When will Tesla Model 3 all-wheel-drive, lower-range models be available?

Tesla Model 3 Driving on a Public RoadAs Tesla ramps up production of the Model 3 and continues to deliver cars to its long list of reservation holders, many buyers are wondering when they will be able to configure Model 3s with "D" all-wheel drive or with the smaller base battery pack. We can't yet address the smaller battery packs, but CEO Elon Musk left a clue for buyers waiting...

Tesla founder, Chinese company launch SF Motors electric cars

SF Motors SF5In the beginning, there was Tesla, although it wasn't started by current CEO Elon Musk. While Musk has now become synonymous with the electric-car brand, Tesla was actually founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, who had previously founded and sold a eBook reader company. While both left the company in 2008, they have kept their hands in...

2018 Nissan Leaf electric car: Is there a fast-charging problem?

2018 Nissan Leaf with EVgo fast charger at NJ Turnpike Molly Pitcher travel plaza, Feb 2018As Tesla has shown, not all fast charging is created equal. Now owners of the new 2018 Nissan Leaf are complaining that that the car's "fast" charging is not always as fast as advertised. Owners have found that the car's electronic management software dials back charging speeds with each successive fast charge on any given trip. Nissan says this...

Electric I-Pace may lead Jaguar design, style into the future

2019 Jaguar I-PaceIn January 2007, Jaguar dropped a bombshell, in the form of the C-XF concept sedan it unveiled at that year's Detroit auto show. The sleek, fastback shape, simple rectangular grille with recessed mesh, and swept-back cat's-eye headlights yanked Jaguar design out of its fusty retro-traditional straitjacket and catapulted it into the 21st century...

Why I traded my Chevy Bolt EV for a Tesla: one reader’s story

Used 2015 Tesla Model S P85D on day of purchase  [photo: Jay Lucas]As a nation, the U.S. takes lots of road trips, because most of the country has no viable mass transit between city pairs. If electric cars are ever to enter the mass market in North America, they have to be usable on those road trips. Last year, our reader Jay Lucas of Alexandria, Virginia, wrote an account of his road trip in a new 2017...

5 things about the 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric we learned at the NY auto show

2019 Hyundai Kona ElectricAfter a Detroit auto show that was about little except pickup trucks and a new Jeep, followed by a tepid Chicago show, New York proved to be relatively rich in interesting new green cars. The standout was clearly the 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric, the 250-mile battery-electric small hatchback that will go on sale before the end of the year. While it...

5 things about the 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric we learned at the NY auto show

2019 Hyundai Kona ElectricAfter a Detroit auto show that was about little except pickup trucks and a new Jeep, followed by a tepid Chicago show, New York proved to be relatively rich in interesting new green cars. The standout was clearly the 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric, the 250-mile battery-electric small hatchback that will go on sale before the end of the year. While it...

Tesla Model 3 production crossed 2,000 last week; is it sustainable?

2017 Tesla Model 3 Tesla reported Tuesday that it built 34,494 electric cars in the first quarter of 2018, by far its largest quarterly production total ever. But all eyes were on one number: the production of Model 3 sedans, which was 9,766 vehicles out of that total. Of the rest, 11,730 were Model S hatchback sedans and 10,070 were Model X crossover utility...

Nissan Leaf refurbished batteries offered for older electric cars, in Japan

2013 Nissan Leaf, Nashville area test drive, April 2013With more than 300,000 Nissan Leaf electric cars on the road, some more than six years old, battery degradation is becoming more and more of an issue. The different rates of capacity loss are a topic of much discussion among Leaf owners, but it now seems likely that Nissan's choice of passive air cooling rather than active liquid cooling has...

Classic Mini converted to electric previews 2019 Mini E to come

Classic Mini with electric powertrainWith a new, all-electric Mini E set to arrive in dealerships in a year or less, BMW wants to highlight the idea of a Mini Cooper powered by batteries. That's what led it to display an "old Mini" converted to electric power at a reception before last week's New York auto show. Sadly, the car wasn't on display at the show itself because—as...