Green Car News

  • Electra Meccanica eRoadster, an electric Intermeccanica Speedster replica

    The first features of Tesla's Full Self-Driving Capability are starting to show up in customers cars. The Nissan Leaf Plus goes long on range, light on charging worries. Volvo underestimated the demand for its plug-in hybrids and is gearing up to produce more. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Reports in Tesla forums and YouTube videos over the weekend began showing new features of Tesla's long-promised Full Self-Driving Capability. The cars still can't substitute for a human driver, but videos show them navigating through parking lots to their owners, yielding to merging cars, and...

  • Volkswagen ID Buggy concept
    Which classic VW kit would you like to see revived as an EV? Take our Twitter poll

    When Volkswagen introduced the ID Buggy concept at the Geneva auto show earlier this month, it also presented an interesting proposition: The company suggested that it would like to sell the Buggy's modular electric underpinnings to other automakers to build their own electric models. That follows...

  • Tesla Model 3 Enhanced Summon video still [by YouTuber  Nagaraj Kelageri]
    Tesla starts Hardware 3 rollout: Enhanced Summon, red-light warnings

    Like Teslas rolling through parking lots on their own, the self-driving future is inching closer. This week, Tesla owners began to experience new features of the company's long-promised next update to its self-driving system, including Enhanced Summon, which is one of the first features of Tesla's...

  • 2020 Volvo XC90
    Volvo to boost plug-in hybrid production to 25 percent of fleet

    While other automakers are moving away from plug-in hybrids to electric powertrains, Volvo is finding unexpected success with its lineup of plug-in hybrids. At a recent roundtable with journalists in Sweden, Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson said the company is disappointed that it underestimated demand...

  • 2019 Nissan Leaf Plus  -  Driven, March 2019
    2019 Nissan Leaf Plus: Drive review of long-range electric car

    If more power, a 226-mile range, and a $39,405 base price—before considering the full $7,500 federal EV tax credit you can still get—collectively seems like the sweet spot for the Leaf, you probably have GM to thank. Nissan has admitted that it never planned to push the Leaf above a...

  • Teaser for Canoo concepts
    Tesla service, Faraday Future lifeline, EV sales, Canoo: Today's Car News

    In an effort to speed up wait times at its service centers, Tesla is eliminating regular annual service visits for its cars. Canada is planning on launching its first nationwide tax credit for electric cars. A new report estimates that by 2030, almost 70 percent of new cars sold in the U.S. may...

  • Faraday Future FF91 prototype

    The shame of Faraday Future's financial struggles is that it has what looks to be a viable new electric car, not just on paper, but ready to roll on the road—in prototype form—that may never actually make it to market. On Sunday, the company revealed a new joint venture with a video-game company in China that could bring it $600 million to build a version of its FF91 in China. The company will form a joint venture with The9, a Chinese video-game company that launched the first Chinese virtual currency and community in 1999 and once had the exclusive license to operate World of...

  • 2019 Audi e-tron first drive  -  Abu Dhabi UAE, December 2018
    Forecast: In 2030, gasoline will still power 7 out of 10 new U.S. vehicles

    Given the daily churn of electric-car announcements, major manufacturing investments, and battery supply-chain news, it could be a little hard to understand one reality-check projection: that even in 2030, a solid majority of vehicles sold could still burn fossil fuel. Last week, LMC Automotive, a...

  • Tesla Model 3 bought [Photo by reader AH]
    Canada plans its first nationwide EV tax credit

    Just as President Trump is threatening to eliminate the plug-in vehicle tax credit in the U.S. through his latest budget proposal, Canada is planning to implement its first nationwide tax credit for buyers of electric cars—one that may not apply to Tesla vehicles. Last summer, Tesla sales...

  • 2019 Tesla Model 3 Performance
    Tesla eliminates annual service, keeps some periodic maintenance

    Electric cars are supposed to be more reliable than internal combustion models. Certainly, they have a lot fewer moving parts and need a lot less lubrication. Yet Tesla, like most corner auto dealerships, has made money selling extended service plans for annual maintenance on its cars, sometimes...

  • Bugatti Baby II
    Bugatti Baby, meet the baby Bugatti electric

    Like other marquee luxury brands, Bugatti is dipping its toes into the electric waters, reviving one of its classic models, but with a twist. To celebrate the storied brand's 110th birthday, instead of shoehorning a battery pack into a classic car, or creating a wild new electric concept with lines...

  • Tesla Model Y  -  introduction, Hawthorne CA, March 2019
    Tesla comparisons, Jaguar I-Pace and Chevy Bolt EV drives: The Week in Reverse

    Which self-driving system didn't rank well in the latest study? What car has given us range anxiety at least once? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending March 22, 2019. This week ended with lots of announcements from automakers...

