Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - A U.S. auto safety regulator said on Friday it is opening an investigation into 73,000 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid cars over reports of abrupt loss of power, failures to restart and other issues. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was opening the preliminary evaluation into the 2016 through 2019 model year Chevrolet Volt after 61 complaints tied to the battery energy control module (BECM). Some complaints reported there was little to no warning before the loss of operating power or reduced power mode occurred. General Motors (GM.N) previously issued a technical service bulletin...

The Fisker Karma is a plug-in hybrid car that seems to have everything the rich and famous — and environmentally correct — look for in a set of wheels. Sleek silhouette? Check. Green cred? Check. Six-figure price tag? Check. Reliable battery? Not so fast. In a test conducted Wednesday by Consumer Reports magazine, the niche-market $107,850 sports car conked out completely, after a short ride at 65 miles per hour on a Connecticut test track. “Our Fisker Karma … is super sleek, high-tech — and now it’s broken,” Consumer Reports wrote on its website late Thursday. “We have owned our...

The push for conversion to plug-in electric cars will do nothing to stop carbon emissions, a report by the GAO warns, throwing cold water on a push by Democrats to get more plug-ins on the road. In fact, the problem could be made worse as demand goes up at coal-fired electrical plants. Plus, the need for batteries may just have the US changing the dictators to which we’re chained, as IBD reports...

Alternative Energy: A government report says reliance on electric cars will do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and may merely shift our dependence on foreign sources from one set of dictators to another..."If you are using coal-fired power plants, and half the country's electricity comes from coal-powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?" asks Mark Gaffigan, co-author of the GAO report. The report itself notes: "Reductions in CO2 emissions depend on generating electricity used to charge the vehicles from lower-emission sources of energy."

Wendell "Wendy" Ray, the former Oregon sports and KUGN broadcaster, is cruising around Eugene these days in the hot-selling Toyota Prius. There's nothing about the hip, four-door hybrid that Ray doesn't love. "It's very easy to drive, it's very comfortable and it saves a lot of money," he said. "And it's environmentally sane." Powered by a seamless combination of gasoline and electricity, the Toyota hybrid can travel 600 miles on a tank of gas while spitting out one-half to one-third of the pollution of a gas-only combustion engine. And unlike all-electric cars, hybrids don't need to be plugged in. Energy...

Religious Leaders Press Automakers By JOHN PORRETTO AP Auto Writer DETROIT (AP)--A group of religious leaders came to the Motor City on Wednesday with a proposition for U.S. automakers: Start producing vehicles that are kinder to God's creation, and we will urge the faithful to buy them. The delegation, which included representatives from a variety of Jewish and Christian organizations, met with executives and top officials at Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers. Earlier, the group introduced a ``What Would Jesus Drive?'' television advertising campaign, sponsored by the Pennsylvania-based Evangelical Environmental Network. The ad, to...