Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV)

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3

    Much of the electric-car world is waiting to see how quickly production of the Tesla Model 3 will ramp up over the balance of this year. Will it reach the remarkable level of 5,000 cars per week by December 31 that CEO Elon Musk has set as a goal? Analysts and industry commentators are skeptical, owners and advocates are hopeful, and now at least 30 Model 3s are in owners' hands. Stay tuned. DON'T MISS: Does Tesla Model 3 compete with Bolt EV and Leaf, or BMW 3-Series? With at least some Model 3s coming out of the assembly plant in Fremont, California, a longer-term question rises to the...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV
    Chevy Bolt EV: looking at electric car's long-term challenges

    The electric car that became the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV reset industry norms overnight when it was unveiled as a concept car at the 2015 Detroit auto show. The most important parts wasn't the car's shape, or its interior space, or hatchback configuration: it was the combination of price (below...

  • Fisker EMotion
    Fisker EMotion electric luxury sedan to be shown at CES in January

    Henrik Fisker, legendary automotive designer and the man behind the now-defunct Fisker Automotive company, is getting ready for his grand return to the industry. Spearheading the return will be the Fisker EMotion, which will arrive from the designer's new company, Fisker Inc. Although we only have...

  • Kirk Bell and John Voelcker in Volkswagen ID Buzz electric Microbus concept vehicle
    Volkswagen ID Buzz drive: electric VW bus offers unique EV concept

    When you see a concept car drive onto the stage at an auto show, don't be fooled into thinking it's what you'll drive out of the dealer a couple of years later. We got to drive the Volkswagen ID Buzz all-electric Microbus concept car Saturday for a couple of miles along the oceanside road outside...

  • Volkswagen ID Buzz Concept
    Volkswagen to build ID Buzz electric Microbus, cargo vans too, on sale in 2022

    The Volkswagen ID Buzz concept, an all-electric reinterpretation of the iconic VW Microbus, generated huge enthusiasm and public crowds when it debuted in January at the Detroit auto show. Today, the company announced its board had officially approved production of the vehicle, a distinctive entry...

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3 "first production" car, in photo tweeted by Elon Musk on July 9, 2017
    Tesla Model 3: do design features point to self-driving car-sharing service?

    The Tesla Model 3 continues to generate an inordinate amount of interest from electric-car advocates and the general public, as pretty much any Tesla model has in the past. But unlike the Model S in 2012, which broke new ground on multiple fronts, the lower-priced Model 3 appears to be less...

  • Tesla factory, Fremont, California

    Electric-car maker Tesla is at a pivotal time in the 13-year-old company's history as production of its mass-market Model 3 ramps up and ambitious plans to roll out additional vehicles loom. Coinciding with the production start of the Tesla Model 3 are plans for a major expansion the Silicon Valley automaker's assembly plant in Fremont, California. If all goes according to plan, the facility would double in size from its current proportions and would be a major factor in Tesla's efforts to increase production of its lower-priced electric cars. DON'T MISS: 2017 Tesla Model 3 prices, features...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV Premier and 2017 BMW i3 electric car, Aug 2017        [photo: Tom Moloughney]
    Chevy Bolt EV reviewed by BMW i3 driver: electric cars compared

    Owners of specific electric cars sometimes tend to become boosters and fans for their particular EV as well as plugging in to drive in general. So it was with Tom Moloughney, whose purchase of the very first 2014 BMW i3 REx range-extended electric car in the U.S. he wrote about for us three years...

  • 2017 Hyundai Ioniq Electric - frame from video road test
    Hyundai-Kia: eight electric cars by 2022, dedicated EV platform

    It's long been said in the auto industry that Hyundai-Kia is the only competitor that truly scares industry colossus Toyota. Thirty years ago, the Korean company was a bit player, producing designs adapted from obsolete Mitsubishi technology. Today it's a major global player, reacting fast to...

  • 2017 Renault Zoe
    European electric and plug-in hybrid sales for Jan-June 2017

    The numbers are in, which means it's once again time take a look at European electric and plug-in hybrid sales. Delivery and registration data is compiled from January through June of 2017, and once more, it remains clear Europe has a favorite electric car. The Renault Zoe walks away with an even...

  • ebee streelight charging station
    Gas stations aren't a model for electric-car charging: ChargePoint CEO

    For more than a century, motorists have been accustomed to gas stations, which provide places to stop and fill up a car with fuel, in recent years with larger and larger convenience stores attached. The model is so commonplace, it may mean drivers don't know electric-car charging stations even...

  • 2017 Nissan Leaf
    San Diego utility offers $10,000 off Nissan Leaf, BMW i3 electric cars

    For southern California residents, it's an excellent time to start considering the purchase of a BMW i3 or Nissan Leaf electric car. San Diego Gas & Electric has joined a host of other utility companies in the state in offering incentives towards the purchase of an i3 or a Leaf. In total, the...

