John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
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As more battery-electric cars are sold and more drivers become aware of them, the question of battery life recurs among pretty much every potential buyer.
How long will the battery last? Will I have...
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Plug-in electric car sales for Aug: Bolt EV leads Prime, Volt lower (updated)The Chevrolet Bolt EV continued a steady sales rise last month as it solidified its position among the top three plug-in electric cars for which monthly U.S. sales are reported. In August, Chevy delivered 2,107 Bolt EVs, the first time the car had sold more than 2,000 units in a month after...
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Which company's electric-car success will surprise us? Take our Twitter pollSometimes the competition among global automakers can seem like watching a professional sports league. Powerhouse teams—GM, Renault Nissan, Toyota, VW Group, the four largest global makers—compete against each other as well as against smaller, scrappier upstarts with devoted and loyal...
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2018 Nissan Leaf debuts, CA's dirtiest diesels, plug-in hybrid future, nervous Big Oil: Today's Car NewsToday's news is dominated by the global debut of the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric cars, and we've got full details, prototype drive impressions, and a nine-point cheat sheet. Also, news on California's dirtiest diesels and thoughts on the future of plug-in hybrids. All this and more on Green Car...
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How important will plug-in hybrids be in 2025? Poll resultsCar shoppers may not be buying huge numbers of all-electric cars yet, but they largely understand how they work. It's a car, you plug it in to charge a battery, it runs on the battery, end of story. Plug-in hybrids are far harder to explain—are they short-range electric cars? are they...
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Nine things you should know about the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric carThe simulcasted global events are over, the cars have been driven back out of the arenas, and electric-car fans are evaluating the new 2018 Nissan Leaf that was unveiled to the world last night. We've covered both the details of the car and our preliminary drive impressions from testing a...
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When visiting an automaker's proving ground to drive cars still under development, security is extensive.
Cameras have to be left on the bus, all phone lenses have to be covered, and documents...
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2018 Nissan Leaf debuts: 150 miles for $30,875, 200-plus miles in 2019The spy shots, teaser photos, rumors, and feverish speculation can all be put behind us. The 2018 Nissan Leaf hatchback has debuted, and we can now see every facet of the second generation of the world's best-selling electric car. The compact five-door's 40-kilowatt-hour battery is projected to get...
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Electric-car sales, 2018 Nissan Leaf reality, high-mile Teslas, Frankfurt debuts: Today's Car NewsTonight, the 2018 Nissan will make its long-awaited debut. We've got some U.S. sales statistics to set the stage, as well as our August plug-in sales report, a pair of high-mileage Teslas, and a host of news from the upcoming Frankfurt auto show. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Over the...
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As 2018 Nissan Leaf arrives, data on US electric-car market offers reality checkThis evening, the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car will make its long-awaited debut at events in Tokyo, Las Vegas, and elsewhere around the world. The Leaf remains the world's highest-volume electric car, with more than 280,000 of the first-generation cars delivered since December 2011 (112,000 of...
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Sporty BMW i3s, electric Mini, diesel jail sentence, tougher emission testing: The Week in ReverseWhich huge company challenged the public to "read the documents," only to get bitten when two researchers did exactly that? What new and updated electric cars will appear at the Frankfurt auto show? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the...
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Electric-car sales, tough new EU emission tests, two different electric trucks: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got electric trucks and more electric trucks, some tough new tests for European emissions, and our monthly plug-in sales report too. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Cummins is an old and traditional name in diesel truck engines, but its electric semi tractor concept stole a...
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Europe's tougher new emissions, fuel-economy tests should be closer to real-world results John VoelckerFuel-economy ratings for cars sold in Europe have long been wildly unrealistic, sometimes more than 30 percent more optimistic than real-world consumption figures.
Today, that will change.
As of...
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Cadillac XT5 hybrid, plug-in hybrid owners, Frankfurt auto show: Today's Car NewsToday, the Cadillac XT5 hybrid breaks cover, we ask about plug-in hybrid owners, we turn to the Frankfurt auto show, and discuss CA and VW's mitigation funds. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Cadillac revealed the XT5 mild-hybrid in China at the Chengdu auto show. We asked what happens to...
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What happens to plug-in hybrids over time? Take our Twitter pollLast week, for the first time, we reminded regular readers about our regular Twitter poll in an article announcing the question of the week. That article seems to have earned us about three times as many responses as in previous polls, so we're going to make it a regular practice henceforth. This...
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Autonomous electric truck, China plug-in sales, Mini Electric Concept, Tesla boring: Today's Car NewsToday, the electric Mini concept breaks cover, Chinese electric-car sales surge, used batteries offer fast charging, and why boring suits Tesla. All this and more on Green Car Reports. BMW revealed renderings of the Mini Electric Concept that will debut at the Frankfurt auto show in two weeks. How...
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Diesel demand drops, 2018 BMW i3 updates, Exxon lied for decades, Tesla wins in court: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got the updates to the 2018 BMW i3 electric car (including the sporty new i3s), an analysis that implicates Exxon, a court win for Tesla, and dire details on used diesel demand. All this and more on Green Car Reports. A week before they debut at the Frankfurt auto show, we now have...
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Exxon knew climate change was real, ads told public it wasn'tSometimes it's best not to dare the public to do the research, especially if you're trying to persuade them of something that isn't true. Almost two years ago, Inside Climate News published a significant expose that confirmed Exxon's own scientists had agreed that human carbon emissions contributed...
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Last year, China's BYD sold more plug-in electric cars than any other company in the world.
That includes General Motors, Nissan, and Tesla.
Now GM has launched the Chevrolet Bolt EV, the...
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2018 BMW i3 electric car range adds sportier i3s versionWhile the 2018 BMW i3 will formally debut next week at the Frankfurt auto show, the company has released details ahead of time on the updates to the lineup of its compact electric car. While battery range stays the same as last year, a new i3s model (for Sport) has been added, with revised...
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Diesel drama, Nissan battery sale, VW jail time, electric-car charging: Today's Car NewsToday, we ended up with two separate stories on the Volkswagen diesel scandal, Nissan sold its electric-car battery unit, transparent solar moonroofs may be coming, and we explain why you should think about hot dogs. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Over the weekend, we summarized last...
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Electric cars and public charging: hot dog and bun, not chicken or egg?It's an old cliche used to indicate an unsolvable problem: which came first, the chicken or the egg? Sometimes it's applied to the challenge of electric-car charging stations: which comes first, sales of the cars or installation of public charging to support them? Well, Jeff Allen isn't having any...
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Nissan has sold electric-car battery unit AESC to Chinese investor GSR (updated)With the global introduction of the second-generation Nissan Leaf electric car due next week, one open question concerns the source of its battery cells. To date, Automotive Electric Supply Corporation—a joint venture between Nissan and Japanese electronics giant NEC—has supplied...
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VW engineer gets 40 months in jail, $200K fine, for diesel cheating roleFormer Volkswagen employee James Liang was sentenced in Detroit on Friday to serve 40 months in prison and pay a $200,000 fine for his role in the global Volkswagen diesel-emission cheating scandal. It was a stiffer sentence than expected for an engineer who helped to create software that...
John Voelcker