Green Car News

  • 2012 Honda Fit EV

    While carmakers like Nissan, Tesla and Renault go on the electric car offensive, Honda has been somewhat candid about its electric car plans. The 2013 Honda Fit EV makes the odd subtle appearance at international auto shows, but the company is certainly less than bullish about its electric vehicle program. Until now, that is. The company has announced the first deliveries of its Fit EV, to the city of Torrance, California. The presentation of the first 2013 Honda Fit EV is one of the first steps in the Honda Electric Vehicle Demonstration Program, a trial to prepare for the eventual retail...

  • 2002 Toyota RAV4 EV on eBay
    Want A Cheap, Usable, Toyota Electric Car? Check eBay!

    Electric cars are often criticized for being too expensive. While there are many reasons for this, it means some people simply can't afford an electric car. However, there's still hope. Want a practical, reliable, usable electric car, with a decent range? Have a look on eBay! That's where we found...

  • 2012 Nissan Leaf winter test
    2012 Nissan Leaf Proves Itself On Snowy Japanese Test Course

    Prior to this winter, Nissan has only sold its all-electric Leaf hatchback to customers in moderate climates. But just as Nissan North America was celebrating selling its 10,000th Leaf, Nissan Japan was proving that the Leaf wasn’t scared of winter weather with a special press event held near...

  • 2012 Toyota Prius C launch, Detroit Auto Show
    2012 Toyota Prius C Manual Leaked: Here’s What It Tells Us

    You’d think after scans of the complete Japanese-specification 2012 Toyota Prius C brochure leaked onto the Internet, Toyota would be a little more careful about information surrounding its upcoming subcompact hybrid. But a few days ago popular Prius fansite PriusChat discovered that the...

  • Volvo V60 Plug-In Hybrid
    The Politics Of Electric Cars: Attacking Innovation For Partisan Gain

    To say there's lots of political posturing and wrangling around electric cars, plug-in vehicles, and the industry and infrastructure that supports them would be a gross understatement. We get more than our share of it here at Green Car Reports. And there are valid debates to be had over whether the...

  • Used Cars
    A Little Math Lesson: Are Used Cars Greener Than Hybrids?

    It's a common question: Which is greener, continuing to drive my old car or buying a new, more fuel-efficient one? As with many such questions, the answer is: It depends. But one of the things it depends on is doing the math right. As much as we love CBS's The Fast Draw segments, we think Mitch...

  • BMW ActiveE electric car

    Want to boldly go where few have gone before? If so, you might just have what it takes to become an "Electronaut", BMW's term for the select few who'll be piloting the 2012 BMW ActiveE for the next few years. BMW has started the recruitment process to find 700 potential ActiveE drivers. BMW's "Electronauts" are being touted as forward-thinking adventurers, just the sort of people you need to discover the relatively unknown world of electric motoring GreenCarReports' John Voelcker recently took a drive in one of the first ActiveEs to hit the streets, and came away impressed with both the...

  • 2012 Toyota Prius v
    Boulder, Colorado, Loves Hybrids As Much as Los Angeles

    Ask most Americans to name a place in the U.S. where hybrid cars are popular, and they’ll probably name somewhere in California, the Pacific Northwest, or Washington D.C. Now the city of Boulder, Colorado is keen to let the world know it also wants to be known for its hybrid-loving...

  • 2012 Chevrolt Volt Gas Station Advert
    House Hearing On NHTSA, Volt Battery Fire Starts Wednesday

    Often, timing is everything. So Rep. Darryl Issa (R-CA) and his plans for Wednesday likely aren't helped by the NHTSA's decision last Friday to close its Volt battery-safety inquiry after GM developed upgrades for the Volt battery crash structure and coolant filler, and offered them to all existing...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt during IIHS crash testing
    NHTSA Closes Chevy Volt Battery-Pack Fire Safety Investigation

    Well, it's all over but the shouting now. This afternoon, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a statement saying it had closed its investigation into the causes of a fire in the battery pack of a Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car. The statement said the agency had...

  • Via Motors extended-range electric truck conversion launch, 2012 Detroit Auto Show
    What Would You Pay For A 100-MPG Via Full-Size Pickup Truck?

    This is a perfectly serious question. A basic 2012 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 full-size pickup truck starts around $23,000, and the rear-wheel drive XFE model is rated by the EPA at 18 mpg combined. The Silverado Hybrid model, a 1500 twin-cab, starts at around $40,000, and the RWD model is rated at...

  • 2012 Ferrari FF
    Flex-Fuel Ferrari? So What? Makes No Difference At All

    Ferraris aren't typically known for their green credentials. In fact, they tend to be known for everything but green credentials: High performance, for example. High-revving V-8 and V-12 engines. Being painted very, very red. Not being painted green. Most methods of extracting greater power from...

