When will buying gasoline cars seem weird? Twitter poll results

Petro-Canada gas station, Crossfields, Alberta, with electric-car charging stationIn honor of Earth Day last weekend, we re-ran our story about when citizens might see cars with tailpipes as morally wrong, somewhat like they do smoking or polluting factories today. This year, we decided to accompany it with a different question in our Twitter poll: When will buying gasoline cars seem weird, if not necessarily outright immoral?...

BMW debuts iX3 SUV electric car

BMW iX3 Concept front 3/4The iX3 SUV, revealed in Beijing today, brings BMW into the mainstream when it comes to electric cars. No longer will BMW electrics be specialized models that look like science experiments, made of space-age carbon fiber or riding on skinny tires for the ultimate efficiency. Instead, the company will revert to building electric versions of its...

PG&E offers new $3,000 rebate to Nissan Leaf buyers

2018 Nissan Leaf with EVgo fast charger at NJ Turnpike Molly Pitcher travel plaza, Feb 2018California is already by far the No. 1 state for sales of electric cars, and the state's biggest utility apparently wants to add to that momentum. PG&E (formerly Pacific Gas & Electric) announced yesterday a new $3,000 purchase incentive for new Nissan Leafs. The utility company rebate is taken off the purchase price and comes on top of a...

2019 Lexus ES revealed, features 44-mpg 300h hybrid sedan

2019 Lexus ES 300hLexus unveiled Tuesday its newest ES sedan, and the mid-size luxury stalwart appears to have an edgier attitude. The big news for readers interested in green cars is that the new ES 300h hybrid is rated at 44 mpg, up 10 percent from the previous model. The ES has always been a version of a Toyota sedan, and the new version is no exception. The...

Trump loses court battle to roll back automaker gas mileage fines

Gas pumpAutomakers may complain about rising gas mileage standards, but as several have proved over the years, they don't always have to meet them. Another strategy, employed regularly over the years by a few automakers is to ignore the fuel economy standards and just pay the penalties for missing them. Those penalties aren't cheap, and they're now set to...

How high should fuel-economy standards be set? Take our Twitter poll

Gas pumpIn light of the EPA Administrator Scott Priutt reversing the Agency's decision to maintain tighter emissions standards from 2022 to 2025, it seemed time to ask for our audience's opinion. Since 2009, the EPA emissions standards have had a direct effect on fuel economy standards and have been coordinated with the National Highway Traffic Safety...

Infiniti announces new electric car lineup based on Q Inspiration

Infiniti Q Inspiration conceptInfiniti has promised to build electric cars in fits and starts since 2012—but we're still waiting. At the 2012 Detroit auto show, the upscale brand showed the Infiniti LE, a dressed up Nissan Leaf with a trunk, but it backed away from the model two years later and we didn't hear anything else about electrics from Infiniti for years. Until...

Nissan Leaf Pro-Pilot Assist and range-anxiety review

2018 Nissan LeafDepending on where you live one of the biggest challenges with electric cars can be airport runs. They tend to be an hour away, or sometimes more; involve lots of range-sucking highway driving (often in the wee, dark hours of the morning or pitch-dark night), many don't offer chargers, and the car may sit for a day or several while you're away...

Electrify America maps out charging network to rival Tesla Superchargers

Electrify America chargers by BTC PowerMark 2018 as the year that practical, widespread electric-car charging really started coming to America. We've had a lot of news about new charging networks coming to the U.S., and it doesn't look like it will be slowing down any time soon. Following the announcement last week that 100 Walmart stores would get electric car fast chargers, Electrify...

Should you buy a portable Level 2 electric-car charger?

2017 Kia Soul EVElectric car chargers are becoming more affordable. Now you can buy a portable, 16-amp charger one for less than the price of a cheap tablet computer. Some electric-car drivers find benefit in carrying a portable charger that's faster than the standard Level 1 models that come with every electric car sold so far. Portable Level 2 chargers will...

BMW teases iX3 electric car in China

BMW iX3 concept teaserBMW's electric car lineup, the tiny i3 commuter and the i8 plug-in sports car, leaves a huge gap for a more practical, mainstream vehicle in between. Rumors have circulated since shortly after the i3's debut that the company was working on a new model to fill the gap—a hatchback to be called the i5, sort of a BMW-esque Chevrolet Volt, or a...

BMW teases iX3 electric car in China

BMW iX3 concept teaserBMW's electric car lineup, the tiny i3 commuter and the i8 plug-in sports car, leaves a huge gap for a more practical, mainstream vehicle in between. Rumors have circulated since shortly after the i3's debut that the company was working on a new model to fill the gap—a hatchback to be called the i5, sort of a BMW-esque Chevrolet Volt, or a...

1970 Clean Car Race: How college teams helped bring about emission limits on new cars (and show up Detroit) after the first Earth Day.

Life magazine centerspread of 1970 Clean Air Car Race entriesWhen it comes to changing the world, never count out a bunch of college students with pens and wrenches. In response to growing demands to clean up the air, particularly from automotive exhaust pipes, and growing pushback from automakers, a bunch of college students banded together in 1970 to prove they could make cars cleaner than Detroit could...