Best Electric Vehicles Of 2016: Kia Soul EV, Chevrolet Bolt, Tesla Model X And More

These days, electric vehicles are now becoming more mainstream. Many people now consider them as a viable form of everyday transport. People who are conscious of their carbon footprint and are looking to lessen the costs of car ownership are now looking into electric vehicles as a great alternative.

Most mainstream car manufacturers are now seriously investing in electric car technology, and are now either offering an electric car model, or are in the process of developing one in their pipelines.

If you are in the market for an electric vehicle, there are plenty of options available for you, starting with this list:

Kia Soul EV

This electric car is great for city dwelling. It retains the boxy design and roomy cabin that is quite similar to the original Soul. The car is great for the environmentally conscious because it is made from recyclable materials. The battery's 27 kilowatt-hour capacity allows the Soul EV to have an EPA range rating of 105 miles, while its motor has been rated at 81 kilowatts.

The car's torque provides great acceleration and driveability, and with the help of the ChaDeMo rapid charging, it can charge the car's battery to 80% within 30 minutes. The downside is that this car is only available in 10 states.

Chevrolet Bolt EV

 "'Game changer' is an overused term, but sometimes the game does change," that's how the Detroit Free Press described the Chevrolet Bolt when it awarded the electric vehicle a Car of the Year award.

What stands out about the Chevrolet Bolt EV is its driving range, which has been officially certified by the EPA at 238 miles on a single charge, all thanks to its 60-kWh battery and regenerative braking capability.

Tesla Model X

Tesla has expanded the Model S by coming up with the much bigger Model X. The car is powered by a Tegra 3 processor. There are no physical buttons or knobs on the dashboard because everything is controlled by a touch-screen 17-inch LCD right smack in the middle.

The most advanced technology being offered by Tesla Model X is its Autopilot mode. With the help of a camera, radar, and ultrasonic sensors, the car will understand its current environment and will change its speed, change lanes, and park itself accordingly.

BMW i3

Compared to other electric cars, the BMW i3 is a lightweight because of its carbon-fiber and aluminium body structure, which have been created to offset the weight of its battery pack. It is about the same size as a Ford Fiesta but feels roomier in the inside.

It has a driving range of around 120 to 195 miles depending on how you drive, but you can opt to pay more to get a range-extender, which will allow the car to go up to 276 miles.

Cars produce carbon emissions which are harmful to the environment. Driving an electric car is a great step in the right direction, and if you want to be more eco-friendly and practice sustainability, you can never go wrong with choosing any of the electric cars from this list.

© 2016 Tech Times, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

Source: Best Electric Vehicles Of 2016: Kia Soul EV, Chevrolet Bolt, Tesla Model X And More

Europe Electric Car Sales — BMW i3 #1 Again

 

This article is also being published on CleanTechnica, the EV Sales blogspot, and our Electric Car Sales page.

The European EV market had more than 18,500 registrations last month, 5% down over the same month last year. This sales slip has to do with the incentives-derived sales rush in the last quarter of 2015 in some major EV markets, so expect this trend to continue through December. Last month, the top spots remained more or less like in October:

#1 BMW i3 – Thanks to the massive arrival of 33 kWh units to Norway (1,014 units registered), the BMW i3 earned its third best-seller title in four months, this time with 2,092 cars registered across Europe, up 51% YoY. Besides Norway, other markets where the Bimmer excelled were Germany (291 deliveries), France (117), and Austria (97 deliveries, 1 Rex).

#2 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV – The Japanese SUV managed to outsell the Renault Zoe this time, in what has turned out to be a tight race between two very different EVs, grabbing the silver medal in November with 1,512 SUVs registered. That's up 7% compared to October, but it's still down 48% YoY, as sales at the end of last year were heavily inflated by incentives changes in the Netherlands and Sweden. Despite the loss on the Dutch market, the Outlander still managed to sell in three digits in four countries (Norway, Sweden, Germany and United Kingdom). Regarding the tight race with the Zoe for the 2016 title, the Outlander PHEV is 89 deliveries ahead of the Zoe after 11 months. It's a nailbiter!

