The idea of a Ford F-Series hybrid pickup truck has now been around since August 2011, but its maker now expects to launch such a truck sometime during 2020. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Boston-based XL Hybrids unveiled both a Ford F-250 Super Duty pickup fitted with its XLH hybrid system and an F-150 light-duty pickup with its XLP plug-in hybrid... XL Hybrids adds Ford F-250 hybrid to F-150 plug-in hybrid pickups; production to start in March
The idea of a Ford F-Series hybrid pickup truck has now been around since August 2011, but its maker now expects to launch such a truck sometime during 2020. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Boston-based XL Hybrids unveiled both a Ford F-250 Super Duty pickup fitted with its XLH hybrid system and an F-150 light-duty pickup with its XLP plug-in hybrid...
Drivers who buy an electric car that plugs into the power grid to recharge the battery often start to consider the source of their energy. A 2012 analysis from California, in the earliest days of modern electric cars, indicated as many as four in 10 electric-car drivers were already using or considering the addition of home solar panels to...
Today, we've got a road-trip drive report on the new 2018 Nissan Leaf, Tesla's statement on the impending end of tax credits for its buyers, a Toyota Prius lawsuit, and cheaper Lexus hybrids. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Over the weekend, as we do every seven days, we ran down last week's most important green-car stories. A lawsuit by a...
The first generation of mass-priced electric cars with ranges of 60 to 90 miles simply didn't have enough range to be used outside predictable daily commute duties and local errands around town. Sure, four-fifths of vehicles in the U.S. cover less than 40 miles a day—but that other fifth matters a lot when paying $30,000-plus for a new...
Fiat Chrysler will abandon the use of diesel engines in all its passenger vehicles by 2022, according to a report Sunday. The company has seen demand for diesel versions of its passenger cars in Europe collapse and faces high costs to get diesel engines to comply with emission limits in real-world use, it said. FCA is expected to announce the move...
Gas is cheap in the U.S. and has been for years. Hybrids are no longer a cutting-edge or cool technology; they're just another powertrain. The result is that hybrids have been quietly ebbing as a proportion of total vehicle sales. DON'T MISS: 2018 Lexus RX 450hL hybrid three-row SUV priced from $51,600 At their peak about five years ago, hybrids...
It's been a topic of discussion for years: What will happen when a carmaker reaches the cap on U.S. sales of electric cars that qualify for the full federal tax credit of $7,500? That number is 200,000; after the rest of that calendar quarter and the one following, the credit is halved for a further two quarters. Rough calculations indicate that...
Early in 2014, Toyota filed a voluntary recall notice with the NHTSA to fix a defect in roughly 800,000 third-generation Prius Liftback hybrids sold in the U.S. from 2010 through 2014. The company said it would make unspecified changes to software that controlled the vehicle's inverter, which varies the voltage in the vehicle's hybrid system...
Which German luxury make has killed off its diesel vehicles far ahead of schedule? What two electric-car makers have each now built and sold more than 300,000 vehicles? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, February 23, 2018. Friday, we noted that a German newspaper...
Today, Tesla expands its destination charging to workplaces, some grim climate studies appear, the Outlander PHEV gets a more sophisticated powertrain next year, and Mercedes may have cheated on its diesels too. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Some Tesla drivers will be able to charge at work, if their employers are "qualified." A leaked...
Investigators probing U.S. models of Mercedes-Benz sold with diesel engines have found software, possibly illegal under EPA rules, that helped them pass emission tests. Such software may be similar to that notoriously used in 580,000 vehicles sold by VW, Audi, and Porsche from 2009 through 2015 in what became the Volkswagen diesel emission...
The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has been a huge success in Europe, selling more than 100,000 copies there over several years. As the first and least expensive plug-in hybrid SUV, it received many incentives in different European countries and provided the first taste of plug-in electric driving for numerous families. Now, the plug-in hybrid...
The processes of climate change don't care about politics. Or economics. Or public sentiment about science. Last December, an analysis showed the most accurate climate-science models to date predicted the worst effects in future years. Now, two more grim assessments have arrived. DON'T MISS: Most-accurate climate-change models suggest worst...
Today, most people charge their electric cars at home, overnight. That's much harder for residents of multiple dwellings or those without dedicated off-street parking, increasing numbers of whom instead recharge during the day while parked at their workplace. Now Tesla plans to make it easier for owners of its cars—and only them—to...
Today, a bit of clarity on a mysterious auto startup, some verdicts on the Hyundai Nexo fuel-cell SUV, and a look at how Nissan and others may handle the end of electric-car tax credits. All this and more on Green Car Reports. What will happen when electric-car tax credits expire, and how will each maker handle it? Turns out their answers may...
When a mysterious company called Rivian issued a mysterious video in January 2017, it promised to "reshape mobility." As is often the case, that has turned out to involve electric cars. A year later, the company has released a few more details about its plans and its team. DON'T MISS: Chinese electric-car startup Nio gets $1 billion in funding...
The Hyundai Nexo hydrogen fuel-cell SUV that debuted last month at the Consumer Electronics Show won't be seen on California roads for many months yet. It is expected to go on sale in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of this year, but now we have a few reports from outlets that have driven the one SUV whose only tailpipe emission is water. The...
Today, we've got a more powerful Renault Zoe, a new hybrid crossover for Geneva, the same old electric-car global sales champ, and some analysis on hydrogen fueling station numbers. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We asked our Twitter followers where we'll see the most electric-car innovation in future. More than half of them gave us the...
Try asking any electric-car owner or advocate, or for that matter any member of the public, which automaker sold the most electric cars last year. In North America, the answer will likely be Tesla, or possibly Nissan or Chevrolet. But we'd bet you hear Tesla most often. The correct answer for global sales of plug-in electric cars, however, was the...