Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV)
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Two years ago, our first-ever Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy award went to the first modern battery-electric car sold in the U.S. How far we've come. This year, our third annual winner is the 2013 Tesla Model S, a car that takes the all-electric vehicle to a new and far more elevated level. But that's far from the only reason it won. The Tesla Model S is an impressive new entry in the luxury sport sedan field for its performance, its looks, its capabilities, and its digital infotainment and control system. NOTE: In December 2012, we gave this award to the 2013 Tesla Model S based on the...
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Tesla Model S 60-kWh Version: EPA Range Rated At 208 Miles
Without any fanfare, the EPA has released its range rating for the second version of the Tesla Model S to come to market. The 2013 Tesla Model S fitted with a 60-kilowatt-hour battery pack has a rated range of 208 miles. That compares to 265 miles for the Model S version with the largest 85-kWh...
John Voelcker -
LA Auto Show Wrapup: Five New Plug-In Electric Cars (Video)
For our final piece on last week's Los Angeles Auto Show, we put together a video on the five new plug-in electric cars officially unveiled there. Three of them are plug-in hybrids, a pair from Ford and one from Honda, and the other two are small battery-electric conversions by the makers of the...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model S 60-kWh Delayed To Jan: Bye-Bye, 2012 Tax Credit
Well, it looks like there won't be a Tesla Model S under my Christmas tree after all. Even more annoying, that means I'll have to wait until April 15, 2014, to take advantage of my $7,500 electric-car tax credit. As Model S reservation holder P717, I'd hoped to take delivery of my car this month...
David Noland -
2013 Fiat 500e Electric Minicar: Los Angeles Auto Show Preview
Later this morning, Fiat will unveil no fewer than four new models of its 500 minicar. Among them will be the 500e, a limited production electric conversion of the hatchback that it really doesn't want to build--as company officials have said repeatedly. The 2013 Fiat 500e is a compliance car meant...
John Voelcker -
What Do You Call A Nissan Leaf In China? How About Venucia E30?
Despite lower-than-predicted sales of its Leaf battery electric hatchback, Nissan is pushing ahead with its aggressive electric-car program. At the Guangzhou Auto Show yesterday, its Chinese partner unveiled its own plug-in electric car, the Venucia E30. And, surprise, surprise, it looks just like...
John Voelcker -
Much of economics is simple: Makers of desirable, popular products can raise their prices--to some degree. One example: Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] confirmed in a blog post yesterday that it would raise prices on its 2013 Tesla Model S all-electric sport sedan in the next two or three weeks. But, Tesla hastened to add, that will apply only to new orders placed after a certain date--not to the prices of more than 13,000 Model S cars on which buyers have already placed deposits. Reservation holders who have deferred the process of finalizing their configuration will have, the company says, a...
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Nissan CEO Admits 2012 Leaf Sales Goal Won't Be Reached
For many months, Nissan has said it would sell 20,000 Leaf electric cars in the U.S. by next March. Sales rates didn't seem to support that, and now Nissan has conceded that it won't happen. CEO Carlos Ghosn said that number "would not be reached," in an interview on Bloomberg TV in Mexico City...
John Voelcker -
2014 Chevy Spark EV Prototype Electric Car: First Drive
As GM's first battery electric car since the EV1 of the 1990s, there's more riding on the 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV electric minicar than its size would indicate. The company maintains the electric Spark is not just a compliance car, but a fully developed product to be sold not only in California...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model S Buyers Face Year-End Deadline: $7,500 At Stake
More than 13,000 people have put down deposits to join the waiting list for the Tesla Model S electric sports sedan. Each of us eagerly awaits delivery of our much-decorated, cutting-edge car. But as 2012 winds down, several hundred of us at the front of the queue are especially antsy. It's not...
David Noland -
Elon Musk, CEO Of 'Loser' Tesla, Suggests Romney Got It Wrong
One week ago today, Americans elected a president. During the hard-fought campaign that preceded the election, Republican candidate Mitt Romney called Tesla a "loser" company, along with Fisker Automotive. Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] and other companies named by Romney had received loans or grants...
John Voelcker -
Chevrolet Springo Electric Car: Coming Soon (To China Only)
No, Springo isn't a new scratch-off game. It's apparently the name of a new Chevrolet battery electric vehicle, though we'll never see it in North America. The Chevy Springo electric car will go on sale in China (and possibly other countries) at roughly the same time that the U.S. gets limited...
