Green Car News

Five to eight years ago, Chinese carmakers were going to blast into the U.S. car market and sell huge volumes of inexpensive small cars--just like the Germans, Japanese, and Koreans before them. Then, two or three years ago, Chinese auto companies were going to leapfrog directly into electric cars...

If ever there was a suitable place to sell stronger blends of ethanol in gasoline, it's the midwest. With vast supplies of common crops like corn, the midwestern states are ideal for ethanol production and sales. And kicking off that trend is one lone gas station in Kansas, the first to sell E15...

The first two 2012 Tesla Model S all-electric sport sedans to roll off the Tesla production line last month were shipped to Chicago, where they're presumably now tooling around in the Midwest's record-setting summer heat. But how will the cars' impressive EPA range of 268 miles hold up six months...

How much do you spend on gasoline each year? If you happen to live in the average U.S. household, the total is more than $2,850 every year--roughly $240 a month, or $60 each week. So when the Consumer Federation of America surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults in May on their attitudes toward fuel efficiency...

It's another Monday morning, and there's nothing like a positive start to the week. Unfortunately, this is nothing like a positive start to the week. In fact, when we started reading a thread on U.K. car enthusiast forum Retro Rides, it made us rather angry. If you read our piece last year on a...

There was a time when wanting an electric car meant you probably had to build it yourself, either creating a car from scratch or converting an existing gasoline car. With great production electric cars on the market, fewer enthusiasts are building their own electric car, but now a company from...

There are many reasons plug-in electric car sales are still just a tiny fraction of the market. The biggest hurdle may be high price, compared to gasoline cars of the same size, right now (along with range limitations). Despite a cost-per-mile that's just a fraction of what a gasoline car costs...

If you drive an electric car, you’ll be familiar with the frustration that occurs when you arrive at a charging station to find you can’t use it because you don’t have the correct smart card, key, or dongle. For those without the correct card, some charging providers can unlock a...

When you see that magic 40-miles-per-gallon number in a car ad, does it make you pay attention? Most likely it does. (Among other things, it's usually in much larger type than the other two EPA ratings.) But how seriously should you take any publicized gas-mileage ratings? Most people seem to know...

What car can be charged up via a plug, then offers an all-electric range of around 40 miles, before a range-extending generator kicks in to supply power and top up the batteries? If you answered "Chevrolet Volt", then you'd be correct--but the Volt certainly isn't the first car to tout these...

Colin Chapman is remembered for many things in the automotive world, but if there's one thing auto journalists have to thank him for, it's an endless stream of column inches dedicated to the weight of cars. All the calls for lighter vehicles aren't based solely on theory, but a back-catalog of...

The easiest way to make a car is to get someone else to make it for you. That's the ethos Mitsubishi is subscribing to anyway, as it announces the Dignity, a luxury hybrid sedan for its home Japanese market. Rather than designing a luxury hybrid sedan from scratch, the Dignity is actually based on...

While electric-only automaker Tesla pushes ahead with its Model S sedan, the upcoming Model X crossover and others on the horizon, other electric automakers are taking a more cautious approach with their first forays. The Mitsubishi i, Nissan Leaf and others are worthy additions to the market, but...

It may only be small, but Chevrolet is packing its 2013 Spark with plenty of equipment in an effort to target urban millennial buyers. Already sold in 100 countries worldwide, U.S. customers will be able to buy the Spark later this year. GM has tailored several of the car's specifications to the...

Better Place is now rapidly ramping up the first full deployment of its electric-car service and battery swapping network in Israel, but the company has ambitious plans in other countries as well. In Israel, it's illegal for electric-car users to plug their cars into just any old wall socket. They...

You know the score: you’re running late for a meeting, dinner date or flight, and need to find somewhere to charge your electric car while you’re gone. So you head to the nearest parking garage where you know there’s free electric car charging, park up, plug in and head off. But...

There was a time when small European cars like the original Fiat 500, Volkswagen Beetle and Mini represented the very epitome of cheap, stylish, practical motoring. So much so that all three original cars have inspired contemporary retro-styled rides meant to evoke the memories of days gone by. But...

If you have a car that both plugs in and runs on a conventional engine, what's the mix of miles done on grid power versus gasoline? You might think it's something like 50-50. In the case of the Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid, with an electric range of 6 to 15 miles, that's probably about...

It's one of the most frequent questions asked about hybrids: What happens if I have to replace the high-voltage battery pack? While Toyota warrants its Prius batteries for 8 years/100,000 miles (or 10 years/150,000 miles in some states), cars more than a decade old won't be covered--and may still...

Ever since it was founded, Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] has followed a ‘trickle-down’ business model, developing its technology in premium luxury cars before using that technology to develop ever more affordable models. With its first car, the expensive yet sexy Roadster sports car...