India’s new four-door Mahindra Reva e2o electric car to be exported

Mahindra e2o PlusIndian automaker Mahindra is little known in the U.S., but it is one of the larger players in its home market. Mahindra's Indian-market lineup is mostly made up of trucks and SUVs, but it also sells the tiny Reva e2o electric car. It recently unveiled a new four-door hatchback version, called the e2o Plus, that will be sold alongside the existing...

White House designates 48 electric-car charging corridors on U.S. highways

The White House, Washington, D.C.  [Creative Commons license by dcjohn]The White House today announced a range of actions intended to stimulate and speed up the deployment of zero-emission electric vehicles in the U.S. It took these actions, it said, as part of its efforts to "combat climate change, increase access to clean-energy technologies, and reduce our dependence on oil." Today's announcements are part of "a...

Chevy Bolt EV compared to Tesla Model S 60: Motor Trend lays it out

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, road test, California coastline, Sep 2016Sometimes reporters and editors will see an article or a section in another outlet and think, "Darn, why didn't we think of that?" This is one of those times. Enthusiast publication Motor Trend had the very clever idea of comparing two electric cars with 60-kilowatt-hour battery packs and more than 200 miles of EPA-rated range. DON'T MISS: Germans...

What will VW do with TDI diesel buyback cars? It’s not what you think

2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDIWithin weeks, Volkswagen and Audi will starting buying back thousands of 2.0-liter diesel cars sold between 2009 and 2015. So what will the company do once it's legally taken possession of those vehicles, the first of close to half a million caught up in the VW diesel emission scandal? It turns out that they won't initially be disabled, parted...

NJ electric-car advocacy group launches as gas tax soars

Plug-in electric cars at PSE+G facility in Newark, New JerseyNew Jersey was always the place for residents of neighboring states—Delaware, New York, and Pennsylvania—to buy cheap gasoline. That era ended two days ago, when a political deal struck between its legislature and the governor raised the state gas tax by a whopping 23 cents a gallon. Today, a new coalition launched with the aim of...

EPA reports show automakers meeting fuel-economy, carbon emission rules

Fuel gaugeLow gas prices and high sales of crossovers and SUVs have led critics of current U.S. emissions standards to question whether automakers can continue meeting those standards. But a new report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows that so far, carmakers are doing just fine. The EPA's annual CO2 and Fuel Economy Trends Report compares...

Congressmen question EPA over VW funds for electric-car charging

BMW i3 and Volkswagen e-Golf electric cars using Combined Charging System (CCS) DC fast chargingEven though a settlement covering almost half a million 2.0-liter 4-cylinder TDI cars that were the main focus of the Volkswagen diesel scandal was approved by a federal judge, questions remain. The settlement includes a provision that requires VW to commit $2 billion in funds to install charging or fueling infrastructure for zero-emission...

World will follow Norway’s lead on electric cars, minister says

Electric-car rally in Geiranger, Norway [Image: Norsk elbilforening via Flickr]When it comes to electric-car adoption, Norway is unique. Electric cars make up a larger share of new-car sales in the Scandinavian country than anywhere, thanks to a very particular combination of factors. On average, most Norwegians drive short distances, meaning the relatively short ranges of the first crop of modern electric cars were never as...

Electric car sales remain ahead of hybrids after five years

Sales of plug-in electric cars vs hybrid cars in first 5 years [Consumer Federation of America]Sometimes, it's all about a chart. A recent survey of car buyers suggests that consumer interest in electric cars is rising, and is highest among young adults. They're the car buyers of the future, so that would seem to be good news for the long-term prospects of plug-in cars. DON'T MISS: Electric Car Sales? Doing Better Than The Prius Was, Thank...

Nissan e-Power series hybrid builds on electric-car expertise

2016 Nissan Note e-PowerThis morning, in Japan, Nissan unveiled what its lineup has long been missing: strong hybrid technology. The company's new e-Power hybrid system, demonstrated in a Nissan Note hatchback, contains a gasoline engine and an electric traction motor. But unlike the power-split hybrids used by Toyota and others, Nissan's system propels the wheels solely...

Renewable energy growth accelerating, says International Energy Agency

wind farmThe overall carbon emissions associated with electric cars decrease as the electricity used to recharge them gets cleaner. And the latest statistics from the International Energy Agency (IEA) will be good news indeed for electric-car drivers. Last year saw record growth in renewable energy, according to the IEA, which surpassed coal to become the...

Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid sets new Land Speed Record

Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid Land Speed Record car, at SEMA 2016Who said hybrids can't be fast? Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats are the main staging ground for land-speed record attempts, attracting scores of purpose-built race cars and modified production vehicles every year. This year, one of the cars that drove away with a record was a Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid hatchback. DON'T MISS: 2017 Hyundai Ioniq preview A...

Trade-in deals for VW diesel owners taking buyback: our list

2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI Six-Month Road TestNow that the Volkswagen 2.0-liter diesel settlement has has received final approval from a federal judge, VW can soon start sending out buyback offers to affected owners. While the settlement offers the owners the option to keep their cars and wait for modifications that allow them to meet emissions standards, most owners are expected to take...

U.S. passed half a million plug-in electric-car sales in September

2016 Nissan LeafModern plug-in electric cars first became available in the U.S. in December 2010, when the Nissan Leaf and the first-generation Chevrolet Volt went on sale. Shortly after that, in his 2011 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama set the goal of putting 1 million such cars on U.S. roads by 2015. Regrettably, that goal was not reached...

Fisker EMotion, Oct electric car sales, net-zero homes: Today’s Car News

2016 Nissan LeafToday, we take a first look at the Fisker EMotion 400-mile electric car, tally October plug-in electric car sales, and look at a remarkable step to improve the energy efficiency of homes in one California city. All this and more on Green Car Reports. A transition to electric cars will require more than 10,000 job cuts, according to Volkswagen's...