To address a sudden loss of power, some Chevrolet Bolt EVs get new battery packs. We explain why. Subaru files for a trademark on a new name for its upcoming plug-in hybrid. Volkswagen releases fuel economy figures for its new Jetta. And we ask: "When will buying gasoline cars seem weird?" All this and more on Green Car Reports. 17 states have...
It's every electric car owner's nightmare: the car indicates that remaining range has suddenly plummeted to zero, the battery pack stops providing current, and the car won't run. For some 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV drivers, that scenario has happened in real life. The problem has resulted in a program under which Chevy will replace the entire battery...
Subaru buyers would seem to be the perfect group to be interested in buying plug-in cars: They love the outdoors and want to enjoy it unspoiled. Yet the company has lagged in producing anything electric. Its only hybrid so far, the first-generation Crosstrek Hybrid, barely registered on the green-car scene. Behind the wheel, it barely registered...
Earth day is coming up—as it has every year since 1970—and we have a new question for readers this year: When will buying gasoline cars seem weird? Electric car advocates have been anticipating for years—decades, really—the day when plugging in will be more common than filling up. Now that the United States has a broad...
![BMW ActiveE electric car in front of old gas pumps, Belvidere, NJ [photo: Tom Moloughney]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/bmw-activee-electric-car-in-front-of-old-gas-pumps-belvidere-nj-photo-tom-moloughney_100412542_t.gif)
Nobody likes paying gas taxes, and that seems particularly true for drivers who don't buy gas—such as those who drive electric cars. As legislators have begun to notice more electric cars on the roads, more of them have become concerned about their drivers not buying gas—and so not paying any gas taxes. According to a new editorial by...
The maker of electric cars expects to idle its assembly line for several days to clear impediments that have held production well below the company’s targets.
A U.K. review of several popular electric cars, what carmakers really want to happen to fuel-economy rules, a new Jeep with old-fashioned gas mileage, vampires and phantoms in the Tesla Model 3, and range anxiety for gasoline-car drivers. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Over the weekend, as we do every seven days, we ran down last week's...
At this point, the variable build quality of early Tesla Model 3 electric cars has been well documented. One of the main issues is the "phantom touch" on the car's all-important central display. The phantom touch is what Green Car Reports reader Jeff Southern of Atlanta suffered in his car before he invited us to drive it for our full review. Like...
While plug-in electric cars are steadily growing in sales, they still pale in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of compact crossover utility vehicles sold each year by virtually every major carmaker. In 2017, Toyota's most popular vehicle became the RAV4 small SUV, supplanting the Camry mid-size sedan that had occupied that slot for two...
As promised, the Trump administration has embarked on regulatory rollbacks across many fronts, some immediate and others taking longer. It remains unclear whether the EPA's plan to loosen carbon-dioxide emission limits for 2022 through 2025 vehicles will survive inevitable court challenges. However, despite shrill rhetoric from environmental...
The redesigned 2018 Nissan Leaf emerged into a changed market, with 300-mile, $100,000 electric cars available and a host of direct competitors with far more range than the first version of Leaf offered. That fact has led to a lot curiosity about whether the second-generation Leaf can live up to the reputation the original car, which pioneered...
Electric cars have the great advantage that their batteries can be recharged anywhere there's electricity. It may not be particularly fast, though modern plug-in vehicles get at least 60 miles overnight, and often double or triple that. But a century ago, drivers of gasoline cars had just as much range anxiety as electric-car...
When will all-wheel-drive and lower-range versions of the Tesla Model 3 go on sale? What about its Model Y crossover sibling? What might a restyled 2019 Toyota Prius hybrid look like? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, April 13, 2018. Friday, we attempted to...
For several years, the Chevrolet Volt was the sole plug-in hybrid with electric range notably above 20 miles—though it became clear Chevy never figured out how to market its virtues to the public at large. Now it has a strong competitor in the form of the 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid, a mid-size sedan with five seats and a rated 48...
Buyers want to know when they can order their Tesla Model 3s with all-wheel drive; Elon Musk hints at the answer. Upgrading the dirtiest diesels in Germany could prove costly. Canadian university researchers show that all green-car drivers want is the same thing as everybody else. Rising gas prices don't necessarily make people drive less. And we...
It's become an article of faith that, by the magic hand of Adam Smith, when gas prices go up people will drive less. People believe it, because it's often true. New data from the Department of Energy, though, shows that's not always the case. Several other factors influence how much people drive, including seasonality, economic growth...
It should come as no surprise to readers of this site that people who buy electric cars are normal people. A new study by Simon Frasier University in British Columbia adds to the body of evidence demonstrating that, though it comes to some unusual conclusions. The 2017 study examined 2,123 Canadians who planned to buy a new vehicle in the next...
These are not good times for the makers or owners of diesel cars, particularly in their European stronghold, where on average half of all new vehicles had been sold with diesel engines. Strict new real-world emission tests have proven hard to meet, consumers are starting to shy away from buying new diesels, and the values of used cars with diesel...
As Tesla ramps up production of the Model 3 and continues to deliver cars to its long list of reservation holders, many buyers are wondering when they will be able to configure Model 3s with "D" all-wheel drive or with the smaller base battery pack. We can't yet address the smaller battery packs, but CEO Elon Musk left a clue for buyers waiting...
Tesla reveals its Model Y launch window, EPA and California may still agree on emissions, a fast-charge network is coming for Bolt Maven drivers, and German electric luxury sedans aim higher than the Model S. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Reports put production of the Tesla Model Y starting in fall 2019. Meanwhile, CEO Elon Musk says he...
