Here’s how California’s carpool (HOV-lane) stickers work now

I-95/395 reversible HOV lanes, located in the middle of the freeway (pic by Mariordo at Wikimedia)For years, green-car buyers in California have enjoyed a special perk: access to high-occupancy vehicle lanes that can whiz past gridlock, even with just a single occupant. Now, updates to the rules signed into law in October by Governor Jerry Brown will likely change the way owners and shoppers view the coveted carpool-lane stickers and how they...

2018 Nissan Leaf electric car gets 151-mile EPA range rating

2018 Nissan LeafWhen the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car was unveiled last fall, the company said it would have a range of "140 miles or more." That had risen to "150 miles or more" by the end of last year, and now we have the final confirmed figure. The EPA combined range rating for the second-generation Leaf is officially 151 miles. DON'T MISS: 2018 Nissan Leaf...

LAPD’s unused electric cars gather dust sitting in garage, but why?

Footage from June 2016 LAPD announcement of lease for 100 BMW i3 electric cars [CBS Channel 2, LA]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...

Colorado moves to put more electric cars onto state roads faster

2015 Nissan Leaf, Denver, Colorado, Mar 2016  [photo: owner Andrew Ganz]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...

Volkwagen ID electric cars need names, but do these two work?

Volkswagen ID Buzz concept, 2017 Los Angeles auto showVolkswagen 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...

BMW will have 25 electric cars, plug-in hybrid models by 2025

2018 BMW X2, 2018 Detroit auto showThe last 12 to 18 months have seen a slew of global automakers promising rafts of new plug-in electric vehicles on sale by deadlines set several years into the future. Working to move past its worldwide diesel-emission scandal, for instance, VW Group has promised 30 battery-electric models on sale by 2025—the majority of them likely in...