Eric C. Evarts, Contributor

Eric Evarts has been bringing topical insight to readers on energy, the environment, technology, transportation, business, and consumer affairs for 25 years. He has spent most of that time in bustling newsrooms at The Christian Science Monitor and Consumer Reports, but his articles have appeared widely at outlets such as the journal Nature Outlook, cars.com, US News & World Report, AAA, and TheWirecutter.com and Alternet. He can tell readers how to get the best deal and avoid buying a lemon, whether it’s a used car or a bad mortgage. Along the way, he has driven more than 1,500 new cars of all types, but the most interesting ones are those that promise to reduce national dependence on oil, and those that improve the environment. Well, OK, compared to some old jalopy they might replace.

Articles

What past name should Ford revive for a future electric vehicle? Twitter poll results Eric C. Evarts March 6, 2019

From the Tesla Model Y to two upcoming Audis, the electric SUV looks to be the next big automotive trend. Like children, they'll all need names.

Perhaps the most anticipated, if least known, is...
Piëch electric car claimed to charge as fast as a fill-up
There's fast charging and then there's fast charging. Automakers seem to be in a race to develop lithium-ion batteries for EVs that can charge faster than the half-hour currently required for electric cars, and a new Austrian startup founded by the great grandson of Ferdinand Porsche plans to lead...
Eric C. Evarts March 6, 2019

Honda plans all-electrified lineup for Europe by 2025
At the Geneva auto show on Tuesday, Honda announced plans to bring a fully-electrified lineup to Europe by 2025. That's different, of course, than selling only fully electric cars. The plan includes hybrids, such as the CR-V Hybrid that Honda sells in Europe now, as well as plug-in and fully...
Eric C. Evarts March 6, 2019
Audi Q4 e-tron previews brand's first affordable electric SUV
Audi's plans to take on Tesla in the electric-car market aren't limited to the upcoming e-tron quattro electric SUV. Like Tesla, Audi has at least two electric SUVs in the works, and it previewed the second one at the Geneva auto show on Tuesday. The second model follows the established protocol of...
Eric C. Evarts March 5, 2019
Tesla Model Y, VW Buggy, Kia Imagine, Pininfarina Battista: Today's Car News
With the announcement that the Tesla Model Y will debut next week, we run down everything we know. Now that Tesla has released the whole Model 3 lineup, our Twitter poll asks which one readers would buy. At the Geneva auto show, VW reveals its electric ID Buggy, Pininfarina finally unveils its new...
Eric C. Evarts March 5, 2019
Which Tesla Model 3 would you buy? Take our Twitter poll
Now that Tesla has announced the full lineup of the Model 3 (more or less), we thought it was time to ask our readers which version they would buy. Last Thursday, Tesla announced that it will begin building the long-awaited $35,000 base, or Short Range Model 3. As CEO Elon Musk has promised since...
Eric C. Evarts March 5, 2019
Iconic Italian name revived for Pininfarina Battista show car in Geneva Eric C. Evarts March 5, 2019

With an infusion of cash from Indian auto giant Mahindra, storied Italian automaker Pininfarina is branching out on its own with a new all-electric hypercar.

The company has shared some of its...

Tesla Model Y, price cuts on Model S/X, Mercedes in Formula E: Today's Car News
After announcing the base Model 3 on Thursday, Tesla cut prices on the luxury Model S and Model X. CEO Elon Musk also announced a reveal date for the company's long-awaited Model Y SUV. Mercedes-Benz announced that it will join the Formula E racing series. And Ford has delayed releasing new charge...
Eric C. Evarts March 4, 2019
Tesla sets Model Y reveal date, hints at price
In a Tweet Sunday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company will host an event on Thursday March 14 to reveal its long-planned Model Y SUV. The company will host a reveal event at its Hawthorne, California, design studios, as it has done with all previous models. The company said it will...
Eric C. Evarts March 4, 2019
Tesla cuts more than $10,000 off price of Model S and X
Along with its announcement of a new base Model 3 Standard Range last week, Tesla also announced that it would cut prices across the board, including on its more expensive Model S and Model X vehicles. In addition to introducing new standard range Model S and X vehicles in late January, when it...
Eric C. Evarts March 4, 2019
Formula E signs on to complete battery recycling
They say racing improves the breed. Usually that means learning to make cars go faster or handle or stop better. Electric-car racing series Formula E aims not just to improve the performance of electric cars but also to inspire the world to buy cleaner, more efficient cars. Formula E announced a...
Eric C. Evarts March 3, 2019
Base Tesla Model 3, Polestar 2, Kandi cars, Volvo and Audi plug-in hybrids: The Week in Reverse
Which two startup companies showed new ways to get more miles out of an electric vehicle? What Chinese automaker received approval to import new models to the U.S. this week? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending March 1, 2019...
Eric C. Evarts March 2, 2019

