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... Tesla faces battle over direct sales to buyers in Connecticut
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...
If 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...
Today, some updates to add detail to popular articles, lower prices on some Toyota RAV4 crossovers, why diesel is far from dead, and an Oregon family whose only vehicles are a pair of Chevy Bolt EV electric cars. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Our longest article today was by an Oregon reader whose family owns two Chevrolet Bolt EV...
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...
Today, a transmission dies, a smaller crossover appears, Oregon wants to give car salespeople money, and the fossil-fuel industry may soon apparently run the EPA. All this and more on Green Car Reports. The case has faded into history, but the CEO of failed electric-car charging provider 350 Green has pleaded guilty to fraud charges and will go to...
The 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...
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...
The 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...
Today, a new configurator, a flawed study, compact crossover gas mileage, and a remarkable claim by a large carmaker. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Saturday, we published our usual Week in Reverse roundup of top stories from last week. Yesterday, we highlighted new laws in Fremont, California, that require new homes to have solar panels...
It 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...
Quick 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...
With 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...
We'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...
Why is one noted manufacturing expert very worried about the Tesla Model 3? Which article topic got more reader comments: hydrogen fuel-cell prospects or the impact of delayed CAFE rules? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, May 5, 2017. Longtime readers will know...
Today, one Tesla will be replaced with another, we've driven the longer-range 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf, the Karma Revero is on TV, and we bust another alt-fuel myth. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Our writer David Noland has covered his ownership of a Tesla Model S (and many other topics too) in great detail, and his articles are among our...
The 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...
Today, we've got some amusing news out of Germany, a range-extended electric pickup truck, a sales update, and a multi-linked analysis of how much energy hydrogen fuel-cell cars really require. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We explained why BMW is using Teslas to scare its staff about the future of electric cars and its place in that...
It's now clear that the zero-emission vehicles of the future will be powered by electric motors. The electricity to power those motors, however, will come from one of two competing technologies: high-capacity batteries or hydrogen fuel cells. The debate over which technology is superior, which has the lowest wells-to-wheels carbon footprint, and...
Today, we've got some optimistic projections on electric-car sales, possibly better batteries with a not-very-secret new ingredient, and an all-electric UPS van with a hydrogen range extender. All this and more on Green Car Reports. A couple of different studies suggest that consumer interest in plug-in electric cars is high, and their sales may...
Considerable 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...