As you may have heard by now, the 2016 Tesla Model S wasn’t chosen by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) as a “Top Safety Pick” during the most resent testing round. The reasons? The Model S only managed to nab an “Acceptable” rating on the small overlap front crash scenario, and a “Poor” rating for the headlights.
We reported recently on the news that Toyota, GM, Lyft, and others would be providing testimony to the US House Energy and Commerce Committee on the subject of self-driving vehicle regulations.
The general gist of the testimony as understood beforehand was that regulations needed to be relaxed if the technology was going to be developed and commercialized at a decent rate.
GM and Toyota officials (and others) will be speaking with a US House panel on Tuesday with the intent of spurring a relaxation of current automotive safety rules for the use/testing of self-driving vehicles, according to recent reports.
In case you missed any of these or just like to see which CleanTechnica stories have been getting the most attention, below are the 30 CleanTechnica stories from the past week that got the most views. After that, you can see my favorites of the week.
Japan Toyota is encouraging Prius Prime drivers to drive as efficiently as possible. Toyota is offering immediate incentives — actual financial incentives — to more efficient drivers.
US electric car sales continue to climb to new heights in 2017. Growing 59% year over year (YoY), approximately 12,000 electric cars were sold across the country in January, accounting for approximately 1% of US auto sales. The top five models accounted for approximately 40% of total US electric car sales, as most models are still compliance cars that are not designed or marketed to really pull in buyers — and aren’t even available in most states.
A recent survey of 1,000 of the top automotive industry execs around the world taken as part of the 2017 KPMG Global Automotive Executive Study has revealed a number of very interesting new data points.
Going into 2017, I wanted to test drive some of the new plug-in hybrids hitting the market. Unfortunately, I found the newest plug-in hybrid EVs (with the exception of the 2017 Chevy Volt) difficult if not impossible to find in my area (in a populous part of Florida, which is ranked 5th for EV sales in the US).
After a disappointing call to the Toyota dealership closest to me (no luck), I called around to find that I would have to drive quite a distance to have a first-hand look at a Prius Prime.
How many electric vehicles will be sold in the US during 2016? Will Chevy Bolt EV sales grow rapidly following nationwide availability in the late summer? What about Toyota Prius Prime sales (if Toyota ever works out the dealership issues)? What will happen with the Tesla Model 3? Will it launch on time? Will mass production begin this year, or not truly until 2018?
The most popular CleanTechnica stories of the week were…
