Plug-In Hybrids

The BMW i3 and i8 are both impressive technological exercises, but will anyone actually want to buy them?

Sales of the two highest-volume plug-in electric cars soared in August, with both the Chevrolet Volt and the Nissan Leaf setting all-time monthly sales records. And two Toyota plug-ins set sales records as well. The Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid sold more than it has all year, and the low-volume RAV4...

The rumors were correct--Audi's Sport Quattro Concept, due at the Frankfurt Auto Show next week, isn't just a gas-guzzling V-8 but a plug-in hybrid concept. Okay, it's actually both--at the heart of Audi's latest concept, you'll find a four-liter, twin-turbocharged gasoline V-8, with cylinder...

One of the most exciting launches at this month's Frankfurt Auto Show will be BMW's new plug-in hybrid sports car, the i8. The German automaker has released a teaser video of the new car ahead of its official debut on September 10, where it'll join the existing i3 electric city car on BMW's...

Traditionalists may be feeling faint right about now. The thought of a Chevrolet Corvette with a hybrid-electric powertrain threatens to make their heads explode. But that's exactly the concept at which GM president Mark Reuss says, "Don't laugh." Reuss made the comment during a Los Angeles Times...

"The new Volvo Concept Coupé reveals how we could shape our cars from now on. Free from the superficial surface excitement of other car brands, we add emotional value to the Volvo brand with the calm, confident beauty that is the hallmark of Scandinavian design." Those are the words of...

Toyota today released a few more nuggets of information about the next, all-new generation of its Prius hybrid car. The all-new Prius, to be released in 2015, is likely to continue each generation's 10-percent improvement on the fuel economy of its predecessor. With the current Prius Liftback rated...

What do the Porsche 918 Spyder, Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1 and Toyota Prius all have in common? Apart from four wheels and an engine, not a lot, you might be thinking. But there's something else that connects the four--they're all hybrids. Specifically, the Porsche and its supercar cousins are...

We often say that the biggest gains in fuel efficiency are to be made by the least efficient vehicles--and recently, several automakers seem to be taking that message to heart. Over the last few days, there seems to have been a constant stream of trucks, luxury sedans and SUVs all offering improved...

The 2014 Mercedes-Benz S500 Plug-In Hybrid may not have a catchy name, but we've been expecting it for some time--ever since the marque showed off its Vision S500 Plug-In Hybrid Concept back in 2009, in fact. No self-respecting luxury automaker can be without a plug-in model these days. Rival Audi...

BMW has only just officially revealed its electric i3 city car, but already the German automaker seems ready to tease us with its i8 plug-in hybrid sports car. The company has released further details on the i8's plug-in drivetrain, with detailed images showing some of the i8's more intimate...

Ford plug-in hybrid drivers are really making the most of the electric range of their vehicles--with nearly 60 percent of trips done entirely gas-free. That's according to Ford itself, using aggregated data from the MyFord Mobile app. The most interesting thing is that as many Ford plug-in owners...

Several Japanese automakers have announced a joint project to install charging stations across their home country. Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi will work with each other and existing charging companies to drastically increase the number of regular and quick chargers across Japan, paving the...

Electrically-powered vehicles that match regular combustion cars for performance are no longer a surprise, many of those barriers eroded thanks to companies like Tesla Motors. Now it's the turn of the performance plug-in hybrid, with Mitsubishi's next Evolution model expected to deliver a...

Readers of our monthly analysis of the Canadian plug-in electric car market know two things well: a) the Chevy Volt dominates, with sixteen consecutive months of sales leadership; and b) Canadian plug-in figures are hard to come by. Our posts on June plug-in sales in the United States and Canada...

If you've been considering an electric car but have been deterred by pricing, it might be worth another try—or at least another look at the numbers. This past week, Ford dropped the price of the 2014 Focus Electric to $35,995; that's about a 10-percent cut from the 2013 sticker price of...

Poring over monthly sales figures for plug-in electric cars--and our six-month summary--the data points out an unexpected fact. Did you know that pure battery-electric cars actually outsold plug-in cars that also have engines? From January through June of this year, the combination of 9,839 Nissan...

In less than a year, the Tesla Model S has created a new category of car: the electric luxury sport sedan. But with impending launches by two experienced, prestigious German luxury brands, will Tesla find the Model S facing new competition among wealthy buyers who like plugging in to drive? We just...

With half the year now gone, are plug-in electric cars on track to double their sales last year? Not quite. As of the end of June, roughly 41,000 plug-in cars had been sold in the U.S. That number would need to be closer to last year's total of 53,000 to keep sales on pace to double the 2012 total...

Mercedes-Benz is set to launch a plug-in hybrid version of its flagship S Class at this September's Frankfurt Auto Show. Previously available with hybrid and diesel variants in selected markets, the new plug-in hybrid--called the S 500 Plug-In Hybrid--will be the greenest S Class yet. Autocar...