Green Car News

  • Loose Change

    Ask any electric car owner to tell you about public charging stations, and they’ll likely show you the wallet full of smart cards and RFID tags. That’s because most electric car charging stations, with a few exceptions, only give access to pre-registered members. But what if you could pay for your charge in the same way you pay for parking, with cold, hard cash? It might sound like a simple idea, but we’ve just learned that it wasn’t until earlier this year that the world’s first mass-produced coin-operated payment machine specifically designed for high-power...

  • BMW DriveNow service launches in San Francisco
    BMW Launches ActiveE DriveNow Electric Car Sharing In San Francisco

    We quite like the BMW ActiveE. It's a good-looking, comfortable, quick electric car, and its existence will help develop BMW's first true electric production car, the 2014 BMW i3. Now, thanks to BMW's car sharing service DriveNow, residents in San Francisco will also get to enjoy the ActiveE's...

  • GE WattStation Electric Car Charging Station
    When Do Electric Cars Really Charge? All At The Same Time

    If you’re not an electric car driver, the chances are that how and when electric cars recharge is one of the lesser mysteries of the universe. After all, if every electric car in town charged at the same time, wouldn’t it bring down the electrical grid? The answer, at least for now, is...

  • Trident Iceni Grand Tourer
    Trident Iceni: The 200 MPH, 57 MPG Diesel Supercar

    It's been a long time since diesels were clanky, slow, smelly and noisy, but very few carmakers have gone down the route of making a diesel sports car or supercar. To some that might seem strange--after all, diesel engines are certainly capable of delivering high power and torque figures. In other...

  • Enginer Supplemental Leaf Battery Pack
    Leafhacking Battery Mod Gives Extra Range, But At What Cost?

    Like early-adopters of any new technology, the first owners of electric cars like the 2012 Nissan Leaf and 2012 Chevrolet Volt have already proven that they like to hack their plug-in cars to improve features, charging times and even performance. The latest leafhack, from plug-in hybrid battery...

  • 2012 Chevrolet Volt
    The Joy Of Daily Driving A Gas-Sipper

    One of the great things about living in a free country is having the luxury of a choice of products and services. We may not always agree with someone's choice of car, but at the end of the day it's easy to appreciate their freedom to choose it. So when our friends at Jalopnik write about the joy...

  • 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV, Newport Beach, California, July 2012

    As most electric car fans will tell you, it’s much easier for automakers to build an all-electric car from scratch than it is to repurpose an existing gasoline model with an electric drivetrain. In the case of Toyota’s RAV4EV however, the Japanese automaker, with help from Californian luxury electric car company Tesla Motors, has turned its RAV4 crossover SUV into a limited-run all-electric model. While Tesla handled the all-electric drivetrain, Toyota’s team tackled making the car go further, by reducing the drag coefficient of the popular SUV from 0.31 to 0.30. The lower...

  • 2013 Chevrolet Sonic RS
    2013 Chevrolet Sonic RS Priced At $20,995: No Gas Mileage Yet

    It’s been a long time since it was unveiled at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show, but Chevrolet has finally detailed pricing on its 2013 Sonic RS. At $20,995, the sports-styled, hatchback-only version of the popular Sonic subcompact is Chevrolet’s attempt to make the car more appealing to...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S
    2012 Tesla Model S Update: 100 Built, 74 For Delivery

    Tesla Motors may have been initially cagey about its production figures while the first few cars were being delivered, but as production gathers pace the company is revealing more details on Model S deliveries. In one of his regular Inside Tesla features on the Tesla Blog, Tesla vice president of...

  • 2012 Lexus CT 200h F-Sport
    Hybrid Cars Not Desirable Just Yet, Says Survey. Sure, But...

    Can you think of a desirable hybrid? We can think of a few, particularly when it comes to some of the hybrid luxury sedans on the market, such as the Porsche Panamera S Hybrid or Lexus GS 450h, and there are a few on the horizon too, like the Acura NSX plug-in hybrid supercar. But when questioned...

  • 2012 Chevrolet Volt
    Chevy Volt (Opel Ampera) Ad Banned In U.K. On Range Claims

    Since the Chevrolet Volt first launched in the U.S., we’ve seen a variety of quirky, funny, and downright weird ads designed to get people driving General Motors’ first plug-in hybrid. But over in Europe, where the Chevrolet Volt and the Opel Ampera -- its European sibling -- are...

  • 2011 Ford Evos Concept
    2014 Ford Mustang To Offer EcoBoost 2.0-Liter Four For Fuel Economy

    People are expecting more and more from their performance cars these days, and that includes improved fuel efficiency. That's why, even with traditionally V-8 pony cars like the Ford Mustang, the next model will include a more efficient, four-cylinder variant. As well as more contemporary styling...

