plug-in cars
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Two bills from the Senate and House of Representatives that would radically reform U.S. tax policy for the first time in three decades are now being reconciled by a joint committee from both houses of Congress. No public hearings on those bills have been held in either chamber, and the legislation is closely guarded. It would be fair to call the process unusual. For electric-car shoppers, however, one particular provision of any final bill that emerges could prove critically important. DON'T MISS: If you plan to buy an electric car, you should do it this month The version of the bill that...
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Which plug-in hybrid would you buy today if you had to? Take our Twitter poll
This has been something of a plug-in hybrid month. Last week we got our first drive in the 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid, which we felt was the first affordable car with a range similar to that of the Chevrolet Volt. This week we're driving the 2018 Kia Niro Plug-In Hybrid. DON'T MISS: 2018...
John Voelcker -
Do cities have enough electric-car charging stations; are highways the 'last hurdle'?
The availability of charging stations for electric cars, or lack of it, is often cited as one of the primary reasons holding back widespread adoption. After all, if you're going to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a brand-new automobile, you want to be sure it'll get you where you want to go...
Mark Stevenson -
Can Honda break through buyer confusion about plug-in hybrids?
With the launch of the 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid sedan, the Chevrolet Volt now has its first serious competition among long-range plug-in hybrids. About 25,000 second-generation Volts were sold last year, and this year's number will be about 20,000. Honda says it may sell about the same...
John Voelcker -
Uniti electric city car debuts, with free charging in Sweden
If you're looking for an electric car that comes with free charging but a Tesla is either undesirable or financially out of reach, freshly launched upstart Uniti is offering five years of free go-go electrons with the purchase of its new, compact "smartphone car." But there's just one catch. You...
Mark Stevenson -
2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid first drive
There's a new plug-in hybrid in town, and it could expand the audience for cars that provide useful electric range for daily driving while retaining an efficient gasoline engine for longer trips. The 2018 Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid is the third and most important model in the Clarity lineup...
John Voelcker -
Early last year, with promises of self-driving cars in owners' hands well before any competitor, development of the Tesla Autopilot system for the maker's electric cars was proceeding nicely. Then, in May 2016, a dedicated Tesla owner was killed in a Florida crash when his Tesla Model S, operating on Autopilot, hit a tractor-trailer rig broadside and passed under it, shearing off the roof. The subsequent 16 months have been considerably rockier for Tesla and the collection of active-safety and driver-assistance aids that make up Autopilot. DON'T MISS: Tesla upgrades self-driving sensors...
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2017 BMW i3 REx: drive review of range-extended electric car
When the history of modern electric cars is written, the BMW i3 will likely go down as something of an anomaly. Its carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic body shell, aluminum underpinnings, and battery-electric powertrain with an optional range extender are a combination not offered by any other maker...
John Voelcker -
These six states have the highest electric-car adoption rates in the country
By now, many people would likely produce the correct answer when asked, Where in the U.S. are electric cars most popular? That would be California, which last year had almost seven battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars registered per 1,000 people. But five other states have more than two plug-in...
John Voelcker -
Lithium-ion battery packs now $209 per kwh, will fall to $100 by 2025: Bloomberg analysis
Battery-pack prices are the lowest they've ever been, and like a yoga-obsessed limbo contestant, they're primed to go even lower. A report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, based on a survey of "more than 50 companies," states the average cost of a electric-car battery pack is now $209 per...
Mark Stevenson -
An electric Thing? VW Thing could return as EV, chairman says (or electric Beetle)
As it gears up for volume production of battery-electric cars starting in 2019, Volkswagen Group spends a lot of time talking to the press about its future plans for the vehicles. We already know its first electric car that year will be the compact hatchback Volkswagen ID, and the first to be sold...
John Voelcker -
New approach to electric-car battery cooling: immerse cells in coolant
Regardless of how your vehicle is powered—whether it be an internal-combustion engine or a battery pack powering an electric motor—most powertrains have a common enemy: heat. For Taipei-based XING Mobility, heat is a major concern for its high-performance Miss R model as its battery...
