The announcements by BMW and Mercedes-Benz that they would offer wireless charging as an option next year raise a question for electric-car advocates. How important is the ability to recharge a vehicle without plugging in a cord? On the pro side, wireless charging may be easier for owners and drivers, who don't have to remember to plug in the... How much does wireless charging matter for electric cars? Poll results
The announcements by BMW and Mercedes-Benz that they would offer wireless charging as an option next year raise a question for electric-car advocates. How important is the ability to recharge a vehicle without plugging in a cord? On the pro side, wireless charging may be easier for owners and drivers, who don't have to remember to plug in the...
Fans of green cars have spent much of the past year eagerly waiting for a pair of electric cars to be revealed to the public and then to go on sale. By far the most attention and hype has been focused on the Tesla Model 3, the Silicon Valley carmaker's lower-priced and much higher-volume vehicle, with more than 200 miles of range for a starting...
With the early months of Tesla Model 3 sales remaining at numbers lower than those promised by CEO Elon Musk, owners and advocates eagerly consume any news about electric-car maker Tesla to figure out what's happening. Musk reaffirmed that the Model 3 is in the predicted "production hell" these days, but a report on Friday of layoffs at the...
Today, we've got sales reports from our northern neighbors, some speculation on electric Subarus, a caution on buying electric cars, and good news on renewable energy. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Plug-in electric car sales in Canada have reached 1 percent of the market, though it remains a smaller market than many. Good news...
At the end of September, Toyota and Mazda announced they would form a joint venture with parts maker Denso to design, test, and build components for a shared electric-car platform. Earlier interviews with Mazda indicate that the small Japanese maker will create its first all-electric model for volume production by putting a unique body on top of...
Almost seven after modern electric cars entered the mass market, there are now more than two dozen battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models on sale in the U.S. But that impressive number shouldn't disguise a fundamental truth about those vehicles: only about half of them are widely available nationwide. Those include the BMW i3 electric car and...
Today, our final electric-car sales update for last month, saving money on plug-in Chevys, a longer-range electric van that's still forbidden fruit, and more details on the upcoming plug-in hybrid Range Rover. All this and more on Green Car Reports. With the news last week that two German luxury plug-in hybrid sedans will offer wireless charging...
While U.S. buyers eagerly await the arrival of the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car at dealerships early next year, the company has updated another of its electric vehicles as well. Unfortunately, it's one that the company has no current plans to sell in North America. That's the new longer-range version of the Nissan e-NV200 small delivery van...
Ask an electric-car owner how long it takes to charge the car, and you may get an answer you didn't expect. "Oh, five or 10 seconds," is a common response from experienced drivers of plug-in vehicles—meaning the time it takes to plug in. Statistically, that happens most often at night, so the car is fully charged and offers maximum range by...
Today, we've got more electric-car sales reporting, Ford's plans for its future (light on product specifics), a deadline for telling the EPA what you think, and an unlikely coalition of energy lobbyists. All this and more on Green Car Reports. We updated our plug-in electric car sales report for September, and it'll get more updates throughout the...
Yes, yes, yes, we know: our readers and Twitter followers are largely very strong supporters of, and believers in, Tesla and its electric cars. Our challenge for last week's Twitter poll was that we get very, very few characters to post questions and a choice of four responses. So in asking which of four makers would sell most electric luxury cars...
Pity Energy Secretary Rick Perry, the man now running the cabinet department he couldn't remember that he wanted to eliminate altogether during a notorious 2011 presidential debate. He has pulled off an unusual feat, by uniting lobbyists for fossil-fuel interests with their counterparts advocating for renewable energy. Given the ascendance of...
When Ford fired Mark Fields in May, it was widely seen as a rebuke to the CEO's inability to offer a convincing argument about how Ford would handle the future. Every car company is attempting to figure out that future, in which electrified vehicles, increasing autonomy, pervasive connectivity, and car-sharing all blend together in unpredictable...
Today, it's all about electric-car sales, and there's one car that continues to surge to new heights. Also, Tesla reported its (higher) global quarterly sales, VW is negotiating for battery cells, and the EPA under Trump will try to neuter a landmark Obama achievement. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Volkswagen is reportedly negotiating...
The world has changed since last month's report on U.S. sales of plug-in electric cars. China has officially said it is considering dates for ending sales of new vehicles with gasoline or diesel engines. Even if that date proves to be 15 or 20 years in the future, the country's government has spoken—and the world's carmakers will have to...
The quarterly delivery and production figures from Silicon Valley electric-car maker Tesla are eagerly followed when they emerge a few days after the end of a quarter. On Monday, Tesla said it had delivered 26,150 electric cars, its best quarterly total yet and 4.5 percent higher than the third quarter of 2016, its previous best quarter. Of those...
General Motors said on Monday it will unveil two new battery-electric vehicles within the next 18 months, and will offer 20 electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles globally by 2023. The news came in a conference call for reporters with Mark Reuss, GM's executive vice president of global product development. GM's announcement follows similar...
Today, we've got two different first drives—one hybrid sedan, one plug-in hybrid SUV—plus a look at Tesla's numbers, bad news for VW on diesels, and startling news from Dubai. All this and more on Green Car Reports. Over the weekend, as always, we ran down last week's important green-car news stories. We now have our first drive of the...