John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
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Why did one buyer call visiting his local Chevy dealer "a trip down memory lane"?
And what new vehicle launch did we guess right about, way back in January?
This is our video look back at the Week In...
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The Five Most Ignorant Media Myths About Electric CarsWe spend more time than we probably should in grumbling at media coverage of plug-in electric cars. Journalists try to get it right, in general, but often the specific and complex issues around electric cars, who buys them, and how they're really used get lost or ignored in general reporting. At...
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IL Suspends Clean-Car Rebates; GA Tax Credit In Trouble Too; Texas Next?State tax credits and purchase rebates have proven effective in kickstarting the early market for plug-in electric cars and other green vehicles. But they don't last forever, as buyers in Illinois and Georgia are learning; the Ilinois program has been suspended, and Georgia seems likely to kill off...
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Tesla Store Helpful, Enthusiastic; One Chevy Volt Dealer, Not So MuchIt's long been known that getting some car dealerships to sell plug-in electric cars can be a challenge. Now, one reporter tested the thesis for himself, by visiting both his local Tesla store--to inquire about the Model S electric luxury sedan--and his local Chevrolet dealer, to ask about the Volt...
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Why We're Calling The 2016 Chevy Volt A Plug-In HybridSince the launch of the Chevrolet Volt almost five years ago, a battle has raged over what to call it. Is it a range-extended electric car, as GM strongly preferred, or a plug-in hybrid as others insisted equally forcefully? GM's goal in calling the Volt a "range-extended electric" car was to...
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2016 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid To Launch At New York Auto ShowIt took a bit longer than expected, but Toyota will launch a hybrid-electric version of its popular RAV4 compact crossover utility vehicle at next week's New York Auto Show. The company sent out a teaser photo this morning, showing the rear of a RAV4 with badges saying "Hybrid" and "Limited" on the...
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The 2016 Mercedes-Benz GLE may seem like a new model, but in fact it's the renamed sport-utility vehicle we used to know as the ML-Class.
And the company has released details of the full range of...
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Dear Tesla: Car And Driver's Hilarious Take On Why Car Dealers Are AwesomeAh, satire. From Jonathan Swift's "modest proposal" to MAD Magazine in the formative years of many pre-teen boys, it serves as a bracing reminder of the absurdity of life. Fast forward to the ongoing state-by-state battles between Tesla Motors and lobbyists for state and national car-dealer...
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Chrysler Plug-In Hybrid Minivan To Bring Company Full CircleWe know very little about the plug-in hybrid version that Fiat Chrysler will launch sometime after the new 2017 Chrysler Town & Country minivan is unveiled next year. But while a spate of plug-in hybrid SUVs and crossover utility vehicles is just about to enter the U.S. market, only Chrysler...
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DeltaWing Road Car: 57 MPG Combined, Four Seats, No Electric MotorThe idea of an all-electric Nissan BladeGlider sports car now seems to be somewhere between delayed and defunct, but the narrow-front delta-wing shape continues to intrigue and challenge vehicle designers. First unveiled in 2010 as a pure race car, an engine-driven DeltaWing car even competed in...
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Tesla Model X: Video, Spy Shots Of Prototype Testing On CA RoadsThe Tesla Model X should be arriving in buyers' driveways within six months, if the company keeps to its latest schedule and starts delivering the all-electric SUV in the third quarter of this year. But Tesla Motors is being uncharacteristically quiet about its next model line, saying it'll simply...
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Lease Extensions For Honda Fit EV, Two Years At $199 A Month, To Be OfferedWith the first three-year leases of Honda Fit EVs now set to end in June, drivers of Honda's only electric car have been wondering what will happen to their cars now. Many of them would like to hang onto the cars. While Honda won't let them buy the car, the company has decided to offer those...
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With the 2012 departure of Suzuki from the U.S. market, the title of "most challenged" automaker probably passes to Mitsubishi.
While it's backed by a huge Japanese conglomerate, it's a tiny player...
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Gas Mileage Rules For 2025 Could Be Lowered If Buyers Stick With SUVsThus far, automakers appear to have had little trouble meeting the corporate average fuel economy rules that started for 2012 vehicle and will rise steadily through 2025. The general consensus so far is that carmakers have been able to raise their EPA ratings with a combination of tactics that...
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Green Car Reports App: Now Available For Apple iPhone, iPad UsersYou've been asking for it, and we've been listening. You want to read Green Car Reports on your Apple iPad, maybe even your iPhone, and you want a native app that runs seamlessly with iOS to do it with Wait no longer: Our app is now here. The powers that be at Apple have approved it, and it's ready...
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Group Buy Of Fiat 500e Electric Cars Ignites 'Feeding Frenzy,' 100-Plus BoughtSuppose you could get a new electric car for $83 a month--and its running costs per mile were only a fraction of what a gasoline car would in fuel. That'd be almost a free car, right? Indeed, the allure of such a deal added to the viral nature of the Internet led to sales of roughly 100 Fiat 500e...
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2016 Hyundai Tucson Shows Two Different Hybrid Concepts In GenevaThe new 2016 Hyundai Tucson will arrive later this year, but not all of its variants will be offered in the U.S. At the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month, Hyundai showed off two hybrid models we likely won't see: a 48-volt mild hybrid and a plug-in hybrid, both of them fitted with diesel...
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Dyson Invests In Solid-State Battery Startup Sakti3 To Bring Cells To MarketAdvanced battery technology startup Sakti3 has received a further round of investment capital to help bring its solid-state cells to market. A new investor, British vacuum-cleaner maker Dyson, invested a total of $15 million and signed a joint-development deal with the company. Existing funders...
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The BYD e6 wagon is the battery-electric car that never quite made it onto the U.S. market.
Despite various plans and announcements over the last five years, the e6 was never offered for retail sale...
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2018 Nissan Leaf, Chinese Tesla Rival, Chevy Volt Capability: The Week In Reverse (Video)Why did Tesla really open its only battery-swapping station for electric cars? And what's the next Nissan Leaf going to be like? This is our video look back at the Week In Reverse--right here at Green Car Reports--for the week ending on Friday, March 13, 2015. Friday, we summarized what we know so...
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Ethanol In Marine Fuels: Why It Makes Boat Owners So AngryFew topics get our commenters more riled up than ethanol. Both sides weigh in with fervor and passion, debating energy security versus agricultural policies and costs, comparing studies on wells-to-wheels carbon dioxide profile versus the impact on older engines, and more. But marine users in...
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Charging A Tesla In China: One Owner's Creative, Dangerous HookupIt has not been easy going in China thus far for electric-car maker Tesla Motors. Among the many challenges of selling its cars in that country are a lack of public-charging infrastructure and a Chinese charging standard that differs from any other standard in the world. Even more challenging, far...
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Tesla Battery Swapping: Useful Service Or Minimal Effort For Extra Income?Tesla Motors has been opening its Supercharger DC fast-charging stations at a dizzying pace lately, with 175 U.S. sites operating, and almost two dozen more either in construction or permitted. Globally that total is almost 400 sites, which likely represents more than 2,000 separate outlets. But...
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2017 Audi Q7 e-Tron Plug-In Hybrid Will Be Gasoline, Not Diesel, For U.S. And ChinaNo diesel hybrids are now sold in North America, but diesel enthusiasts have lately been salivating over the Audi Q7 e-tron quattro diesel plug-in hybrid formally launched at the Geneva Motor Show. Sadly for those TDI fans, Audi will limit that model to European sale. Both North America and China...
John Voelcker