China is known for having some of the most polluted air in the world. But officials in one Chinese city found a way to at least make that air appear cleaner, for awhile. Like many Chinese cities, Xi'an, the provincial capital of Shaanxi, in the northern part of the country, has air-monitoring equipment. DON'T MISS: Coal in China: huge problem for... How China’s horrific air quality magically turns cleaner: cotton
China is known for having some of the most polluted air in the world. But officials in one Chinese city found a way to at least make that air appear cleaner, for awhile. Like many Chinese cities, Xi'an, the provincial capital of Shaanxi, in the northern part of the country, has air-monitoring equipment. DON'T MISS: Coal in China: huge problem for...
Faraday Future plans to put an electric car into production within two years at a brand-new factory with a stated price tag of $1 billion. So far, this ambitious plan has had the backing of Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting, and his LeEco tech empire. But now LeEco may be running out of cash. DON'T MISS: Faraday Future imperils electric-car factory...
Over the past few years, China has made impressive strides in renewable-energy investment. The promotion of renewable energy will only become more important as China works to meet its commitments under the recently-ratified Paris climate agreement. But the country's reliance on coal for electricity generation still poses a huge problem for these...
Electric-car mandates can be a powerful tool for reducing transportation-related emissions. California first proposed its current zero-emission vehicle mandate in December 2011, but similar mandates are only now being widely adopted elsewhere. One such policy in China is creating friction, however. DON'T MISS: Quebec passes Canada's first...
China overtook the U.S. last year to become the world's largest market for electric cars. But a large portion of the vehicles included in Chinese new-car sales tallies are low-speed electric vehicles that would not meet U.S. standards for highway-capable cars. Now Chinese regulators are paying more attention to these vehicles. CHECK OUT: China To...
The overall carbon emissions associated with electric cars decrease as the electricity used to recharge them gets cleaner. And the latest statistics from the International Energy Agency (IEA) will be good news indeed for electric-car drivers. Last year saw record growth in renewable energy, according to the IEA, which surpassed coal to become the...
When it comes to electric cars, China has some of the most generous incentives of any country. But in its attempt to promote greener vehicles, China has largely ignored hybrids to focus on cars with plugs. Efforts so far have concentrated on what the government calls "New Energy Vehicles," a category that encompasses electric cars, plug-in...
Nissan's strong commitment to electric cars has not, so far, extended to its Infiniti luxury brand. While the six-year-old Nissan Leaf is the bestselling electric car in history, the company has repeatedly postponed plans for an all-electric Infiniti model. But Infiniti's on-again, off-again electric car may now be back on again. RELATED: Infiniti...
Plug-in electric cars are going to be a bigger part of the vehicle mix in future than they have been to date. That much is abundantly clear. Electric cars are one of four significant forces that will likely change what we think of as an "automobile" forever, the others being autonomy, connectivity, and sharing. DON'T MISS: Tesla and China: why an...
China is not just the world's largest overall new-car market, it's also now the largest market for plug-in electric cars. With its ambitious plan to build 500,000 electric cars per year beginning in 2018, it would seem to make sense that Tesla Motors would make China a priority. But Tesla has struggled in China since it launched the Model S there...
The current-generation Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid may acquire a new identity for the Chinese market. General Motors sold the first-generation Volt under different brands in various international markets. So far it hasn't continued that practice with the second-generation version, which went on sale in the U.S. earlier this year. DON'T MISS...
Critics of the renewable-energy industry argue that it's unfair that energy sources such as wind and solar often benefit from government subsidies. But the volumes and amounts of subsidies received by the fossil-fuel industry are substantial, as new analysis shows. In December 2013, the U.S. and China announced plans to undertake a reciprocal peer...
Modern cars' increased reliance on software to control vital functions opens up new technological possibilities, but also poses the potential of hacking. That risk now requires automakers to think like tech companies, and keep to updating software to close weak points that could allow hackers to access vehicle systems. Electric-car maker Tesla...
The automaker that sold the most plug-in electric cars last year wasn't a U.S., Japanese, or European firm. It was BYD, the Chinese carmaker notably backed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. BYD sold just over 60,000 battery-electric cars and plug-in hybrids last year, with the vast majority going to customers in its home country. DON'T MISS...