John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
-
Tesla semi, Roadster surprise too, Clarity Plug-in price, Jeep Wrangler MPG: Today's Car News John VoelckerToday, it's almost all about Tesla: introduction of its future Semi, a surprise new Roadster too, and the most important question for the company. Also, aggressive pricing on the Honda Clarity...
-
Tesla Semi, new Roadster distract from Model 3 production problemsNever let it be said that Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his event producers are not masters of showmanship. Last night's launch of the Tesla Semi heavy-duty commercial truck tractor came with a surprise: a new Tesla Roadster emerged from the back of the trailer. The wow factor was ... high. DON'T MISS...
John Voelcker -
Electric cars 'right around the corner' in 1966: what took so long?Looking at yesterday's visions of tomorrow is always entertaining, from flying cars to cities of the future. In the case of the electric car, there have been two futures: one from 1890 to about 1910, and then another starting 100 years later in 2011. The intervening century saw many, many...
John Voelcker -
2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid starts at $34,290 with 47-mile rangeThe 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid will start at a recommended price of $34,290 including delivery, making it the least expensive plug-in hybrid sedan on the market this year. Honda says it will go on sale December 1, and it will be offered at all Honda dealers in the U.S. That means that for...
John Voelcker -
Big electric truck, cheaper small cars, Fisker solid-state cells, CARB vs EPA: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got a drive report on the largest electric vehicle we've ever piloted, some patents on solid-state batteries from Fisker, California's powerful air-quality agency expanding, and more deals on smaller cars. All this and more on Green Car Reports. General Motors CEO Mary Barra yesterday...
John Voelcker -
Driving a Chanje electric electric cargo van: very big, far better than dieselA Class 5 cargo van is a remarkably large vehicle, especially when navigating it through the mixed industrial and 19th-century residential streets of the Prospect Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. The Chanje V8070 electric cargo van, in fact, is the largest vehicle—electric or...
John Voelcker -
For 45 years, the Environmental Protection Agency has been charged with protecting the U.S. from pollution in its air, water, and land.
Under the Trump Administration, its administrator Scott Pruitt...
-
2017 VW e-Golf driven, electric-car cargo, Twizy drive, Faraday Future rescue? Today's Car NewsToday, we've driven the longer-range 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf, Faraday Future may have been rescued, we compare electric-car cargo space, and one writer gets his dream drive in a ... Renault Twizy. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Our Tesla-owning writer David Noland had always wanted to drive...
John Voelcker -
2017 Volkswagen e-Golf: weekend drive report and range testThe thought came like a flash while on the highway heading into New York's Catskill Mountains: This is what all cars will be like soon. The 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf is absolutely the most normal, invisible, unremarkable electric car you can buy today. No one knew it was electric, or paid it any...
John Voelcker -
Electric-bus pledge, why Ioniq and Leaf lost, electric SUVs, climate-deniers embarrassed: Today's Car NewsToday, we explain the reasoning behind our Best Car To Buy 2018 award in more detail, take bets on all-electric SUVs, explain how a group of U.S. governors embarrassed the fossil-fuel-promoting Trump Administration at a climate summit, and hail some good news on electric buses. All this and more on...
John Voelcker -
Who will sell the first affordable AWD electric SUV? Poll resultsOf our eight Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy award winners since 2011, five have been compact five-door hatchbacks. It's a good, sensible format, by far the most popular segment in Europe and stronger even in Canada than in the U.S. Sadly, U.S. car buyers are not only ignoring small hatchbacks...
John Voelcker -
Why Ioniq and Leaf didn't win: notes on Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2018The 2018 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, a plug-in version of the much-lauded new minivan, won our Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2018 award because it brings a partially zero-emission vehicle into an entirely new market segment. The Pacifica is our favorite among minivans, though we'll be curious to...
John Voelcker -
Green-car deals, EPA vs climate action, electric-car tax credit, Best Car To Buy 2018: Today's Car News John VoelckerToday, after lots of anticipation, we revealed our Best Car To Buy 2018. We've also got possibly good news on the electric-car tax credit, clearly bad news on EPA plans to kill the Clean Power Plan,...
-
Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2018: Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid plug-in minivanIn 2011, Green Car Reports launched an award for the new car, or family of cars, that represented the best green vehicle introduced for the model year. The Nissan Leaf won that year because it was the sole affordable battery-electric vehicle on the market. Over the next seven years, more than two...
John Voelcker -
Senate tax plan leaves electric-car purchase credit in placeThe battle over early termination of the U.S. income-tax credit for purchase of an electric car took a new turn on Thursday. HR1, the draft Tax Cut and Jobs Act introduced in the House of Representatives, would end the credit as of December 31. The U.S. Senate version of the tax-reform bill...
John Voelcker -
Which car would you pick as Best Car To Buy 2018? Poll resultsAs we do every year at this time, our editors have gotten together, analyzed and discussed and argued, and come up with what we think is the Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2018. We covered our process in a series of articles, including one that lays out the qualifications and rules. To be...
John Voelcker -
Tesla's odds, crucial climate report, electric-car sales, Best Car To Buy finalists: The Week in Reverse
Which of three finalists will win the Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2018 award? What two important reports came out this week, and why did one of them embarrass the Trump Administration? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending...
John Voelcker -
RIP C-Max Energi, EU cuts carbon more, electric-car charging drone, fuel-cell Tesla: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got some far-out stories, from the hydrogen-powered Tesla to the flying drone that recharges your electric car while it's in motion. There's also a death notice for a plug-in hybrid, stiff new rules from the EU, and possible good news from the U.S. Senate. All this and more on Green...
John Voelcker -
The Ford C-Max, launched as a 2013 model, never really served the purpose its maker intended.
The tall five-door compact hatchback was intended to be Ford's counter to the successful Toyota Prius...
-
EU to slash vehicle carbon emissions one third more from 2021 through 2030Europe already has tough standards for reducing carbon-dioxide emissions in current and future vehicles. Now they're going to get significantly tougher between 2021 and 2030. At its weekly cabinet meeting, held Wednesday, the European Union formally adopted far more stringent requirements for...
John Voelcker -
Mystery electric BMW, US isolated, Tesla's long odds, Hyundai Ioniq, battery cobalt: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got two BMW electric-car stories (one on battery cobalt, another on a mystery debut later this month), the long odds Tesla faces, the unlikely prospect of Syria one-upping the U.S. on climate, and our last Best Car To Buy 2018 finalist. All this and more on Green Car Reports. The...
John Voelcker -
BMW to debut electric-car concept at LA show; electric Mini makes U.S. debutBMW will use media days at the Los Angeles auto show, which begin on November 29, to unveil a new electric car that's never before been seen. The electric model that will debut in California wasn't otherwise specified in the German maker's announcement, which called it simply "a world premiere...
John Voelcker -
Finalist for Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2018: Hyundai Ioniq
Hyundai is known in the auto industry as an aggressive and very capable competitor, and the world's largest makers watch it closely and take it very seriously. The company didn't introduce its first hybrid car in the U.S. until 2011 and, frankly, that year's hybrid Sonata sedan wasn't very good...
John Voelcker -
Odds for auto startups are incredibly high; can Tesla beat them?Much of the energy and growth in the U.S. economy comes not from large corporations but from small startup companies, as economic data shows. By now, the model of a young, energetic entrepreneur with a bright idea who turns it into a world-changing business is well established. Think Facebook or...
John Voelcker