  • 2020 Volkswagen ID 3 spy shots

    A new study is not kind to Tesla's Autopilot. GM announces a new electric Chevrolet to sell alongside the Bolt EV—but it wouldn't say what. Volkswagen forms an alliance to develop European batteries for EVs. And Faraday Future hosts a fire sale. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Facing criticism from President Trump for idling five factories and building some new SUVs in Mexico, GM announced that it will build a new Chevrolet EV in Michigan, before a new line of electric vehicles arrives from Cadillac. In a new ranking of self-driving systems, Tesla fell behind big competitors...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV pre-production
    Chevrolet Bolt EV to get electric sibling, with Michigan plant investment

    General Motors announced on Friday that it will build a second electric car for Chevrolet, alongside the Chevy Bolt EV. The new model is widely expected to be a somewhat larger crossover SUV, though GM would not confirm that at this point. MUST READ: Long-range Cadillac SUV to lead GM's next...

  • VW Battery Packs
    Electric car battery research pact seeks to keep German auto prowess

    For the past 50 years, the German auto industry has enjoyed quite the roll of growth and success in the U.S., built largely on its expertise with one specific technology: the internal combustion engine. But now the importance of that advantage is fading, with electric cars on the rise and the...

  • Faraday Future FF91 prototype
    Faraday Future posts "For Sale" signs, as Evergrande backer announces first EV

    Faraday Future has been selling like crazy lately. Only, not its cars. The company announced last week that it is seeking a buyer for its original factory site in Las Vegas, where it announced at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show that it would build its future FF91 and FF81. It also announced then...

  • Tesla Model 3 dashboard in Autopilot testing with IIHS [CREDIT: IIHS]
    Tesla Autopilot ranks next-to-last in study of self-driving systems

    Tesla, its owners and fans, and its CEO Elon Musk crow a lot about the capabilities of its Autopilot self-driving system. In independent comparisons, though, other autonomous driving systems keep coming out ahead. The latest is from Navigant Research, an automotive consulting firm, and the results...

  • Volvo in-car camera system
    Jaguar I-Pace range, electric BMWs, Ford factories, Fisker batteries: Today's Car News

    BMW plans to have 10 plug-in models by next year. Ford announces where it plans to build a wider array of upcoming electric cars. Fisker postpones plans for solid-state batteries. And we assess why the Jaguar I-Pace has made us more anxious than other EVs. All this and more on Green Car Reports. At...

  • 2019 Jaguar I-Pace  -  Portland, November 2018

    It’s not unusual for fuel gauges on gasoline cars to be inaccurate. Often they can hug "Full" so long you might suspect it’s malfunctioning—only to then swing rapidly toward the halfway mark and below. Usually these idiosyncrasies are no big deal. When the low-fuel light and chime prompt you, you’re almost always within distance of a gas station, where you can fuel up and be back on your way in minutes. For electric cars, the same is not true. Unfortunately, it’s a version of this that can make road-trip time in some electric vehicles a harrowing experience. The...

  • Teaser for Fisker Ocean electric SUV
    Fisker solid-state batteries won't arrive until at least 2022

    As part of its latest revelation of a new, mainstream electric SUV for 2021, startup automaker Fisker (the eponymous founder's second under his own name), implicitly made a somewhat startling admission: The solid-state batteries the company has been working on may not be ready any time soon...

  • Teaser for Ford Mustang Mach-E debuting at 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show
    Ford plans to revamp Michigan plant for 2023 electric car production

    Ford Motor Company yesterday announced a plan to build future electric vehicles at a Michigan plant that currently makes the Ford Mustang. Ironically, the plant won’t be where Ford will ramp up production next year of its Mustang-influenced all-electric performance SUV; but the move...

  • Prototype for BMW iNext electric SUV due in 2021
    BMW plans 12 all-electric models by 2025

    At its annual shareholders meeting in Munich on Wednesday, BMW laid out plans to bring 12 new all-electric cars to market by 2025, including five in the next two years. Along with the company's existing i3, the first five will include the Mini Electric, due on sale later this year, the iX3 SUV next...

  • 1932 Bugatti Royale (Type 41)
    Tesla Model 3 vs. Nissan Leaf, VW diesels, electric off-roaders: Today's Car News

    Tesla is starting to have some competition. We lay out the pluses and minuses of the new base Tesla Model 3 against the new longer-range Nissan Leaf Plus. One of the biggest makers of recreational vehicles looks poised for more electric ones thanks to a new deal. And despite Volkswagen's big plans...

  • 2018 Tesla Model S and 2018 Tesla Model X
    Do Tesla stores still matter? Twitter poll results

    Two weeks ago, Tesla announced it was closing all its stores and move all sales online, where the company does most of its business anyway. Last week, it said it would reopen most of them. That led us to wonder whether Tesla stores are still relevant. To gauge the answer among our own readers, our...

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