battery capacity

  • 2018 Tesla Model 3

    Over the seven years modern, mass-priced electric cars have been on sale, various bits of wisdom have emerged among their fans, advocates, and owners. One might be how much battery range is "enough" to prevent drivers from worrying constantly about whether they need to charge. Another might be which vehicles have batteries that seem to hold their capacity over time—and which don't. DON'T MISS: Top Six Trends In Plug-In Electric Cars Through 2020 (Feb 2016) Now the well-known consulting firm of McKinsey has summarized what it has concluded on some of these issues. McKinsey summarized its...

  • 2018 Nissan Leaf
    2018 Nissan Leaf electric car gets 151-mile EPA range rating

    When the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car was unveiled last fall, the company said it would have a range of "140 miles or more." That had risen to "150 miles or more" by the end of last year, and now we have the final confirmed figure. The EPA combined range rating for the second-generation Leaf is...

  • 2017 Kia Soul EV
    2018 Kia Soul EV gets bigger battery, range boost from 93 to 111 miles

    Updates to conventional cars come in a predictable pattern. Once a new model is launched, it gets only minor tweaks to features, prices, and paint colors for two or three years. Then in the third or fourth year, it gets what the industry calls a "mid-cycle refresh": some updated sheetmetal, perhaps...

  • Opel Ampera-e
    German magazine compares real-world electric-car ranges, efficiencies in cold weather

    It's 41 degrees F outside. Your electric car, rated for 100 miles, has been charging all night in the cold. Ahead of you lies a 80-mile drive. How confident are you that you'll make it to your destination? What if you want to set your climate control to a comfortable 70 degrees F? Germany's...

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3, in photo tweeted by Elon Musk on July 9, 2017
    Tesla Model 3 Long Range rating of 310 miles: Is it understated?

    Amidst all the coverage on Wednesday of the Tesla Model 3 production numbers, we realized we'd forgotten one piece of the Model 3 saga. That would be the official EPA range and efficiency ratings for the 2017 Tesla Model 3 Long Range version. Those were issued at the end of November, and they...

  • Lithium-ion cell and battery pack assembly for Nissan Leaf electric car in Sunderland, U.K., plant
    Batteries in autonomous electric cars must be more durable: lithium-ion pioneer

    We tend to take batteries for granted. Day after day, we recharge batteries and expect them to work without giving a thought to how they work or to their state of health. But Akira Yoshino is different. He's one of the pioneers of lithium-ion battery technology. DON'T MISS: Lithium-ion battery...

  • Akio Toyoda, President, Toyota and Kazuhiro Tsuga, President, Panasonic

    For the 20 years since the introduction of the Prius, Toyota has enjoyed the first-mover advantage in hybrid cars, and leveraged those green credentials to boost public perception of its brand as a whole. But Toyota has yet to mass-market a battery-electric vehicle in the U.S., as Nissan has done with the Leaf. Toyota executives have consistently said hydrogen, not plugging in, is the best technology for zero-emission vehicles. DON'T MISS: Shift to electric cars will cost money, may lack excitement: Toyota CEO However unwillingly, Toyota is now modifying its strategy—and one of the...

  • Tesla Model S battery pack teardown: frame from YouTube video by JehuGarcia, Feb 2017
    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...

  • 2018 Volvo XC90
    2018 Volvo XC90 plug-in hybrid SUV: bigger battery, slight range boost

    It's a shock to realize that the Volvo XC90 large luxury SUV is now in its third model year. The first new Volvo in more than five years when it debuted in 2016, the seven-seat XC90 was an entirely new design that redefined luxury in a Swedish vein and won numerous awards, including North American...

  • 2018 BMW i3, 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show
    BMW battery-sourcing ethics highlight cobalt-mining issue for electric cars

    Electric cars provide a zero-emission driving experience, but one of the most important raw materials for their batteries—cobalt—has a supply chain that needs some work. About half of the world's cobalt supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country with high rates...

  • Tesla Motors - Model S lithium-ion battery pack
    Electric-car battery progress: incremental improvements, not revolutionary leaps

    The report that Toyota is planning an electric car with a solid-state battery for 2022 has led some fans and advocates to suggest huge new leaps in electric cars are imminent. The 2011 Nissan Leaf had an EPA-rated range of 75 miles combined; the comparable figure for a 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV is 238...

  • Tesla Gigafactory battery plant in Nevada
    VW says it needs '40 gigafactories' for electric-car batteries by 2025

    VW Group remains one of the world's three largest carmakers, along with Toyota and General Motors, but the German automaker foresees challenges ahead. Specifically, Volkswagen believes the industry will face a shortage of lithium-ion batteries if new investment is not made soon for additional cell...

