Green Car News

Perhaps Toyota is hinting at Volkswagen Beetle levels of success with its unusually-named Smart INSECT concept car, but in reality the tiny single-seat electric car is desgined to showcase communications-linked driving. Based on the single-seat Coms unveiled earlier this year, the Smart INSECT may...

Tesla Motors gets a huge amount of media attention, and Fisker Automotive isn't far behind. Other automotive startups, including Coda Automotive and tiny Wheego Electric Cars, are less well known. But can you name the startup automaker that's built 2,500 cars since last September? Hint: It's none...

The most popular electric car in Paris is not what you think. It's not the Nissan Leaf, or the Mitsubishi i-MiEV (or its Citroen C-Zero or Peugeot i-On siblings). It's a silver three-door hatchback with four seats and a basic interior that Parisians drive for only a few minutes to a few hours, from...

It’s been just under a month since Nissan quietly released gas mileage figures for its all-new 2013 Sentra compact sedan. Now Nissan has announced pricing for this redesigned sedan. Including a mandatory $780 handling and destination fee, the base-level 2013 Sentra S, with 1.8-liter...

Shai Agassi, founder of Better Place, which provides electric-car services to customers in Israel, is no longer CEO of the company, the firm has confirmed. In an official statement posted earlier today, the company said that Agassi has been replaced by Evan Thornley, previously CEO of Better Place...

The 2012 Paris Auto Show is currently underway, but with press days now done and dusted, it's time to take a look at the green vehicles which made the headlines. Between concepts and production vehicles, several manufacturers offered something fuel efficient--and many previewed vehicles that didn't...

Could Renault's Zoe be a game-changer in the electric car market? It might only be going on sale in Europe, but several signs are pointing towards it being significantly more popular than cars like the Nissan Leaf. The first is its size. Subcompacts are very popular in Europe, with cars like the...

Infiniti is clearly proud of its Emerg-E plug-in hybrid supercar, wheeling it out at several auto shows and even driving it up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Sadly though, for anyone hoping the concept would eventually be produced, Infiniti has confirmed it has no plans to make a...

Last week, Tesla Motors [NADAQ: TSLA] officially switched on the first six of its planned network of Supercharger charging stations. Designed to offer current -- and future -- Tesla models the ability to recharge at a rate of around 150 miles in just 30 minutes, Tesla’s Superchargers are the...

Honda's updated CR-Z hybrid hatchback may not have been one of the stars of the Paris Auto Show, but with a power boost and some styling tweaks it's welcome all the same. With a boost in power from 122 to 135 horspower, the new model knocks over half a second from the old car's 0-62 mph time, now...

This is a tough period for Nissan and its Leaf electric car. Sales have been stagnant, averaging 500 cars per month this year. More recent concerns by owners in Phoenix over unexpected battery-capacity loss raise the specter of a plug-in car with limited lifespan. Some observers feel that Nissan...

Smart might be struggling to sell its ageing ForTwo at the moment but its design department is certainly keeping busy. The 2012 Paris Auto Show, which got underway last Thursday for members of the press, allowed Smart to unveil yet another concept car previewing the next Fortwo, expected to be...

Investing in startup companies is a risky way to make money. And if the startups are carmakers, it may be even riskier yet--as the Illinois Student Assistance Commission found out recently. The state agency managing the College Illinois prepaid tuition program had invested $10 million in the stock...

At last week’s Paris Auto Show, BMW unveiled the Concept Active Tourer, a compact plug-in hybrid wagon powered by a combination of battery power and a 3-cylinder gasoline engine. At the moment, BMW’s new 1.5-liter, 3-cylinder engine, designed in part for use in its upcoming i8 plug-in...

When a major automaker introduces a new electric car, you'd expect a major event with plenty of hoopla. But at last week's Paris Auto Show, the Toyota iQ EV--a battery electric conversion of the minicar it sells in the States as the Scion iQ--was pretty much ignored by Toyota executives. Instead...

With ongoing consumer concerns about battery longevity in hot climates, not to mention an all-new 2013 Leaf electric car just around the corner, NIssan has dropped the price of leasing a 2012 model. According to The Washington Post, Nissan started September with enough 2012 Leafs in its inventory...

In April, Tom LaSorda--then CEO of Fisker Automotive--said the company was raising additional capital. Today, Fisker announced that it had closed a new round of financing, with more than $100 million coming into the company's coffers. It will use the money, it says, for "continued product...

With all eyes turned to the 2012 Paris Auto Show, Nissan has quietly announced that its all-new 2013 Nissan Altima has been awarded a 5-star overall rating by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in its New car Assessment Program (NCAP) Awarded top marks for both frontal crash and...

Yesterday, at the 2012 Paris Auto Show, Volvo quietly announced that it had sold out of its first-year allocation of V60 diesel plug-in hybrid wagons, well before the model’s official showroom launch. While it won’t be making the trip to the U.S., the oil-burning plug-in hybrid wagon...

The Honda CR-Z mild-hybrid sports coupe will get some evolutionary, not revolutionary, changes for the 2013 model year, the automaker has announced at the 2012 Paris Auto Show. From a distance, the 2013 CR-Z looks very similar to the 2012 model, but on closer inspection the redesigned fascia...