The figures for electric vehicle registrations (a proxy for sales) in France during the month of September 2015 are now in. They don’t really provide any surprises, but they’re probably worth taking a look at anyways. Altogether, 2,709 electric vehicles (EVs) were registered in France during the month, meaning that overall sales have barely risen at all as […]
My trip to Florida for the EV Technology & Transportation Summit has delayed this report a bit, but I squeezed it in before the end of the month. The exciting bit of the story is that the Nissan LEAF pulled back in front of the Volkswagen e-Golf in September. For the year through September, though, […]
I’m really eager to test the Model S 70, 70D, 85, 85D, P85D, 90, 90D, and P90D back to back in one day… but that is clearly a fantasy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if not a single individual has ever done that. With so many variations, I’m sure my senses would turn to mush […]
The Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid was the third high-end, high-performance electric car I drove in Florida last week. I drove the Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid almost immediately after the Tesla Model S 70D, a day after the BMW i8, and two days before the Cadillac ELR. Being a Porsche, expectations were high. Being a PHEV, they weren’t that high. […]
As I just noted, I was lucky enough to test drive several high-end, high-performance cars while in Florida last week. I expected the ELR to be the luxury queen of the bunch. It turned out that the power and acceleration of this stealth beast shocked me so much that I forgot to even take note […]
I test drove several high-end, high-performance cars while in Florida last week. Of all the vehicles I test drove, I was perhaps most interested in testing out the BMW i8. The i8 is a stunning vehicle, imho. And knowing how wicked the i3 is to drive, I was drooling at the opportunity for even greater acceleration. […]
BMW’s North American sales figures for September 2015 have now been released, revealing a couple of very interesting things. Perhaps most notably, the BMW i3 electric vehicle accounted for 5.5% of all North American sales for BMW for the month, outselling the 1/2 series, the 6 series, the 7 series, the Z4, and the X1 […]
The BMW i8 is a stunningly beautiful plug-in hybrid with wicked acceleration. But it was also a lab where BMW introduced some innovative technology to use in future vehicles. BMW i8 eDrive technology offers superb drive quality (or as the video below points out, “exceptionally efficient performance”) with all-electric driving and zero tailpipe emissions when the battery […]
The wait for the longer-range 2016 Nissan LEAF and 2016 Chevy Volt continues to stunt plug-in car sales growth in the US. Just about every car within the price vicinity (and especially the historically leading LEAF & Volt) saw September 2015 sales drop compared to September 2014. On the other hand, higher-priced BMW i3, Mercedes B-Class, […]
I love covering Germany’s electric car sales, partly because it’s a large electric car market, partly because the leaders change so much, and partly because it gets several electric models before other markets. A new addition to this race this month is the Mercedes GLE 500e. Other plug-in cars now selling in Germany and mostly not […]
I’ve finally got what seems to be official and complete data on electric car registrations in Norway. Woohoo! (In case you haven’t been following along for years, public data on electric car sales/registrations are not available for all models in practically every large country in the world.) However, last month, a reader tipped me off to an obscure (and […]
A number of prominent auto manufacturers in the US are currently considering using “Gorilla Glass” as a means of cutting down total vehicle weight, thereby improving fuel economy, according to recent reports. The idea is that, since Gorilla Glass is stronger than conventional glass, less would be needed — perhaps reducing material weight by 25–30%, according […]
BMW is without a doubt one of the large automakers most serious about the electric vehicle transition, or electrification of passenger transport. I put BMW #2 or #3, only behind Tesla and perhaps Nissan. The German premium-brand giant reinforced that yesterday at the Frankfurt Motor Show by focusing on the i brand right at the […]
Something not often recognized by non-EV drivers is that the charging capabilities of current electric cars vary greatly. Numerous models are simply not capable of charging on “fast chargers,” which greatly limits their use on long-distance trips and, depending on your circumstances, perhaps even for regular use. Furthermore, the importance of fast charging is only one […]
Well, let’s be honest, August was a lame sales month for electric car lovers. There are clear reasons for this. Historically, the two highest-selling electric cars in the US have been the Nissan LEAF and the Chevy Volt. The 2nd-generation Chevy Volt, much improved and even a little cheaper, is just hitting the market, and many […]
This is going to be a fun one. 😀 No matter how this ranking turns out, people are going to have differing opinions, sometimes very strong ones. But that’s the nature of subjective rankings, especially about topics people are very emotional about. Considering how people name their cars, how they will buy from a single […]
I generally wouldn’t cover electric car sales in a market where there are so few as in South Africa, but I found the absurdly low numbers somewhat “humorous,” the #1 electric car on the market is also quite funny, and I know we have some South African readers, so… here we are. Basically, the story […]
The Renault Zoe is still top dog in France. Actually, it’s absolutely crushing it. The homegrown Zoe has 42% of the electric car market in France from January through July, and took 36% in July. No other car comes close to it. After test driving the Zoe a week ago, I can certainly see why it’s […]