New approach to electric-car battery cooling: immerse cells in coolant

XING Miss R Lithium-Ion Battery PackRegardless of how your vehicle is powered—whether it be an internal-combustion engine or a battery pack powering an electric motor—most powertrains have a common enemy: heat. For Taipei-based XING Mobility, heat is a major concern for its high-performance Miss R model as its battery cells need to rapidly discharge to generate its...

European electric and plug-in hybrid sales for Jan-Oct 2017

2017 Volkswagen e-Golf, first drive, New York City, April 2017The more things change, the more they stay the same. Europe's October electric vehicle sales saw significant growth versus a year ago as 56 percent more battery-electric and plug-in hybrid hybrid vehicles found new homes and the Volkswagen e-Golf shot up the standings. But, atop that growing mountain of change remains a familiar face: the Renault...

Volkswagen ID electric car production date now set: November 2019

Volkswagen ID electric car concept, 2016 Paris auto showSince the Dieselgate scandal broke more than two years ago, Volkswagen has spent a great deal of time talking about its plans for electric cars. It has rolled out three concept vehicles within the new Volkswagen ID family, and discussed its dedicated electric-car architecture that will underpin all of them. Now, the company has committed to a date...

Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, Nov 2017: the vaulting Chevy Volt

2017 Chevrolet Volt in Vancouver, BC, CanadaA record 582 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrids were sold in Canada last month, two months after Chevy delivered a then-record 483 Volts in September. The achievement is even more impressive considering Canadian car sales dropped by 15 percent between the two months, as the industry enters its slow season. The November Volt sales are more than the 536...

Judge sides with Tesla, slams dealer association in Missouri

Tesla Store Los Angeles [photo: Misha Bruk / MBH Architects]Since Tesla began selling electric cars directly to customers throughout the U.S., the electric-vehicle maker has had to play franchise-law whack-a-mole in multiple state courts. On Tuesday, Tesla scored a decisive victory when the Missouri Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's ruling that would have left Tesla without a state dealer license...

How many Model 3s will Tesla deliver by Dec 31? Twitter poll results, again

2017 Tesla Model 3, 2017 Los Angeles Auto ShowWhat a difference a few months makes. In June, one month before the delivery of the first 30 Tesla Model 3, we polled our Twitter followers on how many of the lower-priced electric cars Tesla would deliver by the end of this year. The view then was pretty rosy, with more than half the respondents saying the company would have sold more than 10,000...

2018 Nissan Leaf electric car now rolling off lines in Tennessee

First 2018 Nissan Leaf produced at assembly plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, Dec 2017The 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car will start to appear at Nissan dealers in January, the company said Monday. That availability came in an announcement that the second-generation electric car officially went into production the same day at Nissan's sprawling assembly plant in Smyrna, Tennessee. It's one of three locations globally that will build...

Configuring a Tesla Model 3: buyer walks through the process with us

2017 Tesla Model 3 electric car online configuratorVery few of the 455,000 people who put down $1,000 to reserve a place in line for the Tesla Model 3 electric car have received the opportunity yet to configure their cars online and place a firm order. The volume of Model 3s is still apparently at low numbers—a few hundred last month, according to rumors and reports—as the company...

Life with Tesla Model S: musings on new Tesla Roadster

2020 Tesla RoadsterLike almost everyone else, I was blown away by Tesla’s surprise introduction of the second-generation Roadster at the recent semi-truck reveal event. Zero to sixty in 1.9 seconds, a 620-mile range, gorgeous sleek lines, and a price of $200,000. Mind-blowing indeed. But a few of the new Roadster’s numbers didn’t add up for me...