Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV)

  • 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf

    Oh, those crafty Germans. Just a few days after the week-long media launch of the 2017 Hyundai Ioniq range, Volkswagen has quietly one-upped the Ioniq Electric's 124-mile EPA-rated range. Granted, it's only beaten the South Korean electric car by 1 mile. But still. DON'T MISS: Hyundai Ioniq Electric beats Prius Prime, BMW i3 on energy efficiency According to a press release issued yesterday by Volkswagen of America, the 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf electric car has received a combined EPA range rating of 125 miles. That's due to the larger-capacity battery pack fitted for the electric Golf's third...

  • Tesla Model 3 design prototype  -  reveal event  -  March 2016
    Tesla Model 3 timing confirmed: first cars in July, 5K a week by next year

    Tesla Motors confirmed today that it expected to start production of its crucial Model 3 electric car in July, and claims that it will boost production to 5,000 cars a week by the end of this year. The news was contained in Tesla's latest letter to its shareholders, and it started with the third...

  • 2015 Nissan Leaf in front of Prudential and Hancock Towers, Boston [photo: John Briggs]
    2015 Nissan Leaf: one year later, owner offers pros and cons

    Sometimes being a revolutionary requires a lot of personal sacrifice, and sometimes it doesn’t. After one year of driving of a 2015 Nissan Leaf electric car, I was surprised to find that daily driving with a gasoline car requires more sacrifice than with my electric. Like most people, before...

  • Volkswagen ID Neo concept, 2016 Paris auto show
    Volkswagen e-Golf to end when ID electric hatchback launches?

    The Volkswagen e-Golf will arrive in dealerships this spring with a higher-capacity battery pack that gives the electric car an EPA-rated 124 miles of range. The number equals the rating of the 2017 Hyundai Ioniq, and is the highest range offered by any electric car that's not a Chevy Bolt EV or a...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car in Maven car-sharing fleet, Los Angeles [photo: Dan MacMedan fo
    GM's Maven car-sharing adds Chevy Bolt EV electric cars (in LA)

    With the 238-mile Chevy Bolt EV electric car now in its third month of sales and rolling out to additional states every month, the industry is focused on its sales numbers. Retail buyers have asked to what degree GM's plans to dedicate a number of the early Bolt EVs to its Maven car-sharing service...

  • 2017 Kia Niro, San Antonio, Texas, Dec 2016
    All-electric Kia Niro EV to come in 2018, says Kia exec (updated)

    South Korean carmakers Hyundai and Kia often share the underpinnings of their vehicles, though there's no "badge engineering" and the two brands compete in the marketplace. The recent Kia Niro hybrid wagon and the Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid hatchback, for instance, share the same powertrain, platform...

  • 2017 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive - first drive, Miami, Nov 2016   [photo: Jeff Jablansky]

    When the tiny Smart ForTwo launched in the U.S. a decade ago, it got a huge boost in sales from both novelty and soaring gas prices. While its EPA ratings never approached those of the larger Toyota Prius hybrid, the little two-seater found buyers who liked its cheeky character and the ease of parking a car less than 9 feet long. Its first-year sales of 24,000 proved to be its high point, however. DON'T MISS: 2017 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive: first drive of electric two-seat car Last year, only 6,200 Smarts were sold, despite an all-new model that represented the first clean-sheet design for...

  • Section of 2018 Nissan Leaf spy shot  [image via S. Baldauf/SB-Medien, as used on Motor Authority]
    2018 Nissan Leaf spy shots: our question on electric car update

    It's the long-missing member of the trio, the last of three affordable electric cars with 200-plus miles of range expected to go into production this year. But until now, we've heard almost nothing about the 2018 Nissan Leaf. All we knew was that the second generation of the world's highest-volume...

  • 2016 BYD Tang plug-in hybrid SUV, made in China
    China's BYD built more plug-in cars than any other maker last year

    Time for a quick quiz: which carmaker sold more plug-in electric vehicles last year—both battery electrics and plug-in hybrids—than any other? If you're a reader in North America or Europe who managed to miss our headline, odds are you may answer "Tesla" or "Nissan," based on media...

  • Tesla Model 3 Driving on a Public Road
    Pilot production of Tesla Model 3 to start Feb 20: report

    Tesla said yesterday it would shut down its production lines for one week this month to prepare for the launch of its upcoming Model 3 electric sedan. The Silicon Valley carmaker said the "brief, planned pause" was to add paint-shop capacity and do general maintenance at its assembly plant in...

  • John and Mimi Porter of San Diego, California, with their new 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, in Feb 2017
    2017 Chevy Bolt EV electric car: new owner's first impressions

    As the first mass-priced electric car with more than 200 miles of range to hit the market, the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV has attracted a great deal of attention. It's won numerous awards, including the Green Car Reports 2017 Best Car To Buy title, and received rave reviews from a wide variety of media...

  • Opel Ampera-e
    Strong demand for Opel Ampera-e in Norway moves up launch date

    Just as the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car is launching in North America, its European cousin is beginning deliveries across the Atlantic. In Europe, General Motors markets the U.S.-built Bolt EV as virtually identical Opel Ampera-e under its German Opel brand. An example of what is known in...

