We have a slim field of only three new green cars this year competing for the Green Car Reports 2017 Best Car To Buy award. They are the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, the 2016 Tesla Model X, and the 2017 Toyota Prius Prime. There's a much longer list of new vehicles that didn't make the cut this year; this is where we explain what they are, and why...
With the fourth-generation Prius hybrid, Toyota focused not only on improving efficiency, but on making its halo car more appealing to a wider range of consumers. Part of that strategy involved adopting a highly-stylized exterior that differed radically from that of previous models. But could the new styling of the fourth-generation Prius actually...
With the fourth-generation Prius hybrid, Toyota focused not only on improving efficiency, but on making its halo car more appealing to a wider range of consumers. Part of that strategy involved adopting a highly-stylized exterior that differed radically from that of previous models. But could the new styling of the fourth-generation Prius actually...
![Blue Ridge Parkways, Four Corners of US road trip [photo: Ben Rich]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/tk-four-corners-of-us-road-trip-photo-ben-rich_100571358_t.gif)
Riding long distances on an electric motorcycle has gotten significantly easier over the past three years. Each summer over that time, I've traveled 4,500 miles or more on a Zero electric motorcycle. And in that short time, the available charging systems have gotten faster to such a degree that we are getting close to parity with our...
Riding long distances on an electric motorcycle has gotten significantly easier over the past three years. Each summer over that time, I've traveled 4,500 miles or more on a Zero electric motorcycle. And in that short time, the available charging systems have gotten faster to such a degree that we are getting close to parity with our...
At the Paris Motor Show, G.M. unveiled the production-ready Opel Ampera-e, a midprice subcompact with a range of more than 300 miles, on sale in Europe next spring.
Today, California considers restricting use of the term "auto-pilot," the 2017 Ford F-150 full-size pickup truck gets a slight bump in fuel economy with its new 10-speed automatic transmission, and Henrik Fisker says his proposed electric car will use graphene batteries. All this and more on Green Car Reports. A Tesla owner weighs in on...
The 2017 Ford F-150 full-size pickup truck get sa slight fuel-economy bump this year, via the addition of a new 10-speed automatic transmission and an updated 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged EcoBoost V-6 engine. Equipped with this powertrain, the 2017 F-150 is rated at 21 mpg combined (18 city, 25 highway) with rear-wheel drive, and 20 mpg combined...
The past week has brought a "hat trick" of good news for Canadian plug-in electric vehicle owners. The Toronto Blue Jays made the major-league baseball playoffs, the Canadian government announced a national carbon price to come by 2018, and a spectacular September almost certainly shattered monthly electric-car sales records. DON'T MISS: U.S...
Supporters of ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft believe they can do more than simply serve as alternatives to private car ownership. Both companies and policymakers are experimenting with ways to use ride-sharing to supplement, even replace, dedicated mass-transit infrastructure. The latest example comes from New Jersey, where officials in...
Wireless charging for electric cars has been talked about almost as long as modern electric cars have been on sale. The thought of charging an electric car without having to wrestle with a bulky charging cable can certainly be appealing. So far, though, wireless-charging systems have only been available in limited quantities from a handful of...
To meet stricter global emissions standards, carmakers are trying to squeeze every last bit of efficiency out of internal-combustion engines. That has led Infiniti to turn to a technology engineers have toyed with for some time, one that so far hasn't been used in production cars. General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, and Saab have all experimented with...
A recent news item from California aimed directly at Tesla's Autopilot system has me musing on words, meanings, and life and death. Last week, that state's Department of Motor Vehicles published the draft of a proposed new regulation that “…prohibits the advertisement of lower levels of automated systems, where the human driver is...
Today, most affected owners say they will take the Volkswagen 2.0-liter TDI diesel settlement, Henrik Fisker discusses a new company that will build electric cars, and LG Chem will supply battery cells to Faraday Future. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Faraday Future will get lithium-ion battery cells from LG Chem for its electric...
Henrik Fisker has designed some remarkable cars, among them Aston Martins, the BMW Z8, and of course the striking Fisker Karma range-extended electric luxury sedan. That vehicle, launched in 2012 by his namesake company, saw production of less than 3,000 units before the company collapsed in bankruptcy. The same vehicle will relaunch next year as...
Next year should be an interesting one for sales of plug-in electric cars, with the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV rolling out to selected dealers in all 50 states, Chevy says. The 2017 BMW i3 gets 50 percent more range, and the Ford Focus Electric and Volkswagen e-Golf are expected to get range upgrades as well. But there's another car that could have a...
In 1968, Citroën unveiled a rather curious utility vehicle. Called the Mehari, it featured minimalist bodywork made of ABS plastic, and an air-cooled two-cylinder engine and front-wheel-drive components shared with the Citroën 2CV. It went on to become something of a cult classic, with around 150,000 built before production ended in...
The Volkswagen diesel settlement for 2.0-liter TDI 4-cylinder cars may still need final approval from a federal judge, but most of the affected owners are already onboard. Plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against VW filed a brief in support of final approval of the settlement Friday. The brief stated that virtually all 2.0-liter TDI owners...
![Chris Grundler, director of EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality [photo: EPA via Flickr]](http://images.hgmsites.net/tmb/chris-grundler-director-of-epa-office-of-transportation-and-air-quality-photo-epa-via-flickr_100568318_t.gif)
Current Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards require U.S. automakers to achieve a fleet average of 54.5 mpg (equivalent to roughly 40 mpg on the window sticker) by 2025. But who ensures that companies are actually complying with the CAFE mandate? As automakers work to meet stricter emissions standards, the little-known staff of regulatory...
South Korean firm LG Chem is one of the largest suppliers of lithium-ion battery cells for electric cars. It already counts 25 separate auto brands among its clients, and parent company LG contracted with General Motors to provide extensive development work on the Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car. Now LG Chem is adding another, much new carmaker to...