Mark Stevenson -
Since the Dieselgate scandal broke more than two years ago, Volkswagen has spent a great deal of time talking about its plans for electric cars. It has rolled out three concept vehicles within the new Volkswagen ID family, and discussed its dedicated electric-car architecture that will underpin all of them. Now, the company has committed to a date for producing its first high-volume dedicated battery-electric car. DON'T MISS: Volkswagen ID Crozz electric SUV to launch in US in 2020 In a release last Friday, Volkswagen said it is 100 weeks away from the first production of the Volkswagen ID...
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Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, Nov 2017: the vaulting Chevy Volt
A record 582 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrids were sold in Canada last month, two months after Chevy delivered a then-record 483 Volts in September. The achievement is even more impressive considering Canadian car sales dropped by 15 percent between the two months, as the industry enters its slow...
Matthew Klippenstein -
Judge sides with Tesla, slams dealer association in Missouri
Since Tesla began selling electric cars directly to customers throughout the U.S., the electric-vehicle maker has had to play franchise-law whack-a-mole in multiple state courts. On Tuesday, Tesla scored a decisive victory when the Missouri Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's ruling that...
Mark Stevenson -
Jaguar I-Pace electric car testing: 200 cars, 1.5 million miles, and counting
Jaguar’s upcoming first entry into electric vehicles is undergoing final validation in Los Angeles, a year after the British brand revealed the I-Pace Concept at the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show. Jaguar wrapped the new I-Pace in a pseudo-mule livery and plastered a hashtag on its side as...
Mark Stevenson -
Not just Porsche: Honda wants 15-minute fast charges for electric cars too
With Porsche promising ultra-fast charging for its Mission E electric car, Honda isn’t going to let the German automaker keeps its 15 minutes of charging fame. Honda aims to develop cars that can grab enough juice from the grid for 240 kilometers (150 miles) of range in 15 minutes flat...
Mark Stevenson -
How many Model 3s will Tesla deliver by Dec 31? Twitter poll results, again
What a difference a few months makes. In June, one month before the delivery of the first 30 Tesla Model 3, we polled our Twitter followers on how many of the lower-priced electric cars Tesla would deliver by the end of this year. The view then was pretty rosy, with more than half the respondents...
John Voelcker -
Looking back at last week's Los Angeles auto show media days, one new vehicle sucked up a disproportionate amount of attention and airtime. That would be the new 2018 Jeep Wrangler, a once-in-a-decade redesign of the iconic off-roader that's the linchpin of the Jeep brand image worldwide. While the new Wrangler itself had long been expected—and seen in dozens of spy photos leading up to the reveal—the announcement came with a surprise. DON'T MISS: Turbo-4 to boost fuel economy in next Jeep Wrangler (May 2016) That was the announcement that the Wrangler would be offered with a...
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Tesla Semi, Roadster battery claims prove puzzling: beyond current knowledge?
Since Tesla’s reveal of its new Semi and Roadster models, many technical analysts have been left scratching their collective heads. How can Tesla promise performance metrics far exceeding what’s currently physically and economically possible? According to one analyst, it may not be a...
Mark Stevenson -
Plug-in electric car sales for Nov: Volt vs Prime neck-and-neck, Bolt EV just misses 3K (updated)
Chevy didn't quite pull it off in November, but it could well happen this month in a burst of end-of-year sales. In this case, "it" would be selling 3,000 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric cars in a single month: the delivery total reported last month was 2,987. That brings year-to-date Bolt EV sales to...
John Voelcker -
BMW 'i' electric-car sub-brand to expand into SUVs: iX3 crossover, other 'iX' models
Before the 2013 launch of its 'i' sub-brand, BMW had secured the names of potential i-branded vehicles by applying for i1 through i9 monikers in 2010. Now the brand has secured another batch of names for electrified crossovers—iX1 through iX9—and it plans to use at least one of them by...
Mark Stevenson -
2018 Nissan Leaf electric car now rolling off lines in Tennessee
The 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car will start to appear at Nissan dealers in January, the company said Monday. That availability came in an announcement that the second-generation electric car officially went into production the same day at Nissan's sprawling assembly plant in Smyrna, Tennessee...
John Voelcker -
Configuring a Tesla Model 3: buyer walks through the process with us
Very few of the 455,000 people who put down $1,000 to reserve a place in line for the Tesla Model 3 electric car have received the opportunity yet to configure their cars online and place a firm order. The volume of Model 3s is still apparently at low numbers—a few hundred last month...
John Voelcker