John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
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Craving Teslas, BMW On Hydrogen, Old-Car Gas Mileage Myths: The Week In Reverse (Video) John VoelckerWhat do Russia and Texas turn out to have in common?
And, how many electric cars did China build, just in June alone--and why isn't it quite as major as it sounds?
This is our video look back at the...
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China Built 25,000 Electric Cars & Plug-In Hybrids In June AloneThe Chinese vehicle market is now the world's largest, and has been for a few years now. And the country's government-industrial complex has ambitious plans to dominate global production of plug-in electric vehicles, both for reasons of competitiveness and as one effort to start to reduce its...
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BMW Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Prototypes Now Testing, Production "Sometime After 2020"As the cost of advanced technologies to reduce the carbon footprint of vehicle travel rises, car companies have increasingly partnered to share those technologies and their costs. Now BMW has shown the first hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle prototypes from its partnership of several years with Toyota...
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Plug-In Electric Car Sales In June: Leaf, Volt Wane After May Surge: FINAL UPDATENew cars and trucks are selling at a blistering pace in the U.S. right now, adding to a seventh consecutive year of volume growth for the industry. But with half the year gone, sales of plug-in electric cars are in something of a holding pattern despite a surge last month, pending the launch of two...
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Will Future Tesla Model S Top Toyota Mirai's 312-Mile Range?Hydrogen fuel-cell cars today have many similarities to electric cars. Both employ advanced zero-emission powertrains that power the wheels with electric motors, both cost more to buy than gasoline cars of the same size, and both represent only a tiny fraction of today's car market. The main...
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Modern Cars Vs Chevy Chevette: Gas Mileage Much Better TodayIt's a regular and recurring theme in comments on Green Car Reports: "Yeah, maybe the new 2016 something-or-other gets 31 mpg combined, but so what? My 20-year-old Geo Metro gets 40 mpg and I've put 280,000 miles on it! New cars are all stupid!" When we have the time or inclination, we often...
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Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid 'No Longer Available,' Infiniti QX60 Twin Vanishes Too: UPDATED John VoelckerFour months ago, we inquired about the fate of the Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid.
That version of the popular seven-seat family SUV, with a 2.5-liter four and a mild-hybrid system replacing the usual...
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Longer-Range Leaf, 67 MPG Cross-Country Run, Cruze Hybrid Possible: The Week In Reverse (Video)
Which car averaged 67 miles per gallon on renewable fuel during a recent cross-country run? And, how many Model S electric cars did Tesla Motors deliver during its second quarter? This is our video look back at the Week In Reverse--right here at Green Car Reports--a day early, for the week ending...
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Tesla Delivers 11,500 Electric Cars Globally From April Through June, It SaysKeeping to its promise of releasing quarterly global sales totals in a timely fashion, Tesla Motors announced its second-quarter delivery totals this morning. According to the Silicon Valley carmaker, it delivered 11,507 Model S luxury electric cars from April 1 through June 30. That is its highest...
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2016 Nissan Leaf Range To Top 100 Miles, August Launch Possible: ReportRumors of a longer-range battery for the 2016 Nissan Leaf have been percolating for a while now. Nissan has steadfastly declined to answer questions about the next model year of the world's most successful electric car, but at least one report now suggests that a revised Leaf is imminent. DON'T...
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HyperSolar Nears Voltage Needed For Solar Hydrogen ProductionWhat's so magical about 1.5 volts, you may ask? It turns out that it's the practical voltage required to produce hydrogen gas from water using artificial photosynthesis, powered only by solar energy, at commercial scale. At least, that's the claim of a startup company called Hypersolar, which two...
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Chevy Cruze Hybrid Coming Soon To Join Diesel, Gasoline Models?Sometimes a few words can make all the difference. In last week's seminars and presentations on the new 2016 Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan, GM discussed its 1.4-liter turbocharged gasoline engine and gave a few scant details on a future 1.6-liter diesel model as well. But the company also suggested...
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Three years ago, Volkswagen announced that it was testing two different types of renewable diesel fuel in a pair of its TDI diesel-engined cars sold in the U.S.
Now, the company says it has finished...
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2016 Chevy Cruze, Tesla Charging Confusion, 250-Mile Leaf: The Week In Reverse (Video)Which huge global carmaker seems to have gone all Occupy Wall Street in its messaging? And, what higher-range electric car in development now has its very own video? This is our video look back at the Week In Reverse--right here at Green Car Reports--for the week ending on Friday, June 26, 2015...
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GM Targets Tesla With 200-Mile Bolt EV Mantra: 'For Regular People, Not Elites'If we heard it once, we heard it a dozen times this week. The upcoming Chevrolet Bolt EV 200-mile electric car is "for regular people, not for the elites." You'd almost think that General Motors had adopted the "1 Percent" meme that appears to be the lasting legacy of Occupy Wall Street. DON'T...
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Nissan Leaf With 250-Mile Range: Ghosn Shows R&D Car, Video At Annual MeetingWhile Chevrolet beats the drum for the Bolt EV 200-mile electric car it will likely launch before the end of next year, Nissan has been relatively quiet about its plans to upgrade the Leaf's current 84-mile range to compete. But at yesterday's annual meeting, a relatively conventional-looking Leaf...
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GM Shows Chevy Bolt EV Electric-Car Prototypes Testing: VideoWe learned very few new details about the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV today, but General Motors released a development video that will likely excite fans and potential buyers of the 200-mile electric car. The bulk of today's GM media presentation is about the 2016 Chevy Cruze, to be unveiled tonight...
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Elio Motors Offers Shares To Public In 'Crowdfunding' Investment QuestWhen Paul Elio said in April that his startup carmaker, Elio Motors, was pursuing crowdsourced funding, most journalists likely imagined sites like Kickstarter or GoFundMe. In fact, the investment opportunity is slightly more formal than that. Elio needs to raise roughly $230 million to start...
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released proposed standards that would further boost the fuel efficiency of heavy-duty trucks and buses, starting in the 2021 model year and running...
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Do Tesla, Panasonic Differ Dramatically On Growth Of Electric Car Batteries?
The rate of sales growth for electric cars may be the greatest unknown in the auto industry as companies prepare to spend billions of dollars on new products. Electric-car startup Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] projects annual sales to increase by 50 percent for years to come. Other makers, industry...
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Small Cars Now Deliver Fuel Efficiency of Big Motorcycles: How'd That Happen?How are fuel-efficient are some of today's smaller cars? It turns out that they now actually equal the fuel economy of larger motorcycles--which is pretty amazing for a four-seat vehicle weighing more than a ton. Especially since the motorcycles returning comparable gas-mileage figures weigh about...
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Why Next Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid Is So Important: CA LawsThe 2015 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid has the lowest electric range of any plug-in vehicle sold in the United States: just 11 miles. It's also among the top-selling cars that plug in, with more than 40,500 delivered since it went on sale in February 2012. Now out of production, the plug-in Prius...
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BMW To Make Whole Lineup Electric, With Range Extenders, AWD: ReportGerman carmaker BMW may be on the cusp of the most radical transformation in its history--one that will stun the auto industry if it comes to pass. If a report from early this year is accurate, the company plans to convert the bulk of its product lineup to electric power over the next 10 years...
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Germans & Electric Cars, Prius Spy Shot, Biofuel Effects: Today's Car NewsGermany's in the news today, as are its carmakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Three different stories cover the country's plug-in electric cars. Then there's a new spy-shot photo of the next Toyota Prius hybrid, and a look at the impact of biofuels on oil consumption. All this and more today on Green...
John Voelcker