Electric Cars

  • Tesla factory, Fremont, California

    Tesla airlifted six plane loads of factory machinery from Europe to California to speed up battery production for its Model 3 electric car, according to a Reuters report. Reuters cited two people familiar with the arrangement, who were not authorized to speak on the record. Transporting factory machinery by air is rare in the auto industry due to the size and weight of automotive assembly robots. Most automakers build their final manufacturing equipment and test it well ahead of time to avoid such expensive adjustments later on. One of the sources in the Reuters story said, "As usual with...

  • Nissan Leaf Open Car concept
    Blown away? Nissan Leaf convertible concept makes debut in Japan

    Nissan is famous for zigging when everyone else zags—especially when it comes to making convertibles. Years after its soft-top Murano CrossCabriolet crossover was laughed out of showrooms (and then went on to find a niche following on the used-car market), Nissan is at it again with a...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric cars outside dealership    [photo: Patrick Reid]
    Reader Report: Spending a year with two Chevy Bolt EVs

    Many Green Car Reports readers have electric cars. Fewer own two, and have removed gasoline cars from their family fleet altogether. Reader Patrick Reid bought two Chevy Bolt EVs last year (one in January and another in April.) Last year, he wrote us about his experiences, why he likes the Bolts...

  • Footage from June 2016 LAPD announcement of lease for 100 BMW i3 electric cars [CBS Channel 2, LA]
    Electric cars will exceed half the market and displace 7 percent of gasoline consumption by 2040: report

    Electric car sales are poised to increase tenfold by 2025 and reach 55 percent of car sales worldwide by 2040, according to the latest report on electric cars from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. While electric cars' share of the market is still small—less than 2 percent in most...

  • 2018 Tesla Model 3
    Tesla adds Model 3 build complexity: too early, or on time?

    When Tesla opened up orders this week for the all-wheel drive Dual Motor and Performance versions of its Model 3, some reports suggested it was early and might complicate the company's ability to ramp up to 5,000 units a week. Tesla emphatically says the move only represents the company sticking to...

  • Chevrolet Bolt EV being charged outside Go Forth electric-car showroom, Portland   [photo: Forth]
    Car dealers push buyers away from electric cars worldwide, not just U.S., studies find

    Car dealers may be the same all over the world, at least when it comes to electric cars. In 2014, Consumer Reports did a study that showed 50 out of 85 dealerships visited nationwide either outright discouraged its secret shoppers from buying electric cars or tried to talk them into buying a gas or...

  • VW MOIA ride-sharing concept car

    After years of trials aimed at remaking driving in the mold of the iPhone, Apple is finally building some self-driving electric cars to test on roads in the San Francisco Bay Area—and they're Volkswagen buses. The New York Times reported on Thursday that, after years of looking for a partner among automakers, Apple has teamed up with the German automaker to convert VW T6 vans into self-driving, electric shuttles to ferry Apple employees to and from work at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. The Times cited several former employees of the Apple self-driving car team. The...

  • Avera Motors high-efficiency vehicle teaser
    Rivian to reveal electric truck at LA auto show

    Hundreds of thousands of Americans have been inspired enough by the idea of owning an electric car to plunk down deposits on Teslas. Millions more buy pickup trucks every year for hauling, camping, landscaping, building, and other activities. Electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian hopes to bring...

  • BYD e6 electric taxi in service in Shenzhen, China
    China will lead US in electric cars for this one reason

    People buy what they're familiar with. For a lot of consumers in China, that means electric cars. Buyers in China buy nearly four times as many cars as buyers in the U.S. That means more carbuyers in China have experienced them and understand their silent acceleration, their range capabilities, and...

  • Ford's future hybrid and PHEV lineup
    300-mile Ford Mach 1 electric SUV may be based on Escape

    Ford has revealed precious few details about its new 300-mile range electric SUV, tentatively slated to be called the Mach 1. Now Autocar magazine in Britain has reported one more important detail: The Mustang-like crossover vehicle will be based on Ford's new C2 platform that it will share with...

  • 2018 Smart EQ ForTwo
    How many Americans will buy an electric car in the next 5 years? Twitter poll results

    Last week, AAA told us that they expect that one out of five Americans who are buying a new car in the next five years to buy an electric car. It's a number that has been creeping up the past few years as AAA surveys American drivers about their attitudes regarding electric cars. Still, with...

  • CARB ZEV vehicle game 2018 point value of chips based on electric range
    Why are so many electric cars (still) only sold in California?

    Car buyers don't have to live under California's golden sunshine to want electric cars. Yet, in some months, buyers in California purchase more than half of all the electric cars sold in the U.S. According to reader Mike Kamm (H/T Mike), even several of the electric cars that used to be sold in the...

  • Electrify America 350 kw chargers at Home Depot in Chicopee, Mass.