#3 Renault Zoe – Registrations were down 30% YoY for the Zoe in November, to 1,438 cars registered across Europe. With the mass delivery of the 40 kWh delayed and buyers waiting for the extended-range version, the model was in a sort of "no man's land." With a Tesla-like stunt in December unlikely, the 3,000 units delivered in December 2015 seem pretty unlikely in December 2016. Last month, good performances in Germany (303 registrations), Denmark (137), and Norway (100) weren't enough to compensate the slip in its home market (547 units).

#4 VW Passat GTE – Volkswagen's midsize offering continues to collect good results. Besides the usual Sweden (295 units) and Norway (173) — big time Passat GTE lovers — this Volkswagen model had a great result in the Netherlands, with 363 units registered, its best result there this year. All of this allowed the Passat GTE to reach the fourth position in Europe, with 1,067 cars registered. With the right mix of electric range, space, power and price, the Passat GTE is turning out to be a success among company fleets across Europe.

#5 Nissan Leaf – Despite being on sale for almost 6 years, and with new updates coming soon, the Japanese hatch was actually up 57% YoY in November, to 1,030 cars registered. With deep discounts propelling sales across Europe — and particularly in high-volume markets like Norway, the UK, Germany and France — the Leaf proves that, if priced right, small-range models can still sell quite well. The irony here is that a range of 250 kilometers was considered a major improvement just a year ago, but now it is considered "small range." …

YTD Ranking – Outlander PHEV Closer to the 2016 Best Seller Title

After running ahead for a good part of the year and poised to finally win a "best seller" title, delivery delays of the new 40 kWh Renault Zoe is dragging down the Zoe's performance. These delays essentially dropped it to 2nd place at the end of November, just 89 units behind the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Despite the Outlander PHEV seeing its sales drop 24% YoY, it still managed enough momentum to surpass the French hatchback and now is the favorite to win the 2016 title, which would be its third in a row! This feels like those football matches where one of the teams (Renault) starts as favorite but ends up losing with an own goal in the 85th minute. … Now all the other team (Mitsubishi) has to do is wait a few more minutes and then raise the trophy.

After the tight race for #1, the other top sellers seem to have a stronghold on #3 (Nissan Leaf), #4 (BMW i3), and #5 (Tesla Model S).

Looking below the top 5, the #7 VW Passat GTE is closing in on its smaller brother, the #6 Golf GTE, and December might bring a position change between these two. Keeping on the sibling position changes, the BMW 225xe Active Tourer (828 November registrations, new personal record, bringing it up to 4,986 YTD registrations) surpassed its much larger X5 xDrive40e relative (4,893 registrations) and reached #13.

November brought a couple of surprising performances, from the 373 units of the oldtimer Citroen C-Zero (best result in 4 years), thanks to a fleet deal in Spain, to the 494 units of the Hyundai Ioniq Electric, a new model that has been receiving a warm welcome in several markets. Mercedes is also enjoying a fairly warm welcome with its two new babies, the GLC350e (372 November registrations, up to #27) and E350e (227 November registrations).

In the manufacturer ranking, BMW cemented its leadership (17%, up 1%) over Volkswagen (15%), with Renault in 3rd (13%), Nissan in 4th (11%), and Mitsubishi in 5th (10%).

Europe November YTD Audi A3 e-Tron 590 5,745 Audi Q7 e-Tron 437 2,687 BMW 225xe Act. Tourer 808 4,986 BMW 330e 982 7,302 BMW i3 2,092 13,198 BMW i8 97 1,431 BMW X5 xDrive40e 371 4,893 Bolloré Blue Car 1 942 Citröen C-Zero 373 1,564 Kia Soul EV 274 4,064 Mercedes B250e 327 3,250 Mercedes C350e 693 8,377 Mercedes GLC350e 372 1,517 Mercedes GLE500e 108 1,262 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV 1,512 18,804 Nissan e-NV200 351 2,893 Nissan Leaf 1,030 17,045 Peugeot iOn 135 1,756 Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid 220 2,685 Renault Kangoo ZE 305 3,709 Renault Twizy 157 1,927 Renault Zoe 1,438 18,715 Tesla Model S 603 11,095 Tesla Model X 387 2,600 Volvo V60 PHEV 420 3,272 Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV 675 8,095 VW e-Up! 350 2,224 VW e-Golf 409 6,354 VW Golf GTE 886 10,071 VW Passat GTE 1,067 9,781 Others 1,226 6,780 TOTAL 18,696 189,024  

Don't forget to follow EV Obsession on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and/or RSS! Do it for electricity!

