Last week, I was in a bit of a Tesla funk. That’s not normal; my four-plus years of Tesla Model S ownership have been a mostly giddy ride, with the few bumps minor and temporary. But last week I was facing the prospect of two long-term permanent downgrades to my personal Tesla World, both related to Supercharging. DON'T MISS: Life with Tesla... Tesla Supercharging: happy days are here again (charge rate unchanged, still free for me)
Last week, I was in a bit of a Tesla funk. That’s not normal; my four-plus years of Tesla Model S ownership have been a mostly giddy ride, with the few bumps minor and temporary. But last week I was facing the prospect of two long-term permanent downgrades to my personal Tesla World, both related to Supercharging. DON'T MISS: Life with Tesla... 
Today, two words Trump won't say, soaring electric-car sales in California, some perspective on hydrogen fuel cells, and a couple of details on the Tesla Model 3. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We still don't know most of the specifications for the Tesla Model 3 that the company says will enter production this year, but now at least its... 
California has always been a bellwether for automotive trends, and it leads every other state by far in the volumes of plug-in electric cars sold. It also led in national sales of hybrid cars for many years. In fact, for several years running, the Toyota Prius was the single most popular passenger car sold in the state—setting it well apart... 
Tesla had long been a darling of Consumer Reports magazine since the time the Model S electric car was first revealed, and it consistently scored well in the magazine's tests. However, when Tesla pulled its automatic emergency braking feature when it switched to all-new vehicle sensors and AutoPilot active-safety software—called Hardware... 
Innovation has no secret for GM and after tapping into hybrid and electric engine technologies, fuel-cell is its next target. In an interview with Trucks.com, GM’s global fuel-cell business director Charles Freese seemed confident that hydrogen will become a next big step in transportation. General Motors has been involved in fuel-cell... ![2015 Nissan Leaf with CHAdeMO fast-charging cable plugged in [photo John Briggs]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/2015-nissan-leaf-with-chademo-fast-charging-cable-plugged-in-photo-john-briggs_100558582_t.gif)
California already offers generous incentives to get consumers into electric vehicles, but now the electric utility Southern California Edison has joined in. SCE has announced what it calls the Clean Fuel Rewards Program to offer a $450 purchase rebate for battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle owners. The utility company isn't limiting the... 
During President Donald J. Trump's half-hour meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican yesterday, the pope gave the president a copy of his 2015 encyclical calling for urgent, drastic cuts in fossil-fuel emissions. It is unclear whether the U.S. president will peruse the document. Back at home, however, his administration is continuing unabated in... 
Electric-car maker Tesla doesn't announce models in the usual fashion. It trickles out bits and pieces of information, often in the form of tweets from CEO Elon Musk, punctuated by occasional large flashy debut events for owners and investors at which a vehicle is revealed. That's the pattern followed by the upcoming Tesla Model 3, which the... 
Today, another diesel lawsuit, Tesla backpedals on Supercharging fees, how heat pumps work, and three years and 70,000 miles in a BMW i3 electric car. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Yesterday, the U.S. Justice Department sued Fiat Chrysler over emission-related software used in the EcoDiesel V-6 engines in its Ram 1500 pickup truck and... ![2014 BMW i3 REx range-extended electric car at 3 years [photo: owner Tom Moloughney]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/2014-bmw-i3-rex-range-extended-electric-car-at-3-years-photo-owner-tom-moloughney_100607410_t.gif)
This week, my 2014 i3 REx turned three years old; I picked it up on May 21, 2014. For the most part I’ve been very pleased with the car. It’s definitely not perfect, but then again no car is. It has fit my needs and driving demands perfectly and I only needed to drive on the range extender for about 2,700 of the 71,000 miles that I've... 
The challenge of reducing the energy used by traditional heating systems in battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars is one automakers still grapple with today. Reduced battery range in cold temperatures, combined with batteries working overtime to heat the cabin, can produce drastic declines in EPA-estimated range figures. The Toyota Prius Prime... 
With the prospect of multiple long-range electric cars hitting the market over the next few years, the prediction market is in full swing. Battery costs have fallen faster than predicted eight years ago, and virtually every carmaker plans to introduce at least one battery-electric vehicle with 200 miles of range or more. The Chevrolet Bolt EV... ![Tesla Model S at Supercharger site in Ventura, CA, with just one slot open [photo: David Noland]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/tesla-model-s-electric-car-road-trip-upstate-new-york-to-southern-california-photo-david-noland_100500011_t.gif)
Tesla has bestowed upon its current owners a sought-after perk previously reserved for early adopters: free Supercharging. Last year, Tesla announced it would begin charging for Supercharger station use for buyers of its electric cars after a certain date—but now it appears to have walked back that policy. Instead, it has extended free... 
Today, we've got news on the Jaguar I-Pace and a future all-electric Nissan crossover utility concept, we look at how DC fast charging will evolve, and the role of cities in pushing for green cars proves to be important. All this and more on Green Car Reports. The 2017 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive will start at $24,550 for the two-seat coupe, and... 
The 2018 Nissan Leaf may be the brand's next electric vehicle to soak up attention, but several reports have indicated that Nissan plans to flesh out its lineup with an electric crossover. That all-electric SUV will likely be previewed with a Vmotion 3.0 concept, which will follow the Vmotion 2.0 sedan concept shown at this year's Detroit auto... 
Drivers who want to use their electric cars for trips beyond a radius from their home charging site rely on DC fast-charging sites. Now Charged magazine has written a comprehensive guide to the current state and future of DC charging. Today, most publicly available chargers using the CHAdeMO and CCS standards have an output of 50 kilowatts or... 
The British luxury brand Jaguar, far smaller than any of its three German competitors, may be looking to steal a march on all of them. While Audi revealed a concept version of its forthcoming e-tron all-electric SUV 18 months ago, and Mercedes-Benz followed with its EQ Concept last September, the Jaguar I-Pace concept was the surprise hit of... 
Carlos Ghosn, the man behind the Nissan Leaf electric car and now the chairman of the Renault Nissan Alliance, isn't the first to say it. But his recent comment that cities are driving the push for electric cars is an important one, because it indicates a prime market for their advantages. The result is that city governments all over the world are... 
It's now clear that every automaker, no matter how large or small, will have to develop and sell battery-electric vehicles by 2020 to 2025. Companies like GM and Volkswagen, which each make 10 million cars a year, can afford the breathtaking costs of developing expertise and engineering cars with entirely different powertrains. For smaller... ![2017 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive - first drive, Miami, Nov 2016 [photo: Jeff Jablansky]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/2017-smart-fortwo-electric-drive--first-drive-miami-nov-2016-photo-jeff-jablansky_100583827_t.gif)
The market for electric vehicles normally comes with a high price of entry, though Smart is proposing that its new two-seat battery-powered minicar is a value proposition. Prices for the 2017 Smart ForTwo electric coupe and cabriolet begin at $24,550 and $28,750 respectively. If you've followed Smart's electric offerings, the starting price for...