Atieva now Lucid Motors; plans 300-mile, 900-hp electric car

Teaser for Lucid electric carChinese-backed startup Atieva has changed its name to Lucid Motors, and revealed more details about its planned electric car. From what we know so far, that car will be a fast luxury sedan with a range of around 300 miles, putting it in competition with the Tesla Model S. The company now known as Lucid is one of several startups aiming to repeat...

New Fisker electric car: ‘butterfly doors’ … but strange hype too?

Teaser for Fisker electric sedanWe're slowly learning more about Henrik Fisker's planned 300-mile electric car, as the designer has now released a pair of teaser photos of the vehicle. It appears to have scissor doors that pivot toward the sky, for instance. And its aggressive front end looks an awful lot like the VLF Force 1 supercar concept he showed in January at the 2016...

Faraday Future imperils electric-car factory, misses payment to contractor

At the groundbreaking for Faraday Future's production facility in North Las Vegas (April 13, 2016)The Faraday Future company has said it aims to put its first electric car into production within two years. To achieve that goal, the company is building a new factory in North Las Vegas, Nevada, at a stated cost of $1 billion. Faraday broke ground on the factory in April, although significant work did not begin until July. Now, it may have halted...

Green Car Reports 2017 Best Car To Buy nominee: Toyota Prius Prime

2017 Toyota Prius Prime PremiumThe 2017 Toyota Prius Prime is a far, far better plug-in hybrid than its predecessor. It defaults to electric-only operation, it has 25 miles of EPA-rated electric range, and in electric operation, it is by far the most energy-efficient vehicle you can buy this year in the U.S. And when it reverts to running as a standard hybrid car, it's rated at...

Is Infiniti now ready to launch an electric car, after all?

2012 Infiniti LE ConceptNissan's strong commitment to electric cars has not, so far, extended to its Infiniti luxury brand. While the six-year-old Nissan Leaf is the bestselling electric car in history, the company has repeatedly postponed plans for an all-electric Infiniti model. But Infiniti's on-again, off-again electric car may now be back on again. RELATED: Infiniti...

Apple Car always faced insanely great odds, now apparently dead

Liviu Tudoran's For the past couple of years, rumors about a potential Apple Car have garnered as much attention as any new product from an established automaker. Which is impressive, because Apple never confirmed the existence of the car—often called "Project Titan" and thought to be an autonomous vehicle with an all-electric powertrain. Whatever plans...

Faraday Future to unveil production electric car at CES in January

Teaser for Faraday Future's first modelAt the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), startup Faraday Future said it would put an electric car into production within two years. But one of those two years has almost elapsed without any hint of what that production car will be like. Faraday Future now says it will unveil its first production model at CES 2017 in January, though. DON'T...

2019 BMW i5 crossover utility vehicle rendered from patent drawings

Rendering of BMW i5 electric crossover utility vehicle, from patent drawings [Indian Autos Blog]With BMW having decided to offer not only plug-in hybrids across its range but also fully electric versions of its core models, its 'i' sub-brand is in a curious position. Is there a future for the high-tech vehicles designed for maximum efficiency when battery-electric powertrains are rolling into conventional cars as well? The answer to that...

Tesla Network ride-sharing service details to come next year?

Tesla Enhanced AutopilotIn the updated "master plan" for Tesla Motors he released in July, CEO Elon Musk said that Tesla plans to continue pursuing self-driving cars, as well as a company-managed sharing service. Musk described a scheme in which owners could rent out their autonomous Teslas as part of a ride-sharing service, then summon them back when needed. Tesla took...

LG Chem: GM to sell ‘more than 30,000’ Chevy Bolt EVs next year

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, road test, California coastline, Sep 2016A very brief article on a single sentence uttered on Tuesday by an executive at Korean battery maker LG Chem has reverberated around electric-car circles for most of this week. The executive was vice president Kang Chang-beom, and he spoke on a conference call for financial analysts on the topic of LG Chem's third-quarter earnings. His comment has...

Kia to boost hybrid, electric offerings, add fuel cell in 2020

DC fast charging 2015 Kia Soul EVKia is continuing with plans to significantly increase the number of green cars in its future lineup. The Korean automaker and its parent, Hyundai, together hope to become the second-biggest seller of green cars worldwide, after Toyota. That means more hybrids, plug-in hybrids, battery-electric cars, and even some hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles...

Green Car Reports’ 2017 Best Car To Buy nominee: Tesla Model X

2016 Tesla Model XPretty much any Tesla electric car is bound to start a conversation. The low, tiny 2008 Roadster, the sleek and Jaguar-esque 2012 Model S sedan, or the company's latest car, the 2016 Model X crossover utility vehicle. But as we experienced first-hand, the Model X has the most attention-getting device of any Tesla ever sold. DON'T MISS: 2016 Tesla...

Mercedes-Benz S550e wireless charging comes into focus

Mercedes-Benz wireless inductive charging systemThe Mercedes-Benz S550e plug-in hybrid luxury sedan will likely be the first production car to offer wireless charging as a factory option. The availability of wireless charging was announced earlier this year by Mercedes as part of a significant update of the current-generation car. We now know that the S550e will use a version of the Qualcomm...

Future VW electric-car concepts revealed in patent drawings

Patent drawing for Volkswagen electric car concept - Image via Motor1As it tries to recover from the "Dieselgate" scandal, Volkswagen has gotten more serious about electric cars. At the recent 2016 Paris Motor Show, it unveiled the I.D. compact electric-car concept, and promised a future production model based on it. Now, it appears the ID could be the first of several electric-car concepts from VW. DON'T MISS: VW...

Why do electric cars exist? Buyer demand? Legislation? Or VW?

2016 Nissan LeafOwners love them, but modern electric cars have not made a large dent in sales of internal-combustion cars since becoming widely available five years ago. In fact, but for a few exceptions, electric cars essentially wouldn't exist without legislation aimed at lowering transportation-related carbon emissions. Tesla's success in raising the profile...

Why do electric cars exist? Buyer demand? Legislation? Or VW?

2016 Nissan LeafOwners love them, but modern electric cars have not made a large dent in sales of internal-combustion cars since becoming widely available five years ago. In fact, but for a few exceptions, electric cars essentially wouldn't exist without legislation aimed at lowering transportation-related carbon emissions. Tesla's success in raising the profile...

BMW 530e next-generation plug-in hybrid sedan: photos, details

2017 BMW 530e iPerformanceThe BMW 5-Series has always slotted between the Bavarian maker's high-volume 3-Series and full-size 7-Series in size and price. But while BMW currently offers plug-in hybrid versions of those two sedans, it doesn't yet do so with the 5-Series (although it did show one several years ago as part of a Chinese joint venture). Now BMW is rolling out a...

Which plug-in electric car will sell best next year? Poll results

2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid - production modelSales of plug-in electric cars were essentially flat in the U.S. last year compared to 2014, and this year isn't necessarily going to be much better. Part of that is due to product cadence: the Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S, two of the top-selling cars in previous years, are now relatively old vehicles. The Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid is only in its...