John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
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Often there seems to be no middle ground in discussing electric-car maker Tesla Motors.
The challenge of reading large volumes of Tesla coverage is that it tends to be either sharply negative or...
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VW needs gigafactories, 2018 Leaf pricing poll, CA rebates halt, 235-mph electric car: Today's Car NewsToday, our followers speculate on the price of a 2018 Nissan Leaf, Volkswagen says it'll need dozens of battery gigafactories, California electric-car buyers wait for cash, and Faraday Future's future looks grimmer. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We asked our Twitter followers what they...
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Combustion engines: high emissions from short commutes a huge challengeDrivers in the U.S. have longer commutes than those in Europe and Asia, on average. In the U.K., short commutes in vehicles with combustion engines—whether gasoline or diesel—pose particularly tough emission problems. That's because the exhaust aftertreatment systems have to warm up...
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California electric-car rebates out of cash again; legislature neglected to fund themIncentives for the purchase of a plug-in battery-powered vehicle continue to be a powerful motivation to get new buyers to consider electric cars. The federal income-tax credit of $2,500 to $7,500 has long been supplemented by various state programs, including a purchase rebate in the crucial...
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If 2018 Nissan Leaf has 200-mile range, what will it cost? Poll resultsAt the moment, the Tesla Model 3 is getting lots of media attention and electric-car buzz now that the company says its first production car has rolled out of the factory—even if features, specs, and pricing isn't yet known. Meanwhile, the 238-mile Chevrolet Bolt EV is at roughly 9,000 cars...
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Model 3 photos and video, Trump on energy, FF 91 at Pikes Peak, Bolt EV sales: Today's Car NewsToday, we look at video and photos of the first production Tesla Model 3, sales of the Chevy Bolt EV 238-mile electric car, VW executives' knowledge of their diesel cheating, and the departure of a faithful and much-loved Model S. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Over the weekend, we ran...
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Last month, 1,642 Chevrolet Bolt EV 238-mile battery-electric hatchbacks found buyers, enough to take the Bolt's six-month aggregate to 7,592 deliveries all told.
It was the latest and highest in a...
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2017 Tesla Model 3 in pilot production: Musk tweets photos of first car (updated with video)The 2017 Tesla Model 3 has apparently entered pilot production, following a pair of photos tweeted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The caption on the first of the two photos, this one black-and-white, says simply, "First production Model 3." The second photo, tweeted 40 minutes later, is in full color but...
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Volvo electrification; Eco mode hazard; Tesla sales, safety disappoint, Model 3 soon: The Week in ReverseWhich country plans to ban the sale of gasoline and diesel vehicles altogether by 2040? What caused Tesla to slam the respected Insurance Institute for Highway Safety? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, July 7...
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Tesla's Q2 2017 deliveries fall slightly due to 100-kwh battery shortage (updated)Tesla delivered slightly more than 22,000 electric cars during the second quarter of the year, split between roughly 12,000 Model S hatchback sedans and about 10,000 Model X crossover utility vehicles. That total is more than 50 percent higher than the comparable April-June number for 2016, but...
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Hey, media, get it straight: "electrified" is NOT "electric," and the difference mattersOK, reporters of the world, it's time for a little chat. We know—believe me, we know—that you are cranking out a whole lot of copy, with much less support than you used to have, on far tighter deadlines, to feed a voracious, anonymous online audience whose clicks get you paid. But it's...
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Bolt EV road trip, electric vs electrified, truck emissions, Oregon incentive: Today's Car NewsToday, electric-car sales in Canada, a new purchase rebate in Oregon, the importance of heavy-truck emissions, an ambitious EV road trip, and a car that drove itself off its own production line. All this and more on Green Car Reports. June's plug-in electric car sales for Canada are now in, and...
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It's taken a while, but Oregon will now have a state electric-car purchase incentive that largely matches those in its neighbor to the south, California.
First discussed several years ago, the idea...
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Tesla vs IIHS, French ban on engines, Non-British Minis, California EV cash: Today's Car NewsToday, France will mandate zero-emission cars, Rolls-Royce will skip hybrids, California wants to put more tax money toward electric cars, and Tesla fights with the IIHS over Model S safety. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Tesla touts its accomplishments enthusiastically, but sometimes it...
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France plans to ban all gasoline, diesel vehicles by 2040To most North Americans, the idea of banning all vehicles with internal-combustion engines seems unthinkable. Filling up with gasoline (or diesel) is as American as are dispersed low-density suburbs without mass transit, bike paths, or even sidewalks. Europeans, more of whom live in cities and most...
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Tesla slams IIHS after 'Acceptable' Model S test, older NHTSA ratings cited in responseTesla slams IIHS after 'Acceptable' Model S test, cites older NHTSA ratings in response
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Army fuel-cell Chevy, all-electrified Volvos, Tesla deliveries, Eco setting a hazard? Today's Car NewsToday, we've got Tesla sales reports, a first ride in a hydrogen-powered military vehicle, why the 'Eco' setting could be hazardous to your health, and a manufacturer teaser shot of a very-long-awaited plug-in sports car. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Yesterday, we reported on Tesla's...
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Plug-in electric car sales for June: Volt passes Prius Prime, Bolt EV rises againIn May, the Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid was the highest-selling car with a plug in the U.S. for only the second time ever. Last month, however, the Chevrolet Volt recaptured its usual spot at the top of the plug-in sales charts for those manufacturers who report monthly sales. Chevy sold...
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As corporate average fuel economy requirements that started in 2012 continue to tighten, automakers have turned to an entire arsenal of tactics to reduce the fuel their vehicles burn.
Downsized and...
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China revises electric-car incentives to reward longer rangesIt's long been official policy for China that the country's automakers will become the world's highest-volume producer of electric cars. (It also intends to dominate lithium-ion battery cells and photovoltaic solar panels, for the record.) But the government policies and incentives to achieve that...
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Tesla Model 3 deliveries, EPA climate nonsense, better electric motors: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got some long-awaited Tesla news, two discouraging reports on energy and science from Trump's government, and some promising technology for longer range in electric cars. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Over the weekend, we ran down the most important green-car stories from...
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Trump EPA to hold unneeded 'critique' to challenge climate scienceThe best analog to EPA administrator Scott Pruitt's latest action might be for the U.S. Geological Survey to undertake a "scientific critique" of theories that the world is round. After all, numerous authoritative sources over the years have raised doubts that the Earth is not flat. Surely their...
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Tesla Model 3 production to start Friday, deliveries July 28As he had promised he would late one evening last week, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has tweeted out some updates on the upcoming Model 3. He expects first production Model 3 electric car, with serial number 001 ("SN1"), to be completed this Friday, July 7. The first 30 customers to buy Model 3s...
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Aston Martin RapidE electric luxury sedan delayed to 2019 as Williams replaces Le EcoAmong electric-car owners and advocates, tiny British sports-car maker Aston Martin has become a company to watch. That's largely due to its CEO for the last few years, Andy Palmer, who had previously led product development at Nissan while it launched the Leaf electric car. Palmer had ambitious...
John Voelcker