Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV)
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Tesla's third-generation car, currently planned for volume production in late 2017, is now officially nameless again. According to Fortune, the company has abandoned its trademark application for the name "Model E," which had been widely assumed to apply to the new vehicle. DON'T MISS: Tesla's Next Electric Car Line: Roundup Of What We Know Now That car is anticipated to be a smaller all-electric sedan with a rated range of 200 miles and a starting price of around $35,000, according to company statements over the years. Ford had applied to trademark the same name several months after Tesla...
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New 2017 Nissan Leaf: More Details On New Styling, Range--And Infiniti Electric Too
The Nissan Leaf is by far the highest-volume electric car ever built, with 110,000-plus on the roads now. And three and a half years after its launch, Nissan is pushing hard to boost its sales all over the world. But what about the next Nissan Leaf, one designed with several years of battery...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Deal To Supply Toyota RAV4 EV Powertrain To End This Year
Several news reports over the weekend noted that Tesla's contract to supply Toyota with electric powertrains for its RAV4 EV crossover would end next year. In the words of Tesla's latest quarterly report, cited by Bloomberg in a Saturday news story, “Toyota is expected to end the current RAV4...
John Voelcker -
Do The BMW i3 And i8 Electric Cars Pose A Threat To Tesla?
With the 2014 BMW i3 battery-electric car now being delivered to its first buyers, and the range-extended i3 REx version to follow within several weeks, BMW is at last in the business of selling electric cars in volume. And that, argues one financial analyst, may pose the most direct threat yet to...
John Voelcker -
BMW ActiveE Electric Cars Join DriveNow Program As Drivers Give Them Back
The BMW ActiveE lease program is over, but the cars will live on with the DriveNow car-sharing service.
Stephen Edelstein -
Tesla Sales On Target, Gigafactory Groundbreaking Next Month: FINAL UPDATE
Tesla Motors released its first-quarter earnings this afternoon, logging revenue of $713 million on deliveries of 6,457 Model S electric cars. That's essentially the number it had said it would sell in the quarter, but the total is slightly down from the record 6,892 sold in the prior quarter. It...
John Voelcker -
A California exotic-car rental company has a Tesla Model S electric car in its fleet.
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Nissan e-NV200 Electric Minivan Production Starts In Spain (VIDEO)
Nissan officially started production of its second electric vehicle, the Nissan e-NV200 small van, at its assembly plant in Barcelona, Spain. The battery-electric van blends the powertrain of a Nissan Leaf battery-electric hatchback, including its in-floor battery pack and electric motor driving...
John Voelcker -
How Many Cars Is Tesla Selling In U.S.? Pace May Be Slowing
This Wednesday, Tesla Motors will release its first-quarter financial results--one part of which will be its electric-car sales total from January through March. If the usual practice holds true, Tesla will provide a single global sales total, not breaking it down by market or month as other...
John Voelcker -
Plug-In Electric Car Sales In April: Leaf Widens Lead, Volt Flat Again: FINAL UPDATE
Sales of plug-in electric cars last month stayed about level with last month's, based on the reports from all makers of plug-in electric cars sold in the U.S. (except for two that refuse to provide sales data). With all data now in, it was a steady month for plug-in sales, but not a spectacular...
John Voelcker -
2014 Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive: First Drive
Can electric cars be sexy? Look at the exclusive Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Electric Drive gullwing sports car, and that question has been answered. But put your sensible cap on for the moment, have a look at the 2014 Mercedes B-Class Electric Drive, and you'll find little of such flirtation. That's...
Bengt Halvorson -
First 2014 BMW i3 Electric Car Delivered To Buyer, In Boston
As of Friday, May 2, it's official: the 2014 BMW i3 electric car is now on sale in the U.S. In a small ceremony inside the BMW of Boston dealership, the first retail buyer of an i3 took delivery of his keyfob yesterday afternoon. DON'T MISS: 2014 BMW i3 Electric Car Rated At 81 Miles, 124 MPGe He...
