Congress questions VW $2 billion in zero-emission infrastructure funding

U.S. Capitol BuildingThe Volkswagen diesel settlement for 2.0-liter TDI models, approved at the end of October, includes a provision for $2 billion in funds to install charging or fueling infrastructure for zero-emission vehicles. There has been considerable debate over what those funds should be used for, and how they should be administered. The vast majority of the...

Nissan offers 2G Leaf owners a $199 3G upgrade, with just 24 days left

2015 Nissan LeafSince it was launched in December 2010, the Nissan Leaf electric car has been offered with a telematics system that relies on a cellular connection. NissanConnectEV, previously known as Carwings, lets owners monitor functions like climate control and charging remotely, and find nearby charging stations. When the system launched, it was based on a...

Supercapacitor energy density could soar using contact-lens polymer

contact lens (photo via Wikimedia Commons)Engineers are nothing if not creative. Significant research is going into improved ways of storing electricity, including alternatives to the currently dominant lithium-ion battery-cell chemistry in electric cars. That includes using supercapacitors to substitute for storage batteries in some circumstances. DON'T MISS: Batteries from junkyard...

Which type of Green Car Reports articles are least valuable? Poll results

2017 Toyota Prius Prime test drive, Ojai, California, Sep 2016Last week, we wrote about the results of a Twitter poll we put up to get a feel for what our readers like best about the site. The flipside of "most valuable" is "least valuable," so we put up the same list of choices again, this time asking survey respondents to rank their least favorite types of articles. Surprisingly, however, the results...

Used electric-car batteries should be recycled, not reused: report

Battery pack assembly for 2015 Chevrolet Spark EV electric car at GM's Brownstown, Michigan, plantEven after they have degraded too much for continued automotive use, the lithium-ion battery packs in electric cars still have significant useful storage capacity. That's led several automakers to experiment with alternative uses for these "second-life" batteries in stationary energy storage. Battery packs can store energy generated by renewable...

Used electric-car batteries should be recycled, not reused: report

Battery pack assembly for 2015 Chevrolet Spark EV electric car at GM's Brownstown, Michigan, plantEven after they have degraded too much for continued automotive use, the lithium-ion battery packs in electric cars still have significant useful storage capacity. That's led several automakers to experiment with alternative uses for these "second-life" batteries in stationary energy storage. Battery packs can store energy generated by renewable...

Diesels to lose two-thirds of current market share in 10 years: report

BMW quad-turbocharged 3.0-liter 6-cylinder diesel engineSometimes interesting predictions come buried inside a completely different topic. Take, for example, an investment note on the auto-parts supplier Continental contained in a roundup of industry research, market analysis, and news items issued yesterday by investment bank UBS. It contains the prediction that diesel engines' share of the global...