John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
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There's been a lot of conventional wisdom floating around lately.
In this case, it's the notion that electric car sales will plummet with the arrival of vastly lower gasoline prices.
We'd suggest...
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Small SUV Drives, Tesla Love Letter, Why Electric Cars Succeed: The Week In Reverse (Video)Which two small SUVs were the subject of our drive reports this week? And what prompted one Tesla owner to write an unqualified love letter about his new car? This is our video look back at the Week In Reverse--right here at Green Car Reports--for the week ending on Friday, December 12, 2014...
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What's The Best Electric Car To Buy For The Average Consumer?Automotive journalists often use each other as information sources, or to get reality checks on new material. Recently, a colleague asked, "If auto journalists had the choice of only driving electric, which production electric car would you purchase--and why?" Which seemed like an excellent topic...
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2015 Chevrolet Trax: First DriveThe U.S. market is about to see a wave of new small utility vehicles, adding new subcompact SUV models below the hugely popular compact crossover utility segment. The 2015 Chevrolet Trax, which goes on sale next month, is one of those--and it'll be joined this year by the Honda HR-V and the Mazda...
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Electric Cars Win For 4 Reasons, Says Nissan's Carlos GhosnIt's hardly a secret that Nissan is by far the world's biggest seller of electric cars, and that its foray into the field four years ago was the work of its CEO, Carlos Ghosn. Now Ghosn has laid out the four reasons that he believes electric cars are being adopted--and will continue to do so in the...
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2015 Honda CR-V: Gas Mileage Test Of Updated Crossover SUVThe Honda CR-V has been one of America's most popular compact SUVs for many years now, and for 2015, it's received a number of updates to keep it competitive. As well as styling updates and improvements to the interior, the 2015 Honda CR-V features an updated engine and a new continuously variable...
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Your mileage may vary, as the saying goes.
But it turns out that real-world fuel efficiency in European cars varies considerably more from official ratings than in the U.S.
And some car brands are so...
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Electric Cars Can Stabilize Utility Grid Via V2G, Study ShowsUsing plug-in electric cars as temporary energy storage and supply sources can stabilize the grid, a new study has found. A fleet of electric vehicles represents a large distributed array of storage batteries to an electric utility, potentially attractive for smoothing grid variations. Those cars...
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The Passion Of The Tesla: One Owner's (Unprompted) PaeanPeople who buy new cars generally like and enjoy them during the first months or years of ownership. Many Tesla owners, however, seem to love their cars with a deep, abiding, even overwhelming passion. This is one such story. A longtime personal friend and his partner recently acquired a 2014 Tesla...
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BMW Launches Flexible Mobility Program For i3 Electric CarIt's not a new idea, but it's one that carries a certain allure: Let the buyers of an electric car borrow a different vehicle for those few times a year when they need to travel long distances. Loaner programs have been offered by a number of electric-car makers, including Fiat for its 500e car in...
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Are Hybrids Being Supplanted By Electric, Plug-In Hybrid Cars?Late in October, an interesting thing happened in Germany: Audi quietly killed off the hybrid version of its A6 luxury sedan. The model had been around for three years, and though it was initially expected to be sold in the U.S., that never actually happened. DON'T MISS: Californians Now Buy A...
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Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Vehicle News From Los Angeles Auto ShowThe biggest news in zero-emission vehicles at last month's Los Angeles Auto Show was the formal introduction of the 2016 Toyota Mirai. But several other companies made news in the hydrogen fuel-cell market as well. Here's our brief roundup of the hydrogen stories we covered in LA. 2016 Toyota Mirai...
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Which new small car did we drive this week?
And what unexpected health benefit might there be to owning an electric car?
This is our video look back at the Week In Reverse--right here at Green Car...
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2015 Ford Mustang With EcoBoost Four Recalled For Fuel-System FixThe 2015 Ford Mustang not only includes V-6 and V-8 models, per longstanding tradition, but also a new turbocharged four-cylinder EcoBoost version. Now, the first four-cylinder Mustang in more than 20 years is being recalled to inspect and fix a possible issue with its fuel system. DON'T MISS: 2015...
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How Much Money Does The 2016 Toyota Mirai Lose? A Lot, PerhapsAll automakers expect to lose money at first when they launch expensive new powertrain technologies. But if one European official with deep experience in alternative-fuel infrastructure is right, the 2016 Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell sedan may be losing its maker quite a lot of money indeed...
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Plug-In Electric Car Sales In Nov: Leaf Grows, Volt Wanes (FINAL UPDATE)Sales of plug-in electric cars continued at a steady pace in November, reflecting continued strong vehicle sales of all types in the U.S. market. The Nissan Leaf set a new November record at 2,687 cars sold, its 22nd straight month of sales increases year-over-year, while the Chevy Volt delivered...
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Californians Now Buy A Plug-In Electric Car For Every 2 HybridsThe difference between electric cars and "electrified" cars has tripped up numerous reporters, carmakers, and analysts over the years. Electric cars plug into the wall and power their wheels, partly or fully, with an electric motor running on energy from a battery pack. "Electrified cars," on the...
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China Overtook U.S. In Monthly Electric-Car Sales Two Months AgoChina has been the world's largest auto market for several years now, with 18 million passenger cars and another 4 million commercial vehicles sold there last year. But until recently, sales of plug-in electric cars have lagged those in the U.S. (whose market seems likely to be around 17 million...
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Financial and other incentives are widely viewed as a good way to kickstart the adoption of new green vehicles, largely to compensate for their higher prices against conventional gasoline cars.
But...
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BMW Unveiled Not Just One, But Three Plug-In Hybrids Last WeekIf there was any doubt that we'll see a spate of new plug-in hybrids over the next few years, a set of three different announcements from BMW last week should put that to rest. The Bavarian maker of "ultimate driving machines" launched a long-wheelbase 5-Series sedan for China with a plug-in hybrid...
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UPDATED: 2016 Chevrolet Volt To Launch In January: What We Know So FarFor most of 2014, there was very little news about the Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car, and its sales in 2013 and 2014 have been stagnant at roughly 2,000 cars a month. The most recent item of note was a $5,000 price reduction on the 2014 Volt in August 2013, to bring it closer to the...
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Gas Prices To Plunge More After Oil Price Falls To 4-Year Low?Oil prices are at their lowest levels in four years, and retail gasoline prices are likely to follow--more or less. Thursday, while the U.S. celebrated its Thanksgiving holiday, oil prices fell 7 percent after OPEC announced it would leave production levels unchanged, according to CNN. The price of...
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BMW To Phase Out Combustion Engines When? 10 Years, Analyst ClaimsIt's a vision that seems like something from a future century: a carmaker preparing to phase out combustion engines altogether. The notion that an entire brand could walk away from the hydrocarbon-fueled engines that power more than 1 billion vehicles on our roads--and have done since 1885--is...
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Volkswagen Passat HyMotion Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Vehicle Prototype: Brief DriveThe 2016 Toyota Mirai may have been the biggest news in hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles at last week's Los Angeles Auto Show, but it wasn't alone. VW Group brought two fuel-cell prototypes to the show's green-car ride and drive program, and we spent 15 minutes driving one. DON'T MISS: Volkswagen Golf...
John Voelcker