U.S. Postal Service urged to choose electric delivery trucks

U.S. Postal Service Grumman The current fleet of delivery trucks used by the United States Postal Service have stood the test of time, but their high maintenance costs mean it's time to retire the iconic boxy vehicles. The USPS began soliciting bids in 2016 and five finalists now remain in the running: they are Workhorse/Hackney, AM General, Karsan, Mahindra, and Oshkosh...

Will Toyota Prius Prime outsell Chevy Volt this year?

2017 Toyota Prius Prime and 2017 Chevrolet Volt with Green Car Reports editor John VoelckerCompared to the U.S. sales of, say, full-size pickup trucks, the monthly reports on deliveries of plug-in hybrid and battery-electric cars contain some fairly low numbers. The Ford F-Series routinely sells 80,000 a month or more, while the most any plug-in car has ever sold in the U.S. is about 3,000 a month. (That statistic excludes Tesla, since...

2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid starts at $34,290 with 47-mile range

2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In HybridThe 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid will start at a recommended price of $34,290 including delivery, making it the least expensive plug-in hybrid sedan on the market this year. Honda says it will go on sale December 1, and it will be offered at all Honda dealers in the U.S. That means that for the first time, U.S. buyers can choose between two...

Ford C-Max Energi plug-in production over; Hybrid has only months left

2018 Ford C-MaxThe Ford C-Max, launched as a 2013 model, never really served the purpose its maker intended. The tall five-door compact hatchback was intended to be Ford's counter to the successful Toyota Prius hybrid line, more stylish and comfortable inside with almost the same fuel-economy rating. Its owners' real-world experience, however, bore no...

Finalist for Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2018: Hyundai Ioniq

2018 Hyundai IoniqHyundai is known in the auto industry as an aggressive and very capable competitor, and the world's largest makers watch it closely and take it very seriously. The company didn't introduce its first hybrid car in the U.S. until 2011 and, frankly, that year's hybrid Sonata sedan wasn't very good. Just six model years later, the company's hybrids...

Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, Oct 2017: Chevy’s dominant duo

2018 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car and 2018 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybridThe dominant duo of the Chevy Volt and Bolt EV continued their winning ways in the Canadian market for new plug-in electric cars during October. Chevrolet sold 424 Volts to start the fourth quarter, down slightly from 483 in September. The vehicle’s 3,431 sales through October all but tied last year’s total of 3,469 and the Volt may...

Workhorse CEO: $300 million in preorders for plug-in hybrid pickup trucks

Workhorse W-15 extended-range electric pickup truckOver seven years of plug-in electric cars and 20 years of hybrids, the pickup truck sector remains largely untouched. GM sold hybrid Chevrolet and GMC pickups for a few years, and Ford plans an F-150 hybrid in 2020. A startup company now called Workhorse (nee AMP) noticed that white space and made a bold play for the market with its W-15 plug-in...

2018 Kia Niro Plug-in Hybrid to launch in U.S. at end of year

Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid (U.K. version)Last month, the Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid went on sale in the United Kingdom, offering British buyers a mass-priced compact wagon with 25 to 30 miles of electric range. While it shares its underpinnings with the Hyundai Ioniq Plug-In model, the Niro has more of a wagon shape than Hyundai's five-door hatchback—good for European markets where...

Who sold 10,000 plug-in vehicles last month? (Not Tesla, Nissan, or Chevy)

2018 BMW i3, 2017 Frankfurt Motor ShowWhen consumers think of battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars, most likely conjure thoughts of Tesla, or perhaps Nissan with its Leaf and Chevrolet with its Volt and Bolt EV. However, none of those three brands managed to sell 10,000 plug-in cars during the month of September. That sales honor belongs to BMW, which announced sales of its i3...

Volvo’s new Polestar electric-car brand to launch 600-hp model in 2019

Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid sport coupePolestar, formerly Volvo's in-house tuning division, was recently separated from the Swedish brand; Volvo plans to turn it into a standalone brand. Polestar has now announced plans to build electric and electrified performance cars in the near future, and the brand revealed its first attempt with what it calls the Polestar 1. As it promised, that...

Volvo’s new Polestar electric-car brand to launch 600-hp model in 2019

Polestar 1Polestar, formerly Volvo's in-house tuning division, was recently separated from the Swedish brand; Volvo plans to turn it into a standalone brand. Polestar announced plans to build electric and electrified performance cars in the near future, and the brand revealed its first attempt with what it calls the Polestar 1, which they unveiled Thursday...

If Toyota and Mazda make electric cars together, where’s Subaru?

2018 Subaru Outback 2.5i Limited Tail LightAt the end of September, Toyota and Mazda announced they would form a joint venture with parts maker Denso to design, test, and build components for a shared electric-car platform. Earlier interviews with Mazda indicate that the small Japanese maker will create its first all-electric model for volume production by putting a unique body on top of...

Plug-in electric car sales for Sep: Bolt EV hits new high

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EVThe world has changed since last month's report on U.S. sales of plug-in electric cars. China has officially said it is considering dates for ending sales of new vehicles with gasoline or diesel engines. Even if that date proves to be 15 or 20 years in the future, the country's government has spoken—and the world's carmakers will have to...