Electric Cars

  • 2019 Jaguar I-Pace

    The 2019 Jaguar I-Pace, the brand's first-ever production electric car, made its debut last Thursday before the Geneva auto show. At that time, only U.K. pricing was given—but on Tuesday, Jaguar released the U.S. price for the electric crossover utility vehicle that goes on sale sometime this fall. The price will start at $70,495, including a mandatory $995 delivery fee. DON'T MISS: 2019 Jaguar I-Pace electric debuts in production trim; estimated 240-mile range That puts the I-Pace into Tesla territory, although the British utility vehicle has only two rows and five seats against the...

  • 2018 Nissan Leaf
    Which electric car is your favorite? Take our Twitter poll

    This week's Geneva auto show has seen lots of news about new electric cars, but almost all of them come from luxury brands. The 2019 Jaguar I-Pace has made its debut, Aston Martin announced its Lagonda brand would be dedicated to all-electric vehicles, and so forth. That's all very nice, but what...

  • Porsche Mission E Cross Turismo concept
    Porsche Mission E Cross Turismo concept: second electric model previewed

    A design study for the second version of the Porsche Mission E electric sport sedan broke cover Tuesday at the Geneva auto show. The closely guarded concept car is effectively a shooting brake version of the low-slung Mission E sedan that debuted at the 2015 Frankfurt show and will go on sale by...

  • Paul Scott and Barbara with Zero electric motorcycle  [photo: Charles Ryan-Barber]
    Electric-car pioneer Paul Scott looks back on 15 years of plugging in

    Most of the U.S. was unaware that modern electric cars got their start in California between 1996 and 2002. Many of the earliest owners and EV advocates from those days remain involved 20 years later, though their names may be familiar only to a small group of activists. One of those people is Paul...

  • Drag race between 2019 Jaguar I-Pace and Tesla Model X 75D electric cars  [video: Jaguar]
    Jaguar I-Pace beats Tesla Model X in electric car drag-race video

    The 2019 Jaguar I-Pace SUV that debuted Thursday beat all the German luxury makes to the punch in launching a viable competitor to the looks and capabilities of electric cars offered by Tesla. The 14-year-old Silicon Valley startup has attracted huge attention for the stunning acceleration of its...

  • 2019 Jaguar I-Pace
    2019 Jaguar I-Pace electric crossover debuts in production trim; estimated 240-mile range

    Total sales by Jaguar Land Rover are a fraction of those by its rivals Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. Arguably, that has required the British luxury maker to be more agile and more creative to compete. While Audi has discussed its plans for an all-electric crossover utility version for more than two...

  • Lotus Safe & Sound noisemaker

    The idea of adding noise-makers to vehicles that are "too quiet" didn't exist until the first hybrid-electric cars hit the market in 2000. Within a few years, however, organizations representing the blind began to raise alarms that cars operating at low speeds solely on electric power couldn't be heard by pedestrians who also couldn't see them. What followed was almost a decade of slow investigation, proposals, directives, and rule-making. DON'T MISS: 'Quiet Car' Rules To Make Hybrids, Electric Cars Noisy Delayed, Again (Dec 2015) On Monday, the Department of Transportation's NHTSA finalized...

  • Nissan Leaf electric car at EVgo DC fast-charging station
    EVgo simplifies, cuts electric-car fast charging prices nationwide

    Over the next three years, numerous long-range electric cars will come to market at prices below $40,000. That will expand the pool of potential buyers to those interested in plug-in vehicles but unwilling to consider one rated at less than 200 miles. Those new owners will learn the DC fast...

  • James Dyson with digital motors  [image: Dyson]
    Three Dyson electric cars on the drawing board: report

    While Dyson may be best known worldwide for high-tech vacuum cleaners, the company has a strong affinity for what the British call "boffins," which roughly translates to "eccentric genius inventors." With a slight resemblance to Doc Brown of "Back to the Future" (as played by Christopher Lloyd)...

  • Professor John Kelly of Weber State University, Utah, shown before Chevy Bolt EV battery disassembly
    Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car: what's inside the battery? Teardown video shows all

    The battery packs of most modern electric cars are far different than those in your mobile phone or other portable devices. In most cases, they include hundreds or thousands of cells, arranged into modules, and usually surrounded by channels containing liquid coolant to keep the battery in its...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric police car, operated by Hyattsville City Police Department, Maryland
    Is this the country's first Chevrolet Bolt EV police car? (updated with video)

    Using electric cars as police vehicles has some distinct advantages. Among them are near-silent operation, maximum acceleration from 0 rpm, and a novelty factor that can lead to friendly, beneficial interactions between officers and citizens. Now, the small Maryland city of Hyattsville, a suburb of...

  • 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric
    Hyundai Kona Electric debuts before Geneva show; 292-mile range from top model

    The lack of plug-in electric crossover utility vehicles with all-wheel drive is a growing and obvious gap in the market. And where there's a gap, aggressive South Korean carmaker Hyundai may try to fill it. The company has now released many of the details of the Hyundai Kona Electric small SUV that...

