Tesla faces battle over direct sales to buyers in Connecticut

Tesla Store Los Angeles [photo: Misha Bruk / MBH Architects]Another month, another Tesla battle with auto-dealer lobbyists in another state—or so it seems in the company's ongoing battle to sell electric cars online directly to buyers. This time, the action is in Connecticut, where on Monday the legislature's finance committee approved a bill letting Tesla do just that. That bill is expected to lead...

Buyers in Trump-voting states reject green cars, which surge in Western states

2016 Nissan Leaf SL and 2016 Toyota Prius Three, Hudson Valley, NY, Dec 2015If you're a journalist, it's almost impossible to ignore political news these days. So if readers can resolutely avoid national and local coverage of politics, consider yourselves lucky. That said, sometimes a new political angle can make a dry story on car-buyer data more interesting than expected. DON'T MISS: Sales of 'green' cars remain low; is...

This family has two Chevy Bolt EV electric cars, uses no gas at all

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric cars outside dealership    [photo: Patrick Reid]The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV is the first mass-priced electric car to offer a range of more than 200 miles, something previously offered only by pricey Tesla luxury cars. First put on sale last December in California, the 238-mile Bolt EV is slowly rolling out across the country and will be on sale in every state by September. How many Chevy sells...

2017 Mercedes-Benz E300: gas mileage review

2017 Mercedes-Benz E300 4Matic, Finger Lakes region, NY, April 2017The Mercedes-Benz E-Class luxury sedan is hardly viewed as green, even if it'll soon have a plug-in hybrid version offered in small numbers. But driving the most recent generation provides a nice case study of the improvement in gas mileage over three decades of updates to the core product that helped build Mercedes into the powerhouse it is...

EPA science advisers axed; execs from regulated industries to replace them

Natural gas flaring from oil well [licensed under Creative Commons from Flickr user Sirdle]While much of the nation's capital is preoccupied with the unpredictable Trump administration and its possible ties to Russia, the fate of the Environmental Protection Agency generates less news coverage. That's not to say there hasn't been news. Administrator Scott Pruitt is proceeding swiftly with a radical plan to restructure—critics...

CEO of failed 350Green charging network pleads guilty to fraud

2011 Nissan Leaf does 520 Miles in 2 daysThe former CEO of electric-car charging network 350 Green pleaded guilty last week to fraudulently obtaining federal grants intended to be used for installation of public charging stations, notably in the Chicago area. The original 2011 announcement of the grants came with large fan-fare, but the company never remotely delivered on what was...

Lighter, more fuel-efficient cars are safer, study says, ignoring safety rules

2017 Hyundai Elantra IIHS crash testIt was one of several common tropes used 10 years ago against proposed regulations to boost average fuel economy. "More efficient cars will have to be lighter-weight, and they'll be unsafe because in accidents, they'll crumple up like Kleenex." Logical conclusion: if you require higher fuel economy in cars, more people will die in crashes. DON'T...

China has licensed 9 electric-car plants, more than U.S. has today

BYD e6 electric taxi in service in Shenzhen, ChinaQuick trivia question: how many plants are there in the United States currently building electric cars? To be generous, we'll allow both battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models. Any idea? The answer turns out to be four. DON'T MISS: Shanghai auto show: China plugs into electric cars in a big way Meanwhile, China—which has a long-term goal...

VW to Tesla: ‘Anything you can do, we can do better’

2017 Volkswagen Beetle 1.8T Dune Auto GrilleWith a new book imminent that gives new details on its diesel-emission cheating scandal, Volkswagen Group continues to struggle for positive corporate PR. Yet the company publicly appears to be confident that it has weathered the worst of that storm. Moreover, while its first high-volume electric cars won't hit the market until 2019 or 2020, the...

What’s the lowest acceptable gas mileage for a compact SUV? Poll results

2016 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, Catskill Mountains, NY, Feb 2016We've driven a lot of compact crossover utility vehicles in recent months. It's a hot category in the new-car market, with all light trucks getting better fuel economy than in past years—and gasoline prices continuing below $3 per gallon in most of the U.S. So we wondered what readers felt would be acceptable fuel economy in a compact SUV...

2017 Volkswagen e-Golf: first drive of updated 125-mile electric car

2017 Volkswagen e-Golf, first drive, New York City, April 2017The 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf, the only battery-electric car sold by VW in the U.S., got a large range boost for its third year on the market. While the current model year is winding to a close, 2017 e-Golfs are just now reaching dealers in the handful of states where the compact electric car is offered for sale. But with an EPA-rated range of 125...

UPS electric van with fuel-cell range extender to be tested in California

Prototype plug-in electric delivery van with fuel-cell range extender to be tested by UPS in 2017Considerable skepticism remains that passenger vehicles powered by hydrogen will become a major part of U.S. sales any time soon—or ever. Quietly, however, analysts suggest that hydrogen may provide a solution to the different challenges of producing zero-emission heavy trucks and delivery vehicles. Despite growing hoopla over Elon Musk's...