Green

Last week, the Associated Press distributed a video report called "Are Electric Cars Worth the Price?" (It's embedded at the bottom of this article.) The video featured this author as an example of someone who owns both the 2011 Nissan Leaf and the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, and it included commentary...

These are exciting times to be a car shopper, as the choices in every possible category just keep getting better and more fuel-efficient. The options for ecologically sensitive hybrid buyers have taken a major step forward with the introduction of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt and the imminent arrival of...

Forget hydrogen. You can mostly ignore natural gas. Even diesel may not grow much. The two fuels that will largely power us for the next 20, maybe 30, years are already here. They are gasoline (with some ethanol in it), and electricity. That's it. That's all she wrote. First, gasoline Those...

Last week they teased it; this week, they took the covers off it. In this case, "it" is the Lexus LF-Gh Hybrid Concept car that will be the centerpiece of the Lexus display at next week's New York Auto Show. The LF-Gh concept car is a styling exercise that "sets out to redefine the premium grand...

Expected to be the first of many, French carmaker Renault has become the latest company to take an order for one of their upcoming electric vehicles, the Kangoo Van Z.E. The only commercial vehicle in Renault's upcoming range of electric vehicles that includes the Fluence sedan, the Zoe subcompact...

German electronics company Siemens is set to begin field trials of an inductive charging system, in partnership with BMW. Inductive charging is a popular concept for charging away from home - it allows for charging without trailing cables and plugs around, and without requiring charging posts...

Sure, it'd be nice to have a brand-new, more fuel-efficient vehicle. But not everyone is able to buy one of the growing number of new cars with at least 40 mpg highway mileage. So here are our tips for getting better mileage out of whatever vehicles are in your driveway right now, today, from...

Not so long ago, the notion of luxury German brand BMW hiring an engineer from General Motors might have been a stretch. The company prefers to promote engineers from within its Munich engineering headquarters. But reports that Frank Weber, the lead engineer of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt team, has...

Land Rover’s ongoing pledge to become more environmentally friendly is starting to result in some interesting developments, with the automaker’s brand director recently confirming the launch of the first Land Rover hybrid in 2013. Speaking with Inside Line, Land Rover’s John...

Chinese automaker BYD, or "Build Your Dreams" has big plans. They had a strong presence at the recent 2011 Geneva Motor Show with a lineup of production electric cars both present and future, and the company intends to break into the U.S. market, never an easy task for a maker with little brand...

A few days ago, we started hearing mumblings on the electric car grapevine which suggested that all was not well again with the 2011 Leaf, Nissan’s first ever all-electric production hatchback. It all began at the end of last month, when a 2011 Nissan Leaf owner reported that his car stopped...

As you may have seen earlier this week, I’ve been a proud owner of a 2011 Nissan Leaf since late last month. Today marks ten days since we took delivery. We’ve already shared the five things that we hate about the 2011 Leaf, so now it’s time to share the things we really like...

Let's be real: How many of you out there have ever driven a single mile on E85 ethanol fuel? Very, very, very few of you, most likely. The fuel composed of 85 percent ethanol blended with 15 percent gasoline is available only in a handful of Midwestern states. Yet a bill now under consideration by...

President Obama’s goal of 1 million hybrid and electric vehicles on the roads of the U.S. by 2015 may sound like a tall order given the slow sales rollout of plug-in cars for the first few months of 2012, but as we’ve discovered before, it isn’t impossible. Now Nissan, makers of...

Mercedes-Benz is working on a family of new small cars, several of which will be heading to the U.S., possibly by the end of next year. Designed to compete with BMW’s 1-Series range, the new Lexus CT 200h and even the Audi A3, the new family of small cars will serve as the replacements for...

All-wheel-drive is an increasingly popular option in new vehicles, especially in areas of the country that get snow. But the security of having all four wheels powered in your car can be offset by the price of the option and, in most cases, a significant gas mileage penalty. And these days, it's...

Despite what GM wanted you to think when it first launched its brand new 2011 Chevrolet Volt, its four-seat extended range electric car or plug-in hybrid does consume gasoline. But it turns out that despite the protestations of dyed-in-the-wool electric vehicle advocates, the 2011 Chevrolet Volt...

We're barreling toward the 2011 New York Auto Show, where media days kick off in two weeks. While concept cars like the Lexus LF-Gh luxury hybrid sports sedan will get lots of attention, once the media leave, actual car buyers will be just as curious about fuel efficient cars with high gas mileage...

Say "hybrid" and most U.S. buyers think Toyota, if not Toyota Prius. Indeed, the company just sold its millionth Prius in the United States, where roughly half of the 2 million Priuses it had built as of last fall have found homes since 2000. But Toyota's luxury marque Lexus also has hybrid models...

BMW has taken the wraps off a new plug-in hybrid prototype based on its long-wheelbase 5-Series sedan, which it will be showcasing in just a few weeks at the 2011 Shanghai Auto Show. Built in collaboration with its Chinese alliance partner Brilliance Auto, development of the new prototype is the...