John Voelcker, Contributor
Articles
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Nikola hydrogen semi deposits, EV around the world, climate forecast grim, EPA sloppy: Today's Car News John VoelckerA startling announcement from a zero-emission truck maker, some grim news on climate change, sloppiness from the Trump administration's EPA, and a quixotic round-the-world electric-car trip. All this...
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Pruitt's EPA emission rollback reasoning may well fail in courtDespite the sturm und drang around the announcement by embattled EPA chief Scott Pruitt that he will relax emission limits for 2022 through 2025 vehicles, not much will happen immediately. His determination last week that the Obama administration was "incorrect" and that the limits on those...
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Bolt EV vs Tesla, Jaguar I-Pace drive, Kona Electric info, Model 3 production: The Week in ReverseHow many Tesla Model 3 cars did the company make and deliver during the first quarter of this year? Why did one reader trade in his year-old Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car for a used Tesla Model S? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week...
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Pruitt's EPA decision: 38-page intention vs 1,217 pages of analysisWhile the name of EPA administrator Scott Pruitt is often preceded by "embattled" these days, his agency is now on record as rejecting its own recommendation of just 16 months ago. It concluded in July 2016 that the auto industry had handily met lower carbon-emission limits from 2012 through...
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2018 Hyundai Ioniq Electric "Unlimited" subscription more limited this yearWhile global demand for the Hyundai Ioniq Electric appears to be strong, supplies have remained limited. The battery-electric compact hatchback, rated at 124 miles of range by the EPA, forgoes the "weird styling" of contenders like the previous Nissan Leaf. In the U.S., however, the all-electric...
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Smart to go all-electric worldwide by 2020: Daimler CEOThe U.S. sales history of the Smart two-seat minicar started with a bang in 2008, when gasoline prices soared, and has waned since then. A complete redesign of the little ForTwo in the 2016 model year, with the Cabrio soft-top following for 2017, didn't do much for sales. That led parent company...
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In January 2007, Jaguar dropped a bombshell, in the form of the C-XF concept sedan it unveiled at that year's Detroit auto show.
The sleek, fastback shape, simple rectangular grille with recessed...
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McKinsey summarizes state of the art, latest trends in electric carsOver the seven years modern, mass-priced electric cars have been on sale, various bits of wisdom have emerged among their fans, advocates, and owners. One might be how much battery range is "enough" to prevent drivers from worrying constantly about whether they need to charge. Another might be...
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Why I traded my Chevy Bolt EV for a Tesla: one reader's storyAs a nation, the U.S. takes lots of road trips, because most of the country has no viable mass transit between city pairs. If electric cars are ever to enter the mass market in North America, they have to be usable on those road trips. Last year, our reader Jay Lucas of Alexandria, Virginia, wrote...
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Kona Electric info, context for EPA plan, CX-5 Diesel MIA, China learns from California: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got an apt pupil (China) learning from the master (California), a diesel crossover that's MIA, our context to keep perspective on the EPA's announced plans to let cars emit more, and some new info on the 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric. All this and more on Green Car Reports. California...
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5 things about the 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric we learned at the NY auto showAfter a Detroit auto show that was about little except pickup trucks and a new Jeep, followed by a tepid Chicago show, New York proved to be relatively rich in interesting new green cars. The standout was clearly the 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric, the 250-mile battery-electric small hatchback that...
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8 things you should know about EPA plan to let cars emit more (cutting fuel economy as well)EPA administrator Scott Pruitt said yesterday the agency plans to modify rules limiting carbon-dioxide emissions for light-duty vehicles in model years 2022 through 2025. The agency, he said, had reached a determination that the limits put in place in 2012 under the Obama administration were...
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It's the mystery model, the all-but-legendary vehicle still just beyond reach, years after its maker first announced plans to offer diesel engines.
Specifically, it's the diesel version of the Mazda...
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What China learned from California about getting electric cars on its roadsIn the U.S., California has long been viewed culturally as the crazy, free-spirited cousin. As Californians like to point out, their state of 40 million people is also the world's sixth-largest economy all by itself. Resolutely progressive, it has regulated vehicle emissions for five decades and...
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Plug-in electric car sales for March: Prius Prime romps, monthly data an endangered species? (update)The monthly report on sales of plug-in electric cars may well have come to a close this month. General Motors, makers of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Volt, said it will only release sales figures quarterly starting after its Tuesday release of deliveries for the month of March. Interestingly, the...
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Model 3 production update, Prius Prime stomps Chevy, are monthly sales a goner? Today's Car NewsToday, we've got last month's sales numbers for plug-in electric cars (and a possible obituary for monthly sales data), a broken promise from Tesla on Model 3 production, and our latest Twitter poll. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Our latest Twitter poll asks our followers whether they...
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Tesla Model 3 production crossed 2,000 last week; is it sustainable?Tesla reported Tuesday that it built 34,494 electric cars in the first quarter of 2018, by far its largest quarterly production total ever. But all eyes were on one number: the production of Model 3 sedans, which was 9,766 vehicles out of that total. Of the rest, 11,730 were Model S hatchback...
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Will electric cars grow faster or slower than expected? Take our Twitter pollInnovative technology in the auto industry—turbochargers or catalytic converters or disc brakes, say—tends to launch in high-end vehicles and filter down to the mass market over many years, often decades. Technology tipping points in society happen more rapidly and become indispensable...
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Electric Mini Classic, 33rd hydrogen station, Leaf batteries, Jaguar I-Pace drive: Today's Car News John VoelckerToday, we've got some history on a Classic Mini converted to all-electric, more efforts from China's government to promote plug-in cars, a new hydrogen station in California, and a (very short) first...
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Nissan Leaf refurbished batteries offered for older electric cars, in JapanWith more than 300,000 Nissan Leaf electric cars on the road, some more than six years old, battery degradation is becoming more and more of an issue. The different rates of capacity loss are a topic of much discussion among Leaf owners, but it now seems likely that Nissan's choice of passive air...
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China plans to standardize electric-car tech nationally to expand its global leadSales of plug-in electric vehicles in China were almost four times those in the U.S. last year, and the gap is expected to widen this year. The world's largest car market is engineering a massive shift over the next two decades away from cars with combustion engines toward battery-powered cars. It...
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California now has 33 hydrogen fueling stations for 4,200 fuel-cell cars so farHydrogen fuel first went on sale in California in January 2015, more than three years ago, though it had been dispensed free at a dozen or so prototype locations before that. Five years ago, the state set a goal of 100 hydrogen fueling stations throughout the state by 2020, a deadline that now...
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Classic Mini converted to electric previews 2019 Mini E to comeWith a new, all-electric Mini E set to arrive in dealerships in a year or less, BMW wants to highlight the idea of a Mini Cooper powered by batteries. That's what led it to display an "old Mini" converted to electric power at a reception before last week's New York auto show. Sadly, the car wasn't...
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NY show debuts, 250-mile Kona Electric, Insight hybrid details, Leaf battery fade: The Week in ReverseWhich plug-in hybrid concepts and production electric cars debuted at the New York auto show? What words were EPA staff told to use to sow doubt about climate change and its effects? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on...
John Voelcker