  • Audi e-tron Sportback concept, 2017 Shanghai auto show

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the country's leader, has detailed why she believes electric-car quotas are not a viable answer to emission and other issues plaguing Europe. Merkel, a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union, instead urged a much bigger-picture strategy, rather than a demand that more Europeans simply move to electric cars. She also urged German automakers to innovate more effectively, and called for new trust to be re-established between carmakers and regulator following diesel emission scandals globally. DON'T MISS: German government worries carmakers...

  • 2018 BMW 3-Series
    Does Tesla Model 3 compete with Bolt EV and Leaf, or BMW 3-Series?

    There's a new generation of the BMW 3-Series sport sedan coming next year, and rumors suggest there will be an all-electric version in 2019 or 2020. If so, there's only one car that it would be targeting: the Tesla Model 3, the 220-mile or 310-mile electric sedan from the Silicon Valley carmaker...

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3 and 2011 Nissan Leaf, Half Moon Bay, California, Aug 2017  [photo: Scott Forrest]
    Is the Tesla Model 3 really 'Car 2.0'? Maybe not: here's why

    Like the company's three previous electric cars, the Tesla Model 3 launched into production with a splashy media event during which owners received the keys to their new cars and the company's fans applauded. Like the Model S and Model X, production is starting at very low rates, with the rate of...

  • Baojun E100 electric car
    Baojun E100: GM's tiny, two-seat electric car for China

    Most North Americans and Europeans will likely never have heard of Baojun, but it's one of many brands operated under General Motors' SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture in China. Its portfolio is mostly made up of small sedans, multi-purpose vehicles (small minivans), hatchbacks, and a crossover utility...

  • MINI E electric cars used in vehicle-to-grid test. Photo by University of Delaware/Evan Krape
    All-electric Mini E for 2019 to appear at Frankfurt show in concept form

    The first Mini E, cobbled together by putting a battery pack where the rear seat used to be, was BMW's very first attempt at building a modern electric car. Only a few hundred were built, back in 2009, but the quick project gave the German company real-world experience on how electric-car drivers...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV vs Lunar Rover
    Electric cars after 46 years: Chevy Bolt EV vs lunar rover

    President John F. Kennedy challenged the United States to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, and the country's space agency met his challenge with five months to go. However, in 1971, NASA sent a remarkable piece of equipment into space with astronauts—the Lunar Rover—which...

  • Nick Heidfeld in a Mahindra M4Electric Formula E race car at the 2017 Goodwood Festival of Speed

    Three years ago, an all-new motor racing series began. Called Formula E, the series pits battery-electric race cars from teams around the world in competition on circuits in the heart of some of the world's most iconic cities. The third season has just wound up, and the list of carmakers fielding electric-car race teams is growing: Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche among them. DON'T MISS: Mercedes, Porsche to join Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Renault in Formula E racing Interest among racing fans seems to be growing, and the series has clearly attracted new followers—including...

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3, in photo tweeted by Elon Musk on July 9, 2017
    Tesla Model 3 won't be delivered in Michigan to buyers; lawsuit grinds on

    An ongoing lawsuit continues to complicate life for potential buyers of the Tesla Model 3, and the automaker's other electric cars, who live in Michigan. Tesla and the state remain locked in a legal battle over the state's franchise law, which requires automakers to sell vehicles only via an...

  • Tour of Tesla battery gigafactory for invited owners, Reno, Nevada, July 2016
    Tesla Model 3 battery cells will turn a profit for Panasonic by next year

    Relatively few people focus on it, but the huge Japanese electronics company Panasonic is a minority shareholder in electric-car maker Tesla. The deal dates all the way back to November 2010, the same year that Tesla completed its initial public offering after Toyota took a stake in the company and...

  • Teaser for Tesla semi truck debuting in September
    Tesla semi truck to test self-driving, capable of 'platooning': report

    With Tesla, there's always something new coming up to keep owners, buyers, and fans excited. The company's main task over the next year is to get its lower-priced Model 3 electric car into volume assembly at high quality, a process CEO Elon Musk has called "production hell." But there's more to...

  • 2017 Tesla Model 3, in photo tweeted by Elon Musk on July 9, 2017
    Tesla Model 3 Performance version coming, after 'production hell' ends

    Now that the Tesla Model 3 has officially entered production, the electric-car maker's main goal will be to ensure the manufacturing process ramps up smoothly. With 1,800 new reservations reportedly placed each day for the affordable electric sedan, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to confirm...

  • 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf
    Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, July 2017: Golf season

    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...

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