Electric Cars

  • 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf

    The Volkswagen e-Golf launched in Canada in late June, tallying 39 sales before the month’s end, and followed that with 84 units in its first full month of availability. Aided by the e-Golf, the Toyota Prius Prime and the soon-to-arrive second-generation Nissan Leaf, plug-in electric vehicles may push above 1 percent of the market for Canadian new vehicles—even before the Tesla Model 3’s Canadian debut. While the Chevy Volt won its 16th straight sales title in Canada during July, its sales of 231 were down about one-third, both month-over-month and year-over-year. DON'T...

  • Chevrolet Bolt EV being charged outside Go Forth electric-car showroom, Portland   [photo: Forth]
    Go Forth Electric Vehicle Showcase in Portland: lessons learned

    One of the challenges in getting car shoppers to consider plug-in electric vehicles is the education required. Tesla attacked this problem head on, opening its stores in malls and other sites where potential future buyers could dip their toes in and start to learn about electric cars without being...

  • BMW engine
    New engine development at German makers to end by 2025, says supplier

    Continental, a major supplier for automakers around the world, has come out with a bold prediction: internal-combustion engine development by German automakers will essentially end by the year 2025. The supplier, which makes exhaust-gas-cleaning systems for diesel cars and nitrogen oxide-measuring...

  • Artist’s impression of Faraday Future’s proposed plant in Hanford, California
    Faraday Future gets $14 million; factory moved to CA from Vegas

    Electric-car maker Faraday Future has received an emergency injection of $14 million to move its FF 91 luxury electric car closer to market. The rescue funds come in the form of a loan from Innovatus Capital Partners, after Faraday Future pledged its California-based headquarters as collateral. For...

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3 "first production" car, in photo tweeted by Elon Musk on July 9, 2017
    Tesla Model 3 electric car: what's your take? Poll results

    With the Tesla Model 3 electric car now in early production and an aggressive ramp rate targeted, it's getting lots of media attention. Part of that is due to the allure of the Tesla brand and fascination with company CEO Elon Musk. Some more may be due to the widespread misapprehension that the...

  • 2016 Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell car, Newport Beach, CA, Nov 2014
    Hawaii to get hydrogen fueling station; Toyota Mirai leases to follow

    Tropical islands are some of the best places on earth to pioneer carbon-free energy and zero-emission vehicles. Within the United States, the eight islands of Hawaii are blessed with a temperate climate, abundant sunshine, few high-speed highways, and a statewide speed limit of 60 mph, achievable...

  • Teaser for 2018 Nissan Leaf debuting on September 6, 2017

    The 2018 Nissan Leaf apparently won't be the brand's lone electric car for much longer, if a new report with details on plans to expand the electric car's underpinnings to additional models proves accurate. Following the introduction of the second-generation 2018 Nissan Leaf, the electric car's platform will spawn multiple models, and an electric SUV is said to be one of Nissan's priorities. Future expansions could see the next-generation Nissan Leaf's architecture also underpin electric Mitsubishi vehicles as well. DON'T MISS: Next 2018 Nissan Leaf teaser sketch; electric car debuts Sept. 5...

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3
    Tesla Model 3 rated at 126 MPGe, third-best after Ioniq Electric and Prius Prime

    Ten days ago, when the first 30 Tesla Model 3 electric cars were delivered to their owners at a much-publicized Handover Party, we didn't get full information on the latest Tesla model. The company didn't discuss battery capacity in kilowatt-hours, for instance, giving range in miles instead, nor...

  • 2006 Toyota Prius and 2015 Nissan Leaf  [photo: John C. Briggs]
    Should we buy a Toyota Prius Prime, Chevy Bolt EV, or Volt?

    It's now time to shop for a new car for my wife, as her wonderful 2006 Toyota Prius has 144,000 miles and we're ready for something new. So I thought I might throw the question out to Green Car Reports readers. What car should replace our 2006 Prius hybrid? DON'T MISS: 2017 Toyota Prius Prime: gas...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV
    Chevy Bolt EV user interface: reviewer calls it best of any electric car

    The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV is an amazing, long-range electric vehicle that won multiple awards for good reason. Driving the EV for an extended test for the first time, it’s obvious this is the future of driving. (Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently predicted that 50 percent of new cars will be...

  • Teaser for Tesla Model Y electric SUV due for reveal in 2019
    Tesla Model Y to be based on Model 3 after all; Musk 'reeled back' from 'insanity'

    It's fair to say that Tesla CEO Elon Musk probably raises more eyebrows more often than all other automaker CEOs combined. One case in point came in early May, when he mentioned during a financial-results call that the upcoming Tesla Model Y compact crossover utility would be based on a new...

  • Teaser for 2018 Nissan Leaf debuting on September 6, 2017
    Next 2018 Nissan Leaf teaser sketch; electric car debuts Sept. 5

    The global debut of the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car is just a month away, and now another teaser image has been released. This one's a design sketch showing a drawing of the car's side profile, suitably shaded to obscure some of the details. You can compare it to a shot of the actual vehicle...

