Green Car News

  • Axiflux compact electric motor (Axiflux)

    All that sitting in front of the TV watching bad sitcoms could pay off, if a new electric motor proves successful in field trials. A startup in Melbourne, Australia, has developed a new motor for use in an electric-powered Holden Commodore. There's nothing wildly special about that, but the new, more efficient design was only possible due to the popularity of plasma televisions bringing down the cost of certain electrical components. According to GoAuto, the motor, developed by David Jahshan and his company Axiflux, is claimed to be smaller, lighter and less expensive than existing designs...

  • 2013 BMW 3-Series
    2014 BMW 328d Diesel To Be Unveiled At NY Auto Show

    Though we’ve known since last summer that BMW would once again sell a diesel-powered 3-Series sedan in the United States, we’re now officially one step closer to the 2014 BMW 328d appearing in U.S. dealer showrooms. BMW has announced the U.S. debut of the 328d sedan at this...

  • Tax forms by Flickr user bobt54
    2012 Tax Credits For Electric Cars And Charging Stations

    One month from today is Tax Day, April 15. Let us repeat that: Your Federal income taxes (and your state and local taxes too, if you live in places with their own income taxes) must be filed 31 days from today. So consider this our friendly reminder to start getting your paperwork in order if you...

  • Citroën clean diesel ad, poking fun at the election of the new pope
    Citroën Tidies Up The Vatican's Black Smoke Problem In Clean Diesel Ad

    To paraphrase Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast, but social media moves faster." Think of the Harlem Shake phenomenon: one minute it was an obscure YouTube meme, the next, it was being performed by a bunch of Today show employees. If marketers want to jump on a trend, they have to move at...

  • Electric Cars Charging in Norway
    How Much Is Norway Paying To Promote Electric Cars?

    With electric cars taking up 3 percent of the market for new car sales in a country of only five million people, Norway is one of the most electric car-friendly countries on the planet. Geographically small enough to minimize range concerns and with huge financial incentives for going electric...

  • President Obama inspects the 2011 Chevrolet Volt
    Obama: Use Oil & Gas Lease Dollars To Fund Gasoline-Free Cars

    The sequester is now with us, and Congress has lower approval ratings than South American death squads, but President Obama is doggedly pursuing his green agenda nonetheless. Today, he will announce a plan to divert $2 billion of Federal oil and gas lease revenues over the next decade from general...

  • Elon Musk signs new 2013 Tesla Model S at Tesla Store opening, Austin, Texas [photo: John Griswell]

    Why would Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk take a Sharpie to the sun visor of an all-but-new Tesla Model S electric sport sedan? It wasn't a question we'd considered until a reader tipped us off to a photo on Flickr that showed just that. And we were intrigued enough to contact Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA} to ask just what was going on here. The photo is one of a set of 15, dated last Saturday, collectively labeled "Elon Musk visits Austin," taken by local resident John Griswell. "Owners showed up early during the opening weekend of our store at The Domain in Austin, Texas," responded Tesla...

  • Free Piston Linear Generator range-extending engine (DLR)
    New Internal Combustion Tech Could Improve Range-Extended Electric Cars

    As any Chevrolet Volt owner will tell you, the range-extended electric car concept is very well adapted to the average car ownership experience. The majority of your daily driving can be accomplished on electricity alone, but there's always that engine there waiting to back you up should a longer...

  • Volkswagen e-up! live photos, 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show
    Volkswagen e-Up Electric Minicar: Forbidden Fruit For Europe Only

    The next 18 months will see a number of plug-in vehicles enter the market from Volkswagen, as the company has promised for several years. Today, first details of the Volkswagen e-Up minicar were released--with the car being shown at the company's Annual Press and Investors Conference, held at its...

  • 2013 Ford F-150 Lariat
    Texans Still Love Trucks, But Hybrid Sales Are Growing

    Texans really like their trucks. It's one of life's constants--the sun will always rise, politicians will always lie, Texans will always buy trucks. That doesn't mean Texan car buyers aren't open to new ideas though, and though it may come as a surprise, hybrid sales are actually increasing at...

  • 2013 BMW 3-Series Sports Wagon
    BMW 3-Series Sports Wagon Gets Diesel Option Later This Year

    Want utility, performance and economy? A diesel wagon could be just the thing for you, and BMW is set to launch its take on the theme later this year. A 2.0-liter turbodiesel has already been confirmed for the BMW 3-Series sedan, but it looks like the same engine will also be available in the...

  • 2013 Nissan Leaf 'Facts' television ad, frame capture
    2013 Nissan Leaf TV Ad: Selling Electric-Car Fun, Finally!

    The 2013 Nissan Leaf electric car has some lofty sales goals associated with it--certainly higher than the 9,750 deliveries that Nissan averaged each year in 2011 and 2012. So it's encouraging to see a new television ad for the 2013 Leaf that actually highlights the fun and special features of...