  • Bill Nye in new 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, Jan 2017 [photo: Oskar Liners, Community Chevrolet, Burbank]

    Bill Nye, better known as "The Science Guy" on the popular PBS children's series that bears his name, loves electric cars. He drove one of only a few hundred original GM EV1 two-seat electric cars almost 20 years ago. Three weeks ago, he took delivery of a brand-new "Kinetic Blue" 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV—and he says he couldn't be happier with it. DON'T MISS: Chevrolet Bolt EV: Green Car Reports' Best Car To Buy 2017 We spoke to Nye this week about his new electric car, which follows not only the EV1 but also a Mini E, a BMW i3, a Ford Focus Electric, a Nissan Leaf, and a Volkswagen...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, road test, California coastline, Sep 2016
    Plug-in electric car sales for Jan: Bolt EV over 1,100 in second month

    While the auto industry at large waited to see if January sales continued as strong as last year's record-breaking total, electric-car fans waited for a different number. That was the number of Chevrolet Bolt EVs sold last month, the car's first full month on sale, albeit in a small number of...

  • Tesla Model 3 design prototype  -  reveal event  -  March 2016
    How many Tesla Model 3 electric cars can company build this year?

    It's one of the most fascinating sets of questions in the auto industry. How quickly can Tesla Motors put its Model 3 electric car into production? And when? How many cars can it build this year? How many can it deliver to paying customers? At a promised starting price of $35,000, the Model 3 is...

  • U.S. hybrid vehicle market: total sales and market share, 2000-2016   [source: PIRA Energy Group]
    Hybrid market share peaked in 2013, down since then

    What's a "green car"? Is it a hybrid? A zero-emission vehicle? One that plugs in? Or just one that uses less fuel than other cars in its segment? It's a perpetual conundrum, for Green Car Reports among others, but it illustrates one of the longstanding challenges in the field. Will the market for...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV
    How to figure out if your local Chevy dealer carries the Bolt EV electric car

    The first few Chevrolet Bolt EV electric cars were delivered in California's Silicon Valley more than a month ago, marking the start of what will be a nationwide rollout. Electric-car advocates and buyers outside the Golden State are eager to know exactly when the 238-mile electric hatchback will...

  • Nissan Sway Concept  -  2015 Geneva Motor Show live photos
    2018 Nissan Leaf: what we know so far about next electric car (updated)

    The Nissan Leaf is by far the highest-volume electric car ever sold, with total sales now having passed 250,000 units. First launched in 2011, the Leaf got some updates for the 2013 model when production for North American sales moved from Oppama, Japan, to Smyrna, Tennessee. It got a battery...

  • 2017 Nissan Leaf

    It's a hot topic whenever anyone mentions electric cars: pricing. Many electric cars are more expensive than their regular counterparts, though in general they cost far less to run on a per-mile basis. But what do today's electric and plug-in cars actually cost? We've gathered the relevant data for each battery-electric car on sale today, and presented it to you in one place. Every vehicle here shows the manufacturer's suggested retail price, plus any mandatory destination and handling fees. The prices do not include any local or federal tax incentives or rebates—so many cars here may...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, road test, California coastline, Sep 2016
    When can I buy a Chevy Bolt EV electric car? See state-by-state schedule

    Last month, the first Chevrolet Bolt EV electric cars were sold in California's Silicon Valley. Electric-car advocates and buyers across the U.S. now want to know when they too can expect to take delivery of their 238-mile electric hatchbacks. And as numerous comments and e-mails from readers...

  • 2017 Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid Platinum Edition
    Plug-in Electric Car Sales in Canada, Dec 2016: cresting Everest

    While still just shy of the 30,000 vehicle milestone, cumulative Canadian plug-in electric vehicle sales likely finished 2016 high enough to scale Mount Everest (elevation in feet: 29,029). While the full 2016 milestone is unlikely to be reached by January 11—birthday of Sir John A...

  • Volkswagen ID Buzz concept, 2017 Detroit auto show
    VW ID Buzz concept: all-electric Microbus could arrive in 2022

    If you pronounce the word "buzz" with a German accent, it sounds like "bus"—which is almost surely why VW's second all-electric concept vehicle is called the Volkswagen ID Buzz. It's the latest in a series of concept studies for a modern-day Microbus, with stylistic nods to the classic Type 2...

  • 2017 Ford Escape SE 4WD Grille
    Ford's 13 'electrified' cars are all hybrids, plug-ins, or electric after all

    In recent years, Ford has acquired a bit of a reputation for opacity in its dealings with the media. One example was its promise in December 2015 that it would introduce 13 new "electrified" vehicles by 2020. Ford didn't specify what those were, or what the term meant, leading to widespread...

  • 2017 Fiat 500e
    Deal of the year? Used Fiat 500e electric cars at $6,500?

    It's well known by now that the used-car prices of low-range electric cars are low. Any 2011 through 2016 electric car not made by Tesla is likely to be cheap on a used-car lot due to worries about battery degradation and its effect on range. Used Nissan Leafs, for instance, can often be found for...

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