Search Results Found For: "Clean Cars"

Florida to use VW Dieselgate funds to install fast charging stations, and to buy more diesels

The good news: Florida plans to invest $25 million from Volkswagen’s Dirty Diesel settlement in a network of highway charging stations. The (potentially) bad news: the state could choose to spend the rest of the settlement funds to replace existing diesel engines with newer, slightly cleaner, diesel engines. As part of Volkswagen’s punishment for getting… Read more »

Be careful what you wish for department: Automakers now say Trump rollback of emissions standards goes too far

The legacy automakers are like a hopelessly lost driver, stuck at a fork in the road with no clue which direction to take. Two days after Trump’s election in 2016, they sent him a letter asking for previously-agreed fuel economy standards to be watered down. The new administration enthusiastically agreed, and began dismantling these and… Read more »

Proterra CEO: Electric buses are close to inevitable

The economic case for electric transit buses has become a no-brainer, Proterra CEO Ryan Popple told Bloomberg in a recent interview. The energy cost of a typical e-bus is about 20 cents per mile, compared to about 75 cents per mile for diesel. The up-front costs for e-buses are substantially higher, but Proterra recently introduced… Read more »

California utility offers $4,000 purchase incentive for used PHEVs

Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE), which serves approximately 290,000 accounts in California’s San Mateo County, is offering a $4,000 incentive toward the purchase of a used PHEV for lower-income customers. PCE is offering the DriveForward Electric incentive in partnership with the nonprofit Peninsula Family Service (PFS), whose DriveForward program offers affordable interest rates on vehicle loans… Read more »

Nissan’s $3,500 LEAF rebate gets local utilities involved in increasing EV awareness

If you pay an electric bill (and who doesn’t?), keep your eyes open for a message from your local utility announcing that you can take advantage of a $3,500 rebate on a Nissan LEAF. Nissan has been partnering with various utilities around the US to offer customers a special rebate. The rebate comes from Nissan,… Read more »

New study from VW confirms EVs produce lower emissions than diesels

Volkswagen has refuted a recent anti-EV hit piece with a new study that confirms what many earlier studies have found: EVs have smaller life-cycle carbon footprints than comparable ICE vehicles, even if they are charged by dirty fossil-derived energy. “For the same vehicle models with different powertrains, the carbon footprint of the battery-powered E variants… Read more »

EU regulators charge BMW, Daimler and VW with colluding to evade emissions rules

Are the authorities “piling on” the Volkswagen Group? In 2017, the poor little automaker pleaded guilty to fraud and obstruction of justice in the dirty diesel debacle, and has already agreed to shell out some $30 billion in atonement. Now the mean old US Securities and Exchange Commission has sued the company and ex-CEO Martin… Read more »

New book: the Dieselgate scandal was not an isolated incident, was not a secret, and is not over

The “Dieselgate scandal,” or as we like to call it, the “dirty diesel debacle,” was a catalytic event (pun intended). It led to some major changes at Volkswagen, and shook up the European auto market. However, only time will tell how much of this change will prove to be permanent. The Volkswagen Group has announced… Read more »