The limitations of current lithium-ion battery-cell technology pose a hindrance to more widespread adoption of plug-in electric cars. Relatively short ranges and long charging times accorded by current lithium-ion cells still limit the appeal of electric cars in the minds of many new-car buyers. Now Samsung SDI—the South Korean electronics...
Today, the Volkswagen ID Buzz electric-car concept debuts at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show, the 2018 Ford F-150 full-size pickup truck will get a diesel engine option, and a new study indicates electric-car battery costs have fallen substantially over the past few years. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Catch up on green-car news from CES and...
The head of VW Group's U.S. regulatory compliance group was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation this weekend on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Oliver Schmidt led the German automaker's regulatory compliance during 2014 and the early part of 2015. The Volkswagen diesel emission scandal erupted in September 2015 when...
When the Volkswagen diesel scandal erupted last year, it not only hurt the public perception of diesel vehicles in the U.S., but also eliminated the biggest seller of diesel passenger cars from the market. TDI diesel models once made up as much as a quarter of the Volkswagen brand's U.S. sales, and VW Group's Audi and Porsche luxury brands sold...
![Elio Motors 84 mpg 3-wheeler [Image: Elio Motors]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/elio-motors-84-mpg-3-wheeler-image-elio-motors_100477636_t.gif)
Three-wheeled vehicles have never been remotely popular in North America, but some new makers of these unusual vehicles are hoping for a resurgence of interest. Falling into a gray area between cars and motorcycles, production-ready electric and gasoline 3-wheeled vehicles have been wheeled out by several companies promising deliveries in the near...
Media days at the Detroit Auto Show always open with the announcement of the year's North American Car and Truck of the Year awards, and this year is no exception. But green-car enthusiasts had a special reason to follow this year's awards, now broken into three categories: car, truck, and utility vehicle. That was the chance that a...
If you pronounce the word "buzz" with a German accent, it sounds like "bus"—which is almost surely why VW's second all-electric concept vehicle is called the Volkswagen ID Buzz. It's the latest in a series of concept studies for a modern-day Microbus, with stylistic nods to the classic Type 2 bus launched 65 years ago. It's one of the few...
High costs of lithium-ion battery cells have been one of the main hindrances to large-scale electric-car adoption, as they typically lead to higher purchase prices for electric cars than comparable internal-combustion models. But electric-car battery prices are falling fast, according to one recent study. Global Trends in Renewable Energy, calls...
Formerly the domain of heavy-duty pickups, diesel engines are slowly creeping into smaller trucks. Ram arguably started the most recent trend with the 1500's 3.0-liter EcoDiesel V6. General Motors sells diesel-powered Chevrolet Colorados and GMC Canyons. Now, the Ford F-150 is getting in on the action with a 3.0-liter V-6 turbodiesel of its own...
![Consumer Reports tests 2015 Volkswagen Jetta TDI diesel in 'cheat mode,' October 2015 [video frame]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/consumer-reports-tests-2015-volkswagen-jetta-tdi-diesel-in-cheat-mode-october-2015-video-frame_100530187_t.gif)
The $14.7 billion diesel-emission settlement among Volkswagen and regulatory agencies required VW to buy back or modify almost half a million TDI vehicles from model years 2009 through 2015. While the buybacks have received the most attention—and most owners are expected to take them—the company also submitted plans to modify its...
Which U.S. automaker dropped some bombshells about its future plans for electric cars, and Mexico too? And what did we learn at the gigantic Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending on Friday, January 6, 2017. Friday, we covered a new $150...
With clean energy creating jobs in every state, the sector has become as much about getting returns on investments as it is about helping the environment.
Today, the next-generation Nissan Leaf will have a range of 200 miles or more, Tesla is allowed to re-open its three Missouri stores, and Indiana considers an annual fee for electric cars. All this and more on Green Car Reports. At CES, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn confirmed that the next-generation Leaf will have a range of at least 200 miles, and...
Tesla uses over-the-air software updates to quickly add new features to its electric cars, or to correct problems without the need for customers to bring their cars to service centers. But one apparent software update has rankled a few Tesla owners. The software in question is said to limit the number of times Launch Mode can be used with specific...
President-elect Donald Trump's choice of Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicates that his administration will pursue radically different energy policies from its predecessor's. Pruitt is a climate-science denier, and has sued the agency he is being asked to lead multiple times. He has...
Indiana may soon follow Michigan in implementing fees for electric cars, with the stated goal of helping to pay for road repairs. Michigan is now adding fees for electric cars, as well as plug-in hybrids and battery-electric cars, because they don't burn enough gasoline to generate the same state tax revenue as other vehicles. Similar reasoning...
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn today confirmed that a second-generation Nissan Leaf electric car is coming "in the near future," though he didn't specify a date or model year. The new Leaf will come with Nissan's ProPilot technology, which permits the car to drive itself autonomously within a highway under certain circumstances. Ghosn noted that more...
Today, we preview the green cars of the 2017 Detroit Auto Show, Tesla begins lithium-ion battery cell production at its "Gigafactory," and German diesel owners sue Volkswagen. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Tesla began lithium-ion battery cell production at its Gigafactory this week, for energy-storage battery packs. See what notable new...
The 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid mid-size sedan returned last year, ending a one-year hiatus for the model. The new version uses an updated version of the two-motor hybrid powertrain fitted to earlier hybrid Accords, which were sold as 2014 and 2015 models. That powertrain is notable because it uses a gasoline engine to power the wheels in some...
With news stories literally every day about autonomous vehicle tests, and the growing number of plug-in electric vehicles on sale, the future is ... well, up in the air. Readers of this site tend to be more future-oriented than many car buyers, so we polled our Twitter followers about their views of the matter. We asked what they thought they...