  • Chevy Bolt EV fast-charging at EVgo station before trip across Maryland    [image: Brian Ro]

    Electric-car range is a funny thing. It is rated by the EPA, and most people focus on that combined figure, though an individual's use may greatly affect the car's actual range. Gentle drivers who drive mostly at lower speeds can greatly outdo that combined range, while steady driving at maximum highway speed will cut a significant percentage off the combined figure. DON'T MISS: Chevy Bolt EV electric-car owner weighs in on pros and cons Every owner has to figure out over time roughly what an electric car will deliver in their particular mix of uses. Which brings us to Brian Ro, of Columbia...

  • James Dyson with digital motors  [image: Dyson]
    Dyson walks away from (three) Sakti3 solid-state battery patents: updated

    Just 18 months after its $90m acquisition of Sakti3, the British consumer-products company Dyson is taking a step back. Dyson has chosen to relinquish its rights to three patents co-owned by the company that were part of the core intellectual property of the Michigan based start-up company. Its...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf
    Lessons learned from early electric car: 2011 Nissan Leaf at 90,000 miles

    Being a pioneer isn't easy. When you're pioneering new automotive technology, it can be challenging and sometimes costly. Just ask anyone who owned an early turbocharged sport sedan, for instance. That also applies, in some cases, to some of the first modern electric cars, and in particular the...

  • 2017 BMW i3
    Soon, 'electric-car range will no longer be a factor,' BMW chief says

    Among German luxury brands, BMW was the first to show significant interest in electric cars. It launched its "i" sub-brand in Europe in 2013, and its plans have evolved to include adding all-electric powertrains to models within the main BMW brand in future. That is part of an effort to grow sales...

  • Formula E car in New York City
    NY $2,000 electric-car rebate falls to $500 if it's over $60K; sorry, Tesla

    New York State is known for a lack of transparency, backroom dealings, and little public input into the deliberations that lead to legislation produced by its state legislature. So it wasn't too surprising that after Governor Andrew Cuomo announced an electric-car incentive program in April 2016...

  • 2014 BMW i3 electric car during winter [photo: owner Chris Neff]
    Driving electric cars in winter: tips from experienced owner

    One of the challenges of electric cars is persuading potential buyers that they can do virtually everything that most other vehicles can. For those who live in wintry climates, that includes dealing with snow, slush, road salt, ice, and variable traction. Given the recent major snowstorms that hit...

  • Slide from 2017 Hyundai Ioniq presentation on electric cars at Washington Auto Show, Jan 2017

    Hyundai first made the argument that energy efficiency in electric cars is just as important as their range, as part of its launch of the Ioniq Electric hatchback, EPA-rated at 124 miles. Now Honda is making that argument as well, based on a news report it confirmed saying that the Clarity EV electric mid-size sedan will have a battery range of about 80 miles. Statistically, a range of 80 to 100 miles covers the daily needs of most American drivers, especially those with multiple vehicles. (The average U.S. household has 2.4 cars.) DON'T MISS: Electric-car MPGe as important as range, Hyundai...

  • 2016 Nissan Leaf SL fast-charging at NRG evGo Freedom Station, Hudson Valley, NY, Dec 2015
    Electric-car range: why Japanese needs differ so radically from the U.S.

    It was one of the new battery-electric vehicles anticipated for this year, a mid-size sedan from a global maker that remains the second highest-volume hybrid maker in the world. Then the news hit earlier this week: the all-electric Honda Clarity EV would have a rated battery range around ... 80...

  • Section of 2018 BMW i3 spy shot  [image via S. Baldauf/SB-Medien, as used on Motor Authority]
    2018 BMW i3 preview (including battery rumors)

    This year's updated BMW i3 electric car is only just arriving at U.S. dealerships after a battery-capacity boost that gives it longer range. But already some details of the 2018 BMW i3 have leaked out, in the form of spy photos and further rumors about more battery capacity yet. Unlike our usual...

  • 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf
    2017 VW e-Golf rated at 125 miles, tops 124-mile Hyundai Ioniq electric car

    Oh, those crafty Germans. Just a few days after the week-long media launch of the 2017 Hyundai Ioniq range, Volkswagen has quietly one-upped the Ioniq Electric's 124-mile EPA-rated range. Granted, it's only beaten the South Korean electric car by 1 mile. But still. DON'T MISS: Hyundai Ioniq...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV
    Electric car battery warranties compared

    It's one of the most frequently asked questions by anyone hearing about a modern electric car: do I have to replace the battery? With 15 years of experience in mobile phones and more than that with laptop computers, most buyers know that lithium-ion batteries lose capacity over time. Replacing...

  • 2017 Hyundai Ioniq (European spec), 2016 Geneva Motor Show
    Hyundai Ioniq Electric car to get 200 miles of range 'soon'

    The Hyundai Ioniq Electric will get a range increase to keep pace with competition.

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