John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
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Better electric-car credits, BMW plug-in sales, Tesla in China, Nio ES8 launches: Today's Car News John VoelckerToday, BMW plug-in sales cross the six-figure mark, bad news on climate modeling, Tesla adapts electric cars for China, and some thoughts on how plug-in purchase incentives should change. All this...
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Most-accurate climate-change models suggest worst effects on global weatherThe denial of accepted climate science by the Trump Administration has now put the U.S. at odds with essentially every other nation in the world. Meanwhile, the news on the effects of higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is, if anything, getting worse. A recent analysis of...
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In an ideal world, this is how electric-car tax credits should workThe tax reform bill likely to be voted on by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives retained a number of provisions originally slated to be cut from the tax code. Among them was the federal income-tax credit for purchase of a plug-in electric vehicle. Three carmakers—General Motors...
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Tesla Semi, 2019 Honda Insight, NEVS 9-3 (nee Saab), future of oil: Today's Car NewsToday, a surprise advance look at an important new hybrid model, bad news for global oil and gas, an old Saab as a new electric car, and Tesla gets more Semi orders. All this and more on Green Car Reports. The end-of-year holiday season is just starting, but the 2019 Honda Insight hybrid that will...
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World Bank will stop funding oil, gas exploration in 2019It's not just the world automotive industry that's grappling with rapid changes brought about by the need to reduce the effects of climate change. The world's fossil-fuel extraction, refining, and delivery industries are also faced with the reality that two centuries of burning their core products...
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BMW batteries, Toyota electrification plans, electric-car charging stations, Kia Niro Plug-In driven: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got news about VW's Electrify America charging-station project, BMW's solid-state battery research, and a big pledge by Toyota, as well as our first drive of the 2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Over the weekend, as we do every seven days, we ran...
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Sales of plug-in electric cars are rising steadily in North America, Europe, and Asia, with roughly 2 million now on the world's roads.
China is debating when it will ban sales of new vehicles with...
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Electrify America contracts with Greenlots for electric-car charging sites, installationsThe $2 billion electric-vehicle infrastructure program funded by Volkswagen as part of its diesel-emission scandal settlement has picked an installer to roll out some of the first phase of its electric-car charging network. Electrify America said on Monday it would contract with the Greenlots...
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BMW partners with Solid Power to develop solid-state cells for electric carsWhile lithium-ion cells have powered all but a handful of plug-in electric cars since 2008, carmakers have looked further down the road toward solid-state battery cells with an eye toward launching them sometime during the 2020s. On Monday, BMW Group and Solid Power announced that the two companies...
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Honda Clarity, BMW i3 REx driven; battery costs fall; electric car fight; tax credit lives: The Week in ReverseWhich country may wipe the floor with the U.S. in the global race among makers of electric cars? What car may pose a significant threat to the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday...
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Electric-car tax credit retained in Congressional tax reform bill: confirmed (update)We'll likely never know whether it was the influence of auto lobbyists, pressure from the actual public, or a letter signed by two dozen mayors. But however the sausage was made, it appears that the U.S. income-tax credit for purchase of a plug-in electric vehicle will not be killed after all...
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Toyota batteries, Hyundai worries, bigger Nissan, electric-car production plants: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got two different takes on electric-car batteries, some new oversight for the EU to prevent the next Dieselgate, and a small electric delivery van that got bigger. All this and more on Green Car Reports. A new joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic will develop prismatic cells for...
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Today, battery-electric cars are built in volume at only three locations across the entire United States.
Tesla builds its three different electric models in Fremont, California; the new 2018 Nissan...
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Preventing the next Dieselgate: EU can now oversee, overrule new-car approval by member countriesWith the exception of California's longstanding ability to set its own tougher emission standards, any car legal to sell in one state of the U.S. is legal to sell in all of them. And aside from a handful of differences—daytime running lights, speedometers marked in km/h—Canadian-market...
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EV tax credit, China vs US, hydrogen survival, Chevy vs Tesla, electric coal-hauling: Today's Car NewsToday, a prediction China will wallop the U.S. in the electric-car battle, Congress may have saved the EV tax credit, an electric cargo ship that hauls coal, and thoughts on Tesla versus Chevy. All this and more on Green Car Reports. If electric-car buyers struggle with trading luxury and...
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Which alternative fuels will survive long-term? Twitter poll resultsBuilding a fueling network turns out to be more of a challenge than many advocates, regulators, and drivers may have anticipated. The attempt to boost passenger vehicles fueled by cheap, abundant U.S. natural gas is now essentially over, with a mere 942 public natural-gas fueling stations...
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More Tesla Semis, EV charging stations, electric-car tax credit, EPA easy on polluters: Today's Car NewsToday, more orders for the Tesla Semi, an opinion on how many charging stations are enough, EPA laxity, biofuels unhappiness, and news on the plug-in electric car income-tax credit. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Pepsi added itself to the list of companies that have reserved all-electric...
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22 mayors join letter urging electric-car tax credit retention by CongressTwo bills from the Senate and House of Representatives that would radically reform U.S. tax policy for the first time in three decades are now being reconciled by a joint committee from both houses of Congress. No public hearings on those bills have been held in either chamber, and the legislation...
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This has been something of a plug-in hybrid month.
Last week we got our first drive in the 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid, which we felt was the first affordable car with a range similar to that...
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Honda Clarity driven, Sweden's Uniti EV, VW doubts diesel, perplexing plug-in hybrids: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got not only a first-drive report on the 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid, but some thoughts on an ad for the car, along with a new small EV with a twist, and some surprising news about diesels from VW. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We finally have all the details from our...
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Can Honda break through buyer confusion about plug-in hybrids?With the launch of the 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid sedan, the Chevrolet Volt now has its first serious competition among long-range plug-in hybrids. About 25,000 second-generation Volts were sold last year, and this year's number will be about 20,000. Honda says it may sell about the same...
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2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid first driveThere's a new plug-in hybrid in town, and it could expand the audience for cars that provide useful electric range for daily driving while retaining an efficient gasoline engine for longer trips. The 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid is the third and most important model in the Clarity lineup...
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BMW i3 driven, Tesla Semi orders, best green-car deals, falling battery costs: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got a drive report on the updated BMW i3 REx—we had mull over our thoughts—along with best December deals on green cars, some good news on falling battery costs, and a bit of Tesla news too. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Over the weekend, as we do every seven...
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Musk confirms Tesla is designing its own computer chip for self-driving cars (update)Early last year, with promises of self-driving cars in owners' hands well before any competitor, development of the Tesla Autopilot system for the maker's electric cars was proceeding nicely. Then, in May 2016, a dedicated Tesla owner was killed in a Florida crash when his Tesla Model S, operating...
John Voelcker