Consumer Reports isn't giving all-electric cars and climate change a lot of attention

Honda will be the next automaker to market an all-electric car as Toyota continues to sit on the sidelines.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Consumer Reports seems to have a blind spot for all-electric cars.

The magazine's annual Auto Issue, just out, picks the 10 best new cars for 2017, but all of them use gasoline.

For a full report, see:

Consumer Reports smells (of gasoline)

Shocking Car News, a blog written by an EV owner, is moving to The Sasson Report

The all-electric 2017 Chevrolet Bolt is not expected to be in New Jersey and New York showrooms until March.

Shocking Car News, a blog I started after I bought a Tesla Model S, has moved to The Sasson Report, which also covers food,  journalism and other issues.

--VICTOR E. SASSON

You can't buy 2017 North American Car of the Year outside of California and Oregon

The humble, all-electric 2017 Chevrolet Bolt on display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit (photo from Mark Brush/Michigan Radio).

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Auto writers from the United States and Canada have crowned an EV you can buy in only two states as 2017 North American Car of the Year.

At the international auto show in Detroit, GM's all-electric Chevy Bolt beat out the Genesis luxury sedan and a big Volvo, both powered by conventional internal-combustion engines.

I went online to find out whether I can buy a Bolt in New Jersey, and was told the EV is available in limited numbers only in California and Oregon.

Here's the result of my live chat:

Benjamin:3:00:38 PM

Thank you for your interest in the Bolt EV! The Bolt EV will be available nationally, but the vehicle is currently available in California and Oregon. The national roll-out begins in 2017, and a number of Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States, including New York, Massachusetts and Virginia, will see first deliveries this winter. Bolt EVs will arrive to more dealerships in additional major metro markets throughout the first half of 2017. The Bolt EV will be available at Bolt EV-certified dealerships across the United States in mid-2017.

New Jersey connection

The Bolt EV-certified dealer nearest my home is in Paramus, which is also is where my Tesla dealer is located. 

The front-wheel-drive Bolt has a range of 238 miles on a full charge, but GM is calling its first mass-produced EV an urban vehicle, because the auto giant isn't providing a Tesla-like network of free chargers.

The 5-door EV is available in two trim levels, LT with a starting MSRP of $36,620, and Premier, with a starting price of $40,905, according to Chevy's website.

Expect to pay another $2,000 to $2,500 for installation of a 240-volt outlet in your garage to achieve the fastest home charging.

DC Fast Charging Capability is an option on both models, but the Driver Confidence II Package is available only on the Premier, with these features:

• Low Speed Forward Automatic Braking
• Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning
• Forward Collision Alert
• Following Distance Indicator
• Front Pedestrian Braking
• IntelliBeam® headlamps

Requires available Infotainment Package.

When I'm driving my Tesla, I want everyone to just get the F out of the way

On the way to the International Jazz Festival in Montreal last July, I stopped at a free Tesla charging station in a mall outside of Albany, N.Y., and found plenty of company.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Since I took delivery in April 2015, my Tesla Model S has given me more than 12,000 miles of effortless driving in a challenging environment -- northern New Jersey.

Affluent Bergen County, where I live, has a street network that hasn't been improved significantly since the 1950s, and some of the lousiest, most discourteous drivers in the nation.

They will cut you off without mercy, roll through stop signs right in front of you and tailgate or stop inches behind you at lights.

OK. I get that drivers of conventional cars haven't gotten the message about just how fast all-electric cars are, especially how they can leap away from a traffic light in suburban driving.

So, please, stop trying to race me or cut me off before you get to that double-parked truck on Cedar Lane in Teaneck or the one-lane bridge to Hackensack.

Just get the F out of the way and let me enjoy the quiet of driving my beautiful red Tesla.

A rare turn lane on Passaic Street. The narrow, two-lane street is a major thoroughfare connecting Hackensack and Paramus, but often is jammed by traffic inching toward Garden State Plaza, the biggest mall in New Jersey.

Drivers believe some intersections without turn lanes, such as Passaic Street and Summit Avenue in Hackensack, haven't been improved since the Revolutionary War.