Featured (was)
-
Tesla Motors released its first-quarter earnings this afternoon, logging revenue of $713 million on deliveries of 6,457 Model S electric cars. That's essentially the number it had said it would sell in the quarter, but the total is slightly down from the record 6,892 sold in the prior quarter. It built 7,535 Model S cars in the quarter, however, building inventories as it began shipping cars to China--where sales started last month--and continuing to roll out sales in various European countries. DON'T MISS: Tesla Model S Sets Record For Single-Month Sales In Norway The number of Tesla...
-
Chrysler Confirms Plug-In Hybrid Minivan, Big SUV In 2016 And LaterFive years ago, then-new Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne and a new executive team held a marathon day-long presentation session on the company's future, laying out a product plan in conjunction with Fiat following its government-backed restructuring. Today, what is now Fiat Chrysler Automobiles...
John Voelcker -
2014 Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive: First DriveCan electric cars be sexy? Look at the exclusive Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Electric Drive gullwing sports car, and that question has been answered. But put your sensible cap on for the moment, have a look at the 2014 Mercedes B-Class Electric Drive, and you'll find little of such flirtation. That's...
Bengt Halvorson -
First 2014 BMW i3 Electric Car Delivered To Buyer, In BostonAs of Friday, May 2, it's official: the 2014 BMW i3 electric car is now on sale in the U.S. In a small ceremony inside the BMW of Boston dealership, the first retail buyer of an i3 took delivery of his keyfob yesterday afternoon. DON'T MISS: 2014 BMW i3 Electric Car Rated At 81 Miles, 124 MPGe He...
John Voelcker -
Good Luck In Getting Tesla Owners To 'Give Back' Electric Cars! (Hilarious Paranoia Alert)Oh, awesome! Someone is leaving fliers on Tesla Model S electric luxury cars parked in San Francisco, claiming...well, claiming all sorts of hilarious and bizarre things. Folks in SF are leaving anonymous flyers on Teslas exposing the "truth" about the company. Mind-blowing. cc @elonmusk...
John Voelcker -
Photo Contest: Most Unusual Place To Charge An Electric Car? (WINNER)Ten weeks ago, we asked you to send us photos of the most unusual place you'd ever charged a plug-in electric car. And, wow, were there some unusual photos indeed among the several dozen entries submitted to our photo contest by readers from around the world. Now, we've finally chosen a winner--and...
John Voelcker -
Toyota announced yesterday that it would relocate the headquarters of its U.S. arm from Torrance, California, to Plano, Texas. Left unaddressed in the announcement was the fact that the Japanese carmaker, known for its green image and its pioneering Prius hybrid range of 50-mpg cars, is moving from a state that has aggressively cut auto emissions to the one with the highest greenhouse-gas emissions of all 50 states plus D.C. As a piece in Ward's Auto pointed out yesterday, Texas has the worst overall air quality of any state, and its governor Rick Perry has said he does not believe in climate...
-
2015 BMW i8: Sexy Plug-In Hybrid Sport Coupe, Our First DriveCould the 2015 BMW i8 sports coupe, coming this summer, do for plug-in hybrids what the Tesla Model S did for battery-electric vehicles? That is, could the sleek, sexy, attention-luring coupe with doors that open like insect wings make plug-in hybrids...sexy? ALSO READ: Chevy Volt: How It Really...
John Voelcker -
The Epic Failure Of Better Place, As Covered By Fast CompanyThe remarkable scope, overwhelming ambition, and epic failure of the Better Place electric-car service in Israel is worthy of a book, or several. But until one appears, Fast Company magazine has produced the most comprehensive article yet on the founding--and foundering--of the great Better Place...
John Voelcker -
Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf Ready Second Acts (Video)The Nissan Leaf electric car and Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid went on sale within days of each other back in December 2010. Now, we're expecting second-generation versions of both cars for 2016--and each will have significant upgrades. The most significant upgrade to the Nissan Leaf will be a choice...
John Voelcker -
Will GM Offer A Five-Seat Hybrid Or Volt To Target Prius V, Ford C-Max?With the anticipated launch of the revised 2016 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car now less than a year away, expectations are that it will be a compact hatchback similar to the current model. Whether it has four or five seats remains up in the air, though the addition of a fifth seat would...
John Voelcker -
Nissan Leaf Likely To Offer Larger Battery For Longer RangeEvery electric-car owner wants more range; it's practically an immutable law. Now Nissan executive Andy Palmer has come close to confirming that a longer-range Nissan Leaf is in the cards, though likely not until 2016 or even 2017. In an interview at last week's New York Auto Show with Palmer, who...
