Featured (was)
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At long last, a handful of lucky customers in selected areas drove home in brand-new 2016 Chevrolet Volts last month. Sometime this month, full pricing and availability for the 2016 Nissan Leaf with its 107-mile range will be revealed. These two updated plug-in electric cars represent improvements on their predecessors; their long-impending arrival has been blamed by some for tepid electric-car sales over the past several months. But while the new models should boost sales in months to come, the new Volt's impact on October sales was likely low. DON'T MISS: Plug-In Electric Car Sales In...
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2016 Audi A3 e-Tron Sportback: First Drive Of Audi's Plug-In Hybrid
The 2016 Audi A3 e-tron Sportback is the German luxury brand's first plug-in vehicle to go on sale in North America--and by all indications, the company is serious about making it a success. That goal clearly has nothing to do with the VW Group diesel-emission scandal that has engulfed Audi's A3...
John Voelcker -
Former GM Product Czar Bob Lutz Asks: Is Tesla Doomed?
Former General Motors product czar Bob Lutz, now retired for a few years, is largely respected within the auto industry. He stopped flying his MIG fighter jet when he turned 80, as the story goes, but he remains a larger-than-life persona in an industry with fewer and fewer of them. He's still...
John Voelcker -
Tokyo Intros, Tesla Battery Life, Four-Motor Honda EV: The Week In Reverse (Video)
Why is one family really happy that its Tesla Model S got destroyed? And, what car did we drive this week--but plan to report on next week? This is our video look back at the Week In Reverse--right here at Green Car Reports--for the week ending on Friday, October 30, 2015. Friday, we reported from...
John Voelcker -
Honda's Electric Four-Motor CR-Z Prototype: We Drive It
The idea of the four-motor electric car has been around since the start of the 20th century. One of Ferdinand Porsche's first ideas, in fact, was the Lohner-Porsche that debuted at the 1900 Paris World Fair, with a hub motor in each front wheel. Toss four electric motors in a car and you could have...
Kirk Bell -
2018 Honda Plug-In Hybrid To Offer 40-Mile Range, Use Fuel-Cell Vehicle's Platform
The upcoming Honda dedicated plug-in hybrid will share a platform with the company's fuel-cell vehicle.
Stephen Edelstein -
Last summer, I wrote in this space about an apparent loss of battery capacity in my 2013 Tesla Model S after a three-month Supercharging binge. I wondered whether, despite assurances from Tesla Motors, the two events might have been related. My doubts had started when I noticed that, after a 210-mile trip, the car’s data readout told me I had used 63.5 kilowatt-hours and 93 percent of my battery capacity. DON'T MISS: Life With Tesla Model S: Does Supercharging Cut Battery Capacity? Those numbers implied a 100-percent capacity of only 68.3 kWh—6 percent below the 72 kWh I’d...
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Honda Civic, Scion iA Drives; Tesla Reliability; Nissan Electric Aims: The Week In Reverse (Video)
Why does Nissan think it can boost electric-car sales by a factor of 10 in just five years? And, what did VW say about electric cars as it prepared to launch its so-called "clean diesels"--which we now know weren't clean at all? This is our video look back at the Week In Reverse--right here at...
John Voelcker -
Battery Breakthrough To Boost Nissan Electric Cars To One In 10 Sales Around 2020, Exec Says
Back in November 2009, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said 20 percent of his company's sales would be electric cars by 2020--and that electric cars would make up 10 percent of global sales. But Ghosn was widely pillored for his projections just a few years later, when Nissan Leaf sales proved slower than...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model S: Too Many Problems To Recommend, Consumer Reports Says
Every honeymoon comes to an end sooner or later, and so it was with Consumer Reports and its former paramour, the Tesla Model S electric car. As part of its yearly reliability report on cars sold in the U.S. market, the respected consumer magazine said it could no longer recommend the Model S...
John Voelcker -
2016 Honda Civic: First Drive Of New 35-MPG Compact Sedan
The 2016 Honda Civic may be the most radical redesign of the Civic in its 40-plus-year history. The tenth generation of the car that made Honda's reputation, both in North America and around the world, is longer, lower, and wider, with a racy fastback shape and its first mainstream turbocharged...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Autopilot: The 10 Most Important Things You Need To Know
Tesla Motors is now rolling out its much-awaited "Autopilot" software for the Model S electric car, and it has revealed a number of things about how the autonomous driving system is intended to work. While an explanatory conference call on Wednesday afternoon lasted less than an hour, Tesla CEO...
