2019 Chevy Cruze’s upcoming CVT rated at 33 mpg combined

2019 Chevrolet CruzeFuel economy estimates posted to the EPA's website for the redesigned 2019 Chevrolet Cruze show some changes—plus a big surprise. The latest ratings reveal that the EPA has certified a gas-fueled Cruze with a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) that boosts city fuel economy estimates by 2 mpg compared with the 6-speed...

Volkswagen fires six managers over diesel emissions cheating

Volkswagen TDI diesel vehicles owned by Phil Grate and family, Seattle, WashingtonVolkswagen plans to fire six engineers and managers implicated in the diesel emissions scandal, German media reports noted Wednesday. The dismissals are because prosecutors have recently unsealed evidence of the employees' involvement in the wide-ranging Volkswagen scandal, according to a report by The Associated Press. German prosecutors have...

2019 Honda Insight hybrid earns IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award

2019 Honda InsightIn its latest round of safety tests, the IIHS has awarded the 2019 Honda Insight hybrid its Top Safety Pick+ award. The Top Safety Pick+ is the Institute's highest award, given to cars that perform well in a wide battery of crashes, headlight evaluations, and automatic emergency braking tests. The 2019 Insight aced all of the insurance...

Ford recalls Focus Electric, Fusion Energi, and C-Max Energi charge cords

charging cord for 2012 Ford Focus ElectricFord announced a recall on Wednesday of the 120-volt charge cords supplied with nearly all of the plug-in hybrid and electric cars it built through 2015. The cars affected include the 2012 to 2015 Focus Electric, the 2013 to 2015 Ford C-Max Energi, and the 2013 to 2015 Ford Fusion Energi. Ford says that if the included charge cords are plugged...

Gas guzzling now A-OK, Trump administration says

Oil well (photo by John Hill)Following news that the EPA dropped plans to keep boosting fuel-economy standards, it quietly dropped another bombshell: It's now fine to guzzle gas. Burn as much as you want. According to an AP report carried by the Detroit News, the Energy Department quietly released the news online in a memo in July in support of freezing fuel economy...

Lots of Teslas spill all over Northern California

Tesla factory, Fremont, CaliforniaWatching Tesla—and Teslas—has become practically a spectator sport, especially for those who live near the factory. As production of the company's most popular car, the Model 3, has ramped up that sport has become easier—at least for people in the San Francisco Bay Area. It seems all that production has outstripped the company's...

Van builder Workhorse unveils hybrid helicopter

Workhorse Surefly helicopterSometimes building electric cars may be about more than building electric cars. At an event in New York City last weekend, Workhorse, which is known for converting delivery vans to plug-in hybrid power, aimed a little higher. It revealed a hybrid helicopter, according to an Ars Technica report. The company says it has reinvented the helicopter...

EPA plans to roll back emissions standards on power plants

Smokestacks pollution air qualityAfter wiping out plans to continue boosting fuel economy standards earlier this month, the EPA on Tuesday proposed rolling back emissions standards on electric power plants. The new proposed rule, which the EPA calls the "Affordable Clean Energy" rule, would eliminate Obama-era standards that would have required power plants to reduce carbon...

XL trucks’ Ford F-250 Hybrid gets California approval

XL Hybrids Ford F-250 XL3 HybridThere's no way to save more fuel than to do it in something that already uses a lot of it. That's what XL Hybrids aims to do by adding hybrid and even plug-in hybrid systems to Ford pickups. On Tuesday, the Massachusetts-based "upfitter" announced that it received certification to sell its F-250 Hybrid in California, which has stricter emissions...