Green Automobiles Blog

The Tesla Motors name usually conjures images of sexy electric sports cars, but in this instance, the automaker’s name is tied to a very un-sexy vehicle: a commercial step van. Tesla’s lithium-ion battery packs will power a new EV van chassis built by Freightliner Custom Chassis. ...    Read more

Chrysler officially terminated its light-duty diesel contract with Cummins during bankruptcy, but discussions between the two companies appear to have restarted. “We’re in discussions with Cummins,” Joe Veltri, vice president of Chrysler product planning, told Pickuptrucks.com. “There’s no contract, but a

Since General Motors withdrew from its joint venture with Toyota, is there any hope for the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont, California? Possibly. Aurica Motors, a California-based electric vehicle start-up, hopes to adopt the plant to build EVs. "We want to keep the ...    Read more

Spoon Sports has been tuning various Hondas for over two decades, and hasn’t missed a beat. The Japanese firm is already crafting performance parts for the new 2011 Honda CR-Z hybrid coupe. Although its upgrades won’t be available for several months ...    Read more

Seeing as both Peugeot and Citroën have expanded their electric-car dreams, Mitsubishi will build the French automakers a total of 100,000 i-MiEVs. They'll be rebranded as the C-Zero and iOn when sold in Europe. Originally, PSA Peugeot-Citroën had planned on selling no more than 25,000 of the badge-engineered electric ...    Read more

Although Ford’s Transit Connect Electric was unveiled mere weeks ago, AT&T announced today that it would be the lead customer for the electric van. “Cleaner, alternative-fuel vehicles are the future of our corporate fleet,” said Jerome Webber, AT&T’s vice-president of fleet operations. ...    Read more

Were it not for the hybrid powertrain, Honda's CR-Z may have never received the OK for production.The earliest versions of Honda's "sporty hybrid" were designed around a traditional gasoline engine, but according to Honda execs in a recent Automotive News report, it wasn't until a hybrid powertrain was added that ...    Read more

It seems the new A1 isn’t the only small car in Audi’s future -- the German automaker is reportedly also looking at crafting a successor to its funky A2 subcompact.According to Automotive News, the company believes there will still be room for a vehicle that fits between the subcompact A1 ...    Read more

That green 599 on its Geneva motor show stand may technically be a concept, but Ferrari says the hybrid powertrain within is destined for its entire lineup. Automotive News reports that CEO Luca di Montezemolo aims to apply the hybrid system displayed in the 599 HY-KERS show ...    Read more

UPDATE: According to an official statement from BMW, more than 200 ActiveE vehicles will hit U.S. roads. BMW plans to provide at least as many ActiveE lease vehicles as the 450 Mini Es currently on U.S. roads.It’ll be some time before we see a 1-serires ActiveE electric vehicle roaming a ...    Read more

Remember that funky I.D.E.A ERA roadster shown at the 2009 Geneva show? We didn't either until we were told it served as the forerunner to the SOFIA's design language. The female figure supposedly influenced the car's design, but we're not seeing much of that influence. ...    Read more

Fisker chose the Geneva auto show to show off the space frame of its upcoming Karma plug-in hybrid.That the company is choosing to show just the space frame at Geneva suggests two things: that this must be one impressive space frame, and that Fisker wants to make sure people don't ...    Read more

The second-generation Volkswagen Touareg SUV is news in and of itself, but the biggest story is the new hybrid model that bowed today in Geneva. How does more than 400 pounds of weight savings and 29 mpg combined grab you? It's an impressive ...    Read more

After the Chevrolet Volt came the Cadillac Converj, a super-elegant luxury coupe extended range electric that utilized the Volt's platform. Now struggling Opel has shown a more outrageous concept that demonstrates how the platform could support an advanced sports car. Chief designer Mark Adams claims a drag coefficient of just ...    Read more

Hyundai's recent success in the U.S. market is well-chronicled, and judging by the massive crowd gathered around its Geneva show stand to witness the unveiling of the Hyundai i-Flow Concept, business is good here in Europe as well. ...    Read more

We’ve come to expect wacky concept cars from Citroën, but the French automaker surprised us by unveiling another oddball show car at the 2010 Geneva motor show. Citroën bills the Survolt concept as a blend of “high-fashion, extravagance, and more than a hint of motor ...    Read more

It seems the folks from Opel have completed their drive from Rüsselsheim, Germany, to Geneva, Switzerland -- impressive, considering they did the trip in an Ampera (i.e. Chevrolet Volt) prototype.This marks the Ampera’s first long-distance drive in real-world conditions. While Gherardo Corsini, Opel’s director of electric vehicle implementation, started the ...    Read more

Honda started out in the two-wheeler business, first with motorized bicycles before becoming the world's largest motorcycle company. Now in its quest to revolutionize urban mobility via conventional cars like the four-seat retro-cute EV-N (which apes the original N600) and the electric self-leveling unicycle U3-X, Honda is now proposing the ...    Read more

We're accustomed to seeing wild home-grown Swiss concepts in Geneva, but NLV Solar's Quant (short for quantum, as in physics and leaps of technology) four-seat electric car surprised us. For starters, the sparkly silver paint and even the windows are said to be coated with a photovoltaic coating that is ...    Read more

After years of watching Michael Schumacher appear at the Ferrari stands at various international auto shows, it seemed almost too natural when he stepped out of the passenger seat of Mercedes-Benz's new SLS AMG Formula One safety car. His 2010 Mercedes GP Petronas co-driver, Nico Rosberg was behind the wheel ...    Read more

Perhaps the only thing worse than a Cayenne for Porschephiles is the impending wave of hybrids the automaker is set to unleash. There was Porsche President and CEO Michael Macht during Porsche's 2010 Geneva show press conference, decked out in ...    Read more

The Lotus Evora 414E Hybrid concept derives its name from its metric horsepower rating of 414 PS (408 SAE horsepower). Its plug-in series hybrid drive system is configured like the Chevy Volt's, but instead of using an off-the-shelf engine designed to provide the full range of functionality needed for "normal" ...    Read more

Though we knew Audi was planning on showing an A1 and A8 Hybrid at the Geneva auto show, we're just now getting the full details on the two cars. The Audi A1 e-tron is the company's latest EV concept ...    Read more

With the start of the Geneva motor show just hours away, Audi just announced it will show a pair of environmentally friendly vehicles, its A1 e-tron and A8 hybrid. While Audi is using the Geneva motor show to publicly unveil its new A1 compact, the automaker also is ...    Read more

The Geneva motor show doesn’t officially start for a few days yet, but Lexus is already unwrapping its world debut, the new CT 200h compact. As has been expected, the CT 200h borrows heavily from the LF-Ch ...    Read more