Green Car News
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Remember Fisker Automotive, the startup carmaker that sold the $106,000 luxury range-extended electric sport sedan called the Karma? Hang onto your memories, because the physical traces of Fisker's existence are vanishing quickly. These photos show what's happening to the dealership that was formerly Fisker of Bellevue, outside Seattle, Washington. Photos on the locational website Foursquare show what the dealer looked like last year, when it was in business. The Foursquare page for Fisker of Bellevue now carries a discrete "Now Closed" notice. Parking spots out front that used to say "Fisker...
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Across The Country In 5 Days--On An Electric Motorcycle
Little fuels a passion for travel like a cross-country trip. Perhaps "fuels" is the wrong word though, as it's not unusual to see people attempt U.S. crossings using electrons these days. Terry Hershner has done just that, though not in the air-conditioned luxury of a Tesla Model S. Instead, his...
Antony Ingram -
Senate Bill Boosts CAFE Ratings For Natural-Gas Vehicles With Gasoline Backup
A new bill in the U.S. Senate would amend Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules to encourage production of a new class of natural-gas vehicles with "reserve" gasoline tanks. As demonstrated in a drive of prototype vehicles earlier this year, the range-extended natural gas cars would run for perhaps...
John Voelcker -
2014 BMW i3 Range Extender: Heavier, Less Electric Range, Less Performance
Electric or range-extended electric? It's a choice that normally means selecting between entirely different cars, but when the 2014 BMW i3 debuts in the U.S. next Spring customers will be able to choose both options in the same car. The range-extended option marks out the i3 as a competitor for...
Antony Ingram -
Nickel-Zinc Replaces 12-Volt Lead-Acid Battery In Peugeot Start-Stop System
Some of the most exciting hybrid technology isn't coming from Japan or the U.S. these days, but France. The PSA group, comprising Peugeot and Citroen, has already attracted plenty of attention for its hybrid-air technology. Now, it's looking for ways of improving the batteries in "micro hybrid"...
Antony Ingram -
Why Silicon Valley Venture Firm Kleiner Perkins Bet On Fisker, Not Tesla
Venture capitalists fund a lot of startup companies, and most of them don't pan out. So famed venture firm Kleiner Perkins' stake in Fisker Automotive--which is still trying to sell itself, but hasn't built a car for 12 months--could be viewed as just another failed investment. On the other hand...
John Voelcker -
Ford is the latest automaker to offer a natural gas fuel option for its best-selling pickup truck range. The 2014 Ford F-150 will be offered with a natural gas (CNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) preparation option aiding installation of a suitable fuel system at qualified third-party installers. Available for the 3.7-liter V-6 engine, the 2014 F-150 will be the first half-ton pickup to gain such an option--although natural gas versions of larger heavy-duty pickups are sold by Chevrolet, GMC and Ram. While the package costs only $315 and consists of hardened valves, valve seats, pistons...
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One New York Cabbie Loves His Nissan Leaf Electric Taxi
There can be few tougher tests for a car than as a taxi in New York City. Tough roads and even tougher traffic makes the city a workout for any vehicle, but one cabby is enjoying the Nissan Leaf he's driving as part of the city's electric vehicle trials. In fact, driver Uppkar Singh Thind described...
Antony Ingram -
How We Became An All-Plug-In Electric Car Household
Since November 2006, our family has always owned at least one plug-in car and one powered by gasoline. For almost two years, our fleet has been a Nissan Leaf electric hatchback, and a used 2008 Toyota Prius. After two years and nearly 42,000 miles of driving the Leaf, however, our once high-tech...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Want To Improve Manual Gas Mileage? Haptic Shift Knob Tech Could Help
The humble automatic transmission has come along in leaps and bounds over the year, and modern systems are often more efficient than their manual equivalents. For the manual gearbox itself, economy is still very much down to "the nut behind the wheel", so anything that optimizes a driver's shift...
Antony Ingram -
Tesla In China: Promised Land, Huge Risks...Or Both?
Despite its pollution problems, China has never shown much interest in the electric car and sales have been a mere fraction of a fraction of the country's huge new car market. Not that Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] CEO Elon Musk is put off by unfavorable odds, as he pushes towards Tesla sales in China...
Antony Ingram -
China Takes Air Pollution More Seriously: $280 Billion Worth, Supposedly
We cover China's air pollution problems with depressing frequency on Green Car Reports, but the country's pollution problems have until now been far more than token schemes are able to deal with. That could change over the next few years, as the Chinese government pledges to invest $283 billion to...
