John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
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Whenever a car company releases a green car, especially if it's a hybrid, it's usually shown in a green color. The first several thousand Ford Escape Hybrids all seemed to come in a kind of pale...
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Toyota Prius vs 2010 Honda Insight: Kyle On The Cool FactorVery few people in the world have months of experience behind the wheel of both a Toyota Prius and the new 2010 Honda Insight. Our 16-year-old Silicon Valley correspondent Kyle is one of those few people, and we asked him to sum up the pros and cons of the two cars. His impressions roughly map to...
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Tesla Battle Gets Uglier: Founder Eberhard Sues CEO Elon MuskThe 2009 Tesla Roadster is an absolute blast to drive. It will make an electric-car fan out of every single person who drives one, or even rides shotgun. The company that makes the car, however, is not such a blast. In its short 7-year life, Tesla has had many missteps, multiple CEOs, layoffs...
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Toyota Prius vs 2010 Honda Insight: Kyle Compares Gas MileageGas mileage is a fraught subject, even among hybrid drivers. Some compete to see who can 'hypermile' the hardest and return figures in the 70-plus-mpg range; others drive it like they stole it, figuring they'll still get better mileage than in a non-hybrid driven the same way. Our intreprid teenage...
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Should Higher Gas Mileage Come With Higher Gas Taxes Too?We do a mix of articles here at GreenCarReports, writing both about cars--green, and occasionally not so green--and some of the broader automotive issues that affect our environment. We were struck by an article last week from The Hill, which covers DC politics as obsessively as we cover...
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2010 Pontiac Vibe: The Last Pontiac Is The GreenestAs the world's battered automakers gear up for the 2010 model year, we say goodbye to a few outgoing models. Among them are the last Pontiacs, a brand General Motors will dispense with after 2010. The sole car offered to the public for the new model year will be the 2010 Pontiac Vibe, a five-door...
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Volkswagen's diesel-engined cars have deeply loyal fans. Veedub has been offering oil-burners in the US since 1979, and their 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI clean diesel has sold well.
But for the coming...
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Toyota Prius vs 2010 Honda Insight: Kyle Considers Interior SpaceKyle, our high-school correspondent, spends a lot of time driving himself among classes, sports events, and the other commitments in a heavily scheduled teenager's life. And often it's not just him in the car. Remember the old days of riding around with your friends? Kyle does his share of carpool...
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BREAKING: Cash for Clunkers Passes in HouseLate this afternoon, the US House of Representatives passed the tax-credit legislation commonly known as the "Cash for Clunkers" bill by a vote of 298 to 119. The House had reached agreement on terms for the legislation more than a month ago, but the vote did not take place until today. The...
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Hybrid Ferrari To Launch At LA Auto Show In December?It's obviously green supercar day here at GreenCarReports. No sooner had we written about Lamborghini's green vehicle plans than more info popped up on our previous story about the plans for Ferrari hybrids as well. Editor Eddie Alterman from Car and Driver writes that a concept could debut at the...
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Anxious Lamborghini To Follow Ferrari, Launch Hybrid SupercarFirst Ferrari frightened purists everywhere with news that it's designing hybrid electric systems for future Ferraris. Now competitor and fellow supercar maker Lamborghini is joining the purity parade. Rather than the patent drawings that sparked the Ferrari kerfuffle, Lambo issued a text-heavy...
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Toyota Prius vs 2010 Honda Insight: Kyle Drives Each OneYesterday we introduced Kyle, our Silicon Valley teenage reviewer who's only ever driven hybrid cars. He's now been using a 2010 Honda Insight for two months after driving the family's Toyota Prius for six. Our first piece yesterday covered Kyle's overall impressions; over the next few days, we'll...
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It's one of the most hotly debated matchups in the auto world these days: How does the Toyota Prius compare to the new 2010 Honda Insight? Lots of car sites have compared the Insight to the 2010...
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GM Expands Battery Lab, US Gears Up To Make Lithium CellsGeneral Motors has enlarged and expanded the battery laboratory at its Warren, Michigan, technical center. The new lab, the company said today, is the largest and most advanced such site in North America. The lab was first shown to the public last summer as the site where packs for the 2011...
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Hitting The Big Time: New York Times Quotes Us on Prius AdsYou can argue, and many do, that driving a Toyota Prius is a form of tooting one's own horn--by showing the world how fuel efficient you are. In general, we try not to do too much of that here at AllAboutPrius, though we did write about getting picked up by Huffington Post. But this morning, we...
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Texas Governor Perry's Prius Problem: How Many Hay Bales?Texas is pickup country, as a visit will confirm. It's one reason Toyota builds its full-size Tundra pickup truck there. But Texas governor Rick Perry overstepped last year when he sneered at the ability of the Toyota Prius hybrid to hold hay. Austin American-Statesman humor columnist John Kelso...
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Five Questions: Kevin Czinger, CEO, Coda AutomotiveOn Wednesday, we covered the news that Coda Automotive will offer a $45,000 all-electric four-door sedan for sale in California, starting in the autumn of 2010. The car project and the company were formerly part of Miles Automotive, which sells small, slow, plastic neighborhood electric vehicles...
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So What's a Wheego Whip, and Why Would I Want One?It looks like a 2009 Smart ForTwo, it's made in China, it only goes 40 miles on its batteries, and it has a dopey name. So why should you care about the Wheego Whip? Our colleague Rex Roy has just published his full review of the 2009 Wheego Whip, but we thought a little context would be useful...
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The battle between the 2010 Toyota Prius and the 2010 Honda Insight continues to rage in Japan, where the 2010 Prius became the best-selling car for the month of May.
It wrested the crown away from...
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Why Obama Could Be The Best Thing For Detroit Since Henry FordPresident Barack Obama has come under fire for using taxpayer funds to rescue the auto industry; we beg to differ
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2009 Toyota Yaris: 41 MPG Without a Hybrid or Hypermiling!Small, simple, inexpensive cars can return mileage almost as good as a hybrid--and may cost you less overall
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$45K Coda Electric Sedan Will Beat Volt, Tesla, Etc, To MarketThe Chinese-built Coda sedan will arrive in autumn 2010--ahead of the Chevrolet Volt
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Green Groups Ask EPA To Ban Lead Wheel WeightsCiting the toxic hazard of 3.5 million pounds of lead annually dropped on roads, environmental groups renew a request to ban lead wheel weights
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2010 Lexus HS250h Pricing: Is It Really An Upscale Alternative To The Prius?As the Prius's fancy big brother and perhaps the first entry-level luxury hybrid, pricing of the 2010 Lexus HS250h will position it in the market
John Voelcker