Almost seven after modern electric cars entered the mass market, there are now more than two dozen battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models on sale in the U.S. But that impressive number shouldn't disguise a fundamental truth about those vehicles: only about half of them are widely available nationwide. Those include the BMW i3 electric car and... Don’t be fooled: only some electric cars are sold nationwide, even now
Almost seven after modern electric cars entered the mass market, there are now more than two dozen battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models on sale in the U.S. But that impressive number shouldn't disguise a fundamental truth about those vehicles: only about half of them are widely available nationwide. Those include the BMW i3 electric car and...
The market share of plug-in electric cars in Canada appears to have topped 1 percent for the first time ever last month. Final sales totals won’t be available until registration data arrives later this month. We estimate that just under 1,900 vehicles with plugs were sold last month, compared to roughlyk 187,000 sales across the country of...
While U.S. buyers eagerly await the arrival of the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car at dealerships early next year, the company has updated another of its electric vehicles as well. Unfortunately, it's one that the company has no current plans to sell in North America. That's the new longer-range version of the Nissan e-NV200 small delivery van...
Costco members in the market for a new vehicle now have a new round of incentives to consider as they head into the final car-buying months of 2017. Specifically, shoppers interested in a General Motors vehicle will discover Supplier Pricing on nearly every car—including the Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car and Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid...
Ask an electric-car owner how long it takes to charge the car, and you may get an answer you didn't expect. "Oh, five or 10 seconds," is a common response from experienced drivers of plug-in vehicles—meaning the time it takes to plug in. Statistically, that happens most often at night, so the car is fully charged and offers maximum range by...
Yes, yes, yes, we know: our readers and Twitter followers are largely very strong supporters of, and believers in, Tesla and its electric cars. Our challenge for last week's Twitter poll was that we get very, very few characters to post questions and a choice of four responses. So in asking which of four makers would sell most electric luxury cars...
In the coming years, the world's auto industry will continue to shift its product mix to electric and electrified vehicles to meet growing concerns over carbon emissions and stringent fuel-economy regulations across the globe. However, the passenger-car segment isn't the only area that will see electric powertrains implemented. A new study...
While parts of the federal government focus on sustaining fossil-fuel energy, numerous states are enacting new policies and programs to boost electric cars. California tends to steal most headlines about electric vehicles and climate-change policy, but two other U.S. states have started to take electric cars more seriously. New York and New Jersey...
When Ford fired Mark Fields in May, it was widely seen as a rebuke to the CEO's inability to offer a convincing argument about how Ford would handle the future. Every car company is attempting to figure out that future, in which electrified vehicles, increasing autonomy, pervasive connectivity, and car-sharing all blend together in unpredictable...
The world has changed since last month's report on U.S. sales of plug-in electric cars. China has officially said it is considering dates for ending sales of new vehicles with gasoline or diesel engines. Even if that date proves to be 15 or 20 years in the future, the country's government has spoken—and the world's carmakers will have to...
The quarterly delivery and production figures from Silicon Valley electric-car maker Tesla are eagerly followed when they emerge a few days after the end of a quarter. On Monday, Tesla said it had delivered 26,150 electric cars, its best quarterly total yet and 4.5 percent higher than the third quarter of 2016, its previous best quarter. Of those...
Many automakers have announced they will electrify entire vehicle portfolios in the years to come. With more electrified cars on the road, battery production will become increasingly more important. Adding to the positive outlook for lithium-ion cell makers is Volkswagen's potential partnership with CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Company...
General Motors said on Monday it will unveil two new battery-electric vehicles within the next 18 months, and will offer 20 electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles globally by 2023. The news came in a conference call for reporters with Mark Reuss, GM's executive vice president of global product development. GM's announcement follows similar...
Electric-car charging network ChargePoint has announced a new feature that allows electric vehicle (EV) owners to begin charging their car using near-field communication (NFC) and their smartphone. This doesn’t mean your phone itself is capable of charging your car, of course, though that would be fantastic. Instead, the company—which...
Dubai, the second largest sheikdom in the United Arab Emirates, has introduced new incentives in an attempt to make electric cars more desirable. Battery-electric and plug-in vehicles often go overlooked in the oil-rich area, but even some of the world's largest crude-oil producers plan to reduce their addiction to black gold. Now, Dubai will...
Not every car buyer can afford a brand-new vehicle, which often makes gently used vehicles an appealing alternative. But while cars that plug in take only a small share of new-vehicle purchases today—about 1 percent—they're apparently very popular once they're used. In fact, electric and plug-in cars dominate the top 10 fastest-selling...
Not too many people will ever drive the 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, the plug-in hybrid version of the company's mid-size crossover utility vehicle. So it was fitting that the company launched the vehicle on dusty roads in the back country of Catalina Island: roads that not many people are allowed to drive on. Located two dozen miles off the...
It has become an article of faith among some Tesla fans and owners that the company will inevitably rise to compete with and ultimately defeat the titans of the global auto industry. This belief is especially prevalent for the luxury sector, where three German carmakers dominate the global market for pricey and admired vehicles of all sorts. About...
The BMW i3 electric car is a tour de force of advanced engineering--and it was the most energy-efficient car sold in the U.S. in 2014 and 2015. Its body shell is made of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic, riding on an aluminum platform containing the lithium-ion battery, the electric motor, and the crash structures. But you can't get AM radio in the...
The 2018 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid is a one-of-a-kind vehicle, the sole plug-in hybrid minivan offered for sale in North America. Its early months were plagued by a powertrain recall for a potentially faulty diode within the power inverter module. Now, the Pacifica Hybrid is back on sale in its second model year, and the minivan with 33 miles of...