Why didn't the Tesla Model X sell as well as Elon Musk suggested it could? What happens when a Hyundai Ioniq Electric battery uses up the last of its energy capacity? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, June 2, 2017. Friday, we asked where the latest Popemobile had... Tesla Model X sales, electric cars vs hybrids, Hyundai Ioniq battery, Paris pact pullout: The Week in Reverse
Why didn't the Tesla Model X sell as well as Elon Musk suggested it could? What happens when a Hyundai Ioniq Electric battery uses up the last of its energy capacity? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, June 2, 2017. Friday, we asked where the latest Popemobile had...
Today, we update U.S. plug-in electric car sales data for May, look at a program to help coal miners get wind-farm jobs, explain Musk's view of Trump's Paris pullout, and highlight the unlikely place the newest Popemobile is actually made. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the hard-won Paris climate treaty...
All sorts of vehicles have been pressed into service to carry Popes, from simple Fiats to giant Mercedes-Benz luxury landaulets. Francis, the current Pope, has a preference for small, simple, environmentally friendly cars—and largely does without the bulletproof glass enclosures found in some previous "Popemobiles." His latest vehicle is...
Fulfilling a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump said yesterday that he will set in motion plans to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Pact that it joined last fall. In turn, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded that he will have to pull out of Trump's business advisory councils of CEOs and executives, which he had joined in January. Musk was...
Today, we look at what may have happened to the once-touted Tesla Model X sales, cover a report on the future of Nissan Leaf battery cells, describe the electric cars based on the former Saab 9-3 that are now being built in China, and report on last month's plug-in electric car sales. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Finally, the latest BMW...
With the second-generation Nissan Leaf electric car due to break cover sometime in the next few months, one open question concerns the source of its battery cells. To date, Automotive Electric Supply Corporation—a joint venture between Nissan and Japanese electronics giant NEC—has supplied lithium-ion cells for every Nissan Leaf built...
Sales of three high-volume plug-in electric cars rose last month, with the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV 238-mile battery-electric hatchback logging its highest monthly total since sales began in December. Chevrolet delivered 1,566 Bolt EVs, bringing this year's five-month total to 5,950 (another 579 were sold in December 2016). The Bolt EV is continuing...
A few years ago, before the Tesla Model X electric SUV went into production, company CEO Elon Musk said he thought it could outsell the older Model S hatchback luxury sedan. That hasn't happened. In the first three months of this year, Tesla said it delivered 11,550 Model Xes—but 13,450 Model Ses. DON'T MISS: 2016 Tesla Model X first drive...
Today, our readers weigh in on Volkswagen's claim that it will outdo Tesla, we look at jobs created by fuel-economy rules, the EU gets serious about emission testing, and BMW says that in a few years, you can sleep behind the wheel. All this and more on Green Car Reports. A top VW Group executive claimed that the company's electric cars would...
The question is a reasonable one: electric cars may be zero-emission, but what about the electricity to recharge them? While renewable energy is growing globally, burning fossil fuels is still the source of most electric power today. The good news is that in most areas of the U.S., the "wells to wheels" carbon-dioxide emissions associated with...
Looking back from the 2020s or 2030s, it's entirely likely that the unexpected arrival of Tesla Motors was a major force—along with legislation, perhaps the major force—in getting legacy automakers to produce electric cars. Competition has always spurred innovation, and German makers in particular were caught entirely unprepared for...
Today, BMW's electric-car plans may have changed, Tesla solar roof tiles can be preordered, A123 is bigger than you think, and VW plans even greater reductions in the environmental impact of carmaking. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We ran down our top news stories from the previous week. If you're interested in the new Kia Niro hybrid...
Under the new administration of President Donald Trump, the EPA has reopened comments on its decision to finalize emission rules for 2022 through 2025 vehicles. Meanwhile, the NHTSA—which sets fuel-economy rules that have to correspond to EPA limits on carbon-dioxide emissions—hasn't yet issued its corporate average fuel-economy rules...
When it launched in 2013, the BMW i3 electric car was arguably the most futuristic automobile in mass production anywhere in the world. Its all-electric powertrain could be ordered with an optional range-extending engine, and it rode on an aluminum chassis topped with a strong but lightweight body shell made of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic. It...
Ten years ago, lithium-ion cell maker A123 Systems was a hot startup and a much-publicized company. This author, in fact, profiled the company for IEEE Spectrum in the technology magazine's September 2007 issue. The six years that followed proved enormously painful for the Massachusetts company, however. DON'T MISS: A123 Systems To Recall...
What does an owner think after six full months of driving a Chevy Bolt EV electric car? Why can't the Trump Administration say two little words that mean a lot? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, May 19, 2017. Friday, we explained why our Tesla-owning writer David...
Today, a newly happy Tesla owner, some unhappy good ol' boy drag racers, soaring growth for solar power generation, and a Bolt EV after six months. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Our Tesla-owning writer David Noland was down in the dumps over Supercharging last week, but now, he writes, happy days are here again. (He can charge his new...
Sometimes a picture is truly worth a thousand words. In the case of the rapidly rising rate of solar generation for electricity, numerous forecasts by internationally respected bodies have proven woefully conservative. The image in the tweet below, created by Auke Hoestra at the Technical University of Eindhoven, in The Netherlands, shows it...
The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV is the first mass-priced electric car with a range of more than 200 miles, and it's already had a big impact on the California market. While it continues to trickle into dealerships in other states, a few lucky Californians now have six months in the 238-mile electric hatchback under their belt. An early owner, John...