Iron Man 2 reunion: Musk friend Larry Ellison named to Tesla board

Tesla Motors, Palo Alto, CaliforniaTesla announced Friday that it has added two independent directors to the company's board: Kathleen Wilson-Thompson and Larry Ellison. Yes, it’s that Larry Ellison—the Oracle founder, and one of the richest men in the world, who made a cameo alongside Musk in Iron Man 2. Ellison lives a jet-setting lifestyle—including a lot of...

California white and green carpool stickers expire New Year’s Day

Carpool lanes I-5, Seattle, Washington [Credit: SounderBruce-Wikimedia Commons]California plug-in car drivers with white or green carpool stickers can no longer use carpool lanes starting Tuesday. The state passed a new program last March that invalidates both the white stickers for electric cars and the green stickers for plug-in hybrids with the start of 2019. For many of those drivers, the state provided a way to extend...

Pickup drivers target Tesla Superchargers in “ICEing” incidents

Dodge flatbed blocking a Tesla Supercharger in Tennessee, fake charging [CREDIT: freckletan, Reddit]People are jealous of things they can't (or don't) have. In a spate of incidents reminiscent of "rolling coal," truck drivers have begun seemingly intentionally blocking whole banks of Tesla Superchargers across parts of the South. Photos shared across Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit over the weekend showed all kinds of trucks blocking...

Plug-in hybrids to charge again in Beverly Hills

EVgo charging station in Union City, California with resused BMW i3 battery backupBanning plug-in hybrids from public chargers is no good. That's the conclusion of a new California law signed in September, which forbids cities from restricting access to public chargers for any type of electric vehicles in the state. After making a big splash by banning plug-in hybrids from its public chargers last April, the city of Beverly...

Porsche Taycan sold out for a year—to mostly Tesla drivers

Porsche Mission E concept electric carAs much as they evangelize Tesla, it turns out Tesla owners may be looking for an upgrade. Klaus Zellmer, Porsche's president and CEO for North America, disclosed in an interview that the company's upcoming 2020 Taycan electric sports car could be sold out for a year with pre-orders from customers who have put down $2,500 deposits. Then he added...

Subaru Forester Hybrid teased in Japan, in sporty STI form

Subaru Forester STI concept teased ahead of 2019 Tokyo Auto Salon debutSubaru’s STI performance skunkworks has helped enable some very fast, exciting versions of the Japanese automaker’s vehicles. And with its 2019 Crosstrek Hybrid, Subaru has shown it can engineer a full hybrid—a plug-in with a 17-miles range rating. However, the Forester STI Concept hybrid shown this week for the Tokyo Auto Salon...

The 2019 Jaguar I-Pace, a city boy, and range anxiety

2019 Jaguar I-Pace, 3-day test driveElectric vehicles aren’t made for me. It’s not that I’m not for them. My circumstances just don’t fit with the realities of charging. I live in Chicago, in a 100-year-old apartment building converted to condominiums 17 years ago. I have a spot in a parking lot behind the building, but no means of charging an electric car...

Opinion: Expiring tax credits hurt U.S. automakers, favor imports

Tesla Model 3 all-wheel drive Performance rolls off a new assembly line in a temporary structurePresident Trump campaigned on a promise to aid U.S. manufacturers and provide more incentives for them to produce products in the U.S. Now the President, seemingly in opposition to that stance, has launched into a war of words with two of America's largest automakers—its youngest and one of its oldest—over the tax credits that have...

Will climate talks bring real progress? Twitter poll results

Smokestacks pollution air qualityLast month, world leaders met in Poland to agree on the next steps in measuring and limiting climate change. Despite the U.S., Australia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and others meeting on the sidelines to promote burning coal, the leaders reached some agreements on how the Paris Climate Accords will be implemented when it goes into effect in 2020: Each...

Tesla Model 3 now in the running for IIHS Top Safety Pick+

2018 Tesla Model 3 Long-Range RWDMost cars these days perform really well on crash tests. Where they fall down in ratings from the IIHS is usually in either headlight performance or underperforming active safety features. The IIHS confirmed on Wednesday via Twitter that updated headlights on the Tesla Model 3 received the Institute's highest "Good" rating, as first reported last...

Electric towing, Lexus electric, sharing chargers: Today’s Car News

2019 Lexus UX (UX250h E-Four hybrid)Electric SUVs and pickups could be just the thing for those who tow. Lexus trademarks a name for a possible upcoming electric SUV. ChargePoint signs another sharing agreement, this time with the Greenlots network. And our Twitter poll asks what readers' hopes are for electric cars in the New Year. All this and more on Green Car Reports. People who...