  • 2012 Fisker Karma during road test, Los Angeles, Feb 2012

    After a week involving fires, financial woes and recalls, it looks like things may be looking up for Fisker Automotive: its 2012 Karma plug-in hybrid is the second best-selling 4-door luxury car in the Netherlands. As PlugInCars reports, Fisker’s founder Henrik Fisker is ecstatic. “How many U.S. auto companies have been successful penetrating any European market?,” Henrik Fisker said. “We were the number two selling four-door luxury car in the Netherlands in the first quarter of this year. And we outsold the Maserati Quattroporte globally for the first quarter.”...

  • 2013 Chevrolet Spark minicar, New York City, Aug 2012
    2013 Chevrolet Spark: First Drive

    Yeah, we drove the pink one. The 2013 Chevrolet Spark, the first Chevrolet minicar in many, many years, comes in a remarkable array of pastel colors, including one called Techno Pink. One of two Sparks we tested yesterday came in that very distinctive shade; the other was Salsa (lime green). Other...

  • U.S. Capitol
    Which Members Of Congress Drive Plug-In Electric Vehicles?

    Last week, President Barack Obama signed into law a bill that would allow the installation of electric-car charging stations in U.S. Capitol parking garages. That got us to wondering, how many U.S. Senators and Representatives actually drive plug-in cars? With the help of Juan Barnett, aka...

  • VW Logo
    2014 Volkswagen Golf: Bigger, Lighter, Greener

    It has been in production in one form or another for 38 years, but the next-generation Volkswagen Golf, due to be unveiled next month at the 2012 Paris Auto Show, will be the biggest, smartest and most economical Golf yet. According to Autocar, the seventh generation Volkswagen Golf, due to go on...

  • Onstar Hopes To Make Charging Chevrolet Volts Greener
    2013 Chevy Volt, OnStar, Is Smart-Grid Ready: The Utilities Aren’t

    Imagine a future where plug-in cars not only know when the cheapest time to charge is, but also work in concert with utility companies to recharge when it is greenest or when grid power demand is the lowest. For years, automakers, charging station manufacturers, utility companies and even the U.S...

  • 2001 honda civic coupe
    Honda Civic: Even Thieves Want High Gas Mileage...

    If you've ever had a car stolen, you'll know how much it really, really sucks. More than 700,000 Americans in the last year alone will know that feeling, as that's how many vehicles were recorded stolen in 2011 by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). The inconvenient truth for owners of...

  • Electric plane. Image: Screen capture from NMANewsDirect video

    It's okay, you've not clicked on "Green Plane Reports", but every so often something from beyond the world of cars catches our attention. This time, it's electric flight. The concept is nothing new, and it's even been alluded to by people like Elon Musk of Tesla, but for the time being it remains a true flight of fancy, rather than a working concept for passenger transportation. The video above suggests one such way of making the concept workable. We'll leave you to form your own thoughts, but we can forsee a few disadvantages. The concept is sound--ensure an electric aircraft can...

  • Road Trip
    Planning A Back-To-School Road Trip? Here’s How To Save On Gas

    If you’re preparing to return to college in the next few days -- or are a Freshman heading away from home for the first time -- your preparations probably include a long road trip. But with every cent you spend on gasoline diminishing your college fund, how do you make that heavily-packed...

  • 2012 Mitsubishi i electric car, New York City, August 2012
    Electric-Car Charging In The Heart Of New York: How Easy?

    Our recent test of a 2012 Mitsubishi 'i' electric minicar was actually the first time we've tested a pure battery electric car in New York City. While the relatively short distances covered in NYC would seem well suited to plug-in cars, there's the big issue of recharging. With most residents not...

  • 2006 Mazda Miata
    Transmissions Compared: Which Is Best To Maximize MPG?

    In the old days, choosing a transmission was pretty simple. With only manual and automatic options, choosing was simply a matter of deciding whether you wanted to stir your own gears, or slush along with zero effort, with the torque-converter option. Now, alongside the manual option, you can choose...

  • fisker karma sunset convertible 002
    Fisker Surf, Sunset On Back Burner; Atlantic Is Top Priority

    With a cause swiftly identified for a recent fire, 1,000 sales out of about 2,000 cars built , and promising European volume, Fisker has come through some rough water lately. Now, the company can focus on its next cars: the Surf shooting brake and Sunset retractable hardtop coupe derivatives of its...

  • 2013 Honda Accord sedan
    2013 Honda Accord: New Engines, Transmissions Promise Higher Gas Mileage

    Yesterday, Honda started production of its 2013 Accord. Due to go on sale in the U.S. this fall, it will be offered with a whole new range of engines and transmissions designed to make it the greenest Accord yet. Although the 2013 Honda Accord sedan and coupe will be offered with an all-new...

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