John Voelcker -
Most of the attention paid to plug-in electric cars goes to Nissan, Chevy, and Tesla. But in other countries, the hope of running small cars on grid power--no matter how unreliable that grid may be--lives as well. In India, the large truck maker Mahindra & Mahindra is preparing to launch the Reva NXR electric minicar, and spy shots are cropping up on Indian websites. The Reva company was founded to build low-speed neighborhood electric vehicles, including the infamous G-Wiz that was for a while the best-selling electric car in England. Mahindra acquired Reva last year after the smaller...
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Tesla Model S: More New Versions Coming, Says CEO Elon Musk
Tesla being what it is--a venture-funded startup battery-electric automaker in Silicon Valley--every utterance from its CEO Elon Musk becomes newsworthy. So a generalized hint at future development of its main product, the 2012 Tesla Model S electric sport sedan, becomes fodder for news stories. In...
John Voelcker -
Ford Focus Electric A Compliance Car? Ford Swears It's Not
There are two kinds of electric cars on sale in the U.S. these days. The first kind--the ones you should pay attention to--are the volume electric cars. Their makers want to sell as many as they can. The second kind are the "compliance cars," built solely to meet California regulations that require...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Model S Production Ramps Up, Company Says In Earnings Call
The biggest question facing tiny Tesla Motors right now is whether it can ramp up production of its Model S all-electric sport sedan and deliver enough of them to paying customers that it can generate the income it needs to keep going. On the quarterly Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] earnings call this...
John Voelcker -
October Plug-In Electric Car Sales: Volt, Leaf Stay Strong
The good news for plug-in electric car sales just keeps on keeping on. In October, Chevy sold 2,961 Volts--the highest-ever single-month total--and Nissan continued a recent resurgence, selling 1,579 Leafs. Those numbers compare with 2,851 Volts sold in September and 984 Leafs the same month. That...
John Voelcker -
$199-A-Month Lease On 2012 Ford Focus Electric Matches Nissan
Ford is enticing new customers to its Focus Electric with headline lease offers of $199 a month.
George Parrott -
While it was announced a year ago, the Chevrolet Spark EV electric car still hasn't formally been shown by General Motors. That may change at a "GM Electrification" event to be held in the San Francisco Bay Area next month. The only nugget of news we've heard lately is that the Spark EV will be sold in South Korea, where it is built, as well as in the States. The news comes courtesy of GM Korea's investment and development plan, released Thursdays and covered by the Wall Street Journal (via Autoblog Green). Depending on South Koreans' appetite for electric cars, it could be that the small...
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Auto Dealers' Fight Against Tesla Stores: Elon Musk Weighs In
Tesla Motors is facing a formidable opponent it may not have sufficiently appreciated: the auto dealers of America, and their state associations. Tesla, you may remember, is selling its electric cars online, not through franchised, independently owned dealers, and delivering them directly to buyers...
John Voelcker -
Audi R8 e-Tron All-Electric Supercar On Hold: Report
One of the earlier all-electric concept cars from a major maker was the Audi R8 e-tron, first unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2009. Audi has consistently said it will build up to 1,000 of the battery-electric supercar and sell them--for a high price--to buyers who want a...
John Voelcker -
2012 Tesla Model S: Most Important New Car Since Ford Model T?
There's no denying that the Ford Model T is one of the most important cars of all time. It jump-started the auto industry as we now know it. But Tesla is looking to change the automotive industry, and the new 2012 Model S just might be the most important new car since the Model T. Let's start with...
Joel Feder -
Romney Slams Tesla, Fisker Again In Final Presidential Debate
The CEOs of Tesla and Fisker may have thought they were home free--but it was not to be. Both startup electric-car companies were named at the very end of last night's third and final presidential debate. Republican candidate Mitt Romney didn't repeat his charge that Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] and...
John Voelcker -
2012 Tesla Model S Signature Series: Is It Worth The Premium?
The first 1,000 or so 2012 Tesla Model S electric sport sedans to be delivered to U.S. customers will be fully-loaded, limited-edition "Signature" cars. But as delivery dates slip due to early production snags, some owners of Signature cars--called "Sigs" within the Tesla clan--grumble that they're...
David Noland