plug-in cars

Nissan said yesterday it will invest £26.5 million ($37.9 million) in its battery plant in Sunderland, England, to produce "advanced" battery cells for the next-generation Leaf electric car. The announcement may end rumors that Nissan would outsource production of lithium-ion cells and...

Volkswagen hired a Continental executive to oversee its new electric-car development group.

With battery-electric cars now on the market for five years, and perhaps 200,000 on U.S. roads, we now know more about how the cars and their drivers behave in the real world than we did when they first arrived. One learning is that an undercurrent among some electric-car buyers that suggests they...

Dr. Charles Alexander Escoffery converted a 1912 Baker electric car to run on solar power.

Audi will build its electric SUV in Belgium.

Tesla's dominance in Canadian plug-in electric vehicle sales in December seems all but assured, given that its sales in the quarters ending in March, June and September were 250, 242, and 255 respectively. Those are the three highest single-month sales totals for any plug-in electric vehicle in...

Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk has conceded that the company's electric Model X crossover utility vehicle ended up a more complicated vehicle than may have been necessary. Now, a lawsuit by Tesla Motors against German supplier Hoerbiger Automotive Comfort Systems describes the difficulties of developing...

Chrysler last week revealed the completely new sixth-generation version of its minivans—including, at long last, the first full-hybrid minivan for the U.S. market. That model, to be called the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, is slated to go on sale around September 2016. And while it’s...

Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn says governments are the main force driving electric-car adoption.

Last year and this year see a veritable onslaught of low-volume German plug-in hybrids, both sedans and SUVs. BMW and Mercedes-Benz have each said they'll offer plug-in hybrid versions of all their high-volume vehicles by 2020. Those include the Mercedes-Benz S-Class large sedan, GLE-Class SUV (nee...

Carlos Ghosn has never really been known as a man with frequent warm and ready smiles for all comers. Under most circumstances, the man who runs not only global automaker Nissan but the Franco-Japanese Renault-Nissan Alliance displays a serious, thoughtful countenance. But as he inspected the 2017...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is certain Apple is trying to make its own electric car.

While sales of electric cars and plug-in hybrids fell slightly last year in the U.S., the sales data for Europe was more encouraging. Almost 100,000 battery-electric cars were sold in the European Union last year: 97,687 units, to be precise. (Data for plug-in hybrids isn't immediately available.)...

The Tesla Model X is now available with a full synthetic-leather interior.

Germany's Economy Minister wants to spend over $2 billion to promote electric cars.

Five years after the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt first went on sale, plug-in vehicles represent slightly less than 1 percent of U.S. new-car deliveries. With about 200,000 sold, the Leaf is the world's most popular electric car. But which carmaker sold the most cars with plugs last year, worldwide?...

Battery-cell improvements will yield greater range, the company's electronic-development boss says.

Nissan embraces more electric-car competition.

The 2017 Hyundai Ioniq will debut first as a hybrid.

Honda and General Motors will reportedly cooperate on plug-in hybrid powertrains.