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...

Virginia proposes state-tax rebate up to $3,500 for electric-car purchase

Virginia State Capitol, Skip Plitt/C'ville Photography [CC BY-SA 3.0]Virginia is for lovers—and it may soon be for lovers of electric cars and plug-in hybrids, too. Virginia House Delegate David A. Reid [D-32nd] has proposed a bill, expected to hit the House floor Wednesday, that would see buyers of electric vehicles receive a state-tax rebate of up to $3,500. Currently, Virginia's green-car incentives are...

What will your next car be? Take our Twitter poll

Handing over car keysSeven years after the first mass-priced modern electric car was sold in the U.S., more car buyers than ever are at least dimly aware that such vehicles exist. Sales of cars that plug in have risen every year, with one slight dip in 2015, but they were still just 1 percent of the U.S. market of 17.5 million light vehicles last year. One reason for...

Kia Niro EV concept at CES: 238 miles of range from 64-kwh battery

Kia Niro EV concept shown at 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, Las VegasIt's well known that a battery-electric version of the Kia Niro will join the lineup soon, completing a range that now comprises the Niro Hybrid and the recently launched plug-in hybrid. Most observers had assumed the Niro EV would use the same underpinnings as its corporate sibling the Hyundai Ioniq Electric, just as the pair of hybrids does. But...

Kia Niro EV concept at CES: 238 miles of range from 64-kwh battery

Kia Niro EV concept shown at 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, Las VegasIt's well known that a battery-electric version of the Kia Niro will join the lineup soon, completing a range that now comprises the Niro Hybrid and the recently launched plug-in hybrid. Most observers had assumed the Niro EV would use the same underpinnings as its corporate sibling the Hyundai Ioniq Electric, just as the pair of hybrids does. But...

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...

Shenzhen now uses only electric buses: 16,500 of them

Bus in Shenzhen, China, By GEei Ginhee wins (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0]Over the last few years, the Chinese government has begun to push electric vehicles with all its might. In addition to incentivizing the purchase of electric vehicles, the central government has recently banned the sale of some 553 fossil-fuel passenger cars in the country. But when it comes to local concerns, a collection of municipalities...