McKinsey summarizes state of the art, latest trends in electric cars

2018 Tesla Model 3Over the seven years modern, mass-priced electric cars have been on sale, various bits of wisdom have emerged among their fans, advocates, and owners. One might be how much battery range is "enough" to prevent drivers from worrying constantly about whether they need to charge. Another might be which vehicles have batteries that seem to hold their...

2018 Nissan Leaf electric car gets 151-mile EPA range rating

2018 Nissan LeafWhen the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car was unveiled last fall, the company said it would have a range of "140 miles or more." That had risen to "150 miles or more" by the end of last year, and now we have the final confirmed figure. The EPA combined range rating for the second-generation Leaf is officially 151 miles. DON'T MISS: 2018 Nissan Leaf...

2018 Kia Soul EV gets bigger battery, range boost from 93 to 111 miles

2017 Kia Soul EVUpdates to conventional cars come in a predictable pattern. Once a new model is launched, it gets only minor tweaks to features, prices, and paint colors for two or three years. Then in the third or fourth year, it gets what the industry calls a "mid-cycle refresh": some updated sheetmetal, perhaps a redesigned dashboard, and other more visible...

Tesla Model 3 Long Range rating of 310 miles: Is it understated?

2017 Tesla Model 3, in photo tweeted by Elon Musk on July 9, 2017Amidst all the coverage on Wednesday of the Tesla Model 3 production numbers, we realized we'd forgotten one piece of the Model 3 saga. That would be the official EPA range and efficiency ratings for the 2017 Tesla Model 3 Long Range version. Those were issued at the end of November, and they seemed worth highlighting as a way to compare the Model...

Toyota, Panasonic agree to study prismatic battery cells for electric cars

Akio Toyoda, President, Toyota and Kazuhiro Tsuga, President, Panasonic For the 20 years since the introduction of the Prius, Toyota has enjoyed the first-mover advantage in hybrid cars, and leveraged those green credentials to boost public perception of its brand as a whole. But Toyota has yet to mass-market a battery-electric vehicle in the U.S., as Nissan has done with the Leaf. Toyota executives have consistently...

2018 Volvo XC90 plug-in hybrid SUV: bigger battery, slight range boost

2018 Volvo XC90It's a shock to realize that the Volvo XC90 large luxury SUV is now in its third model year. The first new Volvo in more than five years when it debuted in 2016, the seven-seat XC90 was an entirely new design that redefined luxury in a Swedish vein and won numerous awards, including North American Utility Vehicle of the Year. It also came with a...