Tesla delivers 1,550 Model 3s in Q4; Models S, X over 100,000 in 2017

2017 Tesla Model 3 and Model S in Tesla assembly plant parking lot, Fremont, CA, November 2017Tesla said it delivered 1,550 Model 3 electric cars between October 1 and December 31 last year, but built 2,425 over the same period. That compares to a total of 260 Model 3s delivered in the third quarter, after a splashy "handover event" in which the first 30 cars were delivered to buyers. The Model 3, the electric car starting at $35,000, is...

No, electric cars (still) aren’t crashing the grid. Again.

2011 Chevrolet Volt home chargingRemember all those brownouts we experienced last week because everyone plugged in their electric cars? No? Oh right, that didn't happen. It still isn't happening. And it's unlikely to ever happen. That's the conclusion of a study by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), using infrastructure investment data from California's biggest...

Insurance claims on electric cars vary hugely, though perhaps predictably

Smart crash testWhen buying a car, one point to consider during the process should be insurance costs. Aside from any finance or lease payment, and fuel costs if you cover lots of miles in a not-very-efficient vehicle, insurance is likely your biggest car-related expense. Thankfully, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Highway Data Loss Institute (HLDI)...

Automaker push to delay, modify, or kill CAFE is nothing new

On-Road Fuel Economy of Vehicles in the United States: 1923-2015 (Sivak and Schoettle)As automakers yet again lobby Washington to roll back planned fuel-economy targets for 2025, they've employed some familiar tactics to drive the point home to lawmakers. It cannot be done. It will cost too much. It will destroy the industry and kill jobs. Consumers do not want this. The science is not clear. The market will solve it. If you were...

2018 Mercedes-Benz C350e: plug-in hybrid luxury sedan driven

2018 Mercedes-Benz C350e, Catskill Mountains, NY, Nov 2017It's been two and a half years since we drove the plug-in hybrid version of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan at its San Francisco launch event. It took a while for the car to go on sale in the U.S., which it did in January 2017. Now we've had a chance to spend a weekend with the Mercedes-Benz C350e and get a sense of what it's like to live with in...

2018 Nissan Leaf: an early Leaf driver’s impressions (he has a Tesla too)

2018 Nissan Leaf electric car, test-driven by Shiva of Fremont, California, Oct 2017First sales of the 2018 Nissan Leaf, the second generation of the pioneering electric car, should come this month. But Nissan has quietly been showing the 2018 Leaf to electric-car shoppers for several months now, hosting drives at dealerships and other venues. Several of our readers and contributors have now taken part in these events, and now we...

Europe takes the lead in very fast electric-car charging

Allego 175 kw Ultra-E Charging Station in GermanyEuropeans will soon have the opportunity to enjoy quiet, emission-free, long-distance motoring with far shorter charge times when driving electric cars along Germany's autobahns. The charging network Allego has rolled out its first 175-kilowatt ultra-fast charging stations—dubbed "Ultra E"—at its first location in Kleinosthei, along...

2018 BMW i3s: range, efficiency lower for sportier model of electric car

2018 BMW i3sAs a given generation of any vehicle ages, German companies in particular often spice up the allure of the aging car with new and sportier versions. Porsche is a master at rolling out new versions of its models across the entire life of a generation, but BMW has learned the trick too. Thus in the fifth model year for the BMW i3, we have the new...

China is serious on fuel economy: 500-plus models to go out of production

2016 BYD Tang plug-in hybrid SUV, made in ChinaChina has taken a major step toward cleaning up the new cars sold in the country beginning January 1. As numerous countries debate plans to end sales of fossil-fuel vehicles completely at points in the future, China has now forced the end of production for some 553 models, starting Monday. The vehicles, from a wide range of automakers, can no...

One Tesla Model S plus one 97-year-old grandfather: video magic

Zev Gitalis takes his 97-year-old grandfather for a ride in his Tesla Model S electric car [YouTube]"I hear you got an electric car," says a 97-year-old man, looking every bit like a 97-year-old man, suspenders and all. "Is it outside?" The man behind the camera is Zev Gitalis, and the man in front of the camera is his grandfather. DON'T MISS: South's good ol' boy drag racers whupped by Tesla, not happy about it Outside sits not a Nissan Leaf...