2020 Ford Explorer Hybrid, Bill Gates, GM e-bikes: Today’s Car News

Audi traffic light recognitionMicrosoft founder Bill Gates weighs in on electric cars. General Motors launches a pair of compact electric-bikes. Ford prices its 2020 Explorer Hybrid—high. And our latest Twitter poll asks about wireless charging. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Ford released pricing for the 2020 Explorer, including a top-of-the-line-only Explorer...

GM launches Arīv electric bikes, but not for U.S.

ARĪV eBike from General MotorsBack in November, General Motors held a naming contest for a new electric vehicle—not a car, but a foldable electric bicycle. Now the company has announced the name, and says the bike will go on sale in Europe later this spring. Known as the Arīv Meld and the Arīv Merge, the bikes have a range of up to almost 40 miles (64 kilometers) on a...

Do you look forward to wireless charging at home? Take our Twitter poll

2018 BMW 530e iPerformance wireless chargingLast week, news came that could make finally help bring wireless charging to more electric-car drivers. Qualcomm, one of the biggest players sold its Halo wireless charging business to one of its biggest rivals, WiTricity. Not unlike DC fast charging, one of the biggest problems bringing the new technology into widespread use was competing...

2020 Ford Explorer Hybrid will carry a price tag over $50k

2020 Ford Explorer hybridAlthough Ford plans to woo electric-vehicle fans—and attract a new crowd to plug-in vehicles—with its upcoming, Mustang-inspired all-electric crossover, arriving next year, it’s the fully redesigned Explorer that will probably continue to do the heavy lifting for Ford on the family-vehicle front. Put that way, the soon-to-arrive...

Porsche Taycan testing, Ford electric SUV: Today’s Car News

Porsche Taycan prototypeNew spy shots reveal quite a bit about the new Porsche Taycan. And on an abbreviated holiday schedule today, we run down what we know about Ford's upcoming 300-mile SUV. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Spy photographers caught a Porsche Taycan undergoing winter testing with a bare minimum of camouflage—beyond some dummy tailpipes on...

2021 Ford Mach E: What we know about 300-mile electric SUV

Ford crossover EV teaser photoGrab some of the pony-car attitude and affordability of the Ford Mustang. Put it into a fully electric vehicle that channels some of what makes the Tesla Model 3 Performance so much in demand, versus other EVs. Support it and nurture it. On a much-simplified level, that’s the recipe behind Ford’s electric vehicle project, which will...

Best deals, Kia Soul EV, Toyota ad, Tesla dog mode: Today’s Car News

Audi Q4 e-tron concept teaser sketchIt's official on Rivian and Amazon. Tesla introduces a new Dog Mode to keep dogs cool in parked cars. Final EPA range estimates are released for the 2020 Kia Soul EV. We run down the best deals on hybrid, plug-in, and electric cars for February. And Toyota falls back on an old advertising theme: You don't really want plug in, do you? All this and...

Prime time: Amazon invests in electric-truck hopeful Rivian

Rivian R1T electric pickup conceptRivian on Friday announced that Amazon will invest in the company, as it pushes ahead to bring its lineup of electric pickups and SUVs to market. Although the amount of Amazon’s investment wasn't disclosed, Rivian said that the Seattle-based technology, goods, and services giant led a $700 million equity investment round. Rivian clarified to...

Commentary: Toyota Corolla Hybrid ad brags about not plugging in

2017 Toyota Prius Prime, Catskill Mountains, NY, Nov 2016In Toyota's latest ad for its new Corolla Hybrid in Britain, it's 2002 all over again. The ad shows the new Corolla Hybrid (in non-U.S. hatchback form) bypassing all kinds of road transportation alternatives from different eras—from a stagecoach and an early brass-era car to 1950s hot rods and, finally—an electric car plugged in and...

Best deals on hybrid, plug-in, and electric cars for February 2019

2019 Hyundai Ioniq ElectricPresidents' Day Weekend typically brings deals in car showrooms. And this month is no exception. As electric-car fans wait for a slew of new models to hit the market this spring, some of the same cars that have made up recent months' best deals appear again. Two, however, are recent entrants. Our partners at CarsDirect who come up with our list of...

2020 Kia Soul EV rated for 243 miles, improved efficiency

2020 Kia Soul EVIn just one model year, Kia has more than doubled the rated driving range for the Soul EV. The 2020 Kia Soul EV, which is expected to reach dealerships this spring, will go 243 miles on a charge—four more miles than the Kia Niro EV—according to the EPA, in ratings that were released earlier this week. DON’T MISS: 2019 Hyundai...

Dogs are cool, especially in Teslas with new Dog Mode

Tesla Model 3 Dog ModeJudging from recent news reports, it's all too easy to focus on the limitations on electric cars—range, recharge speeds, and most recently, their cold weather performance. Some things, though, electric cars can do that others can't. Take Tesla's new Dog Mode, announced by CEO Elon Musk on Twitter on Wednesday. The new feature, being pushed...

Mileage or money? Fiat Chrysler pays for missing fuel economy targets

 2019 Ram 1500 North EditionIt turns out there's more than one way for automakers to meet fuel-economy targets. One is to develop and sell more fuel-efficient cars and trucks. The other—as demonstrated over the years by quite a few automakers—is to pay fuel economy fines to the U.S. Treasury as a course of doing business. That's the course Fiat Chrysler took for...

An old tradition, auto shows, could give electric cars a boost

Volkswagen ID Neo concept, 2016 Paris auto showLast summer, Volkswagen Group chairman Dr. Herbert Diess said that he doesn’t believe new-car shows will exist (in their present form) a decade from now, and that “motor shows are dead.” You might think Volkswagen of America didn't get the memo. This year it's investing more of its marketing dollars in auto shows, and it will...

Bill could add Washington state to roster of California EV adoptees

Carpool lanes I-5, Seattle, Washington [Credit: SounderBruce-Wikimedia Commons]Just as the Trump administration is attacking California's right to require electric cars to be sold in the state, California may be gaining support elsewhere. A new bill introduced in Washington state on Monday would add the state to the 10 others that follow or are in the process of adopting California's electric-car mandate. Last month...