Best deals on electric, hybrid, and fuel-efficient cars for July 2018

2018 Nissan LeafAs supplies of some older 100-mile range electric cars wind down, automakers are beginning to offer the best deals on more-capable recent models. Perhaps best of all, the cars with the best deals this month are much more plentiful and easier to find on dealers' lots than a few of the recent bargains we've found. Many of the latest specials are...

Storied Pininfarina to launch new line of exotic electric cars

Pininifarina PF0 design sketchExotic cars have always gotten attention for using innovation as well as performance to inspire buyers' passion. That hasn't changed, but one thing has: those cars' buyers are no longer inspired by pounding pistons and roaring exhaust. Going electric is now a minimum entry point, says Michael Perscke, CEO of Automobili Pininfarina, a new electric...

Tesla sells 200,000th car, starting phaseout of federal tax credits

2018 Tesla Model S and 2018 Tesla Model XTesla's vehicle purchase incentives web page on Thursday morning reported that the wind-down of incentives for buyers of its cars has begun. The change was first noted and reported by Jalopnik. Following the change, Tesla buyers will only be eligible to receive the full $7,500 federal tax credit until Dec. 31. After that, the credits will halve...

Electric car rebates end in Ontario, Canada

Canadian reader K's new Tesla Model 3Following the election of Conservative Doug Ford as premier July 7, Ontario, Canada, has canceled the province's generous tax incentives for electric cars, according to an announcement on Wednesday on the Ministry of Transportation's website. The move was widely expected after Ford ran on a platform of cutting government expenses, which included...

VW e-Golf in very short supply as company prepares for ID Crozz electric car

2017 Volkswagen e-Golf, first drive, New York City, April 2017As VW gears up to begin selling its new ID line of electric cars, supplies of its existing electric car, the e-Golf have dropped to just 10 cars nationwide, according to our partners at Cars Direct. Inventories that low usually mean that cars are being discontinued, but Volkswagen said the model will continue for 2018 and 2019. The company has...

Oil prices could double by 2020, boosting electric car sales

Oil well (photo by John Hill)Despite short term peaks and valleys, and a recent agreement by OPEC to ease production restrictions, the overall trend in oil prices is on the rise. That's the conclusion of Bernstein research, an investment research company, which forecast last week that oil could hit $150 a barrel by 2020, just a couple of years from now, according to an...

LA gets first double-decker electric city bus

Alexander Dennis bus converted to electric power by Proterra for Foothill Transit in L.A.When thinking of Los Angeles, clean air and double-decker buses aren't the first things that come to mind. Yet the city of angels will put the first all-electric double-decker bus into service later this year on the Foothill Transit's Silver Line route (or Silver Streak route, depending on which end you start from). The route runs a little more...