Four years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a plan to boost fuel economy dramatically by the year 2025. Though things aren't progressing as quickly as some had hoped, a few months ago, the EPA insisted that automakers can still achieve a 54.5 mpg fleet-wide fuel economy within ten...Read More»
Once upon a time, it was common to find new cars with fuel economy ratings of just 12 or 15 miles per gallon. According to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, though, those vehicles are much, much harder to come by today. Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle explain that as...Read More»
Hyundai and Kia have agreed to a massive $360 million fine, following a two-year-long investigation of the Korean automakers by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Added to the $395 million that Hyundai and Kia have paid to vehicle owners, the companies will have forked over $755 million for...Read More»
If you’re buying a new gasoline vehicle, you’d best be happy with its emissions and efficiency today. Because as the vehicle ages, it’s not going to get much better than this. ALSO SEE: Six Most Affordable Vehicles With Third-Row Seating That’s actually not true with battery...Read More»
In 2011, the federal government unveiled fuel economy standards for the year 2025, setting a fleet-wide goal of 54.5 mpg for all automakers selling vehicles in the U.S. According to Auto News, the Environmental Protection Agency says that car companies are on-track to meet those goals, despite a...Read More»
A new study of America's top eight automakers finds Asian brands to be the greenest of the bunch, while Detroit brands earn the lowest marks. However, all eight companies have shown dramatic improvement, over the past decade and a half. ALSO SEE: Google Debuts Its First Autonomous Car: Is This The...Read More»
Tesla's acclaimed, all-electric Model S sedan will soon go on sale in China, and this week, the company announced how much it'll cost the country's green car fans: 734,000 yuan, or just over $121,000. In America, the same vehicle would run closer to $81,000. And that 50 percent premium helps...Read More»
Bad news for cheerleaders at Lincoln High School in San Jose, California: the city's Environmental Services Department has thrown a wrench into the cheerleaders' plans to hold a car wash that would raise money to send the team to a national competition this spring. The cheerleaders had been...Read More»
In case you missed the memo, today is Earth Day -- a day that's meant to focus the world's attention on pollution, climate change, and other environmental issues. Once upon a time, the auto industry was wary of being entangled in environmental discussions, afraid that it could never win arguments...Read More»
In Calverton, New York, toward the eastern end of Long Island, there is an airfield. It's no longer home to planes, though: it's become an impromptu graveyard for thousands of vehicles destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. This does not sit well with environmentalists like Dick Amper, who heads up the Long...Read More»
Less than a week after the Environmental Protection Agency announced that not one, not two, but 13 Hyundai and Kia models failed to meet their advertised fuel-economy ratings, a class-action lawsuit has been filed against the two Korean automakers. According to Reuters, the suit -- which hasn't...Read More»
It's a fact: shoppers prioritize different things when looking for new cars. Today, people tend to rank fuel economy above all else, but other folks crave reliability, some need performance, and still others prefer rides that reflect their lifestyle. If you fall into that last category and...Read More»
By the year 2025, cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. will have to earn a combined city/highway rating of 54.5 miles per gallon. That's according to new fuel economy regulations set forward by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation, which the Detroit Free Press...Read More»
Traffic accidents were responsible for 32,788 deaths in the U.S. last year (not to mention $41 billion in medical costs and lost work). If we could eliminate those fatalities with new regulations that cost the private sector $3 billion, would we? Should we? Unless you're an elected official, your...Read More»
Celebrities, it seems, often champion environmental causes. Take Ed Begley, Jr., for example, who’s been driving electric cars for decades and currently owns a battery-powered Toyota RAV4. Begley is known to commute via public transportation and even via an electric bicycle, a sacrifice that...Read More»
One of the hard realities of considering some of the greenest advance-technology vehicles like hybrids or electric cars is that they almost always come with higher price tags. And, as J.D. Power and Associates found in its 2011 Green Automotive Study, now that worries about hybrid performance and...Read More»
A surge to $4-a-gallon gas could affect drivers, and local economies, in much more severe ways in Mississippi or Louisiana than in New York or Connecticut. That's one of the results of a new analysis from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which crunches the numbers to point out how much...Read More»
We all know that oil is a limited resource. We also know that America is hugely dependent on the stuff, and that much of it comes from foreign sources, which puts the U.S. in some awkward positions, politically, economically, and strategically. Most of us also know that emissions from gas-powered...Read More»
Like a lot of corporations, Ford Motor Company understands the value of going green, and the automaker is now encouraging its dealers to get onboard with energy conservation, too. The push comes via Ford's ‘Go Green’ Dealership Sustainability Program, which was unveiled over the weekend at the...Read More»
