Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV)
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In March, we spent most of a day with the Honda Clarity Fuel Cell, the first of three variants of the Clarity mid-size sedan to go on sale in the U.S. Leases of the hydrogen-powered Clarity will be limited for the foreseeable future to residents of those areas of California near to hydrogen fueling stations, but two more versions are on their way. The 2017 Honda Clarity Electric, a battery-powered sedan with an expected EPA range of 89 miles, will join the U.S. lineup within several weeks—"it's right around the corner," we were told—and a plug-in hybrid version will arrive very...
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Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, May 2017: what dominance looks like
As certain as LeBron James reaching the NBA Finals, the Chevy Volt led the Canadian plug-in electric vehicle market in May. Barring a sales collapse in June, it will have led the category for a remarkable two-thirds of the months (48 of 72) in which electric vehicles from major carmakers have been...
Matthew Klippenstein -
Plug-in electric car sales for May: best Bolt EV, Prime months yet; Leaf, Volt rise too (final update)
Sales of four high-volume plug-in electric cars rose last month, with new monthly record for the Chevy Bolt EV and the Toyota Prius Prime. The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV 238-mile battery-electric hatchback logged its highest monthly total since sales began in December. Chevrolet delivered 1,566 Bolt...
John Voelcker -
Latest Popemobile is Opel Ampera-e electric car made in Michigan
All sorts of vehicles have been pressed into service to carry Popes, from simple Fiats to giant Mercedes-Benz luxury landaulets. Francis, the current Pope, has a preference for small, simple, environmentally friendly cars—and largely does without the bulletproof glass enclosures found in some...
John Voelcker -
Why Havelaar founder wanted an electric pickup truck: Japan's disaster
A Canadian company by the name of Havelaar has tossed its hat into the electric pickup-truck ring with the reveal of its purpose-built Bison pickup. The launch underscores the potential many companies are trying to tap as the market for electric vehicles of various types continues to grow, slowly...
Sean Szymkowski -
Hyundai Ioniq Electric: what happens when battery is run down to the end?
One owner has now run his 2017 Hyundai Ioniq Electric's battery down all the way to "empty" so other owners know what to expect. The Ioniq Electric is EPA-rated at 124 miles of range from the 28-kwh battery pack that powers an 88-kilowatt (118-horsepower) electric motor. The driver in the video...
Sean Szymkowski -
A few years ago, before the Tesla Model X electric SUV went into production, company CEO Elon Musk said he thought it could outsell the older Model S hatchback luxury sedan. That hasn't happened. In the first three months of this year, Tesla said it delivered 11,550 Model Xes—but 13,450 Model Ses. DON'T MISS: 2016 Tesla Model X first drive review The last quarter of 2016 had similar numbers: 9,500 for the Model X versus 12,700 for the Model S. The big electric crossover utility vehicle, in fact, now appears to make up only about 40 percent of the company's total production and sales. In...
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Will VW Group's electric cars "leapfrog" Tesla by 2025? Poll results
Looking back from the 2020s or 2030s, it's entirely likely that the unexpected arrival of Tesla Motors was a major force—along with legislation, perhaps the major force—in getting legacy automakers to produce electric cars. Competition has always spurred innovation, and German makers in...
John Voelcker -
If BMW i5 is canceled, what does that mean for its electric cars?
When it launched in 2013, the BMW i3 electric car was arguably the most futuristic automobile in mass production anywhere in the world. Its all-electric powertrain could be ordered with an optional range-extending engine, and it rode on an aluminum chassis topped with a strong but lightweight body...
John Voelcker -
2017 Chevy Bolt EV electric car at 6 months: owner's likes, recommendations
The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV is the first mass-priced electric car with a range of more than 200 miles, and it's already had a big impact on the California market. While it continues to trickle into dealerships in other states, a few lucky Californians now have six months in the 238-mile electric...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Supercharging: happy days are here again (charge rate unchanged, still free for me)
Last week, I was in a bit of a Tesla funk. That’s not normal; my four-plus years of Tesla Model S ownership have been a mostly giddy ride, with the few bumps minor and temporary. But last week I was facing the prospect of two long-term permanent downgrades to my personal Tesla World, both...
David Noland -
Tesla Model 3 acceleration found in chart on Model S advantages
Electric-car maker Tesla doesn't announce models in the usual fashion. It trickles out bits and pieces of information, often in the form of tweets from CEO Elon Musk, punctuated by occasional large flashy debut events for owners and investors at which a vehicle is revealed. That's the pattern...
