Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV)

  • 2014 BMW i3 (German-market version), Amsterdam, Oct 2013

    One of the notable features of last year's electric-car sales was the strong, and so far sustained, sales of the radical new BMW i3 electric car. The little plastic-bodied battery-electric vehicle from Munich, with its odd coach doors and its rear electric motor, sold more than 1,000 cars a month in four of the eight months last year it was on sale. DON'T MISS: BMW i Electric Car Sales Surge For 2014; More To Come, Company Says The total of 6,024 i3s delivered put BMW's first electric car in sixth place among the 21 plug-in vehicles on sale in the U.S. Among battery-electrics, it won third...

  • Chevrolet Bolt EV concept, 2015 Detroit Auto Show
    Should GM Name Its Bolt Electric Car The 2017 Chevrolet EV2?

    Without a doubt, Chevrolet dominated the news in plug-in electric cars at the recent Detroit Auto Show. It unveiled not only the new 2016 Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid, but also a concept that showed what a 2018 battery-electric hatchback with a 200-mile range might look like. The subcompact concept...

  • Chevrolet Spark EV at CCS fast charging station in San Diego.
    2015 Chevrolet Spark EV To Go On Sale In Maryland This Spring

    General Motors said today that it will begin selling its 2015 Chevrolet Spark EV in the state of Maryland this spring, the first East Coast state in which the electric minicar will be available. The Spark EV has a connection to the state: Both its 105-kilowatt (140-horsepower) electric motor and...

  • Tesla Model S 85D, 2015 Detroit Auto Show
    How Many Tesla Model S Electric Cars Have Been Built So Far?

    While Tesla likely won't reveal last year's total production of Model S electric cars until it releases year-end financial results, it has said it expected to build 33,000 during 2014. And with the Model S in production for more than two and a half years, clearly there are tens of thousands of them...

  • BMW i3 at DC fast-charging station
    BMW i Electric Car Sales Surge For 2014; More To Come, Company Says

    Introduced in Germany late in 2013, and on sale in North America starting last May, the BMW i3 electric car has produced sales figures higher than some analysts expected. Now the carmaker has said that it sold more than 16,000 i3s during calendar 2014, putting the little electric minicar among the...

  • Tesla Model S P85D, 2015 Detroit Auto Show
    2015 Tesla Model S P85D: 2015 Detroit Auto Show Live Photos

    Tesla Motors has shown off its Model S electric luxury sport sedan at the Detroit Auto Show since 2011. This year, its stand included both its newest and highest-performance version of the Model S--the P85D--and the standard S85D model, featuring all-wheel drive without the high-performance...

  • Honda Fit EV shown at Los Angeles Auto Show, Nov 2011

    Honda had no new products to unveil at this year's Detroit Auto Show, although it did show its hydrogen fuel-cell powered Honda FCV Concept car for the first time in North America. The company announced, however, that it would produce two all-new plug-in vehicles by 2018: one battery-electric car and one plug-in hybrid. DON'T MISS: 2013 Honda Fit EV: Video From First Drive Of All-Electric Car (Jul 2012) Frustratingly, however, that was absolutely all the company was willing to say. "What we're not sharing is anything else" about either of those vehicles, said Robert Bienenfeld, Honda North...

  • Chevrolet Bolt EV concept, 2015 Detroit Auto Show
    Chevrolet Bolt Concept: 200-Mile, $37,500 Electric Car Concept (Live Video & Photos)

    General Motors CEO Mary Barra had hoped to have a Steve Jobs moment this morning, but news about the Chevrolet Bolt Concept for a 200-mile electric car leaked late Friday night. Still, with no advance information, the Bolt Concept was both a surprise to open the Detroit Auto Show and a bold...

  • 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV  -  First Drive, Portland, July 2013
    Why 'Bolt' Is A Really Terrible Name For Chevy's Electric Car

    Monday morning, General Motors CEO Mary Barra is expected to unveil a new battery-electric concept car at the Detroit Auto Show. It's the first look at a future production vehicle with a projected 200 miles of electric range, at a price said to be around $30,000. Assuming the leaked stories are...

  • 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV  -  First Drive, Portland, July 2013
    BREAKING: Chevrolet 'Bolt' Concept 200-Mile Electric Car To Target Tesla: UPDATED

    On Monday, General Motors will unveil a concept version of a $30,000 battery-electric vehicle with 200 miles of electric range that will arrive on the market before the planned Tesla Model 3, according to reports. Called the Chevrolet Bolt, the concept is a compact five-door hatchback that uses...

  • BMW i3 body shell
    BMW i3 Electric Car Teardown: Profitable At 20,000 Units, Says Engineer (Video)

    Engineers disassemble a BMW i3 electric car.

