Green Car News
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General Motors and BMW announced on Tuesday that they had jointly completed testing new quick-charging equipment for plug-in electric cars. The charging stations, cables, and plugs were built to the new Combined Charging Standard (CCS) specification adopted by the Society of Automotive Engineers. Each maker will soon roll out a battery-electric car that accepts CCS-based DC fast charging. The 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV will reach the first dealers in California sometime this month, while the 2014 BMW i3 is expected to arrive at initial BMW dealerships in January. 'Unprecedented cooperation' The...
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Ford Energi Plug-In Hybrids Let You Choose Your Own 'Eco Coach'
Information is power, right? More precisely, based on an interview last week with Mike Tinskey, Ford’s Director of Global Vehicle Electrification and Infrastructure, information is both what buyers of the brand’s Energi plug-in hybrids want to feel empowered, and what they need to get...
Bengt Halvorson -
2014 Ford Focus Electric: No Updates, No Love For Ford's Electric Orphan
Rarely has any carmaker launched a car as obviously unloved as the Ford Focus Electric, the battery-electric conversion of a five-door Focus compact hatchback. As a company, Ford does not believe battery-electric cars will have much of a future for many years to come. Unusually for a new car, it...
John Voelcker -
Land Rover Diesel Hybrids Could Reach U.S. In 2014: Report
We're often asked why more automakers don't sell diesel-electric hybrid vehicles. There are plenty of good reasons why, but that doesn't stop people wanting the twin-pronged benefits of highway and city economy. SUV buyers could get their wish if Land Rover brings diesel-electric hybrids to the...
Antony Ingram -
Want To Test-Drive BMW's i3 Electric Car? Join The Other 100,000...
No single automaker has yet sold 100,000 examples of an electric car. BMW is no different, and won't be for quite some time--as its full production electric vehicles, notably the i3 city car, are yet to hit the streets. But the German automaker has got that many people interested in its i3, at...
Antony Ingram -
NYC Bans Electric Bikes (Again), Launches Bike Sharing System
About a month ago, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a bill that banned electric bikes from the city's streets. (Like all bikes, they're also banned from sidewalks--not that every rider seems to know that.) And as a Navigant Research blog post points out, e-bikes were already illegal...
John Voelcker -
It isn't easy to compare gasoline and electric vehicles. Sure, you can look at EPA stickers, sit in them and appreciate the way they drive, but comparing like-for-like on an economic basis is requires some thought. The U.S. Department of Energy has simplified the process with its new eGallon calculator, showing potential electric vehicle drivers just how much cheaper it is to run one than the equivalent gasoline vehicle. The DoE describes an eGallon as "the cost of fueling a vehicle with electricity compared to a similar vehicle that runs on gasoline". Most people know that the power coming...
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2014 Ford Fiesta SFE: 34 MPG Combined, 41 MPG Highway
Ford's updated Fiesta SFE is offering even better fuel efficiency for the 2014 model year. The Fiesta uses a 1.6-liter gasoline engine, developing around 120 horsepower. It's a fun little car to drive, but the main focus here is economy. With EPA-rated mileage figures of 30 mpg city, 41 highway and...
Antony Ingram -
2013 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid Underscores 'Your Mileage May Vary'
It seems Ford has taken to heart the concerns over the difference in its new hybrids between EPA gas-mileage ratings and real-world results. In a media presentation yesterday on the new 2013 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid, Ford's luxury brand devoted considerable time to explaining how it helps drivers...
John Voelcker -
Audi Experiments With Hydrogen-Powered A7
Audi looks set to add another technology to its wide 'tron' roster--hydrogen power. As Autocar reports (via Motor Authority), the company is working on a fuel cell Audi A7, with trials due to begin at the end of August. Not a word was said about the model at Audi's recent future lab tron-experience...
Antony Ingram -
100 MPG, Hand-Built, Gasoline-Powered Aptera Set For U.S?
A great many people were disappointed--though perhaps not surprised--when green automaker Aptera closed its doors in late 2011. Its project, the Aptera 2e, promised to be one of the most efficient vehicles on the road, but the company suffered the usual startup automaker pitfalls and disappeared...
Antony Ingram -
Life With Tesla Model S: Trying Out The Service Program
Tesla's announcement last month of its new service program sounded almost too good to be true. If anything went wrong with my 2013 Tesla Model S, promised CEO Elon Musk, instead of schlepping to the nearest service center, I would simply await the arrival in my driveway of the Tesla service tech...
