It's been a busy week for U.S. agencies as they release information on their final actions before a new administration takes office. Yesterday the U.S. Department of Justice reportedly opened a criminal probe into the actions of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles over the emission certification of its diesel engines. The investigation follows an... Justice Department launches criminal probe of FCA diesels: report
It's been a busy week for U.S. agencies as they release information on their final actions before a new administration takes office. Yesterday the U.S. Department of Justice reportedly opened a criminal probe into the actions of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles over the emission certification of its diesel engines. The investigation follows an... 
Which U.S. automaker may have its own diesel emission problem (though it's different to those bedeviling VW)? And what all-new version of an extremely popular hybrid sedan broke cover at this week's Detroit Auto Show? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, January 13... 
Seven days before the advent of a new presidential administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has locked in planned auto-emission standards through 2025. The emission limits tie directly to fuel-efficiency rules issued by the NHTSA, effectively requiring those rules to stay the same as well. Announcing its final determination this... 
It has long been official Chinese government industrial policy to dominate the world's production of lithium-ion battery cells and to establish a commanding electric-car industry. This would not only position the country in crucial industries of the future but give it a way to start attacking the choking smog in its cities that affects public... 
While electric cars received a disproportionate amount of media attention over the last five years, the focus is now turning. At the recent Consumer Electronics Show and Detroit Auto Show earlier this month, cynical journalists were moved to propose a drinking game. Participants would have to take a drink every time an automaker used the words... 
In recent years, Honda has announced that it planned to release advanced-technology green cars in the future—without mentioning even their names, let alone any details or specifications. That's what happened two years ago with a pair of unnamed battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles that later proved to be two new variants of the Honda... 
The Toyota Prius Prime is a far better car than its plug-in hybrid predecessor, and it seems likely to become one of the higher-volume plug-in electric cars on the U.S. market. If, that is, Toyota's own dealers prove willing to sell it—or even find out that it exists. After three separate complaints by readers in different areas of the U.S... 
More proof that plugging in cuts carbon emissions, news on the batteries of the new 2018 Toyota Camry Hybrid, and discouraging news on the calculated fuel economy of new vehicles sold last year: all this and more in today's car news on Green Car Reports. Samsung says a new lithium-ion cell will recharge to 80 percent capacity in just 20... 
Cars that run entirely or partly on electricity from a battery pack have no tailpipe emissions, but to judge their overall impact, you have to look at lifetime wells-to-wheels emissions. That includes emissions associated with extracting, refining, and burning the fuel used to make the electricity that recharges them, as well as the same for any... 
Masato Katsumoto is Toyota's chief engineer for the global Camry sedan program—so when he speaks, it's worth listening. Following yesterday's Detroit Auto Show launch of an entirely new 2018 Toyota Camry mid-size sedan, he was one of several Toyota executives who answered media questions in a morning panel. And during that session, Katsumoto... 
The head of VW Group's U.S. regulatory compliance group was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation this weekend on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Oliver Schmidt led the German automaker's regulatory compliance during 2014 and the early part of 2015. The Volkswagen diesel emission scandal erupted in September 2015 when... 
Media days at the Detroit Auto Show always open with the announcement of the year's North American Car and Truck of the Year awards, and this year is no exception. But green-car enthusiasts had a special reason to follow this year's awards, now broken into three categories: car, truck, and utility vehicle. That was the chance that a... 
If you pronounce the word "buzz" with a German accent, it sounds like "bus"—which is almost surely why VW's second all-electric concept vehicle is called the Volkswagen ID Buzz. It's the latest in a series of concept studies for a modern-day Microbus, with stylistic nods to the classic Type 2 bus launched 65 years ago. It's one of the few... ![Consumer Reports tests 2015 Volkswagen Jetta TDI diesel in 'cheat mode,' October 2015 [video frame]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/consumer-reports-tests-2015-volkswagen-jetta-tdi-diesel-in-cheat-mode-october-2015-video-frame_100530187_t.gif)
The $14.7 billion diesel-emission settlement among Volkswagen and regulatory agencies required VW to buy back or modify almost half a million TDI vehicles from model years 2009 through 2015. While the buybacks have received the most attention—and most owners are expected to take them—the company also submitted plans to modify its... 
Which U.S. automaker dropped some bombshells about its future plans for electric cars, and Mexico too? And what did we learn at the gigantic Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, January 6, 2017. Friday, we covered a new $150... 
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn today confirmed that a second-generation Nissan Leaf electric car is coming "in the near future," though he didn't specify a date or model year. The new Leaf will come with Nissan's ProPilot technology, which permits the car to drive itself autonomously within a highway under certain circumstances. Ghosn noted that more... 
With news stories literally every day about autonomous vehicle tests, and the growing number of plug-in electric vehicles on sale, the future is ... well, up in the air. Readers of this site tend to be more future-oriented than many car buyers, so we polled our Twitter followers about their views of the matter. We asked what they thought they... 
As sales results trickle in from automakers throughout the day, industry analysts will be waiting to see whether enough buyers signed on the line to make 2016 a new record sales year. Among cars with plugs, however, the trend was clearly up—and December saw the first sales of the long-awaited 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, the 238-mile... 
In recent years, Ford has acquired a bit of a reputation for opacity in its dealings with the media. One example was its promise last TK that it would introduce 13 new "electrified" vehicles by 2020. Ford didn't specify what those were, or what the term meant, leading to widespread inaccurate reporting that assumed that meant 13 electric cars ... 
While the auto industry will start to report December and year-end sales totals today, Tesla Motors issued its year-end delivery and production results yesterday. The Silicon Valley car maker, now completing its ninth year of production, delivered 22,230 electric cars during the fourth quarter of 2016. That brings its total for last year to 76,230...