    Shop and charge. That's the plan behind Electrify America's new network of fast chargers being installed around the country. Electrify America, a division of Volkswagen set up to spend diesel settlement money on installing electric-car charging infrastructure around America, announced that its latest new charging stations will go into Simon shopping plazas. Simon is one of the largest shopping center operators in the United States, operating malls under the Simon Malls, The Mills, and Premium Outlets brand names. The agreement covers 30 shopping centers across the U.S., including King of...

  • 2018 Tesla Model 3 Long Range electric car, road test in greater Atlanta area, Feb 2018
    Consumer Reports won't recommend Tesla Model 3 (Updated)

    Update: This article has been updated to reflect a Twitter response from Elon Musk, saying that if the company verifies the braking problem with the Model 3, the company will fix customers' cars, even if it requires a hardware repair. Consumer Reports, the consumer product testing magazine famed...

  • 2018 Tesla Model 3 Long Range electric car, road test in greater Atlanta area, Feb 2018
    Which Tesla Model 3 would you order or have you ordered? Take our Twitter poll

    Now that Tesla has opened orders for Dual Motor all-wheel-drive and Performance versions of the Model 3, lots of Green Car Reports readers waiting to order those models can see light at the end of the tunnel. That made us curious how many of you were holding out for those high-zoot Model 3s, which...

  • Prince Harry and new wife Meghan Markle in the Jaguar E-Type Zero concept
    Electric Jaguar E-Type whisks royal couple from Windsor Castle

    Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. All were rolled into one gorgeous bauble leaving Saturday's royal wedding. The light-blue metallic Jaguar E-Type convertible waiting to whisk Prince Harry and his bride, Meghan Markle, from their public reception at Windsor Castle to...

  • 2018 Tesla Model 3
    Elon Musk announces Tesla Model 3 AWD, performance Model 3 specs

    It wasn't quite a message in a bottle, but Tesla boss Elon Musk tweeted Saturday night some specifications and a ballpark price for his company's long-awaited all-wheel-drive and performance versions of the Model 3. The all-wheel-drive Model 3 will add $5,000 to the base Model 3's price and offer...

  • Building the eRoad Arlanda outside Stockholm, Sweden
    Sweden builds life-size slot-car track for long-distance electric-car charging

    Like so many things, Sweden is taking a different approach to charging electric cars for long trips. The country has built a 1.2-mile-long slot-car track into a road near Arlanda airport outside Stockholm to test a new approach to charging electric cars and trucks, according to a report in New...

  • Tesla Supercharger site in Rocklin, California, before expansion    [photo: George Parrott]

    As Tesla works to ramp up Model 3 output to two-three times the levels of its previous models, the company is apparently anticipating the need for more Superchargers to charge them. According to the crowdsourced website Supercharge.info, Tesla added 121 new Supercharging stations since the beginning of the year, with 1,324 new individual Superchargers worldwide. The vast majority of the new stations have 10 or 12 stalls with chargers. Two new 40-stall stations in the California desert offer lounges where Tesla drivers can get out of the heat and shop for other Tesla merchandise, like...

  • Tesla Model S purchased with Bitcoins from Lamborghini Newport Beach
    Bitcoin processing uses more power than Teslas do, for now

    One criticism that doubters level at electric cars is that the electric grid may not have enough power to run them, at least in some places. While those concerns haven't materialized on any large scale, perhaps those critics should be more worried about Bitcoins. READ THIS: No, electric cars...

  • 2018 Tesla Model 3
    IIHS rates Tesla Model 3 automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning

    After a spate of crashes involving drivers using Tesla's Autopilot system, the press is awash in speculation about its effectiveness. Now the IIHS, which rates accident avoidance systems across many automakers, has given the Tesla Model 3 its highest rating of "Superior" in its front crash...

  • Teaser for BMW iNext debuting in 2021
    BMW reveals its self-driving, electric iNext vision for the future

    At BMW's annual shareholders' meeting in Germany on Thursday the company released a teaser image of its future iNext electric car. The image shows an SUV silhouette similar is size to an X5, BMW's mid-size SUV. The iNext is designed to be a technology showcase for BMW: electric propulsion, full...

  • 2014 Tesla Model S in China
    Report: Tesla moves to set up operations in China

    Following a report last year that Tesla has received approval to build a factory in Shanghai, the company is setting up independent operations in China. According to a Wall Street Journal report on Monday (subscription required), Tesla is the first automaker to take advantage of new Chinese laws...

  • Tesla Autopilot
    Report: Tesla rejected additional driver sensors for Autopilot

    In Tesla’s earnings call last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk addressed a spate of crashes with cars using the automaker’s Autopilot system, noting that the crashes usually seem to involve experienced Tesla drivers who become complacent in using the system. On Monday, an article in the Wall...

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