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

LA gets first double-decker electric city bus Eric C. Evarts July 12, 2018

When thinking of Los Angeles, clean air and double-decker buses aren't the first things that come to mind.

Yet the city of angels will put the first all-electric double-decker bus into service later...
Tesla raises price of full self-driving option–if you wait for it to work before buying
Tesla has increased the price of a feature that doesn't yet exist—at least for customers who haven't bought it yet. That's according to Tesla's online configurator, which lists the price of Tesla's Full Self-driving Capability feature at $5,000 following the company's latest software update...
Eric C. Evarts July 11, 2018

Oil interests lobby against carbon tax before it even gets proposed
Those who make big money off oil interests are wasting no time nipping a new carbon tax in the bud. Before such a proposal ever reaches Congress, a coalition of conservative and energy interests—including the American Energy Alliance, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute—sent a...
Eric C. Evarts July 11, 2018
Henrik Fisker is latest to claim solid-state battery breakthrough (Updated)
In the race to build solid state batteries for electric cars, almost nobody is counting on Henrik Fisker and his latest electric-car venture, the EMotion, which debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Fisker, however, now says the car will launch in 2020 with his...
Eric C. Evarts July 11, 2018
BMW iX3 to be built in China, exported worldwide
BMW has announced it will build its next electric car, the iX3 SUV, in China just as a trade war heats up between the U.S. and China involving cars-and in particular, electric cars. On Monday, BMW announced that it will expand its Chinese partnership with Brilliance, known as BMW Brilliance...
Eric C. Evarts July 11, 2018
Tesla inks deal to build second factory in Shanghai
A day after it announced price hikes for the Model S and Model X in China, in response to new tariffs on imported electric cars in the country, Tesla has finalized a deal to build a new factory in Shanghai, according to a Bloomberg News report. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was in Shanghai Tuesday to appear...
Eric C. Evarts July 10, 2018
Iron trifluoride could make better electric-car batteries Eric C. Evarts July 10, 2018

Researchers at the University of Maryland, in conjunction with Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a new battery cathode material that they say could triple the energy density of...

Pruitt leaves poison pill at EPA for glider-truck emissions rule
In his last act as EPA Administrator on Friday, Scott Pruitt vacated an Obama-era ruling that dramatically restricted sales of polluting "glider" trucks. Pruitt's earlier efforts to repeal the ruling were opposed by a broad, bipartisan coalition of environmentalists, public health advocates, truck...
Eric C. Evarts July 10, 2018
How many electric miles are enough for a plug-in hybrid? Take our Twitter Poll
Plug-in hybrids come in a variety of specs and sizes, from economy cars to mid-size sedans to luxury SUVs costing $100,000 or more. Automakers also haven't settled on how much range is enough for a plug-in hybrid. Some offer as little as 9 or 10 miles and others as much as 53 miles on electricity...
Eric C. Evarts July 10, 2018
More Chevy Bolt EV production, Tesla price hike in China, more chargers in Britain: Today's Car News
Britain will require all cars to plug in and new homes to have chargers by 2040. Chevrolet boosts Bolt EV production to ease long waiting lists. Tesla is the first company to respond to President Trump's new trade war with China. And we have a full report on plug-in car sales in Canada for June...
Eric C. Evarts July 9, 2018
Tesla hikes prices in China in first response to trade war
In a move largely seen as the first response to a trade war that has broken out between China and the United States, Tesla has hiked prices of its Model S and Model X luxury cars in China. According to a report in the Nikkei Asian Review, Tesla raised the price of the Model S from about $107,000 to...
Eric C. Evarts July 9, 2018
UK launches Road to Zero electric car initiatives
British Transport Minister Chris Grayling on Monday introduced a comprehensive package of laws aimed at speeding the adoption of electric cars in the country. Known as the Road to Zero, the package will ban sales of pure gasoline and diesel cars, require charging stations to be included in all new...
Eric C. Evarts July 9, 2018

GM increases Chevy Bolt EV production to ease supply constraints Eric C. Evarts July 9, 2018

Amid shortages of Chevy Bolt EVs at dealerships across the U.S. and Canada, Chevy has announced it will increase production by 20 percent.

