When will it be unacceptable to drive a car with a tailpipe? Poll results

Chrome exhaust pipeNo vehicle on earth is entirely free of emissions; even electric cars charged on renewable energy have emissions associated with their manufacturing. Those emissions, however, are a tiny fraction of the carbon dioxide and other substances emitted by gasoline or diesel cars when scientifically assessed on a "wells to wheels" basis. This is well...

California conundrum: 2018 Leaf, Bolt EV, or Mirai fuel-cell car?

Nissan Sway ConceptCalifornia is very different from the rest of the United States. All by itself, it's the sixth largest economy in the world. One eighth of all Americans live there. It's home to Silicon Valley, as well as much of the global entertainment industry, and it produces a large proportion of the nation's fruit and vegetables. DON'T MISS: A Brief History...

Which states follow California’s emission and zero-emission vehicle rules?

2017 Chevrolet VoltCalifornia leads the nation in policies that promote reductions of carbon emissions from road vehicles. It is unique in having a federal waiver that allows it to set its own, stricter emissions standards, along with a zero-emission vehicle mandate that requires automakers reaching certain sales volumes to sell a certain number of cars without...

Hybrid market share peaked in 2013, down since then

U.S. hybrid vehicle market: total sales and market share, 2000-2016   [source: PIRA Energy Group]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...

When will you buy your last-ever gallon of gas? Poll results

Gas pumpWell, never let it be said that this site's readers don't practice what they preach. We asked our Twitter followers when they thought they would buy their very last gallon of gasoline ever. Remarkably, one third of them (35 percent) said they had already done so. DON'T MISS: What will you be driving 10 years from now? Poll results That means they...