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What if you could fully restore your charge in a plug-in hybrid, on the fly, just by driving? It’s a feature that’s unparalleled in mass-market plug-in hybrids—that in the 2016 Hyundai Sonata Plug-In Hybrid you can enter not the charge-sustaining mode that some models have, but a mode that actually regains a full charge. That energy doesn’t come free, of course. Hitting the button and entering that Battery Charge mode comes at an expense—about 5 mpg, from very informal instant-mpg trip-computer readouts—yet it’s thought-provoking, and far from a...
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New Prius Efficiency, Gigafactory Flyover, Famous Electric-Car Driver: The Week In Reverse (Video)
Which famous race driver turns out to love driving his electric car around London? And, what really gigantic object did a drone fly over, and shoot video of, last weekend? This is our video look back at the Week In Reverse--right here at Green Car Reports--for the week ending on Friday, May 22...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Gigafactory: Drone Flyover Shows How Huge It Really Is
The very word "gigafactory" makes Tesla Motors' lithium-ion cell fabrication and battery assembly plant sound quite large. But how huge it actually is can be hard to comprehend. Context is provided by diagrams that compare its planned footprint to, say, the largest building for assembling jetliners...
John Voelcker -
2016 Fiat 500X AWD: Quick Drive Report
The 2016 Fiat 500X drives more like a tall car than a shrunken SUV.
Stephen Edelstein -
May Deals, VW Plug-In Sports Car, Tesla Update: The Week In Reverse (Video)
We round up green-car deals for the month, Volkswagen teases what it could do with a high-performance plug-in, and Tesla hints about its future. It’s the week in Reverse for Friday, May 15, 2015, right here at Green Car Reports. This week, we brought you drive reports for both the 2015 Ford...
Bengt Halvorson -
Is This The Next Toyota Prius Hybrid Captured On Video?
Video may show a camouflaged prototype of the next-generation Toyota Prius hybrid.
Stephen Edelstein -
The 2015 Ford Focus EcoBoost may be the most European car Ford sells in the U.S. It's fun, but not fast. It handles well, and has a small engine that requires energetic use of the manual gearbox to keep up with traffic. That all means that very few U.S. buyers will ever consider it, since fewer than one in 10 vehicles are now sold with a manual transmission. DON'T MISS: 2015 Ford Focus - full review And that's a shame, because once you learn how to drive it, the Focus compact sedan with the little 1.0-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine is fun--and probably quite fuel-efficient. We hope...
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2015 Chevrolet Trax: Gas Mileage Review Of Small SUV
Sport-utility vehicles are all about hauling stuff, so collecting a set of 40-year-old wheels seemed like the perfect road test for the new 2015 Chevrolet Trax. The subcompact SUV offered cargo space for the wheels--which, frankly, would have fit into a sedan--along with decent gas mileage on our...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Energy: What We Learned About Powerwall Demand On Q1 Results Call
The quarterly earnings calls held by Tesla Motors are always a chance to hear CEO Elon Musk describe the Silicon Valley carmaker's operations and outlooks. But last week's call was a first: The bulk of the questions by financial analysts weren't about the company's electric cars. Rather than...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model S Drifting Shows Wild Side Of Electric Cars (Video)
See what happens when a Japanese drifting pro gets behind the wheel of a Tesla Model S.
Stephen Edelstein -
BMW i3 Tear-Down Videos Show Electric Car's Radical Design
New tear-down videos expose more of the BMW i3 electric car's secrets.
Stephen Edelstein -
2016 Chevrolet Volt Priced From $33,995, Or $1,175 Lower Than 2015 Volt
The 2016 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid will be priced from $33,995 when it goes on sale sometime this fall, a GM executive said this morning. The price, which includes delivery, is $1,175 lower than that of the outgoing 2015 Volt. The old Volt lacks the 50-mile range, 41-mpg fuel efficiency, and...
John Voelcker -
Which pastime has our 71-year-old contributor George Parrott taken up in his new Tesla? And, what irony is China's aggressive electric-car promotion forcing on Toyota? This is our video look back at the Week In Reverse--right here at Green Car Reports--for the week ending on Friday, May 1, 2015. Friday, we ended the week with an unusual personal story. Our contributor George Parrott, a semi-retired California college professor, has been driving electric cars for several years now. He recently traded in his first Tesla Model S for the latest, highest-performance P85D version. Now, it turns...