John Voelcker -
This week, my 2014 i3 REx turned three years old; I picked it up on May 21, 2014. For the most part I’ve been very pleased with the car. It’s definitely not perfect, but then again no car is. It has fit my needs and driving demands perfectly and I only needed to drive on the range extender for about 2,700 of the 71,000 miles that I've driven the car. When the i3 first launched, I was disappointed that the EPA range for the BEV was only 81 miles per charge. I had really expected BMW to deliver the i3 with 100 miles of range right from the start. DON'T MISS: 2014 BMW i3 REx...
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Nissan electric SUV to be shown as concept car this year
The 2018 Nissan Leaf may be the brand's next electric vehicle to soak up attention, but several reports have indicated that Nissan plans to flesh out its lineup with an electric crossover. That all-electric SUV will likely be previewed with a Vmotion 3.0 concept, which will follow the Vmotion 2.0...
Sean Szymkowski -
Video shoot shows Jaguar I-Pace electric SUV in production form
The British luxury brand Jaguar, far smaller than any of its three German competitors, may be looking to steal a march on all of them. While Audi revealed a concept version of its forthcoming e-tron all-electric SUV 18 months ago, and Mercedes-Benz followed with its EQ Concept last September, the...
John Voelcker -
Subaru plans for all-electric versions of existing model lines
It's now clear that every automaker, no matter how large or small, will have to develop and sell battery-electric vehicles by 2020 to 2025. Companies like GM and Volkswagen, which each make 10 million cars a year, can afford the breathtaking costs of developing expertise and engineering cars with...
John Voelcker -
Chevy Bolt EV costs $28,700 to build, Tesla Model 3 a bit higher: analysis
The costs and prices of electric cars are endlessly debated, not only among owners and advocates but within the industry itself. The cost per kilowatt-hour of electric-car batteries is closely held, with a few notable exceptions. One of those was the statement by GM product chief Mark Reuss that...
John Voelcker -
Volvo's current diesels may be its last: CEO
Diesel has had an increasing rough ride during the current decade—scandals, emission crackdowns, a push for electric vehicles—and it's becoming clear that some automakers are reaching their limits. That includes Volvo, whose chief executive officer has declared its newest generation of...
Sean Szymkowski -
Sometime within the next few months, the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car will be unveiled to the world's media. The second generation of a pioneering plug-in vehicle that launched affordable all-electric cars on the global market. It's been a long time coming. DON'T MISS: 2018 Nissan Leaf: more spy shots of electric car's second generation The first-generation Leaf had a traditional seven-year model cycle, from 2011 through 2017, with some running updates in 2013 and a battery with 25 percent more capacity in 2016. That contrasts to the five-year cycle for the first-generation Chevrolet Volt...
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Hyundai Ioniqs: pitting hybrid vs electric on video
Road trips have been a staple of automobile culture for decades, but with the rise of electric vehicles, charging infrastructure has thrown them a curve ball. Unlike gasoline-powered vehicles, which can refuel almost anywhere in a populated area, electric vehicles require a little more planning to...
Sean Szymkowski -
Shift to electric cars will cost money, may lack excitement: Toyota CEO
Every automaker is now working on one or many electric cars, but some are at the head of the pack and others lag behind. General Motors already sells the 238-mile Chevrolet Bolt EV, and Volkswagen has firm plans for multiple electric cars by 2020 and as many as 30 by 2025. That leaves Toyota, the...
John Voelcker -
British magazine gets ride in all-electric Mercedes EQ Concept
Mercedes-Benz has big plans for electric vehicles in the future, but its main nod to what those plans will bring thus far is the EQ Concept. Shown at the Paris Motor Show last year, the vehicle represents a conceptual version of the first of many electric vehicles to come from the Germany luxury...
Sean Szymkowski -
Assessing the Honda Clarity range: how electric cars fit in, and why
The 2017 Honda Clarity Fuel Cell is the only model of Honda's newest sedan presently on sale, though an all-electric version will arrive later this year. The hydrogen-powered mid-size sedan with a rated 366 miles of range is the one that's gotten by far the most publicity from Honda, as its...
John Voelcker -
Tesla faces battle over direct sales to buyers in Connecticut
Another month, another Tesla battle with auto-dealer lobbyists in another state—or so it seems in the company's ongoing battle to sell electric cars online directly to buyers. This time, the action is in Connecticut, where on Monday the legislature's finance committee approved a bill letting...
John Voelcker