  • 2013 Audi A4

    Audi's A4 sedan, rival to the BMW 3-Series and Mercedes-Benz C Class, is the company's best-selling model in the U.S. When the next-generation model arrives in the States in 2014, it could also be offered with a diesel engine, says Audi. According to Automotive News, the German automaker wants to expand its range of diesel models in the U.S, and launched a four-model offensive on the market, beginning with the recent luxury A8 TDI. The A4 wasn't originally part of this plan, but when the new model arrives next year it will get the company's 2.0-liter TDI unit, similar to that already sold in...

  • Bolloré BlueCar electric car used for Autolib' car-sharing service in Paris, September 2012
    Parisian Bollore Electric Car Is Cheap; Requires Battery Rental

    Until now, if you'd wanted to drive a Bollore Bluecar electric vehicle, all you'd have required as a few Euros per hour to take one of the little vehicles around the crowded roads of Paris, France. Bollore has now put the Bluecar on sale to the French public, at a starting price of 12,000...

  • Henrik Fisker
    Update: Co-Founder Henrik Fisker Leaves Fisker Automotive, Struggling Electric-Car Firm

    Henrik Fisker, co-founder and executive chairman of electric car company Fisker Automotive, quit the company today. In a statement sent to Autocar and other outlets, Fisker confirmed his resignation from the company bearing his name, citing disagreements over the company's strategy. The statement...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt plugged into Coulomb Technologies 240V wall charging unit
    EV Project Tells Us How Drivers Use Electric Cars

    Just how do electric car owners use their cars? It's the question everyone is trying to answer, as it could shape how electric cars of the future are developed. Virtually every manufacturer with an electric car runs its own field trials or keeps data on its users' driving habits, but the EV Project...

  • 2014 Infiniti QX60 Hybrid
    2014 Infiniti QX60 Hybrid Set For New York Auto Show Debut

    2.5 liters doesn't seem like a lot to move a large luxury crossover like the Infiniti QX60, but teamed with a supercharger and hybrid drive system, the 2014 QX60 Hybrid aims to offer both performance and efficiency. The new car will debut at the impending New York Auto Show, and mark the third...

  • Big square baler harvesting wheat straw for production of cellulosic ethanol
    U.S. Biofuels & Ethanol Mandate: More Vulnerable Than Ever Now?

    Since 2007, U.S. fuel producers have been required by law to include more and more ethanol and other biofuels in their blends. Now, Pike Research suggests, the biofuels mandate enacted as part of the 2007 U.S. Energy Act may be vulnerable to renewed political pressure. Pike notes that the drawbacks...

  • Chiton marine snail could inspire improved battery and solar cell development (Wikimedia Commons)

    We often cover the progress of battery technologies here on Green Car Reports, and while always of interest, few new discoveries are really that surprising. The potential of a biomineral found in the teeth of a marine snail isn't one of those unsurprising discoveries. Studies at the University of California, Riverside, suggest future batteries and solar cells could use materials formed in a process found in the gumboot chiton snail, reports Wards Auto. The large sea snail features a conveyor belt-like arrangement of teeth in its mouth, used to rasp algae from rocks on the sea bed. Grinding...

  • KLM biofuel-powered airliner (KLM)
    Air Travel Gets Greener: Biofuel Route Opens Between NYC & Netherlands

    Air travel is currently the only realistic way of covering huge distances in very short spaces of time. Unfortunately, it's not a particularly green way of doing so either--airliners use large quantities of fossil fuels and emit plenty of pollutants as they whizz you to a far-flung destination...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan on delivery day, with owner David Noland
    Life With 2013 Tesla Model S: The Good & The Bad At 600 Miles

    Two weeks and 600 miles ago, I took delivery of a 60-kWh 2013 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan. I won't dwell on the ear-flattening acceleration, nor the magic-carpet ride and handling, nor the mesmerizing 17-inch touch screen controls. Those features have been exhaustively analyzed and reported...

  • 2013 Porsche Cayenne Diesel
    Best Diesel Car Of 2013: Cast Your Vote Now!

    We don't know that 2013 will be seen as the tipping point for the acceptance of diesel-fueled passenger vehicles in the United States. But we're sure of one thing: that tipping point is now closer than ever before. While the list of diesel vehicles currently available in the United States market...

  • John Duncan takes delivery of one of the first 2011 Nissan LEAF EVs, near Portland OR, 12/15/2010
    Nissan Leaf Electric Car Reports Own Battery-Cell Failure Via Carwings

    Wouldn't it be nice if your car could tell you not just that something was wrong, but that something might be about to go wrong? A Nissan Leaf in Washington state did just that, and owner Rob Greenlee only found out when he got a call from his local dealership asking him to bring it in for a...

  • 2014 Volkswagen Golf (European spec)
    2015 Volkswagen Golf For U.S.: Preview Of New York Auto Show

    The latest seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf hatchback was formally launched last fall at the Paris Motor Show. It's now on sale in Germany, but the models to be sold in the U.S. will be unveiled for the first time in two weeks, at the New York Auto Show. They'll go on sale during the first half...

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