
John Voelcker -
January Electric Car Sales Low: Winter A Factor?Last year, U.S. car buyers drove home in roughly 17,000 plug-in cars, the bulk of them Nissan Leafs and Chevrolet Volts. As several more plug-in cars enter the market this year, analysts will watch sales carefully to see whether retail and fleet buyers are willing to pay the significant surcharge...
John Voelcker -
When you drive a wagon, you usually need the space.
And so it was with the 2012 Toyota Prius V, in which we hauled holiday gifts, heavy sagging boxes of old car magazines, furniture, and other life...
-
Swiss Catecar Gives Up On Compressed-Air Car, Goes ElectricYou may recall that a few years ago, there was a flurry of interest in compressed-air cars. In the end, it didn't pan out. Compressed air just isn't a dense enough form of energy storage to make it practical for vehicle use--even in very lightweight cars--and no such passenger car is sold anywhere...
John Voelcker -
Can Condos Coexist With Electric Cars? Volt Owner To Be Cut OffAsk any automaker, and they'll tell you they believe most early electric cars will be charged at night, in garages attached to private houses. That would seem to cut out residents of multiple dwellings, from rental apartments to condominium complexes. But electric car owners are resourceful;...
John Voelcker -
Green Sound Insulation Inside Doors Quiets 2013 Ford EscapeAsk about green cars and most buyers think only of gas mileage. But there are other ways to make vehicles greener, including the use of renewable materials to replace petroleum-derived synthetic components. For its all-new 2013 Escape crossover, Ford has created door bolsters from a plant called...
John Voelcker -
New Mileage Rules Encourage Small Cars To Become Big Trucks For Lower MPGAutomakers have long known there's a double standard for gas mileage. Cars have to meet higher goals, trucks have less stringent requirements. And the larger the vehicle, the lower the average fuel economy it has to deliver. The proposed fuel economy standards for 2017 through 2025 vehicles...
John Voelcker -
The Politics Of Electric Cars: Attacking Innovation For Partisan GainTo say there's lots of political posturing and wrangling around electric cars, plug-in vehicles, and the industry and infrastructure that supports them would be a gross understatement. We get more than our share of it here at Green Car Reports. And there are valid debates to be had over whether the...
John Voelcker