Green
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Electric-car maker Tesla is at a pivotal time in the 13-year-old company's history as production of its mass-market Model 3 ramps up and ambitious plans to roll out additional vehicles loom. Coinciding with the production start of the Tesla Model 3 are plans for a major expansion the Silicon Valley automaker's assembly plant in Fremont, California. If all goes according to plan, the facility would double in size from its current proportions and would be a major factor in Tesla's efforts to increase production of its lower-priced electric cars. DON'T MISS: 2017 Tesla Model 3 prices, features...
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Chevy Bolt EV reviewed by BMW i3 driver: electric cars compared
Owners of specific electric cars sometimes tend to become boosters and fans for their particular EV as well as plugging in to drive in general. So it was with Tom Moloughney, whose purchase of the very first 2014 BMW i3 REx range-extended electric car in the U.S. he wrote about for us three years...
John Voelcker -
More Hyundai electrics, RIP NGVs, European plug-in sales, advertising poll: Today's Car News
Today, we've got the latest on Hyundai-Kia's aggressive electric-car plans, a eulogy for natural-gas cars, plug-in sales in Europe, and a poll about the future of ads for cars with engines. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We polled our Twitter followers on when ads for cars with tailpipes...
John Voelcker -
Hyundai-Kia: eight electric cars by 2022, dedicated EV platform
It's long been said in the auto industry that Hyundai-Kia is the only competitor that truly scares industry colossus Toyota. Thirty years ago, the Korean company was a bit player, producing designs adapted from obsolete Mitsubishi technology. Today it's a major global player, reacting fast to...
John Voelcker -
European electric and plug-in hybrid sales for Jan-June 2017
The numbers are in, which means it's once again time take a look at European electric and plug-in hybrid sales. Delivery and registration data is compiled from January through June of 2017, and once more, it remains clear Europe has a favorite electric car. The Renault Zoe walks away with an even...
Sean Szymkowski -
RIP natural-gas cars, doomed by cheap gas and electric cars
Natural gas vehicles were first promoted starting in about 2000 as a way to reduce reliance on imported oil and cut tailpipe emissions. Their promise appeared to grow near the height of the global financial crisis, when gas prices hovered around $4 per gallon across much of the United States. The...
Sean Szymkowski -
Just 30 years ago, people could smoke anywhere, including offices, malls, and restaurants. The 1987 opening of a New York City restaurant called "Nosmo King" (read it again) was considered a bizarre, if amusing, idea that restauranteurs said would bankrupt the place because no one would give up cigarettes to eat there. Now, throughout much of the Western world, smoking in public is banned as a health hazard to everyone else who's exposed to secondhand smoke—including the wait staff in those restaurants. DON'T MISS: When will we see 'tailpipes' on cars as morally wrong? Environmentalists...
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Karma redux, gas stations vs charging, electric cars for Rallycross, CAFE changes: Today's Car News
Today, the least efficient plug-in car, why rallycross should go electric, possible CAFE changes, and where electric cars should charge. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We drove the Fisker Karma in 2012; now we've driven the 2017 Karma Revero, the reborn version of the sleek, low...
John Voelcker -
Trump NHTSA might reduce fuel-economy rules for two-thirds of U.S. vehicles
Consumers all over the world, but especially in North America, are buying more crossover utility vehicles and fewer passenger sedans and hatchbacks. The U.S. auto industry makes the bulk of its profits on light trucks, which include crossovers, pickup trucks, and even minivans. The Trump...
John Voelcker -
Will Rallycross go electric? Michael Andretti on why series is perfect for EVs
Rallycross has become a sensation in motorsport relatively quickly: similar to autocross, a single car races against the clock on a set course or "stage," usually in the dirt, mud, or gravel—anything other than a paved track, in other words. Drivers with the best time are deemed the winner...
Sean Szymkowski -
Gas stations aren't a model for electric-car charging: ChargePoint CEO
For more than a century, motorists have been accustomed to gas stations, which provide places to stop and fill up a car with fuel, in recent years with larger and larger convenience stores attached. The model is so commonplace, it may mean drivers don't know electric-car charging stations even...
Sean Szymkowski -
2018 Karma Revero: first drive of reborn luxury plug-in hybrid sedan
The 2018 Karma Revero remains as much of a head-turner today as the low, sleek four-door sedan was when it debuted a decade ago under another name. It also happens to be a range-extended electric luxury sedan, though we tend to think that the Karma would sell just as well if it ran on coal dust and...
