2012 Chevy Volt has now crossed 400,000 miles, range remains steady

2012 Chevrolet Volt crosses 400,000 miles, September 2017   [photo: owner Erick Belmore]As more battery-electric cars are sold and more drivers become aware of them, the question of battery life recurs among pretty much every potential buyer. How long will the battery last? Will I have to replace it every 18 months as I do in my smartphone? Data on the liquid-cooled battery packs of older Tesla Model S and Chevrolet Volt cars offers...

2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid goes on sale in UK

Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid (U.K. version)The Kia Niro Hybrid has been on sale in the United States since early 2017, but at its launch, the brand promised a plug-in hybrid version would arrive by the end of this year as well. Ahead of its U.S. launch, the Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid has now arrived in the United Kingdom with a 36-mile rated range on battery power alone on the optimistic NEDC...

How important will plug-in hybrids be in 2025? Poll results

2018 Chevrolet VoltCar shoppers may not be buying huge numbers of all-electric cars yet, but they largely understand how they work. It's a car, you plug it in to charge a battery, it runs on the battery, end of story. Plug-in hybrids are far harder to explain—are they short-range electric cars? are they hybrids?—and no maker has yet cracked the marketing...

CA legislators propose $1 billion to remove dirtiest diesel trucks

California state capitol, SacramentoThe state of California has officially launched its legislative push for stricter heavy-duty truck and bus emission regulations. Following calls for the state to use its recently-extended carbon cap-and-trade program to fund updates to fleets of semi trucks and other commercial vehicles, four state senators have stepped forward with an official...

Nine things you should know about the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car

2018 Nissan LeafThe simulcasted global events are over, the cars have been driven back out of the arenas, and electric-car fans are evaluating the new 2018 Nissan Leaf that was unveiled to the world last night. We've covered both the details of the car and our preliminary drive impressions from testing a pre-production prototype at Nissan's Tochigi proving rounds...

Big oil firms fear Trump rules rollback: not for environment but for PR

Oil field (Image: Flickr user johnny choura, used under CC license)Efforts to loosen regulations on the oil industry now underway have met with public approval from fossil-fuel companies. But while the Trump administration has moved swiftly to create a more friendly regulatory environment for big oil, some executives have urged a slowdown behind the scenes. That's not for environmental reasons, but due to worries...

2018 Nissan Leaf electric-car prototype driven: first impressions

2018 Nissan LeafWhen visiting an automaker's proving ground to drive cars still under development, security is extensive. Cameras have to be left on the bus, all phone lenses have to be covered, and documents committing you to keep quiet until the embargo lifts must be signed. In late June, we drove a pre-production 2018 Nissan Leaf at the company's Tochigi Test...