John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
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The Florida crash that killed the driver of a Tesla Model S while that car was operating under Autopilot software reverberated far and wide in global media.
While human drivers are imperfect, with...
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Do Frankfurt's electric cars cover German desperation over diesel decline?This year's Frankfurt motor show was big, busy, and full of new concepts and production cars spanning the gamut from small electric cars to exotic supercars with prices in the millions. Every German maker showed one or more electric or electrified concepts, and renewed talk of driving on...
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Honda Urban EV Concept to go on sale in 2019, but not for North AmericaIf there were a favorite car among journalists and car fans at this week's Frankfurt motor show, it may have been a small, all-electric hatchback city car. Which is pretty remarkable, given the practical, unexciting, utilitarian, slightly nerdy image every non-Tesla electric car seems to carry...
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What will happen to US fuel-economy rules to 2025? Take our Twitter pollEven the automaker lobbying group didn't go this far in their complaints about emission and fuel-economy rules for vehicles in the 2022 through 2025 model years. When the Obama Administration approved final EPA emission rules for those years, the automakers complained that the comment period had...
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Mini Electric Concept revealed in Frankfurt auto show debut (updated)We've known since last July that an all-electric Mini Cooper will go into production in 2019. Now, we can see the first renderings of the car that will make its official debut at the Frankfurt auto show in two weeks. The Mini Electric Concept is recognizable as the three-door hardtop version of the...
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Electric E-Type Zero, Frankfurt EV concepts, Jaguar I-Pace races, who's electrified now? Today's Car NewsToday, it's all about media days at the Frankfurt motor show. We've got concepts and production cars from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen, a new EV racing series from Jaguar, and even an electric conversion of the sexiest car ever built. All this and more on Green Car Reports. The Mercedes-Benz...
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Media days at this week's Frankfurt motor show seemed to be all about electric cars and concepts, from mass-market brands like Volkswagen to luxury makers like Mercedes.
Jaguar Land Rover, however,...
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Which company's electric-car success will surprise us? Poll resultsPredicting the future is always hazardous, but for the auto industry, this is a particularly uncertain time. Four trends—electrification, connectivity, autonomy, and sharing—are coming together in a whirlwind that could rearrange the industry and its businesses within a decade or two...
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Volkswagen ID Crozz electric crossover concept updated at Frankfurt showGermany's giant VW Group has said, several times, that it will have 30 different electric cars on sale globally by 2025. Over the last year, it's unveiled three different Volkswagen ID electric-car concepts, two of them thinly disguised versions of future production models for 2019 and 2020. Now...
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Mercedes-Benz GLC F-Cell EQ Power plug-in hydrogen crossover launches at FrankfurtIt's a plug-in hybrid crossover, but it doesn't have an engine. It's a hydrogen fuel-cell SUV, but it has a feature no other hydrogen-powered car offers. It's the Mercedes-Benz GLC F-Cell EQ Power, launched Tuesday at the Frankfurt motor show. DON'T MISS: Mercedes-Benz GLC to offer world's first...
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BMW i Vision Dynamics Concept previews all-electric four-door sedanIf concept cars are meant to grab attention, then the BMW i Vision Dynamics Concept—an all-electric sedan that debuted Tuesday at the Frankfurt motor show—may have fulfilled its mission. With the huge, vertical twin-kidney BMW grille also seen on the BMW X7 SUV concept, the smaller...
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Mercedes-Benz Concept EQA small electric hatchback debuts in FrankfurtFollowing various teaser images, the Mercedes-Benz EQA concept for a compact all-electric hatchback made its debut on Tuesday at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show. It's a preview of what will become a volume production car around 2020, competing against numerous 200-mile hatchbacks of the same size...
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2018 Leaf range, Honda plug-in hybrid, used VW diesels, Texas fossil fuels: Today's Car News John VoelckerToday, we've got news on a pair of Honda hybrids, a remarkable announcement on the future of cars out of China, an explanation of how Texas exacerbated its hurricane damage, and a philosophical...
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2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid rated at 47 miles of rangeWhile there will be three distinct powertrains offered in the Honda Clarity mid-size sedan, most U.S. shoppers will only ever see one of them on sale. That's the plug-in hybrid, which will go on sale "later this year" as the sole Clarity to be offered at all Honda dealers. Now the 2018 Honda...
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2018 Nissan Leaf: does it pioneer the 'mid-range' electric car?With the 2018 Nissan Leaf due to arrive at U.S. dealers in four or five months, next year is shaping up to be a very interesting test of what buyers want in battery-electric cars. Much of the focus has been on the new car's range rating, projected to be 150 miles combined when it's confirmed by the...
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China developing timetable to end sales, production of gasoline carsThe auto industry has now grudgingly accepted that battery-electric cars will make up some portion of the world's new vehicles in years to come. But a milestone in that trend may have come today, in news from China. Policy makers in the world's most populous country, and largest car market, are...
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Mazda SkyActiv-X engine, 2018 Nissan Leaf, electric-car sales, Mercedes concept: The Week in ReverseWhich two prototype cars did we drive in Japan and report on this week? How many hundreds of thousands of miles have several electric cars now covered? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, September 8, 2017. Friday...
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2018 Leaf sales goal, advertising electric cars, Uber bans diesels, Lexus NX hybrid: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got clever new ads that highlight how electric cars should be sold, an Uber ban on diesels in London, a sales goal for the 2018 Nissan Leaf, and more about next week's Frankfurt auto show. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Mercedes-Benz released another teaser image of the EQ A...
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After lavish launch events around the world, the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car will go on sale next month in Japan and early next year in North America.
The second generation of the world's...
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New 'EVs are better' ads: how electric-car marketing should be donePeople buy electric cars for many different reasons, only one of which is the environment. Others include their quieter, smoother performance; the immediate torque; the desire to have the very newest and most advanced technology; and the lifetime cost savings. These diverse motivations apparently...
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Uber to go all electric or hybrid in London by 2020, ban diesels, add clean-air fee to ridesUber has announced it will require its 40,000 drivers in London to switch to hybrid or fully electric cars, and ban diesel vehicles from its fleet, by the end of 2019. By the end of 2021, it will extend that policy throughout the United Kingdom, where it presently operates in 40 cities. Uber said...
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Latest image shows shape of Mercedes EQA compact electric car for Frankfurt showGerman luxury maker Mercedes-Benz has released another teaser photo of the electric-car concept it will reveal next week at the Frankfurt auto show. That vehicle will be the Mercedes EQA Concept, a compact electric hatchback that's one of several concepts that preview future products as the company...
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Engines vs motors, Mazda's SkyActiv-X engine, Niro Plug-In, electric-car sales: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got a pair of stories on internal combustion, covering Mazda's innovative and fuel-efficient new SkyActiv-X engine and a dismissive comment on electric cars from a Japanese CEO. Also, a new Twitter poll to take and an update on U.S. plug-in electric car sales. All this and more on...
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Mazda's SkyActiv-X: diesel fuel economy from gasoline engineThe internal combustion engine, now more than 200 years old, will be with us for a long time to come yet. Powering more than 1 billion vehicles on the planet and almost 100 million new ones each year, it is the default way to move vehicles along the world's roads. With its carbon emissions now...
John Voelcker