John Voelcker -
Toyota releases more information on the 2016 Prius.
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2016 Toyota Prius: A Few Details On Engine, Hybrid System Released
While it has unveiled the all-new 2016 Prius hybrid twice--once at a glitzy event in Las Vegas, once at the Frankfurt Motor Show--Toyota has been very stingy with technical information about the powertrain that will let the car earn promised EPA combined ratings of 55 mpg or better. At an event in...
John Voelcker -
VW Diesel Acceleration, Fuel Economy Fall Without 'Cheat Mode' (Video)
As Volkswagen works overtime to figure out what changes it will make to 482,000 TDI diesel cars sold in the U.S. with a "cheat mode" that let them comply with emission rules, an obvious question arises. What will those cars be like to drive and own when they're fixed? Consumer Reports, one of only...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model S Electric Car: Changes From 2012 Through 2015 (UPDATED)
Tesla Motors only reveals its production figures every quarter, but it has now likely built up to 90,000 of its all-electric Model S luxury sport sedan. The company also doesn't group its changes and updates into model years, but makes running changes in the cars whenever the updates are tested...
John Voelcker -
How Will VW Fix My Diesel Car, And When? A List Of All Models
Volkswagen's U.S. CEO, Michael Horn, spent several hours yesterday testifying in front of a Congressional panel on the company's growing TDI diesel-emission cheating scandal. From that testimony, we can now break down how many cars and which models were affected, how the company expects to fix...
John Voelcker -
Should The Tesla Model X Be Called An SUV? Crossover? Wagon? Hatchback?
The Tesla Model X electric luxury vehicle has widely been referred to as an SUV or a crossover utility vehicle by the media, the company, and buyers. And indeed, it's taller and somewhat boxier than the sleek Model S "sedan," which is actually a hatchback. But we've had some energetic discussions...
John Voelcker -
Sales of plug-in electric cars in the U.S. had a low-to-average month in September, with the sole bright spot being the astounding sales of the BMW i3 electric hatchback. Two new 2016 models, the entirely redesigned Chevy Volt and the longer-range 107-mile Nissan Leaf, should start this month, but last month's sales likely included selldowns of their predecessors as buyers waited for the new and more desirable versions. DON'T MISS: Plug-In Electric Car Sales In August: Calm Before The Storm? Remarkably, the BMW i3 was apparently the highest-selling electric car in the U.S. last month, with a...
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VW’s Diesel Mess, Production Tesla Model X, 2016 Chevy Volt Ads: The Week In Reverse (Video)
We have a lot more information about VW's diesel scandal, but no official solution yet for owners; the production Tesla Model X has made its grand entrance; and there are some controversial new ads for the Chevy Volt. This is our video look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car...
Bengt Halvorson -
2016 Chevrolet Volt Ads: Attacking Prius, Leaf...And Bolt EV?
The 2016 Chevrolet Volt, for which deliveries began just this week, is going into attack mode against the Nissan Leaf and Toyota Prius in a set of new ads. But in one of those ads, it almost feels as if GM is attacking its own (upcoming) product. They build on focus-group-themed ads that Chevy has...
Bengt Halvorson -
Volkswagen Diesel Pollution: How Dangerous To The Public, Your Family?
Volkswagen has underscored that its diesel cars affected by its TDI emissions scandal are safe to drive. It highlights that on a special consumer site dedicated to information about these models, which include the 2009-2015 Jetta TDI, 2009-2014 Jetta SportWagen TDI, 2010-2015 Golf TDI, 2015 Golf...
Bengt Halvorson -
Tesla Model X Electric SUV: 257 Miles Of Range, 92 MPGe
The Tesla Model X achieves a maximum EPA-rated 257 miles of range.
Stephen Edelstein -
Why Did Volkswagen Cheat On Diesel Emissions In Its TDI Cars?
The bad news for Volkswagen just keeps on coming. In the last week, the company has fired much of its upper management, eradicated all mention of its TDI diesels from its U.S. website, and admitted that 11 million diesel vehicles have software that enabled them to pass emission tests while emitting...
John Voelcker