$35,000 Tesla Model 3, "Full Self-Driving" returns, BMW-Mercedes car sharing: Today's Car News Eric C. Evarts March 1, 2019

Tesla announced it will sell the base $35,000 Model 3 this month, and will only sell cars online going forward. At the same time, CEO Elon Musk announced plans for the company's long-awaited Full...
Mercedes joins forces with BMW to build an electric ecosystem
Making electric cars accessible to more people requires developing an ecosystem that would help drivers charge, and occasionally get to destinations that might not yet be ideal for an electric car—like a long road trip. To bridge those gaps for buyers of its upcoming EQC and other electric...
Eric C. Evarts March 1, 2019
Tesla Full Self-Driving will still require drivers when it arrives later this year
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that he expects Tesla vehicles to have "Full Self-Driving" capability by the end of 2019. In a media call Thursday night to announce the base, $35,000 Model 3, Musk for the first time gave a concrete explanation of what he means by that. He said that by the end of the...
Eric C. Evarts March 1, 2019
Senate confirms coal lobbyist Wheeler as EPA head
The Senate on Thursday confirmed acting EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler to head the agency. Since Wheeler became the acting administrator last July, he has released plans to unwind rising emissions and attendant fuel economy standards enacted under President Obama, and to rescind California's...
Eric C. Evarts February 28, 2019
Nissan Leaf progress, fast electric motorcycle charging, Audi plug-ins: Today's Car News
Audi plans to introduce four new plug-in hybrids at next week's Geneva auto show. A drive in the Nissan Leaf Plus reveals how far electric cars have come in nine years. Electric motorcycle maker Zero has a novel way to get faster charging and longer trips on an electric bike. And German prosecutors...
Eric C. Evarts February 28, 2019
Audi plans new plug-in hybrid Q5, A6, A7, and A8 for Geneva reveal
Audi's future plans for plug-in vehicles involve more than the all-electric e-tron quattro scheduled to roll out later this year. Now, with the previous plug-in hybrid, the A3 Sportback e-tron, already in the rearview mirror, the company has announced plans to reboot its plug-in lineup with four...
Eric C. Evarts February 28, 2019

Germany fines BMW over diesel emissions Eric C. Evarts February 28, 2019

German automakers have been under a microscope when it comes to emissions from their diesel cars, which were formerly bestsellers in Europe.

After Daimler, Volkswagen, and German supplier Bosch paid...
Volvo's Polestar 2 electric car, plug-in Jeeps, Honda e Prototype: Today's Car News
Honda showed off its e Prototype concept for the upcoming Geneva auto show. Volvo unveiled its first all-electric car, the Polestar 2, and we compared it with the Tesla Model 3 Fiat Chrysler announced a new $4.5 million investment to lay the groundwork to begin producing plug-in versions of all of...
Eric C. Evarts February 27, 2019
Do you look forward to home wireless charging? Twitter poll results
In a study released on Tuesday, Volvo and its Harris polling partners found that 29 percent of electric-car drivers wished for more wireless charging. That may or may not be what our readers think. After one of the biggest suppliers of wireless charging, Qualcomm, announced last week that it would...
Eric C. Evarts February 27, 2019
Fiat Chrysler lays groundwork to build electrified Jeep models
With a $4.5 billion investment in manufacturing in Michigan announced Tuesday, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will put some big plans in motion to electrify its entire future Jeep lineup. That is likely to include a new Jeep Grand Cherokee plug-in hybrid, based on an all-new Grand Cherokee planned to...
Eric C. Evarts February 26, 2019
Porsche Macan goes electric, Rivian auxiliary battery, more chargers needed: Today's Car News
A Volvo/Harris poll reveals that three quarters of Americans see electric cars as the future—and they might buy one if more chargers were available. Porsche announced that its next Macan small SUV won't offer a gas engine. Our Twitter poll has some suggestions for other names for an upcoming...
Eric C. Evarts February 26, 2019
Rivian patent reveals removable battery for the truck bed
Rivian is proving that there's more than one way to get more range out of an electric car. A new patent filing from the company reveals that its upcoming R1T electric pickup could have even more than 400 miles of range by using an auxiliary battery in the bed of the pickup. The filing was revealed...
Eric C. Evarts February 26, 2019