French carmaker Renault sells no passenger cars in North America, and hasn't for almost 30 years now. But in Europe, its all-electric Zoe subcompact hatchback has been the best-selling plug-in electric car for months on end. The Zoe is one of three "ZE" (zero emission) vehicles sold by Renault, and now the ZE lineup is adding another member. DON'T... Renault adds new Master ZE larger electric delivery van
French carmaker Renault sells no passenger cars in North America, and hasn't for almost 30 years now. But in Europe, its all-electric Zoe subcompact hatchback has been the best-selling plug-in electric car for months on end. The Zoe is one of three "ZE" (zero emission) vehicles sold by Renault, and now the ZE lineup is adding another member. DON'T...
California continues to lead the United States, and in some ways the world, in efforts to reduce and eliminate harmful emissions from road vehicles. Following the lead of Governor Jerry Brown, the state legislature and regulatory agencies have set aggressive goals to reduce emission of climate-change gases, primarily carbon dioxide. That will be...
The new U.S. administration has made it clear that it does not accept the scientific consensus on climate change. From President Donald Trump down through his nominees for key roles—Scott Pruitt for EPA adminstrator, Rick Perry for Department of Energy head, and others—key elected and appointed officials have rejected the idea of human...
Government officials in Germany seeking to express national pride in their choice of vehicle have no shortage of options. The established German luxury brands offer many models that frequently serve in the capacity of official vehicle for an elected official. Indeed, given Germany's considerable investment in its auto industry, using a German car...
Today, we cover coal plants in China, plug-in hybrid tests in London, and hybrid sales right here in the U.S. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Tesla Motors has bought battery cells from Panasonic for 10 years; now the Japanese company wants to tighten the partnership. Despite critics' questions about how serious it is about reducing carbon...
What's a "green car"? Is it a hybrid? A zero-emission vehicle? One that plugs in? Or just one that uses less fuel than other cars in its segment? It's a perpetual conundrum, for Green Car Reports among others, but it illustrates one of the longstanding challenges in the field. Will the market for green cars expand as more enter the market, or is...
Alta Motors has jumped out of the starting gate with an electric motorcycle designed for the race track. The company has been taking its bikes to the races and, even more importantly, is now delivering them to customers who made reservations. Exciting news from the track has been coming in steadily. DON'T MISS: Is end of Victory Motorcycles the...
Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded a $1 million prize to a little-known team for what you might call a new garage appliance. The SimpleFuel team—actually a collaboration of three separate companies—won the prize, first offered in November 2014, for its hydrogen home-fueling station. The goal is to let drivers of hydrogen...
Earlier this month, Ford announced a host of new electrified vehicles, including prototype and production hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery-electric models. Before its planned 2019 production launch, one of those vehicles will soon begin testing in London. It's a plug-in hybrid version of the Ford Transit Custom van, designed for commercial use...
During negotiations for the Paris Climate Treaty signed last fall, a major concern among critics was whether the carbon emissions of China's sprawling and inefficient energy sector could be reined in. With China, the U.S., and dozens of other countries signing the agreement, the world's most populous country committed itself to decarbonizing its...
Japanese electronics firm Panasonic has been a close partner of Tesla Motors for many years now. It is the Silicon Valley automaker's sole battery supplier, it helps fund and operate the Tesla "Gigafactory" in Nevada, and the company owns a small stake in the carmaker. But Panasonic wants to move its partnership with Tesla beyond batteries...
From the perspective of both renewable-energy advocates and electric utilities, grid-scale energy storage offers many potential benefits. By storing energy in battery packs for later use, energy storage can make intermittent renewable sources like solar and wind into more reliable forms of power. It also helps utilities "balance" the gird by...
If anything, the pace of new Tesla model changes seem to have increased of late. Over the last year, a 60-kilowatt-hour battery option has reappeared, a new 100-kwh battery was launched, followed by a sequence of software updates to make it faster, and all Autopilot sensors were replaced with new hardware. Now, quietly, Tesla has launched a new...
If there were any doubt that U.S. policy on climate change would change drastically under President Donald Trump, it should have been laid to rest shortly after noon yesterday. Following inauguration ceremonies for the 45th president of the United States, the Obama White House website was replaced with an entirely new site for the Trump White...
When can you buy a 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car from your local Chevy dealer? And what carmaker pleaded guilty to four felony charges and will pay more than $4 billion in fines for its criminal actions? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Inauguration Day, Friday...
Today, we test the 2017 Nissan Rogue Hybrid, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closes its Tesla Autopilot investigation, and we explain how to figure out if your local dealer carries the Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car. All this and more on Green Car Reports. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closed its...
For electric utilities eager to hang onto their existing coal-fired power plants, carbon-capture technology must offer an exciting chance at salvation. As the name says, carbon capture retains and stores the emissions produced by coal power plants in particular, in theory mitigating some of their environmental impact. Power plants equipped with...
Last year, Nissan sold almost 330,000 Rogues in the U.S., making it by far the brand's most popular model. For 2017, the compact crossover utility vehicle has added a new model, a hybrid that competes with the very successful Toyota RAV4 Hybrid—of which 44,000 were delivered last year. We recently spent four days and almost 380 miles with...
The first few Chevrolet Bolt EV electric cars were delivered in California's Silicon Valley more than a month ago, marking the start of what will be a nationwide rollout. Electric-car advocates and buyers outside the Golden State are eager to know exactly when the 238-mile electric hatchback will be available for purchase in their areas as well...