Antony Ingram -
Several Japanese automakers have announced a joint project to install charging stations across their home country. Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi will work with each other and existing charging companies to drastically increase the number of regular and quick chargers across Japan, paving the way for higher electric vehicle adoption. The existing network of 1,700 fast chargers and just over 3,000 regular charging points will grow significantly, with plans for more than 4,000 fast chargers and over 8,000 regular stations. These are likely to be spread among commercial facilities such as...
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Prices For Used Hybrids, Small Cars Drop As New Car Sales Boom
As you've probably discovered when hunting in the classified adverts for a used fuel-efficient vehicle, the latest batch of hybrids and small cars holds its value quite well. With high gas prices and limited supply, that's not much of a surprise. But the situation is getting better, and it's thanks...
Antony Ingram -
Toyota Prius Vs. Ford C-Max Hybrid: Pros And Cons
For several years, Toyota had the hybrid market pretty much sewn up with its Prius. Okay, so it never reached the heady economy highs of the original Honda Insight, but it was far more practical and electric running made it the hybrid of choice in city driving. That's until the Ford C-Max Hybrid...
Antony Ingram -
2014 BMW i3 Electric Car: Full Details And Images Released
We won't see them in the States until early next year, but today the 2014 BMW i3 electric car was revealed in production form to the world at large. Some images had already leaked, and BMW had previously released some specifications and also information on the i3's connectivity and navigation...
John Voelcker -
New Clean-Ish Diesel For World's Oldest Production Car (In India)
You've likely never heard of a Hindustan Ambassador--and unless you're an old British-car geek, you've certainly never seen a Morris Oxford Series III. But the Ambassador--fondly known as the "Amby"--is both India's de facto taxi cab and the oldest production car in the world. Now it's been fitted...
John Voelcker -
Electric Utilities Now Fighting Home Solar As Threat To Their Business
For owners of electric vehicles, powering their homes and cars using solar panels mounted on the roof are a win-win scenario. Not only do they get to drive past every gas station, but home electricity bills are reduced or even eliminated. That's great news for the end user, but not so much for the...
Antony Ingram -
Japanese automakers may have cultivated a reputation for occasionally churning out dull, forgettable vehicles, but they certainly make up for it in other ways. Take Nissan, for example. Its bread and butter may be the Versa, but it's also given us the Juke, and the supercar-slaying GT-R. Honda might crank out Civics by the hundred thousand, but they've also given us the NSX, the first-generation Insight and the S2000. And then there's Toyota. Pick one color to describe the Camry, and you'd probably select beige. But in Japan, the automaker is developing something positively neon--the Winglet...
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Acura NSX Hybrid Supercar To Make On-Track Debut At Mid-Ohio
Hybrid supercars are officially in fashion. We've been positively inundated by the things over the last year or so, from BMW's upcoming i8 plug-in hybrid, to the exotic Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918 and McLaren P1 trio, to this: The Acura NSX. Like its historical namesake, it's the Acura destined...
Antony Ingram -
MINI Vision Concept: Is This The 2014 MINI Cooper?
The classic Mini wasn't the original gas-saving minicar, but it was certainly one of the most iconic, and modern owners BMW have turned the brand into a successful venture these days with a wide and not always endearing portfolio. It's still the basic hatchback which mirrors the original car...
Antony Ingram -
Tesla Trips Limousine Service Approved In Portland, Will Use Model S Sedans
Want to move around the city with minimal stress? If you live in Portland, you'll now be able to do so in the back of a Tesla Model S, thanks to Tesla Trips. The company, which normally organizes road trips around Oregon in the cars, applied back in April for a license to serve Portland as an...
Antony Ingram -
Yo-Auto Natural-Gas Hybrid Update: Production Now In 2015?
With Teslas and BMW i3s dominating the green car headlines, it's easy to forget that plenty of other automakers are creating their own low-emission vehicles. In Russia, that company is Yo-Avto. The automaker has promised a natural gas hybrid vehicle for some time--and that time could now be 2015...
Antony Ingram -
Plug-In Electric Car Buyers Very Satisfied With Cars: Report
A new report issued today on the current status of plug-in electric cars suggests that buyers are very happy with their cars, and plug-in sales are rising faster than hybrids sales did after they were launched. "Customer experiences have typically been extremely positive," says the report, citing...
John Voelcker