John Voelcker -
It's clearly the week for news about the new and distinctive 2014 BMW i3 electric car. Yesterday, as the first cars arrived at dealers, we learned that it was rated at 81 miles of range (less than a 2014 Nissan Leaf's 84 miles), but operates at an unparalleled efficiency of 124 MPGe. Then, late last night, we found that California buyers who ponied up for the range-extended option--the car known as the BMW i3 REx--will receive the same $2,500 purchase rebate from the state as if they'd bought the battery-electric version. DON'T MISS: 2014 BMW i3 Electric Car: Why California Set Range...
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2014 BMW i3 Electric Car Rated At 81 Miles, 124 MPGe: BREAKING
Well, the numbers are in, courtesy of a quickly-photographed window sticker, and now we know the range and efficiency ratings for the 2014 BMW i3 electric car. The EPA-rated range is 81 miles, and its efficiency is a record-breaking 124 MPGe combined (138 MPGe city, 111 MPGe highway). ALSO SEE...
John Voelcker -
Good Luck In Getting Tesla Owners To 'Give Back' Electric Cars! (Hilarious Paranoia Alert)
Oh, awesome! Someone is leaving fliers on Tesla Model S electric luxury cars parked in San Francisco, claiming...well, claiming all sorts of hilarious and bizarre things. Folks in SF are leaving anonymous flyers on Teslas exposing the "truth" about the company. Mind-blowing. cc @elonmusk...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model S: Yes, Writers, Higher Speeds Use More Energy In Electric Cars
Just when you thought it might be safe to assume no more journalists would do silly, uninformed things with electric cars...comes proof that blissful ignorance knows few bounds. In this case, a writer for the respected print and online outlet The Atlantic took a Tesla Model S for a test drive--and...
John Voelcker -
2014 Mercedes B-Class Electric Car On Sale In Summer From $41,450
The Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive will go on sale in the U.S. this summer.
Stephen Edelstein -
2014 BMW i3: What Staff Training Ride & Drives Revealed
With deliveries of the first 2014 BMW i3 battery-electric cars now just days away, BMW has busily been training service personnel and dealership staff on its new and radical design. And an informed post on BMWBlog by a dealership employee who went through the multi-day course offers some new...
John Voelcker -
Meet the Norwegian opthalmologist who owns a Tesla Model S and six Roadsters.
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FTC Comes Out In Favor Of Tesla Direct Sales, Against Dealer-Backed Bans
The ongoing fight between Tesla Motors and car dealers across the country has spilled from the headlines into the legal system, but so far, the outcome is far from certain. Will Tesla be allowed to sell its cars directly to consumers? Or is there some state interest in forcing Tesla into the dealer...
Nelson Ireson -
In Effort To Sell RAV4 Electric SUVs, Toyota Puts 'Cash On Hood'
The all-electric Toyota RAV4 EV, even with its Tesla-designed powertrain, isn't exactly flying out of dealerships. While it's a low-volume compliance car sold to meet California regulations, Toyota still has to move 2,600 of them over a three-year period that began in September 2012. So Toyota is...
John Voelcker -
2014 BMW i3 Electric-Car Production Rises To Meet Strong Demand
BMW is on track to build twice as many i3 electric cars in 2014 as it originally planned.
Stephen Edelstein -
Nissan Leaf Likely To Offer Larger Battery For Longer Range
Every electric-car owner wants more range; it's practically an immutable law. Now Nissan executive Andy Palmer has come close to confirming that a longer-range Nissan Leaf is in the cards, though likely not until 2016 or even 2017. In an interview at last week's New York Auto Show with Palmer, who...
John Voelcker -
Electric 'Vintage Car' Proposed To Replace NYC Horse Carriages: New York Auto Show
Animal rights and electric cars don't usually intersect much, but a long-running New York City battle has produced one of the more unusual electric-car designs shown in public. At the New York Auto Show last week, a very large electric vehicle--effectively a larger-than-life electric scale model of...
John Voelcker