Fisker is coming back, he says, with 400-mile electric car

Henrik FiskerHenrik Fisker has designed some remarkable cars, among them Aston Martins, the BMW Z8, and of course the striking Fisker Karma range-extended electric luxury sedan. That vehicle, launched in 2012 by his namesake company, saw production of less than 3,000 units before the company collapsed in bankruptcy. The same vehicle will relaunch next year as...

Electric Citroën e-Mehari open-air utility vehicle now on sale in France

Citroën e-MehariIn 1968, Citroën unveiled a rather curious utility vehicle. Called the Mehari, it featured minimalist bodywork made of ABS plastic, and an air-cooled two-cylinder engine and front-wheel-drive components shared with the Citroën 2CV. It went on to become something of a cult classic, with around 150,000 built before production ended in...

EPA’s emissions sleuth: the most powerful man you’ve never heard of

Chris Grundler, director of EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality [photo: EPA via Flickr]Current Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards require U.S. automakers to achieve a fleet average of 54.5 mpg (equivalent to roughly 40 mpg on the window sticker) by 2025. But who ensures that companies are actually complying with the CAFE mandate? As automakers work to meet stricter emissions standards, the little-known staff of regulatory...

LG Chem logs another electric-car win: Faraday Future to buy batteries

wireframe of possible Faraday Future production vehicle, from company promotional video at CES 2016South Korean firm LG Chem is one of the largest suppliers of lithium-ion battery cells for electric cars. It already counts 25 separate auto brands among its clients, and parent company LG contracted with General Motors to provide extensive development work on the Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car. Now LG Chem is adding another, much new carmaker to...

More VW court misery: Jetta Hybrid braking suit won’t be arbitrated

2013 Volkswagen Jetta HybridVolkswagen has some legal troubles that go beyond the ongoing "Dieselgate" scandal. While VW waits for approval of a settlement for 2.0-liter 4-cylinder TDI cars with illegal "defeat device" software, it faces a class-action lawsuit related to another model. That would be the Jetta Hybrid compact sedan, which was removed from Volkswagen's U.S...

One of these 3 cars will be Green Car Reports’ Best Car To Buy 2017

Green Car Reports Best Car To BuyThe past year has been one of anticipation among green-car advocates, who've spent many months waiting for certain vehicles to emerge into production. At the start of the year, it was the Tesla Model X luxury electric utility vehicle, built in very low numbers for several months at the end of 2015. These days, it's the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV...

Was Paris a tipping point for electric cars? We mull it over

Longer-range Renault Zoe electric car, introduced at 2016 Paris Motor ShowAuto shows are sometimes hot, sometimes not. A lot of it has to do with what cars are shown, whether they're pure design studies, concepts pointing toward future vehicles, or actual production cars. And whether a show has "buzz" largely depends on the cadence of when automakers choose to release those different types of vehicles. DON'T MISS: 2017...

Military hydrogen-powered Chevy Colorado ZH2 launches

Chevrolet Colorado ZH2 hydrogen fuel-cell vehicleAlmost a year after it was first announced, General Motors and the U.S. Army will soon begin testing their jointly-developed hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle. Called the Chevrolet Colorado ZH2, it is based on a stretched version of the Chevy Colorado mid-size pickup truck chassis, with radically-different bodywork and numerous other modifications...

When will plug-in electric car sales exceed hybrid sales? Poll results

Jen Smith with her new 2016 Toyota Prius FourThe questions of whether and when sales of plug-in electric cars will resume their climb after a static 2015 are much on the minds of green-car advocates these days. It's taken as an article of faith that cars with plugs will grow as a proportion of the global market, ultimately supplanting large parts of the current gasoline fleet in decades to...

New Kia Rio subcompact debuts at Paris Motor Show

2017 Kia Rio (European spec)After multiple teases, the next-generation Kia Rio made its global debut at last week's media days for the 2016 Paris Motor Show. While the subcompact Kia model isn't a particularly big seller in the U.S., it's part of a segment that's hugely important in the rest of the world. With this latest redesign, Kia has tried to make the Rio more stylish...

2017 Chevy Bolt EV review consensus: car is good, range is real

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EVThe 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car isn't on sale yet, but quite a lot of useful information is already available to potential buyers. General Motors recently confirmed the $37,495 base price (before Federal, state, and local incentives), and an EPA-rated 238-mile range—meeting its original promises. Several media outlets, including this...

Tesla and China: why an obvious match isn’t as simple as it seems

2014 Tesla Model S in ChinaChina is not just the world's largest overall new-car market, it's also now the largest market for plug-in electric cars. With its ambitious plan to build 500,000 electric cars per year beginning in 2018, it would seem to make sense that Tesla Motors would make China a priority. But Tesla has struggled in China since it launched the Model S there...

Smart Electric Drive has a little Renault-Nissan underneath

2017 Smart ForTwo Electric DriveOne of several new electric cars and concepts at last week's Paris Motor Show was the electric version of the second-generation Smart minicar. As Smart pointed out, it's the only maker that offers the option of gasoline or electric powertrains in every model it makes. Those are the ForTwo two-seat coupe, the ForTwo cabriolet with its roll-back...

Plug-in electric car sales in Sept: Volt steady, Leaf higher

2017 Chevrolet VoltSales of plug-in electric cars in September chugged along steadily, with steady sales from both the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid and stronger totals for the Nissan Leaf battery-electric car. Chevrolet logged 2.031 deliveries of its Volt hatchback, likely now almost all the new second-generation model, raising the year-to-date total to 16,326. That's...

Mitsubishi GT-PHEV concept at Paris Motor Show

Mitsubishi GT-PHEV concept, 2016 Paris auto showMitsubishi unveiled the latest in a series of plug-in electric SUV concepts at the 2016 Paris Motor Show. As with other recent concept from the Japanese automaker, though, it is unclear whether this one will translate into a future production model. The Mitsubishi GT-PHEV concept is a large and fairly luxurious plug-in hybrid utility vehicle...