Mark Stevenson, Contributing Writer
Articles
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BMW is breathing some fresh air into its three-year-old alternative flagship to improve performance, increase range, and add some style.
Revealed at the 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show, the i8's update...
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Virginia state-tax rebate up to $3,500 for electric-car purchase dies in subcommitteeVirginia is for lovers—and electric-car advocated had hoped that it would soon be for lovers of electric cars and plug-in hybrids, too. A bill proposed in mid-January by Virginia House Delegate David A. Reid [D-32nd] would have granted a state-tax rebate of up to $3,500 to buyers of plug-in...
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NHTSA to investigate Tesla Model S on Autopilot that hit parked fire truck on freewayInvestigators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are scheduled to examine the crash of a Tesla Model S that hit a fire truck parked on a California freeway. The driver claimed the Model S was operating with Tesla's AutoPilot functionality turned on, according to a tweet sent by...
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Exxon and climate change: two lawsuits, in opposite directions, on same groundsOne of the world's largest oil producers is about to enter a tit-for-tat battle over climate change with government officials from multiple states. New York, Massachusetts, New York City, and a slew of cities in California have brought multiple lawsuits against oil producers for a lack of...
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Ford Model T: what was its fuel economy, really?In a recent video posted to YouTube, environmental advocacy group The Sierra Club dialed up production values to call out Ford's lobbying efforts to roll back fuel-economy standards. The video showed a man getting into a modern-day Ford, starting the engine, then noting the shift lever had an array...
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What's the right ratio of public charging stations to plug-in electric cars sold?Electric vehicles still make up just a tiny slice of the vehicles on the road across the United States. Still, with impending regulations and more longer-range electric vehicles soon to arrive, governments far and wide recognize the need to encourage the installation and growth of public charging...
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A state at the forefront of U.S. electric-vehicle adoption has set an ambitious goal of nearly 1 million plug-in electric cars on its roads by 2030.
Colorado, which counted 13,000 electric vehicles...
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California talks to DC regulators on emission, fuel-economy rules Trump wants to cutAs automakers await the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's new fuel-economy rules for 2022 through 2025, due March 30, regulators from California and Washington are still hammering out the specifics. A meeting between state and federal regulators on fuel-economy and emissions targets...
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2020 Jaguar XJ luxury sedan to be reborn as all-electric Tesla Model S competitorAlmost since the two legendary British brands were brought together in 1998, Jaguar has played second fiddle to its sibling Land Rover. The maker of traditional, sporty British sedans was left in search of a mission as increasingly upscale Land Rovers and even pricier Range Rovers proliferated...
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Volkwagen ID electric cars need names, but do these two work?Volkswagen continues to invest heavily in a future of plug-in electric vehicles as it attempts to clean the diesel soot from its face following its emissions-cheating scandal. Part of that initiative is coming up with new names for upcoming all-electric models to be sold under its ID electric...
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How many billions are going into electric cars, globally? Guess the number...Countries around the world—especially China, France, the U.K., and Norway—are aiming to phase out the sale of new fossil-fuel vehicles entirely between 2025 and 2040. So it's in automakers' best interests to begin planning and investing now in vehicle lineups that will comply with that...
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More efficient gas engines as well as electric cars required to cut carbon emissionsAs nations, automakers, and utilities contemplate how to tackle climate change in real terms, a perfect storm of competition is brewing that will—ideally—produce positive change for the rest of us. Automakers and electric utilities have been incentivized to build electric vehicles and...
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The forthcoming diesel-powered 2019 Chevrolet Silverado will, without a doubt, thump with the Heartbeat of America.
During the new truck's launch at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in...
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What maker offers electric cars, plus solar panels and energy storage, beside Tesla?While Tesla may be the automaker most known for marketing home-solar equipment, it's actually not the only player on the block. Japanese automaker Nissan previously offered home-energy storage solutions in Europe, dubbed Nissan xStorage, that utilized cells recycled from Nissan Leaf batteries...
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PG&E launches program to install 7,500 electric-car charging stations in CaliforniaFinding a charging station will soon get a lot easier—at least in California. America's largest electric-vehicle market will see a significant boost in the number of available charging stations in the state following an investment by its largest electricity producer. Electricity provider...
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How Silicon Valley startup boosted MPG in 2019 Chevy Silverado pickup truckIt looks like GM's investment arm, GM Ventures, has borne some real-world, fuel-saving fruit. Sophisticated engine-control algorithms under the hood of the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado full-size pickup truck, which make the truck's V-8 engines more efficient, came from work done by a company in which...
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Partnerships, incentives to get India to 2030 fossil-fuel vehicle banAfter announcing it would ban the sale of fossil-fuel vehicles by 2030, the world's second-most populous country plans to support that goal through private and corporate partnerships and government incentives. India's decision to end fossil-fuel sales in the country comes with unique challenges...
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What you need to know about electric-car namesake Nikola TeslaThis month marks the 75th year since the death of famed inventor and and electrical innovator Nikola Tesla, a man whose life is as interesting as his technical achievements. Tesla, a Serbian who was born in what's now Croatia, brought the world numerous innovations in electricity that, to this day...
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With Volkswagen having left a gaping void in the North American market for diesel vehicles, other automakers are taking a chance at exploiting the fuel for their own market-share gains.
The latest...
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Number of electric cars California needs to cut 2030 emissions unclear: 4 million or 7 million?
One of California's largest electricity producers recently published a white paper that analyzed how the state will achieve its 2030 greenhouse-gas targets—and it called into question targets set forth by California regulators. Specifically, Southern California Edison (SCE) said the targeted...
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Fisker EMotion: here's why we're skeptical about Fisker's latest electric carAfter the rise and fall of Henrik Fisker's former automotive venture, a number of analysts and enthusiasts are skeptical about his newest company—Fisker, Inc.—and its first creation, the EMotion electric sedan. It's not hard to see why. The second company bearing the Fisker name has...
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Mazda tops EPA fuel-efficiency rankings for fifth year in a rowPick-ups and SUVs are rapidly taking over the American automotive landscape, but there's at least one measure in which it benefits an automaker to sell fewer of those vehicles. In the Environmental Protection Agency's latest "Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel...
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Ferrari, Infiniti: Even laggards, skeptics come round to electric carsBack in 2013, Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo proclaimed, "I don’t believe in the electric cars"—all but solidifying the automaker's position for the future. Even as recently as 2016, current Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne called the possibility of an electric Ferrari "an...
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China plug-in electric vehicle sales in 2017: almost four times those in the U.S.Compared to previous years, overall car-sales growth in the U.S. has all but plateaued at around 17.5 million. China is doing little better, with growth reaching just 3 percent for 2017. But the Chinese new-vehicle market is undergoing a seismic shift in which types of cars are sold. Want proof?...
Mark Stevenson