John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
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So much has happened around the Toyota and Lexus accelerator safety recalls over the last week that it's hard to keep it all straight. So we're taking our first stab at it by sorting out the impact...
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Alt-Fuel E85 Ethanol Even Saves Cartoon Classic Betty Boop!Who knew? Turns out even cartoon classic Betty Boop uses alternative fuels to power her roadster. In "Musical Mountaineers," a 1939 animated short (it totals 6:43), she runs out of gas while driving through hillbilly country, complete with misspelled signs warning of family feuds. Her first...
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Will Jaguar Have the First Hybrid Born From Jet Turbines?"Born From Jets" may be the slogan of recently-saved-from-death Swedish Saab, but one day it may prove more appropriate for British carmaker Jaguar. The company has been awarded funding from the U.K. government to develop a small jet turbine as a range extender for a future hybrid luxury car. Its...
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Toyota Greens a Dealership, Honda Makes Hydrogen With Solar PowerFor automakers, being green can extend well beyond the vehicles themselves. This week, hybrid pioneers Toyota and Honda each showed off new infrastructure projects that burnish their green credentials beyond well beyond the vehicles they sell. Honda started producing hydrogen to power its fuel-cell...
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New Hybrid Scorecard Slams Carmakers For Loading On LuxuryIt's long been known that hybrid buyers often choose them over luxury cars, and aren't buying them solely for the payback in gasoline savings. But a new Hybrid Scorecard, launched by the Union of Concerned Scientists, slams carmakers for inflating their prices by loading luxury into fuel-efficient...
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Five Questions: Nancy Gioia, Ford global electrification directorFord was the first U.S. automaker to offer a hybrid, introducing the Ford Escape Hybrid crossover in 2004. It recently expanded its portfolio with the well-received 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid. More recently, the company has announced plans for limited numbers of plug-in hybrids, as well as electric...
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Speakers throughout today's Electric Drive Transportation Association conference agree: Plug-in electric cars that use little or no gasoline are coming. It's no longer an "if", it's now a "when."
To...
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Mini E Drivers Mostly Happy; Cold Weather, Service ProblematicIt's always good to be suspicious when an automaker sends out a press release saying customers are "delighted" with its products. In the case of the Mini E, BMW offered data to back up the claim. At the Washington Auto Show today, BMW released early results from a study of 57 customers who leased...
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Ford CEO: Fuel-Efficient Engines Pose Tough Fight for HybridsFord has built hundreds of thousands of hybrids since 2004, but unlike Toyota, it hasn't staked its future on the pricey technology that mates an electric motor to a combustion engine. Ford's CEO Alan Mulally says that's because hybrids will face continuing competition from increasingly more...
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GM To Build Its Own Electric Motors for Future HybridsGeneral Motors will become the first U.S. automaker to design and build its own electric motors for hybrid and electric cars, the company said today. While Toyota and Honda have long made their own motors, until now GM--along with Ford--has purchased them from third-party suppliers. GM views the...
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BMW ActiveHybrid 5, Its Third, To Launch at Geneva Motor ShowBMW is expected to unveil its third hybrid model at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show this March. It will be a mild-hybrid version of the all-new 2011 BMW 5-Series sedan line it has just unveiled, which will go on sale in June. The ActiveHybrid 5 will follow in the footsteps of the 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid...
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2010 Detroit Auto Show: Lutz Lays Out (Some) GM Plug-In PlansCleaning up a few odds and ends from last week's 2010 Detroit Auto Show brings us to General Motors' future product plans for plug-in hybrids. In the crush of reporters asking questions (known as the "scrum") after a GM announcement, a few more nuggets came to light. GM showed its striking and...
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You heard it here first, folks. Maria Rohrer, the Chevrolet Volt marketing manager responsible for the remarkably awful "Volt Dance" at last month's Los Angeles Auto Show, has been reassigned.
An...
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Early EVs Won't Need Many Public Charge Points, Says NYCNew York City often startles people, and it stayed true to form in a recent analysis done by McKinsey & Company for the city's PlaNYC planning group, "Exploring Electric Vehicle Adoption in New York City." In particular, one of the report's conclusions may come as a shock to many...
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Kia Previews Plug-In Hybrid Concept To Debut at Chicago ShowWith the 2010 Detroit Auto Show behind us, we're fast coming up on the Chicago Auto Show, which starts February 10. Now we've gotten our first teaser image, for the Kia Ray concept car that will be unveiled in the spacious precincts of McCormack Hall. Kia says the Ray is meant to demonstrate how...
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Hybrid Owners Howl As California HOV-Lane Access Ends in DecemberAll good things must come to an end, and it's the same with the wildwood weed ... err, with California's HOV-Lane access perk for owners of three hybrids: the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid, and Honda Insight. They are set to expire on December 31 of this year. Originally passed in 2005, the law...
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Preview: Mazda to Show 2011 Mazda5 Minivan at Geneva Motor ShowWe've always been fond of the 2010 Mazda Mazda5 small minivan, which gets rave reviews for its sporty character and good roadholding. Because it's smaller than more conventional full-size minivans like the Dodge Caravan, Honda Odyssey, and Toyota Sienna, it has always sold in smaller numbers. But...
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UPDATE: Low-Thirties 2011 Chevrolet Volt Price Is AFTER Tax CreditUPDATE: Well, it sounded too good to be true, and perhaps it was. We asked GM spokesman Dave Darovitz for comments on CEO Whitacre's "low-thirties" price for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. Darovitz tells GreenCarReports.com that while Chevy "has not officially announced final Volt pricing, a price in the...
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Last Friday, startup plug-in hybrid maker Fisker Automotive announced it had raised another $115 million in funds from private backers, including lithium-ion cell supplier A123 Systems and legendary...
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2010 Detroit Auto Show: Hyundai Blue-Will Plug-In Hybrid ConceptWe somehow omitted one hybrid concept until now in our 2010 Detroit Auto Show coverage; it's the Hyundai Blue-Will four-door sports sedan, which is unusual in both name and looks. Some loved it, some loathed it, but we're as interested in its plug-in hybrid powertrain as in the rather nervous...
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2010 Detroit Auto Show: New Engines for 2010 Hyundai Santa FeThis is one we're late on posting, but it's significant nonetheless. During the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, Hyundai released details of running updates to its 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe midsize crossover utility vehicle--which is on sale, basically, now. The big news is that Hyundai has replaced both...
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Nissan Planning Two Small Cars Under $10K For U.S. MarketSmall cars aren't always cheap; increasingly, automakers are breaking that link with well-equipped and desirable compacts and subcompacts. Nor are small cars always green, though there's often a correlation. Now Nissan has said it will bring not one but two sub-$10,000 cars to the U.S. The company...
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Toyota in Japan Gets Into The Prius Hybrid Bodykit BusinessThe Japanese auto show known as the Tokyo Auto Salon is full of as many customized cars--and just as much weirdness--as its domestic counterpart, the massive SEMA show in Las Vegas. And just as it did at SEMA, with its Aerius and Aemulus customized Prius concepts, Toyota brought a factory custom to...
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2010 Detroit Auto Show: Fiat 500 BEV Concept On Chrysler's Crowded StandWe'd be remiss if we didn't at least nod to the electric Fiat 500 displayed within the many brands on the Chrysler stand. We've written before about an earlier electric Fiat 500 conversion shown 18 months ago at the London Motor Show, but this one came with far less info. Chrysler mounted a new...
John Voelcker