Diesels to lose two-thirds of current market share in 10 years: report

BMW quad-turbocharged 3.0-liter 6-cylinder diesel engineSometimes interesting predictions come buried inside a completely different topic. Take, for example, an investment note on the auto-parts supplier Continental contained in a roundup of industry research, market analysis, and news items issued yesterday by investment bank UBS. It contains the prediction that diesel engines' share of the global...

Automaker lobbyists fail to overturn EPA emission rules

U.S. Capitol BuildingA week ago, the EPA recommended that U.S. vehicle emission standards stay put for the years 2022 through 2025. According to the Technical Assessment Report the agency issued in July, automakers have so far quite successfully met standards in place since 2012 to cut emissions of the climate-change gas carbon dioxide. And, the report concluded, they...

Modern electric cars at 20: from EV1 to Bolt EV, where are we now?

1996 General Motors EV1Twenty years ago today, the very first GM EV1 electric cars were delivered to 40 lessees in California in a blaze of publicity. Since then, plug-in electric vehicles have seen more than their share of ups and downs. That first EV1 was a high-tech two-seater created specifically to meet California's then-current zero-emission vehicle rules...

EPA keeps car-emission rules to 2025; what happens under Trump?

Chrome exhaust pipeTwo days ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a ruling that existing limits on tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide for 2022 through 2025 should remain in place. The EPA's carbon limits correspond exactly to NHTSA standards for corporate average fuel economy, and the EPA decision was widely (if incorrectly) reported to be about...

Jeremy Clarkson seems to know very little about electric cars, sadly

Jeremy Clarkson of The Grand Tour     [publicity photo provided by Amazon]Oh, dear. The things celebrities say. One of three long-time hosts of BBC's long-running "Top Gear" TV show, Clarkson was fired after punching a producer. His costars quit soon afterward. Now the trio is back in Amazon Prime's new series, "The Grand Tour," and Clarkson has hit the road to do publicity for the show. DON'T MISS: Tesla Vs BBC: Top...

Which Green Car Reports articles are most valuable? Poll results

Chevrolet's Steve Majoros (R) accepts Green Car Reports 2017 Best Car To Buy award for Chevy Bolt EVWe've now been running a series of Twitter polls for several weeks, and last week we decided to use one poll for a different purpose. We wanted to survey our audience, which we haven't done in any large-scale or systematic way. A Twitter poll isn't particularly scientific, but like reading the comments on articles, we thought it might give us a...

Plug-in electric car sales for Nov: Volt soars, Prius Prime arrives

2017 Toyota Prius Prime PremiumTraditionally, the North American winter months have seen a slowdown in sales of plug-in electric cars—but the rule didn't seem to apply last month.. Last month, sales of the Nissan Leaf electric car actually increased over last year's comparable number, while those of the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid soared. While no Chevy Bolt EV 238-mile...

Smart ForTwo minicar: 15 years later, has it made a difference?

2016 Smart ForTwoMinimal cars are often an appealing idea: why should one person drive a two-ton vehicle with five or more seats on local journeys of 10 miles or fewer? Then there's the crushingly difficult parking in major European, Asian, and North American cities. Add to that, perhaps, a desire for minimal use of energy and material resources. So why not design...