Even Wackier! Most bizarre green cars ever proposed, Part II

Scoot Quad (nee Renault Twizy) tested in San Francisco, Oct 2015Last week we listed seven of the most bizarre "green" cars (and some not-so-green) of the 20th century, most of which were rolled out in response to depression, war recovery, or out-of-control gas prices. This week, we'll look at seven more from the 21st century, which seems to have had a concentrated share of attempts at innovation in response to...

Report: Trump EPA plans to cancel California emissions waiver

Smog over Los Angeles, courtesy Flickr user steven-bussThe EPA is planning to cancel the special waiver that California has relied on since 1970 to set its own emissions standards, according to a Bloomberg report. As part of its plan to reverse a program to steadily tighten fuel economy standards that it coordinates with California and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the EPA has...

Washington State electric car credits expire, agencies miss mandates

DC Fast-Charging Stations in Oregon and Washington states, January 2015 [map: PlugShare.com]On the same day that Washington State's electric-car tax credits expired on June 1, an advocacy organization issued a report that said state agencies have done very little to meet a deadline to buy electric cars. The state passed a law in 2007 requiring that all public agencies meet 100 percent of their transportation needs with electricity or...

Jeep Grand Commander EV leads FCA electrification push

2018 Chrysler Pacifica HybridAn all-electric Jeep may clamber to life as soon as 2021—at least in China. The Jeep Grand Commander will arrive in 2021 with an all-electric powertrain, according to a sweeping presentation by Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne in Italy Friday. The company didn't reveal any more details about the electric Grand Commander or specify whether...

Crowdfunded Estonian Nobe electric has a plan to revive bubble cars

Estonian Nobe conceptWant to get in on the ground floor of a new electric-car startup? Crowdfunding seems to be the latest rage for automotive startups in Europe. The latest is an Estonian startup called Nobe, which hopes to raise funding to build a small, electric three-wheeler. The company officially launched the vehicle Wednesday along with a crowdfunding drive...

California utilities commission passes record incentives for chargers

Smog over Los Angeles, courtesy Flickr user steven-bussThe California Public Utilities commission on Thursday approved the largest public electric vehicle charging package in U.S. history, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. NRDC senior attorney Max Baumhefner, who lobbied for the program, says it is designed to set electricity up as a direct competitor to gasoline as a transportation...

Camera mirrors could add range to Audi e-tron electric SUV

2019 Audi e-tron prototypeAudi is pulling out all the efficiency stops on its upcoming electric e-tron SUV. It's currently slated to be the first production car to offer cameras in place of exterior rearview mirrors. Exterior mirrors have always been a bane to automotive engineers trying to improve efficiency (not to mention reduce wind noise.) In an electric SUV, that's...

Problems dog Tesla Model 3 in Edmunds tests

2018 Tesla Model 3Hundreds of thousands of people waiting to order their Tesla Model 3s are also anxiously waiting for word of the car's reliability and build quality. Now Edmunds.com has released its second update on the early car that it bought, and the news isn't good. DON'T MISS: Some Tesla Model 3 cars haunted by "phantom touch" and "vampire draw" (updated)...

Which Tesla Model 3 would you order or have you ordered? Twitter poll results

2018 Tesla Model 3Bragging rights don't rank high on the priority lists of Green Car Reports readers. At least, they don't if you consider the number of our Twitter respondents who hope to buy a Performance version of the Tesla Model 3. In the results of our latest Twitter poll, which asked the question: "Which Tesla Model 3 would you order or have you ordered,"...

BMW 530e will be first “plug-in” car with wireless charging this summer

2018 BMW 530e iPerformance wireless chargingWhen will charging your electric car be as convenient as charging your phone? This summer, if BMW has its way. The company says it will be the first to lease a wireless inductive charging system in the U.S. for its 530e plug-in hybrid. Customers can order the system now, and BMW says it will be delivered in Europe starting in July and that it...

Where do you charge your electric car? Take our Twitter poll

Electrify America Level 2 chargers with Chevrolet Bolt and Nissan LeafAs Tesla expands its Supercharging network and Volkswagen spends $2 billion on their network over the next seven years, we're reminded that one of the biggest conveniences of electric cars is the ability to charge them at home. That led us to ask, how many electric car owners are dependent on public charging and how fast do they need it to be? For...

Tesla Model 3 gets over-the-air update for brakes

2018 Tesla Model 3In a tweet on Friday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company had started rolling out an over-the-air software update for its Model 3 electric cars to address a problem with their braking performance, a problem revealed by Consumer Reports last week. In the tweet, Musk said the update should improve braking "by ~20 ft for repeated heavy braking...

Sono Sion solar electric car promises 18 miles of range from solar panels

Sono Sion solar charged electric carSolar cells have gotten cheap enough to make solar cars practical. At least that's the business model of one electric-car startup in Europe. Sono Motors plans to build a $25,000 electric car covered in solar cells that can provide up to 18 miles of range a day. The company plans to introduce it at the end of 2019. In a video interview with...

That’s wacky! The most bizarre green cars ever proposed, Part I

The Buckminster Fuller designed Dymaxion - image: National Automobile MuseumOften the growth of green cars comes in fits and starts, and new ideas are rushed to market regularly before they're ready. Visionaries with dreams of changing the world may have little real-world experience and find themselves in over their heads after they jump in too quickly. Even pure charlatans sometimes emerge from the woodwork to hawk new...