John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
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Plug-in hybrid truck costs, where dirty diesels go to rest, emissions from what now? Today's Car News John VoelckerToday, we visited the place where old, non-compliant VW diesels go to rest, we have some surprisingly good news on auto emissions, and the cost of plug-in delivery trucks is clearly coming down. All...
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Cars now clean enough that household products rival them for air pollutionThe first major emission controls on motor vehicles were introduced in 1975 with the advent of the catalytic converter. Today's cars emit less than 1 percent of the three "criteria" pollutants that came out of their tailpipes half a century ago. They emit relatively so little carbon monoxide...
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UPS says 50 Workhorse plug-in hybrid trucks cost no more than regular delivery vansFor almost a decade, commercial-fleet managers have acknowledged that electric truck are much cheaper to run per mile than the diesel equivalents they now use. But justifying the purchase of electric trucks has been a challenge because their upfront costs have been considerably higher. That may now...
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2019 VW Jetta gas mileage, India's electric cars, Accord Hybrid MPG, Smart EQ: Today's Car NewsToday, we're still cleaning up our list of stories from last week's Geneva auto show, including an electric-car admission and a disappointing debut, along with fuel-economy ratings for the 2019 VW Jetta sedan and this year's new Honda Accord Hybrid. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Over the...
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Underestimating electric cars was a mistake (in China), says FCA's MarchionneFiat Chrysler Automobiles has large challenges, even nine years after it was formed when the Italian company Fiat took over the bankrupt U.S. maker Chrysler. While its Jeep and Ram truck brands are doing well, it sells only three passenger cars in North America above the subcompact category, all of...
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2018 Honda Accord Hybrid rated by EPA at 47 mpg combinedThe EPA has now released the fuel-efficiency ratings for the 2018 Honda Accord Hybrid, and they came in 1 mpg below the combined number the company had hoped to reach. At a drive event last fall, Honda said it hoped the redesigned Accord Hybrid could manage the same fuel-efficiency ratings as last...
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Two years ago, the government of India proposed a remarkable and ambitious goal: make every new vehicle coming onto its roads electric by 2030.
The plan was largely a response to some of the world's...
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How 2019 Volkswagen Jetta inched up its EPA fuel-economy ratingsWhile plug-in electric cars get lots of media attention, they remained just 1 percent of U.S. vehicle sales last year. And while the Trump Administration appears dead-set on rolling back emission limits and fuel-economy requirements established years ago, that effort will undoubtedly face lengthy...
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Mercedes-Benz EQ electric car Geneva debut was...a rebranded Smart carUnveilings for several key new electric cars were expected during the media days for last week's Geneva auto show. The Jaguar I-Pace made its formal debut, and the Audi e-tron appeared in camouflage as a sort of full-size teaser display. But there had been word from Mercedes-Benz that it would...
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More ways to get $10K off BMW i3 electric car: new utilities add discountHow badly do you want to buy a BMW i3 electric car? Initially, it looked like you'd have to move to areas of California where Southern California Edison would be your electric utility. But soon enough, those areas expanded to other parts of California, some areas of New Jersey where PSE&G...
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Electric cars in Geneva, Tesla Model 3 quality, new Toyota hybrids, EVs get cleaner: The Week in ReverseWhat new electric cars were unveiled at this week's Geneva auto show, and which one appeared only in camouflage? How did we assess the build quality of the Tesla Model 3 we finally got to drive? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week...
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Cleaner electric cars, Mercedes diesel plans, new Corolla hatch, green-car deals: Today's Car NewsToday, we've got our monthly roundup of green-car deals, a first look at a Toyota Corolla Hybrid (that we may not get), an interview with Daimler's CEO, and good news about electric cars—which got even cleaner in the U.S. last year. Again. All this and more on Green Car Reports. An interview...
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Not a lot has changed since last month: Buyers continue to move from passenger sedans to crossovers and trucks, and gasoline remains relatively cheap.
That means you can pick up some bargains...
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Electric cars got even cleaner in a year, new grid data showsMore good news about electric cars in the U.S.: the emissions associated with the electricity used to charge them have fallen. Again. Based on the latest data on powerplant emissions from the EPA, an electric car on the road in the U.S. now has average emissions as low as an 80-mpg car. DON'T MISS...
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2019 Toyota Corolla Hybrid hatchback debuts in Geneva for EuropeRemember hatchbacks? Actually, come to think of it ... remember passenger cars? You know, the sedans and wagons and hatchbacks that don't have all-wheel drive and aren't jacked up 6 to 9 inches off the ground? They used to roam this fair land of ours, but lately, they seem to have been routed by...
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Model 3 quality (bad), more Bolt EVs (good!), diesel debate, Audi e-tron: Today's Car News (yesterday's too)Today, we've got a double dose of news to make up for not sending one yesterday. Stories include more Chevy Bolt EV production, dreadful Tesla Model 3 quality, and continuing debate over diesel amid more bans of the oldest, dirtiest diesel cars. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Our apologies...
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Tesla Model 3 quality is terrible, but will it matter to buyers?So we've finally had the chance to spend time with a 2018 Tesla Model 3, courtesy of a generous and devoted Green Car Reports reader. We'll have our first-drive report and a full review of the car within a day or two—but that's not what this article is about. The build quality of the early...
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Rome joins European ban-diesel bandwagon after German court rulingFirst Paris, then a pair of German cities, and now the Eternal City. Two weeks ago, the mayor of Rome announced on her Facebook page that the city would ban diesel cars altogether by 2024. It's not clear whether the ban applies solely to the older, most-polluting diesels as it does already in...
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Over the years, we've noted the paucity of solid data on the intersection of home solar energy and driving plug-in electric cars.
A California-only study from 2012 still gets quoted occasionally, and...
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Audi e-tron electric SUV appears in camouflage at Geneva show, on city roadsThe Geneva auto show was expected to offer the first head-to-head comparison between the first two all-electric SUVs models from European luxury brands, both starting deliveries later this year. It didn't quite work out that way. The 2019 Jaguar I-Pace did indeed debut last Friday, before media...
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Mixed messages on future of diesel at Geneva auto showYou can smell the diesel exhaust in any city in Europe, sometimes even before you hear the clatter from under the hood of every other passing vehicle. The Volkswagen diesel scandal that broke in September 2015 brought a laser focus to the software used in all diesel engines, and their inability to...
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VW ID Vizzion, second Porsche Mission E, electric Lagonda, Jaguar I-Pace U.S. prices: Today's Car NewsToday, virtually all our news is from the Geneva auto show, where high-end brands gather to unveil their latest concepts and production models—lots of them electric this year. We've got news from Aston Martin, Jaguar, Porsche, and Volkswagen, plus a new Twitter poll. All this and more on...
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2019 Jaguar I-Pace electric crossover priced from $70,495 in U.S.The 2019 Jaguar I-Pace, the brand's first-ever production electric car, made its debut last Thursday before the Geneva auto show. At that time, only U.K. pricing was given—but on Tuesday, Jaguar released the U.S. price for the electric crossover utility vehicle that goes on sale sometime this...
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Which electric car is your favorite? Take our Twitter pollThis week's Geneva auto show has seen lots of news about new electric cars, but almost all of them come from luxury brands. The 2019 Jaguar I-Pace has made its debut, Aston Martin announced its Lagonda brand would be dedicated to all-electric vehicles, and so forth. That's all very nice, but what...
John Voelcker