Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV)

Electric-car buyers have eagerly waited for the 2016 Nissan Leaf, whose SV and SL models now offer a higher range, rated by the EPA at 107 miles. That's up from the 84 miles of last year's Leaf, and so we eagerly accepted a short-term loan of a new 2016 Leaf SL to test the car ourselves. The bottom...

With 2016 about to arrive, BMW is by far the most advanced of the three German automakers in selling battery-electric cars. All three makers plan to offer plug-in hybrid versions of most of their lineups by 2020, but BMW has been selling its all-electric i3 five-door hatchback for more than two...

It's been clear for a couple of years now that the German luxury makers feel they need competitive responses to the startling emergence of electric-car maker Tesla Motors. One by one, the concept vehicles--and production plans--have appeared, first the Audi e-Tron Quattro Concept and most recently...

One of the biggest challenges in designing a battery-electric car is how to configure its large battery pack. The BMW i3, Nissan Leaf, and Tesla Model S all have flat battery packs under their cabin floors, but they are purpose-built electric cars without gasoline equivalents. Now Volkswagen says...

When it was launched for 2012, the Ford Focus Electric hatchback was more or less competitive at 76 miles of range. Its major competitor, the Nissan Leaf, had 73 miles of range (increased for 2013 and later years to 84 miles). But times have changed, and in the face of increased electric range from...

Sales of plug-in electric cars generally fall off a bit as the weather gets colder, and it's the same this year, with November sales slightly down on those of October. The new 2016 Chevrolet Volt continued strong, even though it's on sale only in California and a few other states, but weakness in...

As rumored about a month ago, Hyundai has chosen the model name Ioniq for its upcoming five-door hatchback, whose lineup will include hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery-electric versions. The news came via a press release from the U.K. arm of Hyundai; at the time this article was published...

It's official now: Porsche will put its striking and all-electric Mission E concept car into production within three to five years. One of the hits of the Frankfurt Motor Show held in September, the low, sleek, four-door Mission E concept represented Porsche's take on an all-electric luxury sport...

Will the next-generation 2018 Nissan Leaf offer an option that could provide 200 miles or more of real-world driving range? Based on the concept car and prototype battery pack that officially bowed this past week, coinciding with the Tokyo Motor Show, it’s increasingly likely. Nissan’s...

When General Motors CEO Mary Barra unveiled the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV concept last January at the Detroit Auto Show, the 200-mile electric car was a shock to the industry. But equally startling was the launch schedule that emerged over the following months: The Bolt EV is to go into production...

The 2016 Nissan Leaf electric car will offer a choice of two different battery sizes, with a new larger 30-kilowatt-hour pack giving an EPA-rated range of 107 miles on the mid-level SV model and the top SL trim level. The new 107-mile Leaf models will cost $35,050 for the Leaf SV (up from $32,950...

With the Labor Day holiday imminent--falling well into September this year--industry analysts have expected U.S. new-car sales for August to be less buoyant than they might otherwise be. But in the lower-volume world of plug-in electric cars, model cycles remain the driving factor. The...

With hundreds of thousands of plug-in electric cars from established automakers (and Tesla) on North American roads, most earlier startup carmakers have now largely faded away. One is Wheego Electric Cars, which took the same approach as Coda: Adapt a Chinese-built vehicle with a battery pack and...

Hyundai's ambitious plans to offer more green cars than any other maker except Toyota may have tilted slightly toward electric cars. At least, that is, if a tip from a source close to the company is to be believed. According to the report, Hyundai has decided that it will offer an all-electric "AE"...

There are lots of very good plug-in electric cars for sale now, and quite a few of them--especially Nissan Leafs--are starting to show up on used-car lots as three-year leases expire. We recently suggested some used hybrid-electric vehicles to avoid on the used-car lot. Now we turn to electric...

Electric car sales may be flat this year. Heading into 2016, only a handful of new vehicles are likely to move the needle much. The long-awaited, multiply-delayed Tesla Model X all-electric SUV should finally go into volume production next year, presumably giving Tesla Motors a major sales boost...

A Ford survey finds that roughly nine out of 10 electric-car drivers will stay with plug-in cars.

While May was a good month for sales of plug-in electric cars, the numbers sagged in June--and they appear to be doing the same for July. Last month's sales data has now arrived, and it looks like the lack of new and exciting plug-in vehicles, plus buyers' continuing infatuation with SUVs, have...

The first Toyota Prius came to market in the U.S. in 2000, but it wasn't until 2012 that the single hybrid model expanded into a family of four different cars. Now it appears that the same could happen--somewhere down the road--to the Nissan Leaf, although not until after a second-generation Leaf...

It's one of the great frustrations for journalists in reporting on electric cars: Tesla Motors refuses to release its monthly deliveries of cars, unlike every other legitimate automaker. The company now gives a global sales total every quarter, but that doesn't help in adding accurate U.S. sales...