Tesla buys ultracapacitor company to boost energy density

Tour of Tesla battery gigafactory for invited owners, Reno, Nevada, July 2016Maxwell Technologies, a San Diego company that specializes in ultracapacitor energy storage, announced Monday that it is being bought by Tesla in a stock swap valued at $218 million. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said in the past that he expects ultracapacitors could provide a more likely bet for a breakthrough in energy storage than batteries. Maxwell...

Green Car Reports is 10!

2007 Chevrolet Volt ConceptTen years ago this week, in February 2009, Green Car Reports published its first story—one packed with insight regarding the Chevrolet Volt, which was then still nearly two years away. Despite all that could have happened to the Volt in GM’s bankruptcy, it arrived on time and was everything we expected. But many things haven’t...

Diesel lawsuit proceeds against Mercedes-Benz

2014 Mercedes-Benz E250 BlueTec 4MaticWhile Volkswagen has reached a historic settlement and had to buy back hundreds of thousands of its diesel cars in the U.S., it isn’t the only automaker to be investigated for cheating on diesel emissions. Fiat Chrysler recently agreed to recall its Ram and Jeep EcoDiesels and pay owners for misleading advertising claims. A third case...

Tesla battery packs coming to Electrify America chargers

Electrify America chargers at San Francisco Premium OutletsElectrify America has been billed as a charging network to compete with Tesla's Superchargers. Now it turns out, they may be partners as well. In an announcement on Monday, Electrify America said it would install Tesla stationary battery packs at 100 of its locations to balance power demand and reduce costs. DON'T MISS: Electrify America maps out...

How to charge your electric car from the sun, at home

George Parrot's home solar installation [Credit: George Parrot]With the big upturn in electric-car adoption driven by the Tesla Model 3, incoming Kia and Hyundai options, and the highly competitive Chevrolet Bolt, many drivers will be moving to vehicles that will be primarily charged at home. This means that their household electric bills are likely to show a significant increase—a big and obvious...

Kia Niro EV drive, Tesla service, electric car ads: Today’s Car News

2019 Kia Niro EV first drive  -  Santa Cruz, CA  -  February 2019Tesla plans to make service quicker, easier, and automatic. National Electric Vehicles Sweden bought a stake in Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg. And our latest Twitter poll asks for readers' opinions about electric-car ads. All this and more on Green Car Reports. In our first chance to drive the 2019 Kia Niro EV, we found a lot to...