John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
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Yesterday morning, the state of California held a hearing on proposed rules governing self-driving cars.
Both automakers and Google objected to the regulations as written, saying that the requirement...
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Electric Corvette, BMW plug-in hybrid, Subaru prices, flow-cell car driven: Today's Car NewsToday, predictions on electric car sales, a new luxury plug-in hybrid sedan, why electric cars exist, and another zero-emission vehicle that would require huge infrastructure spending. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Haven't ordered your Tesla Model 3 yet? The company says new orders won't...
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Which plug-in electric car will sell best next year? Poll resultsSales of plug-in electric cars were essentially flat in the U.S. last year compared to 2014, and this year isn't necessarily going to be much better. Part of that is due to product cadence: the Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S, two of the top-selling cars in previous years, are now relatively old...
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Audi e-tron, Bolt EV nominee, self-driving safety, Prius vs Fit: Today's Car NewsToday, a name for a future electric car, an energy debate in a small state, and a possible way to turn greenhouse gases into vehicle fuel. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We first saw the Audi e-tron Quattro Concept at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show. Now we learn the production electric car...
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Fuel from emissions? Catalyst converts carbon dioxide to ethanolAt least in North America, ethanol is a contentious fuel. A decade ago, it was seen as a homegrown and carbon-neutral way to use less gasoline—and federal legislation mandated that increasing volumes be blended into U.S. fuel supplies. Much debate followed over using "food for fuel," its...
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Green Car Reports 2017 Best Car To Buy nominee: Chevy Bolt EVThe announcement of the Chevrolet Bolt concept car came like a thunderclap at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show. After unveiling the 2016 Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid, General Motors CEO Mary Barra rolled out a bright orange five-door hatchback electric car. It would have 200 or more miles of range, she...
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Suppose you're one of the world's three largest automakers.
You don't offer a type of vehicle that a relatively small but highly visible customer in your home market wants.
Do you have the right to...
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Tesla safety, Prius Prime ratings, fuel-cell history, Model 3 electric range: The Week in ReverseWhich U.S. carmaker is moving to capitalize on Volkswagen's diesel woes in the U.S. market? What did Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk challenge us to do? (And when we did it, what did we conclude?) This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week...
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2017 Toyota Corolla: first drive of updated compact sedanThe Toyota Corolla has been almost the default compact sedan among North American buyers for what seems like decades now. In good years, more than 350,000 are sold to retail and fleet buyers in the U.S., and they're part of the automotive landscape in even the reddest states of the union. The...
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Atieva Atvus electric car image emerges; is it Tesla competition?There's no shortage of putative rivals to electric-car maker Tesla Motors, from German luxury makers to other California startups. Thus far, of course, none have actually put a car on sale—unlike Tesla, which has sold somewhere north of 125,000 cars since 2008. One of the least-known is...
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What will be the most unexpected thing about Tesla Model 3? Poll resultsThree long-range electric cars at affordable prices will move the industry forward over the next year or two. The Chevy Bolt EV is within several weeks of arriving at the first dealers that will carry it, and a second-generation Nissan Leaf should go into production by the end of next year. That...
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2017 Toyota Highlander Hybrid: brief drive of updated three-row SUVThe 2017 Toyota Highlander Hybrid remains the only three-row hybrid crossover utility vehicle sold in the U.S. today. And for the 2017 model year, it's gotten some mild updates. a power increase, and a critical feature for family vehicles: a total of five USB ports. We had a chance to spend half an...
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The 2017 Honda CR-V compact crossover utility vehicle was unveiled today, featuring more fuel-efficient powertrains, evolutionary styling ... and a volume knob for the radio.
That latter detail may...
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A Tesla version dies, electric Mini coming, Chevy Cruze Diesel, baffling infotainment: Today's Car NewsToday, two Tesla stories, a new diesel, a future electric Mini, and a look back at half a century of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. All this and more on Green Car Reports. With its new Chevrolet Cruze Diesel, Chevy thinks it can appeal to diesel-loving buyers left stranded by VW's pullback after its...
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Hydrogen cars celebrate half a century; have they made a difference?Electric cars are virtually as old as the auto industry, but hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles are not. In fact, exactly fifty years ago this month, GM showed off the first one, which it called the Electrovan. This remarkable and innovative prototype for a zero-emission vehicle used the body of an...
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Does Tesla have plant, permits to build 500,000 electric cars a year?The 2017 Chevy Bolt EV is due at dealers within a couple of months, and little is known about the next Nissan Leaf. That leaves the Tesla Model 3 as the biggest question mark among electric cars. We know what the car is, since Tesla unveiled prototypes this spring. It's whether the company can get...
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Which country or region will make the most electric cars in 2025? Poll resultsPlug-in electric cars are going to be a bigger part of the vehicle mix in future than they have been to date. That much is abundantly clear. Electric cars are one of four significant forces that will likely change what we think of as an "automobile" forever, the others being autonomy, connectivity...
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German upper house asks EU to ban new gas, diesel car sales by 2030Last week, the German Federal Council adopted a bipartisan measure that would ban the sale of new vehicles with internal-combustion engines in the country after 2030. While its actions only apply within Germany, language in the measure asks the European Union to ensure that sales of such cars are...
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For 2016, the model year just ending, the Nissan Leaf electric car got a larger-capacity battery for all but its lowest trim level.
The Leaf SV and SL models this year have been fitted with a...
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Chevy Bolt EV allocations: dealer in California gets electric-car updateAs its new electric car gets closer to public sale, General Motors has apparently made its first allocations of 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EVs to Chevy dealers. The news comes via a posting on the GM-Volt forum from a southern California dealership. Rick Alpern, the general manager of Keyes Chevrolet in...
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At 133 MPGe, Toyota Prius Prime wallops BMW i3 on energy efficiencyMove over, BMW: there's a new efficiency champion in town this year—and you'll have to give back that laurel wreath you've worn since 2014. Last week, final EPA fuel-efficiency results were released for the 2017 Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid. When running in all-electric mode, that car is...
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Prius Prime first drive, Paris electric cars, Bolt EV review summary, Best Car To Buy: The Week in ReverseWhich cars are the final nominees for our 2017 Best Car To Buy award—and which ones didn't make the cut? What was the new Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid like on our first chance to drive it? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the...
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Could future VW Beetle return to rear (electric) powertrain?As any experienced journalist knows, you hear lots of good stuff in the corridors and private conversations of any large industry event where media are present. That applies to auto shows too. Which is how we came to hear an intriguing rumor about the possible production direction of the...
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Which green cars didn't make the cut for Best Car To Buy award?We have a slim field of only three new green cars this year competing for the Green Car Reports 2017 Best Car To Buy award. They are the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, the 2016 Tesla Model X, and the 2017 Toyota Prius Prime. There's a much longer list of new vehicles that didn't make the cut this year;...
John Voelcker