Several states wants far cleaner diesel trucks; EPA to start rulemaking?

Freightliner Inspiration Truck self-driving truck conceptAlmost one-third of the heavy trucks on U.S. roads now use the most stringent emission-control systems, which radically reduce their emissions of nitrogen oxides, soot, and other pollutants. Commercial trucks log much higher annual mileage than passenger cars, especially the semi tractors that haul long-distance freight across the country. That...

2018 Honda Accord Hybrid: more trunk space, higher fuel economy promised

2018 Honda AccordOver its sporadic three-year model life, the hybrid version of the Honda Accord mid-size sedan has led a peripatetic life. The 2014 and 2015 Accord Hybrid was built in Marysville, Ohio, along with almost all the rest of the Accords sold in North America, its largest market. It skipped 2016 altogether, and then a slightly revised 2017 version was...

Electric-car road trip: lessons learned in Chevy Bolt EV over 1,300 miles

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car, June 2017 road trip from VA to KY and back  [Jay Lucas]Launched in December, the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV is the first mass-priced electric car to go on sale with a rated range of more than 200 miles: 238 miles combined, according to the EPA. Most owners use their Bolt EVs for daily commuting and trips, just like any other car. But road trips are an American tradition. We've done several stories about...

Combustion engines: high emissions from short commutes a huge challenge

Chrome exhaust pipeDrivers in the U.S. have longer commutes than those in Europe and Asia, on average. In the U.K., short commutes in vehicles with combustion engines—whether gasoline or diesel—pose particularly tough emission problems. That's because the exhaust aftertreatment systems have to warm up fully before they cut emissions to the levels...

If 2018 Nissan Leaf has 200-mile range, what will it cost? Poll results

Teaser for 2018 Nissan Leaf debuting in 2017At the moment, the Tesla Model 3 is getting lots of media attention and electric-car buzz now that the company says its first production car has rolled out of the factory—even if features, specs, and pricing isn't yet known. Meanwhile, the 238-mile Chevrolet Bolt EV is at roughly 9,000 cars sold in North America over the past six months...

Bolt EV electric car sales after 6 months: how do they compare?

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, road test, California coastline, Sep 2016Last month, 1,642 Chevrolet Bolt EV 238-mile battery-electric hatchbacks found buyers, enough to take the Bolt's six-month aggregate to 7,592 deliveries all told. It was the latest and highest in a string of rising monthly delivery totals for the 238-mile battery electric hatchback, and it marked half a year (plus a couple of weeks) that the Bolt...

2017 Tesla Model 3 in pilot production: Musk tweets photos of first car

2017 Tesla Model 3, in photo tweeted by Elon Musk on July 9, 2017It now appears that the 2017 Tesla Model 3 has entered pilot production, following a pair of photos tweeted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The caption on the first of the two photos, this one black-and-white, says simply, "First production Model 3." The second photo, tweeted 40 minutes later, is in full color but bears no caption. DON'T MISS: Tesla Model...