2017 Volkswagen e-Golf: weekend drive report and range test

2017 Volkswagen e-Golf, Catskill Mountains, NY, Oct 2017The thought came like a flash while on the highway heading into New York's Catskill Mountains: This is what all cars will be like soon. The 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf is absolutely the most normal, invisible, unremarkable electric car you can buy today. No one knew it was electric, or paid it any attention; it was simply another VW Golf in the...

Life with Renault Twizy: electric bopping around Bermuda

Renault Twizy rented in Bermuda, October 2017     [photo: David Noland]I well remember the first time I saw a Renault Twizy. Wandering along the Champs Elysees in Paris in the spring of 2012, I happened upon a Renault showroom hosting an electric car extravaganza. Amid flashing lights, blasting techno music, and vamping supermodels sat a couple of Renault Zoes, the then-new electric subcompact. DON'T MISS: Is An...

Cargo space in popular electric cars: this video explains it all

Electric car cargo space challenge with banana boxesEnsuring electric cars fit the needs of their owners is a requirement for boosting electric-vehicle sales. Adequate cargo space for an owner is necessary no matter what kind of car is being considered. Now, in one handy video, YouTuber Bjorn Nyquist has shown just how much cargo space is provided by a handful of popular electric cars on the market...

Who will sell the first affordable AWD electric SUV? Poll results

Nissan IMx concept, 2017 Tokyo Motor ShowOf our eight Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy award winners since 2011, five have been compact five-door hatchbacks. It's a good, sensible format, by far the most popular segment in Europe and stronger even in Canada than in the U.S. Sadly, U.S. car buyers are not only ignoring small hatchbacks but passenger sedans as well—and moving...

Finalist for Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2018: Hyundai Ioniq

2018 Hyundai IoniqHyundai is known in the auto industry as an aggressive and very capable competitor, and the world's largest makers watch it closely and take it very seriously. The company didn't introduce its first hybrid car in the U.S. until 2011 and, frankly, that year's hybrid Sonata sedan wasn't very good. Just six model years later, the company's hybrids...

Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, Oct 2017: Chevy’s dominant duo

2018 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car and 2018 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybridThe dominant duo of the Chevy Volt and Bolt EV continued their winning ways in the Canadian market for new plug-in electric cars during October. Chevrolet sold 424 Volts to start the fourth quarter, down slightly from 483 in September. The vehicle’s 3,431 sales through October all but tied last year’s total of 3,469 and the Volt may...

Finalist for Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2018: Nissan Leaf

2018 Nissan LeafIf any electric car aside from the Tesla Model 3 can be called "long-awaited," it would be the redesigned 2018 Nissan Leaf. First thought to arrive as a 2016 model, it was widely assumed to be a 2017 to go head-to-head with the 238-mile Chevrolet Bolt EV launched last December. In the event, the second-generation Leaf has arrived as a 2018 model...

Electric Hyundai Kona, Kia Niro production to rise again: report

2018 Hyundai KonaBoth Hyundai and Kia planned to approach the electric and plug-in car market aggressively, but now the Korean siblings plan to boost production even over totals announced earlier this year. This past summer, both brands said they would increase their electrified car production to 50,000 units next year. Now, according to a report earlier this...

Tesla Model 3 owners’ club video offers new details on electric car

Tesla Model 3 via Model 3 Owners' Club videoFirst-hand details about the Tesla Model 3 remain almost as rare as the cars themselves; Tesla has built only a few hundred Model 3 electric cars since its launch in July Now a new video provides an incredibly in-depth look at Tesla's mass-production car, though we suspect it may have been approved by the company. It gives us a detailed look at...

2018 Chevrolet Bolt EV: minimal changes, same range and price

2018 Chevrolet Bolt EVWith sales of the Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car rising every month, shoppers are inevitably curious about any changes to the Bolt for the 2018 model year, its second. Now the information is out, and buyers will find the 2018 Chevrolet Bolt EV is virtually the same car as the 2017 model—with two exceptions. Chevy has changed the heated...

Toyota electric cars could use airless tires if research pans out: report

Toyota Fine-Comfort Ride concept, 2017 Tokyo Motor ShowAlthough electric cars offer numerous benefits in engineering, design, and zero-emission operation, their overall weight remains a hurdle for automakers, especially as bigger batteries with longer ranges become more important. It now appears that Toyota may look to airless tires as a way to cut weight in its future electric cars: It debuted the...

Could automotive subscription services boost electric-car use?

2018 Hyundai IoniqAs automakers commit to more electric and electrified cars in the near future, many hurdles remain that can make owning an electric car more difficult than a conventional vehicle. Meanwhile, as electrified cars become more common, automakers and brands will also continue to introduce new models for vehicle ownership, many of them subscription...