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Drag-Racing My Tesla P85D: 71-Year-Old Novice Hits The Strip (Video)
It had been more than 50 years since I'd been to a drag race--back in what now seems almost like the very dawn of motoring. Back then, I just watched. Yet here I was, just a month ago, behind the wheel of my Tesla Model S P85D, facing off against another car as I watched the lights change. Red...
George Parrott -
Third Row Seats, Good Gas Mileage: What Are Your Options?
If you need to fit more than five into your vehicle—even just sometimes—and the thought of getting less than 25 miles per gallon in daily driving repulses you, the pickings for U.S. vehicle shoppers are still surprisingly slim. Why are there no hybrid minivans at all, no three-row...
Bengt Halvorson -
Tesla's Big Bet: Batteries For Energy Storage A 'Major New Product'
Tomorrow night, if its strong hints are accurate, Tesla Motors will announce that it plans to offer lithium-ion battery packs for home and business energy storage. Such storage comes at a cost on top of that of the photovoltaic solar panels that generate the energy. But the promise is that such...
John Voelcker -
Let's Be Clear: Real 2025 Gas-Mileage Goal Is 40 MPG--Or So--Not 54.5 MPG
The difference between unadjusted CAFE figures and window-sticker fuel economy.
Stephen Edelstein -
Will Tesla Model 3 Electric Car Hit 2017 Production Date?
Electric-car maker Tesla Motors has done many remarkable things in its short decade of existence--including a few the auto industry viewed as impossible. But the company has never managed to get a car into volume production on the date it first announced. That applied to its Roadster, the Model S...
John Voelcker -
What does E85 ethanol fuel tun out to be really, really good for? And, where do you have to live to get a good clearance deal on a 2015 Chevy Volt, at least right now? This is our video look back at the Week In Reverse--right here at Green Car Reports--for the week ending on Friday, April 24, 2015. Friday, we mused about the sales prospects for the upcoming 2016 Volvo XC90 T8 plug-in hybrid SUV. It's already sold out in the U.K.--will the same happen in North America? On Thursday, we took a deep dive into GM's plug-in hybrid system, looking at how the company is using the same Voltec...
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Why Nothing Competes With Tesla Today, Plug-In Hybrids Included
Two years ago, the launch of the Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid produced the first ostensible large luxury plug-in sedan competitor to the Tesla Model S electric car. The Porsche is a plug-in hybrid, with an electric range of 15 or 16 miles; the Tesla is all-electric, with ranges of 208 to 275 miles...
John Voelcker -
2015 MINI Cooper S Hardtop 4-Door: Gas Mileage Review
In various forms, the MINI has been with us for more than half a century--but its image has always been shaped by the two-door model. The original BMC Mini had two doors and a small trunk; the BMW MINI from 2002 is a more conventional three-door hatchback. Now there's a five-door hatchback model as...
John Voelcker -
Cadillac CT6 Plug-In Hybrid: Big Battery, More Electric Range
As predicted, the plug-in hybrid version of the 2016 Cadillac CT6 large luxury sedan was released today at the Shanghai Motor Show, using an adaptation of GM's second-generation Voltec hybrid system. What wasn't predicted was the startling size of its battery pack: 18.4 kilowatt-hours, identical to...
John Voelcker -
New Tesla, Bolt EV Name, Eco Marathon: The Week In Reverse (Video)
Why did General Motors pick a name for its upcoming electric car that could perplex Spanish speakers? And what do a lot of people fail to realize about BMW's next-generation Power eDrive plug-in hybrid system? This is our video look back at the Week In Reverse--right here at Green Car Reports--for...
John Voelcker -
2015 Tesla Model S 70D: First Drive Of New Electric Car Base Model
Last week, the new base version of the Tesla Model S, known as the 70D, hit the electric-car world like a thunderclap. No early-warning publicity, no teasing tweet from Elon. Just the sudden appearance on the Tesla website configurator of the new model--with dual motors, all-wheel drive, a 70-kWh...
David Noland