Today, we've got the old and the new, from Ford Model T gas mileage to advanced electric cars that the LAPD isn't using. Also, why plug-in vehicle owners usually lease rather than buy, and another Tesla Model S crash with Autopilot involved. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Despite a sensational headline, a recent article underscored why... Electric cars: lease or buy? LAPD’s BMWs, Tesla Autopilot crash, Exxon climate suits: Today’s Car News
Today, we've got the old and the new, from Ford Model T gas mileage to advanced electric cars that the LAPD isn't using. Also, why plug-in vehicle owners usually lease rather than buy, and another Tesla Model S crash with Autopilot involved. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Despite a sensational headline, a recent article underscored why... 
Investigators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are scheduled to examine the crash of a Tesla Model S that hit a fire truck parked on a California freeway. The driver claimed the Model S was operating with Tesla's AutoPilot functionality turned on, according to a tweet sent by a firefighters union that had members at the... ![ExxonMobil oil refinery, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by WClarke [CC BY-SA 4.0]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/exxonmobil-oil-refinery-baton-rouge-louisiana-by-wclarke-cc-by-sa-4-0_100641388_t.gif)
One of the world's largest oil producers is about to enter a tit-for-tat battle over climate change with government officials from multiple states. New York, Massachusetts, New York City, and a slew of cities in California have brought multiple lawsuits against oil producers for a lack of disclosure of potential liabilities they may face. Those... ![Footage from June 2016 LAPD announcement of lease for 100 BMW i3 electric cars [CBS Channel 2, LA]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/footage-from-june-2016-lapd-announcement-of-lease-for-100-bmw-i3-electric-cars-cbs-channel-2-la_100641385_t.gif)
Anyone who remembers the epic, metallic-tasting, technicolor smog in the Los Angeles Basin found into the 1990s understands why air quality matters there. While the worst of the uncontrolled tailpipe emissions have now been greatly reduced, and the air is cleaner, the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is now the major concern. So it sounded like good... 
In a recent video posted to YouTube, environmental advocacy group The Sierra Club dialed up production values to call out Ford's lobbying efforts to roll back fuel-economy standards. The video showed a man getting into a modern-day Ford, starting the engine, then noting the shift lever had an array of reverse gears but no forward drive. When the... 
Leases are a minority of overall car sales in the U.S., though the numbers soar for pricier luxury vehicles versus the less expensive, plain-Jane vehicles that serve as daily transport for most drivers. That rule flips for electric cars: Most pricey Teslas appear to be purchased outright, while smaller and less expensive electric cars are largely... 
Today, we interviewed BMW's electric-car powertrain head, looked at tire swaps for Chevy Bolt EVs, covered some state news on emission limits and charging stations, and offered a PSA on climate change. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Low-rolling-resistance tires boost electric-car range, but don't do much for handling. One Chevy Bolt EV... 
As the auto industry plans more electric cars in higher volumes for the 2020s, one of the great debates is whether they will need to be designed from the ground up solely for battery power. Doing so allows designers to offer larger cabins due to the more compact drive motors and electronics. One of the best examples of that idea is the upcoming... 
Electric vehicles still make up just a tiny slice of the vehicles on the road across the United States. Still, with impending regulations and more longer-range electric vehicles soon to arrive, governments far and wide recognize the need to encourage the installation and growth of public charging stations. Just how many charging stations is enough... ![2015 Nissan Leaf, Denver, Colorado, Mar 2016 [photo: owner Andrew Ganz]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/2015-nissan-leaf-s_100548744_t.gif)
A state at the forefront of U.S. electric-vehicle adoption has set an ambitious goal of nearly 1 million plug-in electric cars on its roads by 2030. Colorado, which counted 13,000 electric vehicles on the road at the end of 2017, rolled out an aggressive plan this week to achieve that goal. Its largest efforts go toward enhancing the current... 
As automakers await the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's new fuel-economy rules for 2022 through 2025, due March 30, regulators from California and Washington are still hammering out the specifics. A meeting between state and federal regulators on fuel-economy and emissions targets took place on Monday as both sides attempt to... 
Mother Nature doesn't pay attention to politics. As a pair of articles in The Washington Post last week highlighted, climate change proceeds apace regardless of the daily news cycle. In other words, unless the U.S. and the world ramp up the pace of reducing carbon-dioxide emissions from all sources, the effects of a warming planet will continue... 
One of the many tactics used by carmakers to boost efficiency in their vehicles is fitting low-rolling-resistance tires. Specially designed to reduce the energy wasted as heat from the friction between the tire and the road, these tires can boost efficiency by a few percentage points in an electric car. The increase often isn't as noticeable in... 
Today, Ford gets slammed by the Sierra Club, the next BMW i3 electric car will likely be very different, the Jaguar XJ will reportedly go head-to-head with the Tesla Model S, and we're not big fans of some possible Volkswagen ID electric-car model names. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We asked our Twitter followers what green powertrain... 
Almost since the two legendary British brands were brought together in 1998, Jaguar has played second fiddle to its sibling Land Rover. The maker of traditional, sporty British sedans was left in search of a mission as increasingly upscale Land Rovers and even pricier Range Rovers proliferated, essentially saving the company. Recently, Jaguar has... 
Volkswagen continues to invest heavily in a future of plug-in electric vehicles as it attempts to clean the diesel soot from its face following its emissions-cheating scandal. Part of that initiative is coming up with new names for upcoming all-electric models to be sold under its ID electric sub-brand. If Volkswagen's latest trademark filings in... 
Countries around the world—especially China, France, the U.K., and Norway—are aiming to phase out the sale of new fossil-fuel vehicles entirely between 2025 and 2040. So it's in automakers' best interests to begin planning and investing now in vehicle lineups that will comply with that regulatory environment when it comes. But the... ![2017 BMW i3 REx range-extended electric car [photo: Chris Neff]](https://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/2017-bmw-i3-rex-range-extended-electric-car-photo-chris-neff_100622577_t.gif)
Model naming conventions that are clear, consistent, and easy to understand across decades are a crucial part of explaining a vehicle lineup to buyers. By and large, German makers are good at arraying their lineups of sedans (and now SUVs) in "series" or "classes" that run from smallest to largest. The 2014 BMW i3 was something of an anomaly in... 
U.S. car buyers have increasingly ignored passenger sedans and hatchbacks and replaced them with utility vehicles of various sorts, and that's a trend that shows no sign of abating. One reason is that crossovers and SUVs now get better fuel economy than they did 10 years ago, when owning one imposed a significant hit in gasoline costs every week...