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...
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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...
In the U.S., owners of Volkswagen 2.0-liter TDI diesel cars with illegal "defeat device" software have reached a settlement with VW—and a preliminary agreement for a smaller number of affected 3.0-liter V-6 diesels is largely, if not entirely, settled. It may have taken months of negotiating, but 2.0-liter diesel owners can be assured of...
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Media days for the 2017 Detroit Auto Show begin amidst significant uncertainty about green cars and their future in the U.S. It remains unclear how the incoming Trump Administration will treat current fuel-economy and emissions standards. Continued low gas prices are driving a boom in SUV and crossover sales, something reflected in the number new...
Slightly less than three years after it was first announced, Tesla is now producing lithium-ion battery cells at its massive "Gigafactory." Billed as the largest factory of its kind in the world, the Gigafactory was conceived to provide the volume and economies of scale necessary for Tesla to produce electric cars in truly large quantities. It has...
Today, we have details on the Faraday Future FF 91 electric car, Tesla's 2016 delivery figures, and confirmation that a prototype Ford Transit Connect Hybrid taxi will appear at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show. All this and more on Green Car Reports. The Faraday Future FF 91 electric car debuted at CES, with a claimed 1,050 horsepower and 378-mile...
As sales results trickle in from automakers throughout the day, industry analysts will be waiting to see whether enough buyers signed on the line to make 2016 a new record sales year. Among cars with plugs, however, the trend was clearly up—and December saw the first sales of the long-awaited 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, the 238-mile...
Just as the new year began, Tesla was dealt a fresh setback in its campaign to make its electric cars directly available to customers throughout the U.S. Tesla's license to sell cars through its Missouri showrooms expired Saturday, following a circuit-court judge's decision that prevented renewal. In an August court case, Cole County Circuit Court...
In recent years, Ford has acquired a bit of a reputation for opacity in its dealings with the media. One example was its promise last TK that it would introduce 13 new "electrified" vehicles by 2020. Ford didn't specify what those were, or what the term meant, leading to widespread inaccurate reporting that assumed that meant 13 electric cars ...
Some manufacturers only offer their plug-in hybrid models in certain markets, even as hybrid models are now generally offered nationwide. Like electric cars, plug-in hybrid sales are sometimes limited to markets deemed suitably friendly to these types of vehicles by their makers. But Hyundai has a more ambitious strategy. DON'T MISS: 2017 Hyundai...
