Green Car News
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There's no plug-in hybrid version of the 2020 Ford Explorer yet for the U.S., but it's already due in the EU.
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German prosecutors find collusion between automakers over diesel emissions
BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen are being charged by the EU for attempting to block more effective (and expensive) emissions tech.
Eric C. Evarts -
Towing a camper with a Tesla Model X: Thank Elon for Superchargers!
Towing a camper with an electric SUV may be the ultimate test of any fast-charger network. And, for one couple at least, Tesla has passed. “We were like pioneers in a Conestoga wagon,” says Fred Hooper, a Pennsylvanian veterinarian who, with his wife Jenny, just returned from a 7,700...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla sales, Audi e-tron range, Ford Escape Hybrid, Toyota hybrid patents: The Week in Reverse
Which startup automaker got a big boost toward production this week? What automakers opened some of its patent library for free until 2030? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending April 5, 2019. This week Tesla announced its...
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla Autopilot updates, Lucid gets clearer, Faraday's Future: Today's Car News
Lucid Motors gets funding to build its Air. Faraday Future releases details on the future product it plans to build for China. Tesla has updated its Navigate on Autopilot system to be a little more autonomous. And we look at why the federal tax credit may need limits. All this and more on Green Car...
Eric C. Evarts -
Commentary: Overdue for reform, EV tax credit needs reasonable limits
Now that the federal plug-in tax credit has begun to wind down on the U.S.-made Chevrolet Bolt EV, members of Congress propose to do something about it. Democrats have proposed several bills in Congress to remove the manufacturer-based 200,000-car cap on the credits and extending them for 10 years...
Eric C. Evarts -
In a blog post on Thursday, Tesla announced that drivers will no longer have to approve lane changes when the car's Navigate on Autopilot system is engaged. It's a small step, but also a pretty big leap toward self-driving cars. Navigate on Autopilot is Tesla's "on-ramp to off-ramp" self-driving system, which allows its cars that have the feature to drive themselves on limited access highways and navigate interchanges, on-ramps, and off-ramps by themselves—as long as the driver keeps a hand on the wheel periodically and the car has a destination set in the navigation system. MUST READ...
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Faraday Future joint venture to create electric MPV based on FF91
Last month the troubled electric car hopeful Faraday Future was given (another) new lease on life, via a new joint venture with The9, a Chinese online game company, that will produce a new model for the Chinese market based on Faraday’s nearly mothballed FF91. It’s now a lot clearer...
Bengt Halvorson -
Lucid Motors gets real as Saudi funding comes through
The Lucid Air could soon make it to production, and shape up to be the closest rival to the Tesla Model S.
Eric C. Evarts -
Tesla sales; Audi e-tron, Ford SUV range; pickup mpg; sporty Nio: Today's Car News
Tesla announced its production and delivery numbers so far for 2019—and they aren't very promising. Audi released long-awaited final range ratings for its upcoming e-tron quattro electric SUV. lFord also reveals the European range rating for its upcoming Mach E—or whatever they call...
Eric C. Evarts -
2019 Audi e-tron EPA range revealed: Nothing to brag about, but aiming for the real world?
The 2019 Audi e-tron electric SUV's range will be rated at 204 miles, lower than initial estimates—although the automaker says the range should be repeatable in the real world.
Bengt Halvorson -
Ford electric SUV could meet 300-mile target, and then some
Ford has been teasing—even promising—a new Mustang inspired high-performance electric SUV, perhaps called Mach E or Mach 1, that it says will have a 300-mile range. Now the company has announced that the model has earned a 370-mile range rating in the generous European WLTP driving...
Eric C. Evarts -
Nio, one of a handful of Chinese electric carmakers aiming to be Tesla competitors, just teased its next mass-market car, expected to debut at the Shanghai auto show later this month. Its latest car looks set to be a four-door luxury fast-back, perhaps similar to shadows of a car known as the EVE Vision shown in earlier Nio press materials as following the SUVs. It's sleeker and perhaps smaller than that angular hatchback, though. The teaser shot suggests the ET7 would have rear-hinged "suicide doors" in back, though the picture is far from clear. READ THIS: NIO aiming to innovate with...
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2019 full-size pickup truck mpg champs: Ford vs. Chevy vs. Ram
With electric pickup trucks from Ford, GM, and others—including newcomers like Rivian—looking likely to arrive in the next few years, the truck field could be on the verge of a clean, quiet, tailpipe-emissions-free shakeup. That said, you wouldn’t know this segment as being poised...
Bengt Halvorson -
Tesla reports sales down, citing delivery challenges in China and Europe
Tesla claims that its Model 3 electric sedan again in the first quarter of the year outsold all other mid-size sedans from what it considers premium brands—selling 60 percent more units than the closest runner-up. That’s the good news from the California electric car maker, in a...
Bengt Halvorson -
VW ID Roomzz, Toyota hybrid patents, more grid storage from hydro: Today's Car News
Toyota plans to open its hybrid patents through 2030. Volkswagen introduces the ID Roomzz for the Shanghai auto show. Pumped hydro could deliver more energy storage than batteries. And readers weigh in on what new niche electrics they'd like to see on VW's new ID EV platform. All this and more on...
Eric C. Evarts -
Toyota shores up against electric-car threat, by sharing hybrid tech
As some of the industry appears to be leapfrogging directly past hybrid vehicles, in favor of battery electrics—GM with its canceled Volt, for example—Toyota is making no such move. This morning it’s announced that it will open up its banks of patents related to hybrid systems...
Bengt Halvorson -
Which classic VW kit would you like to see revived as an EV? Twitter poll results
Volkswagen is planning up to 70 new electric cars based on its upcoming affordability-focused mass-market MEB platform. But the company itself may not build them all. At the Geneva auto show last month, VW said it was seeking other partners to use the platform to develop lower-volume special...
Eric C. Evarts -
Researchers find that there are many more sites conducive to pumped hydro for encouraging renewable sources.
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Volkswagen ID Roomzz full-size electric SUV to bow in Shanghai
Last month, Volkswagen announced that it will expand its upcoming electric-car lineup from 50 new models by 2023 to 70 new models by 2028. But it gave no indication what many of those new models will be. On Tuesday, the brand revealed the sixth new member of its upcoming ID electric family: The VW...
Eric C. Evarts -
2020 Ford Escape Hybrid, Byton M-Byte, Lightning Strike: Today's Car News
The Ford Escape Hybrid will make a comeback for 2020—with a plug-in hybrid, too. Chinese Tesla rival Byton reveals the M-byte testing in winter. The Lightning Strike electric motorcycle is out. And our latest Twitter poll asks what kind of electric-car racing matters most. All this and more...
Eric C. Evarts -
2020 Ford Escape revealed: Hybrid returns teasing nearly 40 mpg, plug-in hybrid version with 30 electric miles
The 2020 Ford Escape hybrid will manage up to 550 miles of range, according to the automaker and eventually offer a plug-in hybrid variant.
Bengt Halvorson -
What kind of racing can best stoke new interest in electric vehicles? Take our Twitter poll
Increasingly, electric cars are taking to race tracks of all kinds to prove themselves not only to their own drivers and other competitors, but also to fans. Volkswagen set a new record climbing Pikes Peak with its electric ID R that didn't lose power to the thin air at the top. Formula E, which...
Eric C. Evarts -
Lightning Strikes twice with second, affordable electric motorcycle
All-electric sportbike pushes to 150 mph or 150 city miles of range and is a little more subtle, but is positioned for affordability.
Eric C. Evarts