  • Photovoltaic solar panel installation on house, Fremont, California   [image: Shiva Singh]

    Drivers who buy an electric car that plugs into the power grid to recharge the battery often start to consider the source of their energy. A 2012 analysis from California, in the earliest days of modern electric cars, indicated as many as four in 10 electric-car drivers were already using or considering the addition of home solar panels to generate electricity. While we've sought out more recent data on the overlap between electric-car drivers and home solar panels, we haven't found any. DON'T MISS: What maker offers electric cars, plus solar panels and energy storage, beside Tesla?...

  • Two 2018 Nissan Leafs with EVgo fast charger at NJ Turnpike Joyce Kilmer travel plaza, Feb 2018
    2018 Nissan Leaf electric car: four-day winter road-trip review

    The first generation of mass-priced electric cars with ranges of 60 to 90 miles simply didn't have enough range to be used outside predictable daily commute duties and local errands around town. Sure, four-fifths of vehicles in the U.S. cover less than 40 miles a day—but that other fifth...

  • 2018 Tesla Model 3
    Tesla expects 200,000th U.S. sale this year, electric-car tax credits to start phaseout

    It's been a topic of discussion for years: What will happen when a carmaker reaches the cap on U.S. sales of electric cars that qualify for the full federal tax credit of $7,500? That number is 200,000; after the rest of that calendar quarter and the one following, the credit is halved for a...

  • 2019 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (European model), to debut at 2018 Geneva auto show
    2019 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV updates for Europe to debut in Geneva

    The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has been a huge success in Europe, selling more than 100,000 copies there over several years. As the first and least expensive plug-in hybrid SUV, it received many incentives in different European countries and provided the first taste of plug-in electric driving for...

  • Tesla destination charging station in Bodie, California    [photo: George Parrott]
    Tesla offers some employers at-work charging stations, for its cars only

    Today, most people charge their electric cars at home, overnight. That's much harder for residents of multiple dwellings or those without dedicated off-street parking, increasing numbers of whom instead recharge during the day while parked at their workplace. Now Tesla plans to make it easier for...

  • Image from "Introducing Rivian | Our Vision" video, January 2017
    Electric pickup truck in 2020 to launch mysterious Rivian's "future mobility"

    When a mysterious company called Rivian issued a mysterious video in January 2017, it promised to "reshape mobility." As is often the case, that has turned out to involve electric cars. A year later, the company has released a few more details about its plans and its team. DON'T MISS: Chinese...

  • Hyundai Nexo

    The Hyundai Nexo hydrogen fuel-cell SUV that debuted last month at the Consumer Electronics Show won't be seen on California roads for many months yet. It is expected to go on sale in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of this year, but now we have a few reports from outlets that have driven the one SUV whose only tailpipe emission is water. The general consensus is that the Nexo is a more integrated, more refined, and likely far more practical vehicle in daily use than was its predecessor. DON'T MISS: Production Hyundai Nexo hydrogen fuel-cell SUV appears at CES That would be the Hyundai Tucson...

  • BYD Yuan. Photo by Indian Autos Blog.
    China's BYD tops global electric-car production for third year in a row

    Try asking any electric-car owner or advocate, or for that matter any member of the public, which automaker sold the most electric cars last year. In North America, the answer will likely be Tesla, or possibly Nissan or Chevrolet. But we'd bet you hear Tesla most often. The correct answer for...

  • 2018 Renault Zoe electric car in Purple Blackberry paint color
    2018 Renault Zoe electric car: more powerful motor to go with last year's bigger battery

    The subcompact Renault Zoe hatchback has been Europe's best-selling electric car for several years now. Last year, sales soared after it received a major upgrade to its battery pack, which grew to 41 kilowatt-hours, up from 22 kwh in earlier versions, almost doubling its range to 300 to 400...

  • 2014 Tesla Model S in China
    Where will we see the most electric-car innovation? Twitter poll results

    Innovation can be a hard concept to define as it relates to electric cars. Sure, there are the powertrains and structural designs of the vehicles themselves—including new proportions for the cabin enabled by the compact running gear and battery packs under the floor. But there are also many...

  • Oslo street scene: Nissan Leaf, Volkswagen e-Golf, Tesla Model S, July 2015
    Nissan, Tesla surpass 300,000 electric cars; one started later, one did it with a single model

    Only two automakers have built and sold more than 300,000 battery-electric cars to date. One is from Japan, the other from Silicon Valley. And each can claim a specific distinction within those totals. DON'T MISS: 300,000th Nissan Leaf sold as new electric car deliveries start We know that the...

  • Opel Ampera-e
    Opel to swap Ampera-e (aka Bolt EV) for all-electric Corsa model in 2020

    It's been six months since General Motors completed the sale of its Opel division in Europe to PSA Group, the French parent of the Citroën, DS, and Peugeot brands. With the sale came licenses to run out the model life of GM-designed vehicles sold as Opels (and Vauxhalls in the U.K.) while PSA...

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