So far this year, Chevy has sold fewer than 2,000 Bolt EVs...
July 4th green car deals you can still find
June wasn't a great month for green-car sales, and automakers are offering some bargains to keep them moving out the door. Green Car Reports partner site CarsDirect has listed several great green car deals among its July Fourth deals that continue through this weekend. For shoppers looking for a...
Eric C. Evarts July 8, 2018
Tesla Model 3 production, VW diesel deadline, EPA administrator, lithium troubles: The Week in Reverse
Whose resignation changed the political landscape this week? What is holding up production of more lithium for electric car batteries? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending June 6, 2018. Friday, we heard from the lead...
Eric C. Evarts July 7, 2018
VW TDI owners face deadline to finalize claims (Updated)
The VW diesel settlement is winding down. Owners of 2.0-liter 4-cylinder cars have to complete filing their settlement paperwork by Sept. 1 to be eligible for at least $5,100 in compensation from Volkswagen. All claims must be settled by Dec. 31, but they must be submitted by Sept. 1 to be...
Eric C. Evarts July 6, 2018
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Tesla Model 3 set June sales records for plug-in cars
With low gas prices and consumers thinking about summer road trips, June was not a banner month for plug-in car sales. Two models stood out with dramatic increases from previous months, while others lagged. The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, had its best month yet, after seven months on the market...
Eric C. Evarts July 6, 2018
Tesla Model 3 production target reached but did automaker cut corners?
Tesla pulled out all the stops to get 5,000 Model 3s built by July 1 including pulling workers from other assembly lines, halting Model S and X production to paint nothing but Model 3's, but also critically eliminating an industry standard brake test designed to ensure quality, according to a...
Eric C. Evarts July 6, 2018

Wheeler replaces Pruitt as EPA chief, climate denial, fossil fuel support continue apace Eric C. Evarts July 5, 2018

Following an 18-month tenure filled with a cascade of scandals, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned Thursday.

President Donald Trump acknowledged Pruitt's resignation in a tweet and announced...
Supplies may be less of a problem for lithium than financing, report
As if to confirm one of the biggest concerns of electric-car doubters, lithium prices have tripled since 2015. Not to worry, say those who sell electric cars, the world has no shortage of raw lithium; new businesses just need to jump into the opportunity to open new mines to extract more of the...
Eric C. Evarts July 5, 2018
Oil companies fight back for charging dollars
As electric cars begin eating into profit growth at oil companies, the war for electric-car drivers' pocketbooks has begun. Electric utilities are counting on supplying increasing quantities of juice, especially during off-peak hours to make their operations more efficient—and not...
Eric C. Evarts July 5, 2018
Electra Meccanica teases new-old e-Roadster
Building a new car, especially one with four wheels intended to be sold in developed markets, is show-stoppingly expensive. A simpler approach is to build a kit car. Kit cars don't come with engines, so to make an electric kit car requires only selecting an electric motor instead of an engine. That...
Eric C. Evarts July 5, 2018
Tesla chief engineer Doug Field won't be back
Tesla's chief engineer for vehicle production won't return from a leave of absence, the company announced on Monday. Doug Field started his leave of absence in early May, right after the company's last sales report to that time, when it announced that it had only produced a little over 2,000 cars a...
Eric C. Evarts July 5, 2018
Mercedes-Benz introduces electric delivery vans, with an app, in Germany
Vehicle fleet managers may be the first to convert wholesale to electric vehicles, because their decisions start and end with cost, and electric miles are cheaper than gas. Mercedes-Benz has made a commitment to offering a full range of electric commercial vehicles from minivans to semi-trucks...
Eric C. Evarts July 3, 2018