  • 2015 Nissan Leaf
    Nissan Leaf Sets New Annual Record For U.S. Electric Car Sales

    The Nissan Leaf, which has long been the world's best-selling electric car, has added another laurel to its crown. With December sales of 3,102 units, total Leaf sales in the U.S. for 2014 totaled 30,200 last year--a new yearly record for any plug-in electric vehicle in the country. Since it first...

  • National Drive Electric Week 2014: Atlanta. Photo by Michael Beinenson.

    Over the last two years, the metropolitan Atlanta area has become one of the single best sales regions for the Nissan Leaf electric car. That's due to a $5,000 Georgia state tax credit for the purchase of a battery-electric vehicle, which can be used to cut state income-tax liability over one, two, or three years. The electric-car incentive has been under political attack for a couple of years now. DON'T MISS: Will Georgia's $5,000 Electric-Car Tax Credit Be Axed In 2015? (Jun 2014) The fate of that tax credit--whether it survives untouched, is altered, or is killed altogether--could have a...

  • 2014 Tesla Model S P85D, road test, Dec 2014  [photo: David Noland]
    2014 Tesla Model S P85D: First Drive Of All-Electric AWD Performance Sedan

    As a long-time Tesla Model S owner—almost two years now—I was naturally eager to get behind the wheel of the new dual-motor P85D. I’d had a couple of brief stints in 416-hp P85 loaners while my standard S85 was in for service. Those had been exhilarating enough, almost scary. What...

  • Disassembled Nissan Leaf components on a pegboard.
    Nissan Leaf Electric Car Disembowled, Displayed On Pegboard (Video)

    See what's inside a Nissan Leaf electric car.

  • Tesla Model X prototype in Culver City, California [photo by Instagram user jmtibs]
    Want An Electric Car That Can Tow? That's The Tesla Model X

    The Tesla Model X will be available with an optional towing hitch.

  • 2014 Tesla Model S owned by Tom + Jeff of Palm Springs, California
    The Passion Of The Tesla: One Owner's (Unprompted) Paean

    People who buy new cars generally like and enjoy them during the first months or years of ownership. Many Tesla owners, however, seem to love their cars with a deep, abiding, even overwhelming passion. This is one such story. A longtime personal friend and his partner recently acquired a 2014 Tesla...

  • 2015 Toyota Prius V
    Are Hybrids Being Supplanted By Electric, Plug-In Hybrid Cars?

    Late in October, an interesting thing happened in Germany: Audi quietly killed off the hybrid version of its A6 luxury sedan. The model had been around for three years, and though it was initially expected to be sold in the U.S., that never actually happened. DON'T MISS: Californians Now Buy A...

  • 2015 Kia Soul EV First Drive  -  Portland  -  November 2014

    The Hamsters are back, and they're performing a science experiment that resulted in this: the 2015 Kia Soul EV. It’s one of the newest electric cars on the market, but what's it like to use? Let's start with what makes the Soul EV different from any other Kia Soul to date: the powertrain. It’s driven by an 80-kilowatt electric motor (that’s 109 horsepower) that produces 210 pound-feet of torque. The motor is powered by a 27-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack mounted under the rear cargo floor. DON'T MISS: Dealer Chains May Still Hate Tesla, But Now They're Learning From...

  • 2012 Nissan Leaf in the autumn outside Ottawa, Ontario, Canada [photo: Ricardo Borba]
    Plug-in Electric Car Sales In Canada, Nov 2014: L-E-A-F Spells Consistency

    The Nissan Leaf seems to have won its second consecutive Canadian sales title in November, bringing fuel-free mobility to another 103 drivers. While down slightly from October's 113 units, this is about what one would expect, given that Canadian auto sales tend to tail off at the end of the year...

  • 2015 Nissan Leaf
    Plug-In Electric Car Sales In Nov: Leaf Grows, Volt Wanes (FINAL UPDATE)

    Sales of plug-in electric cars continued at a steady pace in November, reflecting continued strong vehicle sales of all types in the U.S. market. The Nissan Leaf set a new November record at 2,687 cars sold, its 22nd straight month of sales increases year-over-year, while the Chevy Volt delivered...

  • 2014 Toyota Prius C
    Californians Now Buy A Plug-In Electric Car For Every 2 Hybrids

    The difference between electric cars and "electrified" cars has tripped up numerous reporters, carmakers, and analysts over the years. Electric cars plug into the wall and power their wheels, partly or fully, with an electric motor running on energy from a battery pack. "Electrified cars," on the...

  • BMW i3
    2015 BMW i3 Electric Car: Quick Charging, Seat Heaters Now Standard

    The 2015 BMW i3 will get more standard features, BMW officials say.

  • 2014 BMW i3 4-door HB Grille
    BMW To Phase Out Combustion Engines When? 10 Years, Analyst Claims

    It's a vision that seems like something from a future century: a carmaker preparing to phase out combustion engines altogether. The notion that an entire brand could walk away from the hydrocarbon-fueled engines that power more than 1 billion vehicles on our roads--and have done since 1885--is...

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