John Voelcker -
Today, Tesla and its impact on the German auto industry crop up in two very different reports, you can get $10,000 off an electric car (if you live in San Diego), and we honor Dull and Boring drivers. All this and more on Green Car Reports. With continued attention on Tesla's latest product, we ask: is the BMW 3-Series the most direct competitor for the Tesla Model 3? Bolt EV and Leaf owners may have different ideas. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected electric-car quotas, though even she sees "the end of the road" for cars with combustion engines. Want $10,000 off the price of a...
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Do German makers face 'iPhone moment,' after dodging diesel bullet?
The Volkswagen diesel scandal has largely fallen out of the public eye in the U.S., as VW and Audi buy back and modify roughly half a million noncompliant vehicles sold from 2009 through 2016. In Germany, meanwhile, the major sellers of diesel vehicles—not only VW Group but also Mercedes...
John Voelcker -
German Chancellor Merkel rejects electric-car quotas for Europe: 'not well thought out'
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the country's leader, has detailed why she believes electric-car quotas are not a viable answer to emission and other issues plaguing Europe. Merkel, a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union, instead urged a much bigger-picture strategy, rather than a...
Sean Szymkowski -
Does Tesla Model 3 compete with Bolt EV and Leaf, or BMW 3-Series?
There's a new generation of the BMW 3-Series sport sedan coming next year, and rumors suggest there will be an all-electric version in 2019 or 2020. If so, there's only one car that it would be targeting: the Tesla Model 3, the 220-mile or 310-mile electric sedan from the Silicon Valley carmaker...
John Voelcker -
Is the Tesla Model 3 really 'Car 2.0'? Maybe not: here's why
Like the company's three previous electric cars, the Tesla Model 3 launched into production with a splashy media event during which owners received the keys to their new cars and the company's fans applauded. Like the Model S and Model X, production is starting at very low rates, with the rate of...
John Voelcker -
Mini E next month, Lunar Rover at 46, Ford Hub visit, Model 3 assessed: Today's Car News
Today, a baffling visit in NYC, a tiny two-seat electric car for China, whether the Tesla Model 3 should really be dubbed "Car 2.0," and how does the Lunar Rover compare to a modern electric car? All this and more on Green Car Reports. As always, we ran down last week's top green-car news stories...
John Voelcker -
Those who've lived in New York City since 2001 sometimes choose to avoid the World Trade Center site when possible. The area has largely been rebuilt into a combination of offices, shopping, and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, with construction on some very tall towers still ongoing. A lunch date with a friend prompted us to wander into the Ford Hub, open since January off the stunning oval "oculus" that's the focal point of a Westfield shopping mall on top of a transit station. DON'T MISS: Ford fires CEO Fields, in part, for lagging on electric cars We wanted to experience Ford's space the way...
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Baojun E100: GM's tiny, two-seat electric car for China
Most North Americans and Europeans will likely never have heard of Baojun, but it's one of many brands operated under General Motors' SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture in China. Its portfolio is mostly made up of small sedans, multi-purpose vehicles (small minivans), hatchbacks, and a crossover utility...
Sean Szymkowski -
Senate panel rejects clean-energy cuts, boosts DoE funding instead
The Senate Committee on Appropriations recently exhibited a quality somewhat rare in U.S. politics these days: bipartisanship. The committee released a lengthy report on the 2018 fiscal year budget for the Department of Energy that walks away from the Trump Administration's efforts to defund clean...
Sean Szymkowski -
All-electric Mini E for 2019 to appear at Frankfurt show in concept form
The first Mini E, cobbled together by putting a battery pack where the rear seat used to be, was BMW's very first attempt at building a modern electric car. Only a few hundred were built, back in 2009, but the quick project gave the German company real-world experience on how electric-car drivers...
Zach Bowman -
Electric cars after 46 years: Chevy Bolt EV vs lunar rover
President John F. Kennedy challenged the United States to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, and the country's space agency met his challenge with five months to go. However, in 1971, NASA sent a remarkable piece of equipment into space with astronauts—the Lunar Rover—which...
Sean Szymkowski -
Cruze Diesel driven, Model 3 mania, emission rules revisited, electric-car lessons: The Week in Reverse
What lessons have visitors, car shoppers, and advocates taught an EV showroom about how people really view electric cars? Which settled emissions regulations were reopened by the Trump Administration this week—and how do auto-industry lobbyists want them changed? This is our look back at the...
John Voelcker