VW is planning to build 50 million electric vehicles

Herbert DiessVolkswagen already had ambitious goals to ramp up electric-vehicle production to a rate of up to three million EVs annually by 2025, and potentially hit 10 million vehicles around 2027 if all goes right. But its plans look even more bullish on electric, considering the number of vehicles it's now supposedly signed up to build over a longer stretch...

Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2019: Tesla Model 3

2018 Tesla Model 3The Tesla Model 3 is Green Car Reports' Best Car To Buy 2019. It’s the second time a Tesla product has won our annual award, which was captured by the Tesla Model S in 2013. Many have called the Model 3 Tesla’s “iPhone moment.” But that was the Model S—the shock to an auto industry that had dismissed its very premise...

Eight years of winners show how plug-in vehicles have evolved

2011 Nissan LeafAs we’re on the eve of naming our Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2019 award winner, a quick glance back at our previous winners offers several points of perspective. One of them is that the field has evolved tremendously since then, in such a relatively short time. Another is that the pace of environmentally-focused automotive technology...

Toyota teases all-wheel-drive Prius for LA auto show debut

All-wheel drive Toyota Prius teasedToyota has teased what is probably an all-wheel-drive Prius, slated for introduction at the Los Angeles auto show late this month. In studying the picture the company teased, with a Prius churning through the snow, it’s hard to come to another conclusion. The automaker says in a greeting-card-like teaser: “Fall is here, winter’s...

Base price of VW’s electric cars could be as low as $21,000

VW MEB platformVolkswagen plans to price its new generation of upcoming fully electric vehicles lower than it had previously hinted—as low as 18,000 euros for Europe, or about $21,000 for an entry-level fully electric model that will launch there in late 2019. The news, via Reuters, comes as Volkswagen aims to make rapid changes to its manufacturing...

Finalist for Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2019: Tesla Model 3

2018 Tesla Model 3Just sixteen months passed from when Tesla first showed its Model 3—and we got our first ride in a Model 3 prototype with its VP of engineering Doug Field—to when it made the first batch of deliveries. And it was certainly not our intent to wait nearly another 16 months before considering it for our Green Car Reports’ Best Car To...

E-bike maker sees space for bare-bones electric car in congested cities

Biomega SIN lightweight urban electric carA Danish bicycle and e-bike company, Biomega, has shown an open-wheel concept car that takes the sculpted, less-is-more ideas of Scandinavian design to new extremes—to what may be a regulatory impossibility in the U.S. The four-seat four-wheeler, called SIN, for Singapore, appears to be aimed at some of the most congested cities in Asia...

Finalist for Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2019: Jaguar I-Pace

2019 Jaguar I-PaceThe Jaguar I-Pace is a front-runner—the first fully electric, longer-range vehicle from a long-established luxury brand. But it’s not a “Tesla-fighter” as the I-Pace has often been called.More accurately it exists not to conquest Tesla drivers but to keep electric-car-seeking Jaguar owners in the fold—to give them a...

Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid recalled for stalling, fire risk

2018 Chrysler Pacifica HybridFiat Chrysler Automobiles is recalling 10,021 Chrysler plug-in hybrid vans for an issue that could result in a stall, or possibly the increased risk of a vehicle fire. In the vehicles affected—2017 and 2018 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid models with production dates of August 16, 2016 through August 7, 2018—the gasoline engine might not...

Which car would you pick as Best Car To Buy 2019? Take our Twitter poll

2019 Hyundai Kona ElectricWe've announced our final three contenders for Green Car Reports' Best Car to Buy 2019. They include the Hyundai Kona Electric, the Jaguar I-Pace, and the Tesla Model 3. The qualifications for our annual award require that a vehicle be all-new or substantially updated; and that it be widely available as of October 2018, or arrive by the end of the...

One of these 3 cars will be Green Car Reports’ Best Car To Buy 2019

2019 Jaguar I-Pace, 3-day test driveDespite a long list of green-car debuts anticipated over the next couple of years, this year hasn't exactly brought a bevy of new electric models. As we wait for the market to blossom with new entries in coming years, we have three strong contenders for this year's top position—our Best Car To Buy 2019. To qualify for Green Car...

GM creates a global e-bike, looks for branding help with contest

GM compact e-bikeGeneral Motors is already shaping up to be second only to Tesla in blasting past the 200,000-vehicle ceiling for the federal EV tax credit; and it has plans to produce 20 new fully electric vehicles by 2023. Part of that EV-savvy strategy, apparently—or a parallel one, perhaps—involves e-bikes intended for “consumers around the...

Austria to let drivers of electric cars go faster

2019 Jaguar I-Pace SAustria is offering would-be electric-car owners (and current ones) a tempting incentive to go tailpipe-emissions-free: permission to drive faster than those with gasoline, diesel, or hybrid vehicles. Under a recently approved amendment to the country’s speed limits, aimed at rewarding those who choose electric vehicles, they will be given a...

Tesla ‘Starman’ stunt commemorated by Hot Wheels

Hot Wheels Tesla 'Starman' car (2018)Tesla’s chief executive officer Elon Musk has pulled off some elaborate visions—and madcap stunts—for future mobility, often with multiple levels of nerdy references to be found within. If that appeals to you and you’ve ever been a Hot Wheels collector, there’s something you would probably like to have in your display...

Blink charging network joins interoperability push

ECOtality Blink DC fast charger plugged inBeginning in early 2019, all 135,000 users of the Blink charging network will soon be able to use other charging networks as part of their membership, while Blink’s chargers will be open to easy access by a wider range of drivers with other charging-network membership cards. The cross-compatibility, which was announced last week, comes via a...

Sources: GM manufacturing revamp could signal faster lane-change to EVs

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV pre-productionLess than a week after speaking out in favor of a national electric vehicle mandate, and in the shadow of Tesla reporting a profitable quarter, General Motors might be on the verge of announcing a radical change to its plans for future electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in the U.S. The automaker is anticipated to make a major business...