John Voelcker -
It appears that a Québec electric-car group has set a new world record for plug-in electric cars gathered in one place. Yesterday, 431 battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars gathered in a long parking lot on the Île Sainte-Hélène, just south of the Jacques Cartier Bridge along the Saint Laurence River, in Montréal. According to an article posted early this morning on the website of L'Association des Véhicules Electriques du Québec, the cars included not only the Chevrolet Volt, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Nissan Leaf, and Tesla Model S, but also a...
-
2015 Hyundai Sonata: Redesigned Sedan Debuts In New York (Photos)This year's New York Auto Show is seemingly one of facelifts and revisions, but one car offering slightly greater changes is the new 2015 Hyundai Sonata. The 2015 car marks a step away from the dramatically swooping lines of recent Hyundais to something a little more grown-up--evidence that Kia...
Antony Ingram -
2015 Ford Focus Updates: New Front Styling, 1.0-Liter Three-Cylinder Option - Live PhotosThe 2015 Ford Focus gets familial Ford styling and an optional three-cylinder EcoBoost engine.
Stephen Edelstein -
BMW X5 Plug-In Hybrid Prototype: We Drive Future Electric SUVThey're not here yet, but in less than two years, U.S. buyers will have a choice of at least three plug-in hybrid SUV models to choose from. Now, we've driven a prototype version of one of them: the BMW X5 e-Drive, which will be shown as an updated concept car at this week's New York Auto Show...
John Voelcker -
2015 Honda Fit: Quick Gas Mileage Drive Of All-New HatchbackIf you're looking for a small hatchback that delivers high gas mileage and almost unparalleled flexibility, the all-new 2015 Honda Fit should probably be at the top of your list. The new Fit has become a more important car for Honda now that it's built in Mexico, and that's reflected in many of the...
John Voelcker -
Life With Tesla Model S: Battery Safety Shield In Detail (Photos)When I first heard last week that Tesla was offering Model S owners a free retrofit that would install its new underbody shield and deflector plates, I called my local Tesla Motors service center almost immediately. It seemed like a no-brainer. The titanium shield and two aluminum deflector plates...
David Noland -
Auto writers tend to like Mazdas; they generally perform and handle well, and are far more fun to drive than the anodyne Fords, Hondas, and Toyotas that outsell them in the compact and mid-size categories. The newest crop of Mazda cars and crossovers, built around the company's highly fuel-efficient SkyActiv engines and transmissions, have also delivered very good real-world fuel economy without turbochargers or hybrid-electric powertrains. So we were looking forward to our weekend test drive of the all-new Mazda 3 five-door, the latest iteration of the company's compact hatchback. We'd...
-
Had To Happen: Hacking Into A Tesla Model S Electric Car"Jailbreaking" used to mean... well, breaking out of jail. In the modern world though, it typically refers to the process of cracking software codes to take greater control of applications and user interfaces. It's rife in the world of smartphones, and now it's possible with electric vehicles...
Antony Ingram -
What Are Tesla Model S Drivers Browsing In Their Connected Cars?One of the alluring features of the Tesla Model S electric luxury sedan is its always-on 3G 4G cellular connection and built-in Internet browser. But have you ever wondered what all those wealthy electric-car drivers are actually looking at on their in-car browsers? Now we know. Or at least we have...
John Voelcker -
FINAL UPDATE: Plug-In Electric Car Sales In March: Nissan Leaf Has Best March EverMarch was another good month for U.S. sales of the Nissan Leaf, the best-selling electric car in the world. In fact, March was a good month for several plug-in electric cars, with monthly sales up for many models, and new monthly records for a few. Roughly 9,000 electric cars were sold in March...
John Voelcker -
2014 Nissan Leaf Domestic Content: Now Closer To Volt, Focus ElectricLast fall, we learned that the first year of U.S. production of the Nissan Leaf electric cars, built in Smyrna, Tennessee, had only 15 percent North American content. This year, the numbers are somewhat better--and they bring the Leaf closer to the domestic-content percentage of other plug-in...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model S To Get Titanium Battery Shield, Plus Deflectors: BREAKINGTesla Motors announced this morning that it will fit three new underbody components to all Model S electric cars to add further protection against impacts from road debris, which caused a pair of fires in its cars last fall. Those two Model S cars were severely damaged when their battery packs...
John Voelcker