David Noland -
Volkswagen's 2013 Passat TDI is the most efficient diesel vehicle currently on sale. Its EPA-rated figures of 31 mpg city, 43 highway and 35 combined put it above a throng of other Volkswagen-Audi diesels, and make it a prime choice for frugal highway driving. But is 68 mpg within reach? If you're multiple economy record holder Wayne Gerdes, it might be. In conjunction with Volkswagen of America, serial hypermiler Gerdes has set off on a 8,000-mile journey around the 48 contiguous states to set a Guinness World Record for "lowest fuel consumption--48 U.S. states for a non-hybrid car." To set...
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Toyota: No More Plug-In Electric Cars If Electricity Doesn't Get Cleaner (In Europe)?
European buyers waiting for an electric Toyota may have quite some time to wait--until the electric grid cleans up, basically. That's the word from Toyota Europe, which says it wants to see cleaner electricity generation before it commits to electric vehicles. According to Responding to Climate...
Antony Ingram -
Electric-Car Price War Heats Up: Chevy Volt $5,000 Cash Back
Last month, the Nissan Leaf passed the Chevrolet Volt to take this year's top spot among plug-in electric cars for sale. Now Chevy is fighting back. It announced that it will offer $5,000 cash back on remaining 2012 Volt range-extended electric cars, and $4,000 on 2013 models, according to...
John Voelcker -
French Electric Car-Sharing Service Autolib Coming To ... Indianapolis ?!?
Visit French capital Paris, and it won't be long before you see a Bollore Bluecar running about. The small, quirky electric car is part of the city's Autolib' car sharing service. Bluecars dotted around Parisian streets wait for anyone wishing to borrow them, for anything from a few minutes to...
Antony Ingram -
2014 Audi A3 e-tron: Full Details On Audi's Plug-In Hybrid
"We're proud the Audi A3 e-tron doesn't look like an electric car." Ouch. If Audi is truly serious about electric vehicles, that probably isn't the phrase we'd have chosen to prove it, while showing off its new plug-in hybrid A3 model. But then, the Ingolstadt automaker might be on to...
Antony Ingram -
Price Cuts Work: Waiting Lists For Electric Honda Fit EVs Now
Well, chalk one up for basic economic theory: If you lower the price of a good, more people will want to own it. In the case of the 2013 Honda Fit EV, the low-volume battery-electric version of the Honda Fit subcompact hatchback, a cut in the monthly lease price did the trick. Through the end of...
John Voelcker -
Audi has revealed pricing for its full lineup of diesel models, joining the existing A8 L TDI and Q7 TDI SUV. Each new model uses the same 3.0-liter V-6 turbodiesel engine and 8-speed automatic transmission to deliver strong performance and surprisingly frugal economy figures. The engine produces 240 horsepower and a useful 428 lb-ft of torque, so Audi buyers still enjoy the sort of punch they'd experience from equivalent gasoline models. Starting off, the 2014 Audi A6 TDI uses this engine to achieve EPA estimated economy figures of 24 mpg city, 38 highway and 29 combined. Prices start at...
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Elon Musk Hangs Up As Writer Questions Battery-Cost Declines
Reporters interview CEOs all the time, but it's rare for those CEOs to end interviews abruptly. Which is what makes an article in Barron's about Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] and its current high stock price so entertaining. In "Recharge Now!", author Bill Alpert opens with a comparison between Tesla...
John Voelcker -
New Nürburgring Lap Record For Electric Car Set By SLS AMG
The timing was nothing if not amusing. No sooner had Audi let us drive its R8 e-tron electric supercar and proudly boasted of its lap record at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, then arch-rival Mercedes-Benz stole it from under Audi's nose with its SLS AMG Electric Drive. The striking yellow...
Antony Ingram -
Audi R8 e-tron: First Drive Of Audi's Electric Supercar
We'll start with the bad news: No, Audi definitely won't be producing any more examples of its R8 e-tron electric supercar. And even if it did, it'd be well beyond the reach of mere mortals--rumor has it that each of the ten e-trons currently in existence have set Audi back around $1.3 million. All...
Antony Ingram -
Volkswagen XL1 Diesel Plug-In Gets "Just" 120 MPG In Real-World Drive
While the assembled hoardes drooled over Ferraris, Porsches and McLarens at March's Geneva Motor Show, those of a greener disposition were more interested in another vehicle. Launched alongside the hybrid hypercars was a true hybrid supercar in its own right--the plug-in diesel hybrid Volkswagen...
Antony Ingram -
Electric-Car Battery Breakthroughs: Ultimate Guide
If it wasn't so important for the future of electric cars, it could almost get tiresome: Just how do you improve batteries for longer life, quicker charging and a greater range? It's a question being investigated by great minds all around the world, and has turned up some surprising and exciting...
Antony Ingram