As the 2018 LA Auto Show winds down, we explore some questions that came out of it, starting with why Kia plans two electric models with the same long-range battery. Tesla announced at the show that its cars have now covered a billion miles driving on Autopilot. Electric cars in China send a lot more data to authorities than gas cars do. And the...
In this post "1984" world, most consumers acquiesce to sharing their data with companies in return for better, quicker, more convenient, cheaper, or even free services. How many, however, would voluntarily turn over data about everywhere they went and when to the government, particularly a Communist government? According to a new AP report, that's...
One key specification in the 2020 Kia Soul EV that was revealed at the LA Auto Show this week was a bit unexpected: its inclusion of a large, 64-kwh battery pack. That leaves two vehicles—the Soul EV and the 2019 Kia Niro EV—with the same big battery. And both will be arriving at U.S. dealerships in the first quarter of 2019. Based on...
![First 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car [photo: Patrick Reid]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/2017-chevrolet-bolt-ev-electric-car-photo-patrick-reid_100605959_t.gif)
Members of the lame-duck Congress all got letters on their desks Tuesday stating why the electric-car tax credit should be revised and extended. Along with a five-point fact sheet made public Tuesday, the effort is the first salvo in a battle by the newly-formed EV Drive Coalition to extend the plug-in vehicle tax credit, which is expiring for two...
Self-driving systems are like teenage drivers: They get better with practice. Tesla announced in a Tweet on Thursday that its cars logged 1 billion miles driving on Autopilot. That's a key milestone, since Teslas driving on Autopilot (and driven by humans) send data about what they see on the road back to Tesla, so the company can address problems...
At the LA Auto Show, Kia revealed two upcoming electric cars, the 2019 Niro EV and 2020 Soul EV. Mitsubishi recycled its rally-star Evo name for a new performance electric crossover concept. Audi introduced its second all-electric model, the e-tron GT. And our Twitter followers told us what they're thankful for in our latest Twitter poll. All this...
![San Luis Obispo, CA National Drive Electric Week 2018 [Credit Justin Bradshaw SLO Climate Coalition]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/san-luis-obispo-ca-national-drive-electric-week-2018-credit-justin-bradshaw-slo-climate-coalition_100679776_t.gif)
If this Thanksgiving season proved anything, it is that our Twitter followers are a grateful group. In what often seemed a year of bad news for green cars, at least from the standpoint of U.S. domestic policy, we found several individual developments to be grateful for. Most notably, there was the mass-market introduction of the Tesla Model 3...
At the LA Auto Show, Kia has provided some long-awaited U.S. market details for the Niro EV. Among the most important ones: With a large 64-kwh battery pack, it will offer an EPA-rated range of 239 miles. The Niro, which Kia describes as a “multi-function crossover format,” is built on a dedicated green-vehicle platform shared with the...
At the LA Auto Show, Kia revealed a completely new generation of its Soul—including, once again, an all-electric Kia Soul EV that makes overtures to urbanites who need box-on-wheels utility, affordability, parking ease, and some design flair but also want an electric car. The Soul EV is, once again, front-wheel drive, but its electric motor...
Electric power has come to drag racers, hill-climb cars, and Formula E racers. Why not rally cars? At least that's Mitsubishi's idea with its new e-Evolution concept that debuted Wednesday at the LA Auto Show. Unlike the winged sedan that took the off-road rally racing world by storm 15 years ago, the new model is an electric SUV. READ MORE: 2018...
The four-door e-Tron GT concept that Audi introduced Wednesday at the 2018 LA Auto Show is “very, very, very, very, very close to production.” Those are the words of Audi design boss Marc Lichte, not ours. The design study will earn the distinction of being the first battery-powered Audi Sport model when it makes its debut as a...
Today's updates are all about new models from the LA auto show, including new electrics from startup automakers Rivian and Byton, a new all-wheel-drive version of the Toyota Prius, a new Hybrid version of Toyota Corolla, and a fuel-efficient new engine for the Mazda3. All this, plus President Trump responds to GM's announcement that it will kill...
After General Motors announced on Monday that it will kill the Chevy Volt as part of an effort to streamline its lineup, close five factories, and lay off 15 percent of its workers, President Trump took to Twitter to vow retaliation for the damage the layoffs could do to the U.S. economy. "The U.S. saved General Motors, and this is the THANKS we...
Byton aims to reinvent the car by turning it into the next generation iPhone. Other automakers have talked about turning their center screen displays into iPhone-like interfaces, but not the whole car. That seems to be the goal of Byton, which says it is creating the “next generation smart device,” “spaceship Byton,”...
If you want one of the highest-mileage non-plug-in vehicles on the market—like the Toyota Prius, Hyundai Ioniq, Kia Niro, or Honda Insight, there’s been one quite significant deal-breaker for many Snow Belt families: All-wheel drive simply isn’t a possibility. That’s due to change very soon with the 2019 Toyota Prius AWD-e...
With the introduction of a 50-mile-per-gallon Corolla Hybrid at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Toyota is keeping true to a mission it undertook a long time ago: democratizing hybrid technology, and making it mainstream. The carmaker has long aimed to deploy its hybrid system aggressively into pretty much every product in their lineup. Suddenly within...
Mazda has revealed its 2019 Mazda 3 compact car, in new-generation form, at the 2018 LA Auto Show. It’s not surprising, given the brand’s go-it-alone strategy this decade, that the new ‘3’ appears to take a different path than key global compact-car rivals in nearly every respect, ranging from design to driving traits to...
The White House signaled that the automaker could suffer for idling plants and reducing its factory work force.
The White House signaled that the automaker could suffer for planning thousands of layoffs, but the company says the course is essential to its future.
Two years from now, the electric-vehicle startup Rivian hopes to be making its R1T electric pickup truck at a former Mitsubishi (and Chrysler) plant in Normal, Illinois. If everything goes according to plan, shortly after that, in early 2021, it will start to deliver its other so-called electric adventure vehicle: the R1S all-electric...