  • 2013 Tesla Model S, in July 2017   [photo: David Noland]

    A couple of years ago, as my 2013 Tesla Model S approached the end of its 50,000-mile warranty, I debated long and hard whether to opt for Tesla’s extended warranty, which they call an Extended Service Agreement (ESA). At $4,000, it wasn’t cheap. It provided four years and an additional 50,000 miles of coverage, up to a total of 100,000 miles. There was a $200 deductible for each service visit. The problem was the length of the agreement: I wasn’t sure I’d be keeping the car for another four years. DON'T MISS: Life with Tesla Model S: the challenges of selling her at...

  • 2017 Tesla Model S
    Tesla Model S, Model X electric cars updated with new features

    Before the Tesla Model 3 officially entered production, the electric-car maker shuffled features on its Model S to provide a clear distinction between the two sedans. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has often said those looking for luxury will be happiest in a Model S, while the Model 3 remains a much more...

  • Andrea Kerr driving Fiat 500e electric car in autocross, Great Park, Irvine, Califronia, July 2017
    Autocrossing a Fiat 500e electric car for first, maybe last, time

    When we published an article on one owner's experience using his Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car to compete in a local autocross, it contained a comment that riled up our reader Doug Kerr. That comment—"Outside of one high-performance electric vehicle, casual electric cars are hardly the...

  • Plug'n'Drive EV Discovery Centre, Toronto
    Canada electric-car news: EV Discovery Centre, more charging sites, ZEV mandates debated

    As Canada celebrates its 150th birthday, the plug-in electric vehicle sector has charged forward, with developments on the national, provincial and even municipal levels. Here’s our take on six of the most salient stories. Federal ZEV committee On May 26, the Canadian government announced its...

  • Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk at Tesla Store opening in Westfield Mall, London, Oct 2013
    Tesla Model 3 net reservations clarified after 16 months: 455,000

    Sometimes, if you ask a question often enough for long enough, an answer will eventually be forthcoming. In the case of the net number of $1,000 reservations for the Tesla Model 3 electric car, it took 16 months for the company to cough up the latest data. It came, not surprisingly, from CEO Elon...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Volt
    Plug-in electric car sales for July: Bolt EV, Prime, Volt, Teslas, Leaf lead (updated)

    In a U.S. car market that's coming off record numbers over the last couple of years, plug-in electric car sales continued strong last month. The Chevrolet Bolt EV, GM's 238-mile battery electric hatchback, set a new monthly sales record of 1,937 deliveries in its eighth month on sale—the...

  • 2016 Mitsubishi i-MiEV Quick Drive  -  Portland OR  -  July 2015   [photo: Doug Berger]

    The Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car deserves a place in history. It was arguably the first mass-produced modern electric car put on sale, well before the Nissan Leaf arrived in December 2010. Pre-production i-MiEVs were operating in test fleets in Japan as early as 2007, and it was on sale in that country even as Tesla struggled to get its Roadster into production in late 2009. DON'T MISS: 2016 Mitsubishi i-MiEV: Drive Report Of 62-Mile Electric Minicar This pioneering electric car was adapted from the clever design for the Mitsubishi "i" kei car, designed for Japan's special class of minicar...

  • Oil well (photo by John Hill)
    Decline of oil: Bloomberg suggests what it could look like

    Predictions on the future of global energy vary greatly, but many analysts largely believe that peak demand for the oil industry is coming relatively soon. The world's largest oil companies, however, see it differently: they say their business will only continue to grow through the year 2040. Exxon...

  • Nissan Leaf at West Coast Electric Highway charging station (Photo by Pine Mountain Sports)
    New propaganda video on electric-car tax credits: time to debunk!

    The U.S. federal income-tax credit for purchase of an electric car has seen its share of attacks over the years. Now a new video seeks to twist the facts to paint those subsidies in a bad light. While facts don't lie, it's easy to create a new narrative by taking carefully chosen facts out of...

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3, in photo tweeted by Elon Musk on July 9, 2017
    Tesla won't discuss net Model 3 reservations number; why?

    One year ago today, a communications staffer (since departed) wrote that Tesla had received 373,000 reservations for its future Model 3—a number first issued in April 2016. In a splashy event for owners, fans, and media, a few dozen early-production Model 3 electric cars were delivered last...

  • Tesla Model 3 Easter eggs screen
    Tesla Model 3 Easter eggs, discovered by board member Steve Jurvetson

    The few dozen 2017 Tesla Model 3 owners who've already taken delivery of their electric cars will find a few surprises inside if they look closely enough. The Silicon Valley automaker handed over the first examples of its new Model 3 to customers, one of whom happens to be Steve Jurvetson...

  • 2018 Nissan Leaf spotted during photo shoot - Image via Broom
    2018 Nissan Leaf caught without camouflage in ad shoot

    Its maker has begun the countdown to the early-September unveiling of the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car with a series of staged teaser photos and factoids. But with the prevalence of smartphone cameras, it's harder and harder for carmakers to keep their new models completely under wraps. Which is...

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