John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
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As spring arrives, sales of plug-in electric cars have traditionally risen from their winter levels.
During the months of May through August, monthly sales are usually among the highest of the year.
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Chevy Spark EV Electric Car Sales Suddenly Surged; Here's WhyIt was one of the major electric-car news stories last month: Sales of the Chevrolet Spark EV electric minicar soared to 920 in April. The electric Spark had consistently sold at around 100 cars a month since its June 2013 launch. And it was widely considered to be a compliance car: one sold only...
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Tesla Model S, Three Years Later: What Electric Car Taught UsThree years ago today, the very first production Tesla Model S electric luxury sedan was delivered to its buyer. That would be Silicon Valley venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, who's also a Tesla board member. The delivery took place, on a weekend, as soon as the Model S had been fully certified...
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Kitten Rescued From Tesla Model S Electric Car Motor: VideoTesla Motors and its Model S electric cars get a lot of attention, especially on the Internet. And kittens? Well, cute-cat pictures are a staple of modern connectivity. Rescuing kittens? Even better! Now, to our delight and amazement, we've got a story that ties both of them together. DON'T MISS...
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2015 BMW 740Ld xDrive Diesel: Fuel Economy ReviewFor long road trips, there are few better ways to travel than in a large German luxury sedan with a diesel engine. We learned that lesson three years ago, when we tested a Mercedes-Benz S-Class diesel, and now we've had a chance to drive its BMW counterpart as well. DON'T MISS: 2012 Mercedes-Benz S...
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The History Of Tesla Motors And Its Electric Cars, In Only 2 Minutes Of VideoElectric-car startup Tesla Motors attracts huge interest, lots of controversy, and truly passionate customers and followers. For a company that's been around only a little more than 10 years, it's got a lot of history. Now, a video from Bloomberg Business distills that history down into a mere two...
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The all-new fourth-generation Toyota Prius is getting closer and closer to launch, as witnessed by an increasing number of spy shots of prototypes testing all over the world.
Two weeks ago, a heavily...
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Why Electric Cars Are Rare Outside CA: Arcane 'Travel Provision' RuleThe sparsity of cars with plugs has been one of the biggest frustrations for Northeastern electric-car shoppers and advocates. While California buyers can choose among roughly two dozen different battery-electric and plug-in hybrid offerings, just a handful are available outside the state. And...
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Tesla Vs Golf Carts, Mirai Showroom, Fiat 500e Vs Beloved BMW: The Week In Reverse (Video)Which cities have two groundbreaking new showrooms for two different zero-emission vehicles? And, what do wild bison, deer, and foxes have to do with one reader's Toyota Prius hybrid? This is our video look back at the Week In Reverse--right here at Green Car Reports--for the week ending on Friday...
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Tesla Not Disruptive, VW Beetle Hybrid, Electric-Car Recharging Race: Today's Car NewsWe update our look at plug-in hybrid sales, discuss an article claiming Tesla Motors isn't a disruptor, and tell you all about a hybrid VW Beetle we drove yesterday. All this and more today on Green Car Reports. The Kentucky Derby it ain't, but the E-Mazing Race III across Canada lets electric-car...
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CA Green Stickers All But Gone; Q1's Plug-In Hybrid Sales Suffered This Year: UPDATEAll good things must come to an end, and so it is with the green stickers that give plug-in hybrid drivers access to California's freeway carpool lanes with just one person in the car. A total of 70,000 stickers were allotted, and the supply is now almost exhausted. A bill to allocate 15,000 more...
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Tesla Not Disruptive, Future Is Tiny Electric 'Golf Carts': Harvard ScholarFriday's the day we use for the stranger and more oddball stories in our lineup, and one of the more unusual we've seen in a while comes from Harvard University. It's an article--actually a handful of articles--covering research by a scholar of "disruption" who argues that Silicon Valley startup...
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A large red electrical shutdown switch inside a car says it all: You're driving a prototype.
New York City passers-by who looked approvingly at our shiny bronze Volkswagen Beetle Dune concept car...
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Tesla Door-Handle Update, Ford Patents, Fiat Vs BMW: Today's Car NewsWe look at why used electric cars are becoming a thing, Ford's intellectual-property announcement, and 40 years of artistic BMWs. All this and more today on Green Car Reports. Three years and more have passed since modern electric cars went on sale, meaning used electric cars are about to get big...
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One Man's Fiat 500e Electric Car Might Get Him To Sell His BMWIt's been said before, but the only way to understand why electric cars are a better way to drive is to drive one. The shorthand for that rule is "getting butts in seats." That's the process of putting inexperienced drivers behind the wheel of modern plug-in vehicles to let them experience the...
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Tesla Model S Door-Handle Failures Still Plague Electric Car, Consumer Reports Learns: UPDATEIt is one of the more remarkable features of the Tesla Model S electric luxury sedan: door handles that retract flush with the body until needed. But the retracting door handles proved tricky in practice; owner of early Model S cars reported that quite a lot of them had to be replaced under...
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Ford Opens Electrified-Vehicle Patents, Adds 200 Engineers To Work On Hybrids, ElectricsFord Motor Company announced this morning that it would open its portfolio of patents related to electrified vehicles--meaning both hybrids and electric cars--to competitive automakers. The Dearborn, Michigan, company says its goal is to "accelerate industry-wide research and development of...
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New Smaller Commercial Vans Do Well Due To Fuel EfficiencyYou can save a lot of money by improving the fuel economy of larger and thirstier vehicles, especially if they cover lots of miles each year. That's why business owners are usually considered to be more rational vehicle buyers than retail customers: The fleet vehicles often consume twice the fuel...
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We look at vacation car-rental dilemmas, state electric-car fees, and yet another innovation from California carmaker Tesla Motors. All this and more today on Green Car Reports.
Tesla takes a page...
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Electric-Car Future Is Coming, Just More Slowly Than Predicted: ConsensusIt's been no secret that President Obama's goal of 1 million plug-in electric cars on U.S. roads won't be met by the end of this year. That's the goal he announced on the campaign trail toward winning his first term in 2008. The actual number is likely to be perhaps 400,000 or so; the 1-million...
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Tesla Brings Electric-Car Popup Stores To Summer Resorts: Santa Barbara, Hamptons
So-called popup stores are an increasingly common way for retail brands to get media attention and attract new customers, without the expense of building and staffing a full-time location. Now California carmaker Tesla Motors is extending the concept to bring its luxury Model S electric car to...
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2016 Hyundai Sonata Hybrids, BMW And Mirai Showrooms, Germy Gas Pumps: Today's Car NewsWe look at the latest hybrid and plug-in hybrid sedans from Hyundai, consider two standalone showrooms for advanced green vehicles, and ask if a gas pump may be the single germiest thing you touch in public. All this and more today (and over the long U.S. holiday weekend) on Green Car Reports...
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LG Chem Adds Chinese Great Wall Motors Plug-In Hybrids To Its Battery ClientsSouth Korean battery maker LG Chem continues to be on a roll, signing up automakers left and right that plan to use its lithium-ion cells in new electric cars. The latest to join the roster that includes Audi, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, Hyundai, Renault, Smart, Volkswagen, and Volvo is the Chinese...
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First Standalone BMW Electric-Car Sales Facility Opens--In CA, Of CourseElectric cars are still a rarity in most of North America, and for that matter most of the world. But California, which has led automotive trends pretty much since the Second War, is different. Electric cars are increasingly popular there, and they're becoming positively commonplace in Silicon...
John Voelcker