  • Fiat 500 LimoPresidential By Italian Coachbuilder Castagna Milano

    Think of Presidential state cars, and you’ll probably think of the Cadillac-badged limousine the President Obama uses, a car that many of us know as The Beast. Now an Italian coach-builder has come up with its own take on the Presidential limousine, in the form of an all-electric stretch limousine based on the humble Fiat 500. Enter Castagna Milano, and its LimoPresidential, available to discerning buyers (or anyone with the money) as build-to-order vehicles. Combining two electric motors capable of reaching a top speed of 100 mph, and a battery pack large enough to carry its esteemed...

  • 2009 Toyota Prius
    Prius Unintended Acceleration: Electronic Faults Untraceable

    A new report from a National Academy of Sciences panel has said that the NHTSA was justified in closing a probe into Toyota's 2009 and 2010 unintended acceleration cases. More than 8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles, including models like the Toyota Prius hybrid, were recalled worldwide to fix...

  • 2012 Toyota Prius
    Gas Mileage Rises, Hybrid Car Sales Fall: Here's The Reason

    Gas mileage: It's all about hybrids, right? The 2012 Toyota Prius hatchback and Toyota Prius C models each get a combined 50-mpg rating from the EPA, the highest fuel efficiency of any non-plug-in vehicle sold in the U.S. So hybrid sales should be soaring. They're not. While Toyota has expanded the...

  • 2012 Fisker Karma EcoChic, New York City, Jan 2012
    2012 Fisker Karma: Brief Drive Report

    Well, after three years of asking, we've finally had a chance to drive the 2012 Fisker Karma. And we can confirm that the extended-range electric luxury sport sedan is, in fact, a real car. It's got drop-dead styling, unique interior furnishings, and a good ride that's aided by the fact that it's...

  • 2012 Volkswagen Beetle Turbo – Copyright High Gear Media
    2013 VW Beetle TDI Diesel To Launch At Chicago Auto Show

    At last week’s Detroit Auto Show, we got our first glimpse of what an all-electric Volkswagen Beetle could look like thanks to VW’s e-Bugster concept car. At next month’s Chicago Auto Show, Volkswagen will unveil another green-minded Beetle, but this time we won’t be seeing...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf SL
    U.S. Sales Of The Nissan Leaf Electric Car Now Over 10,000

    Nissan might have ended 2011 a with sales of its all-electric Leaf a few hundred cars short of its 10,000 unit target for the year, but there are now over 10,000 Leafs on the roads of the U.S. According to Autobloggreen, the happy event occurred last week during the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, which is...

  • Used car salesman

    You'd think that if President Obama, two government agencies, and 13 of the world's largest carmakers supported a set of new regulations to improve gas mileage, they might be popular with auto dealers too. Not so. At a Tuesday public hearing on the proposed joint NHTSA-EPA standards for fuel economy in 2017-2025 vehicles, the National Auto Dealers Association (NADA) continued the battle against more stringent gas-mileage requirements it has waged since last year. The new regulations will increase corporate average fuel economy to to 54.5 miles per gallon by the 2025 model year (or around 42...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf - battery pack cutaway
    Nissan Examines Second Life For Used Leaf Battery Packs

    In the aftermath of the last year’s devastating Japanese earthquake and tsunami, more impetus has been given to the idea of turning electric cars -- and their battery packs -- into emergency backup power systems. But now a new project has been set up to take the idea of using electric car...

  • 2011 Honda CR-Z
    Young Drivers Want V-8s, Right? Nope: Hybrids, Says Study

    We were all young, once. Many of us remember the excitement of learning to drive, and then going out and choosing that first car. Times change however, and these days it's not as easy to get behind the wheel - and certainly not as cheap to keep those cars running. According to USA Today, a new...

  • Ryan Reynolds and Ryan Hall in an ad for the 2012 Nissan Leaf
    Ryan Reynolds Gets Funny With The 2012 Nissan Leaf: Video

    Isaiah Mustafa has ruined advertising. He may not have written his own monologues for those popular Old Spice ads, but Mustafa's deadpan delivery and sublime quirkiness have inspired a thousand would-be imitators. Even talented actors like Ryan Reynolds can't measure up, as we see in a new clip for...

  • 2012 Toyota Prius "Relax Cabin"
    Take One Toyota Prius, Make Less Aerodynamic, Sleep In It

    Japan produces a huge number of incredibly talented cars. You'll be well used to many of them on Green Car Reports, as cars like Toyota's Prius and Nissan's Leaf are regulars on these pages. The country also has a good line in the incredibly bizarre. You know the kind - cars that could originate...

  • BMW ActiveE electric car, January 2012, New Jersey
    BMW ActiveE First Drive: At The Wheel (Video)

    Yesterday we reviewed the BMW ActiveE electric car after spending an afternoon in the first ActiveE delivered in the U.S. Now, we have a brief video clip to take you inside the car, hitting some of the high points of the driving experience. The clip starts with the car at rest in the remarkably...

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