Life with Tesla Model S: the challenges of selling her at last

2013 Tesla Model S, in July 2017   [photo: David Noland]It was time to let her go. She is my 2013 Tesla Model S, serial number 003662, in dark green, now with 76,000 memorable miles. The best car I’ve ever owned, by far. She had taken me to 33 states and roughly 100 Superchargers, through deserts, mountains, and tropics, with total reliability, and always with style and flair. DON'T MISS: Life...

Bolt EV electric car sales after 6 months: how do they compare?

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, road test, California coastline, Sep 2016Last month, 1,642 Chevrolet Bolt EV 238-mile battery-electric hatchbacks found buyers, enough to take the Bolt's six-month aggregate to 7,592 deliveries all told. It was the latest and highest in a string of rising monthly delivery totals for the 238-mile battery electric hatchback, and it marked half a year (plus a couple of weeks) that the Bolt...

2017 Tesla Model 3 in pilot production: Musk tweets photos of first car

2017 Tesla Model 3, in photo tweeted by Elon Musk on July 9, 2017It now appears that the 2017 Tesla Model 3 has entered pilot production, following a pair of photos tweeted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The caption on the first of the two photos, this one black-and-white, says simply, "First production Model 3." The second photo, tweeted 40 minutes later, is in full color but bears no caption. DON'T MISS: Tesla Model...

Streetlights that charge electric cars arrive in California city

ebee streelight charging stationAs the market for electric vehicles continues to grow, electric-car infrastructure will need to keep up with the growing population of them. To solve the problem, companies are looking at a variety of new and innovative ways to charge more cars without actually taking up more space. Enter the ebee Smart Technologies streetlight charging...

Driving a Chevy Bolt EV electric car across Canada, all the way

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car on Coquilhalla Highway, BC, Canada, May 2017 [Boyd/Hetherington]To celebrate Canada's 150th birthday, Barb Hetherington and Buddy Boyd embarked on their maiden voyage to prove electric car travel is feasible in a very large country with some very sparsely populated areas. With a 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV as their chariot, and their dog Piper for company, the couple left Victoria, British Columbia. They don't plan...

Missing piece in global vehicle emission puzzle: heavy trucks

Toyota 'Project Portal' proof-of-concept hydrogen fuel-cell powered semi tractor, for Port of LAA global push to reduce vehicle emissions and create cleaner air for future generations has been underway for half a century now. However, while many governments around the world have introduced lower emission and higher fuel-efficiency standards for passenger cars, another large contributor to global emissions has mostly traveled under the radar...

Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, June 2017: Prime time

2017 Toyota Prius Prime, Catskill Mountains, NY, Nov 2016Toyota made a strong return to the Canadian plug-in electric vehicle market in June, selling 144 Prius Prime plug-in hybrids. The tally is all the more remarkable as the vehicle has so far launched only in Quebec. Why? That province is the home of Canada’s sole zero-emission vehicle mandate, patterned on California’s. Depending on the...

France plans to ban all gasoline, diesel vehicles by 2040

Nicolas Hulot, French minister of ecological transition, announces 2040 ban on vehicles with enginesTo most North Americans, the idea of banning all vehicles with internal-combustion engines seems unthinkable. Filling up with gasoline (or diesel) is as American as are dispersed low-density suburbs without mass transit, bike paths, or even sidewalks. Europeans, more of whom live in cities and most of whom have access to a more balanced set of...