plug-in cars

GM said today it will sell its European Opel division to PSA Peugeot Citroën, the French parent of the Citroën, DS and Peugeot brands, for 2.2 billion euros (approximately $2.33 billion). Among the questions surrounding the sale—which includes the U.K.-market Vauxhall brand—is...

The Chevy Bolt EV electric car got off to a fast start in its first full month of Canadian sales, selling 86 vehicles in February. Excluding its first week of availability in late January, the Bolt enjoyed the fourth-best debut month of any plug-in electric vehicle in the Canadian market. It...

Volvo currently offers plug-in hybrid powertrains in its top models—the XC90 SUV, S90 sedan, and V90. As the Swedish automaker redesigns its lower-level models, it will add plug-in hybrid options to them as well. But whereas the current T8 "Twin Engine" powertrain uses a 4-cylinder engine and...

Once again, it's the first day of the month following a weekday sales close, when the auto industry turns its eyes to the sales charts emerging from all automakers (except Tesla). For plug-in electric cars, the question this month remains the same as last month: how many Chevrolet Bolt EVs did GM...

Lithium-ion battery-cell chemistry is currently dominant in electric cars, not to mention consumer electronics and other fields. But what seems to be an army of researchers thinks it can be improved. That includes one of the people who helped create lithium-ion batteries in the first place. CHECK...

There are essentially two types of electric cars on sale today. Battery-electric vehicles are powered only by a battery, while plug-in hybrids have an engine to supplement a more limited battery range. Which type will ultimately predominate isn't clear; each has advantages and disadvantages. DON'T...

As automakers produce electric cars in greater numbers, public charging infrastructure will become even more crucial to lure new buyers and convince them the cars can be practical. Some automakers have already invested in charging infrastructure, while others are just starting to contemplate public...

The lithium-ion battery pack is at the heart of any electric car. Its cost, energy density, and safety features do as much as any other feature of an electric car to determine its success. And battery packs from Tesla Motors differ from those built by virtually any other electric-car maker in at...

Even with aggressive promotion of battery-electric or hydrogen fuel-cell cars, hundreds of millions of internal-combustion vehicles will remain on the world's roads for decades to come. But estimates of exactly how many internal-combustion cars will be displaced by alternatives in a given period...

The next couple of years promise to be quite interesting for electric cars. A minimum of six new models are expected in that time period, all promising ranges of 200 miles or more—which until a few months ago had been the exclusive province of Tesla Motors. The list includes two affordable...

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...

The Tesla Model S may have upended the luxury-car establishment, but it's the Silicon Valley automaker's Model X crossover that most traditional luxury brands now seem to be targeting. Audi, Jaguar, and Mercedes-Benz will each launch a new all-electric SUV within the next two years. And those...

As the old saying goes: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The biofuel and fossil-fuel lobbies have argued in the past over the blending of biofuels with the general fuel supply. But now the two groups have found something they can agree on. DON'T MISS: Sierra Club to sue EPA over failure to...

As in other industries, "big data" is an increasingly common buzzword these days in discussions of electric cars. Last November, several research entities presented relevant data sets and advocated for their use at an electric-car "datathon" hosted by the White House. Putting theory into practice...

Tesla Motors has spent more than 10 years beating the odds for startup automakers. Most new, independent makers barely survive long enough to produce a handful of vehicles, let alone sell more than 100,000 and garner praise from both customers and the media—as the electric-car startup has...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has responded vigorously to an employee's claims of low wages and commonplace on-the-job injuries. In an email to employees and statements to media outlets, Musk denied the claims and accused the employee who made them of being a paid union agitator. Earlier this month, Jose...

One of the more eagerly awaited all-electric cars coming to market this year has been the 2018 Honda Clarity EV. It's a battery-electric version of the 2017 Clarity Fuel Cell already on sale in some regions of California, powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. But unlike most of the pure electric cars on...

The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV is a crucial car for General Motors in more ways than one. With an EPA-rated 238-mile range and $37,495 base price (before federal, state, and local incentives), the Bolt EV considered a groundbreaking electric-car game changer. But the Chevy hatchback is also GM's main...

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...

For some buyers, where a car is made can be as important as the qualities of the car itself. "Made in America" can be a powerful selling point, especially after a presidential election in which domestic manufacturing jobs were a hot-button issue. But in the age of globalization, U.S. automakers no...