Tags: Audi, Audi A3 e-tron, bmw, BMW 225xe, BMW 225xe Active Tourer, BMW 330e, bmw i, BMW i3, BMW i8, BMW X5 xDrive40e, Bollore Bluecar, Citroën, Citröen C-Zero, daimler, Europe, Europe EV sales, kia, Kia Soul EV, mercedes, Mercedes B250e, Mercedes C350e, Mercedes GLC350e, Mercedes GLE500e, mitsubishi, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, nissan, Nissan e-NV200, nissan leaf, Peugeot, Peugeot iOn, porsche, Porsche Cayenne S E Hybrid, Renault, Renault Kangoo ZE, Renault Twizy, Renault Zoe, Tesla Model S, tesla model x, Tesla motors, Volkswagen, Volkswagen e-Golf, Volkswagen e-Up!, Volkswagen Golf GTE, Volkswagen Passat GTE, Volvo, Volvo V60 Plug-In, Volvo XC90 T8

About the Author

Jose Pontes Always interested in the auto industry, particularly in electric cars, Jose has been overviewing the sales evolution of plug-ins through the EV Sales blogsince 2012, allowing him to gain an expert view on where EVs are right now, and where they are headed in the future. The EV Sales blog has become a go-to source for people interested in electric car sales around the world. Extending that work and expertise, Jose is now a partner in EV-Volumes.

Source: Europe Electric Car Sales — BMW i3 #1 Again

LeEco Breaks Ground on $1.8 Billion China Electric Car Plant

Stock Analysis Review: Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)Some analyst provided their insight on Growth Estimates; Amazon.com, Inc. has the Current Quarter Earnings Growth rate of 37%. The High Revenue estimate is predicted as 46.01 Billion, while the Low Revenue Estimate prediction stands at 43.56 Billion.

Il materiale promozionale di Red Dead Redemption 2 arriva nei negoziIl vasto e suggestivo mondo di gioco fornirà un'indimenticabile modalità single player e una nuova modalità multiplayer online.

Stephens Downgrade Team Health Holdings Inc. (TMH) to Equal WeightThe Next Quarter EPS growth is 17.6%, Long term annual growth estimate of 15.8%, Annual EPS growth past 5 years of 16.59 percent. Analysts are also projecting an Average Revenue Estimate for Team Health Holdings, Inc.as $1.2 Billion in the Current Quarter.

Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) Position Maintained by the Shell Asset Management CoCFO4Life L.P. now owns 9,638 shares of the airline's stock worth $375,000 after buying an additional 652 shares during the period. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,715 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,207,804.95.

'Girl Meets World' Ending After Season 3, Says Rider StrongAfter some three full seasons, Girl Meets World might have officially come to an end, at least according to star Rider Strong . The Jan. 6 show, titled "World Meets Girl", will be an hour-long episode and will "peek behind the scenes".

Snowstorm on Thursday? Here's the lastest forecast from NOAAWinds will be from the south at 5-10 miles per hour and there will be a 20 percent chance of scattered showers for the region. We'll see broken cloudiness on Thursday too, with no worse than a few later day snow flurries or a passing light snow shower.

Police pursue U-Haul from Peoria to PV before arrestThe suspect, whose name is not available at this time, allegedly robbed an AM/PM on the corner of 75th and Peoria. Phoenix police took over the pursuit, and Peoria police have since backed off, Sheffert said.

Trump.''L'Onu è un club per gente che chiacchera e si diverte''I tweet precedono l'atteso discorso del segretario di stato John Kerry, sul voto all'Onu e sul processo di pace in Medio Oriente. Gli Stati Uniti sono il maggiore contributore al bilancio del Palazzo di Vetro. "L'Onu ha un potenziale cosi' straordinario".

Palazzina Esplosa a Roma: Trovati i corpi di mamma e figliaLa zona dell'esplosione è stata posta sotto sequestro e l'ipotesi di una fuga di gas ha sconcertato gli abitanti della zona . Abito a 150 metri e credevo fosse un botto di Natale, poi ho sentito i Vigili del Fuoco che sono arrivati subito.

Crolla una palazzina ad AciliaIl boato sarebbe stato talmente forte da essere avvertito anche nei quartieri limitrofi che si trovavano ad una certa distanza. L'indagine per accertare le cause del crollo è affidata ai carabinieri della stazione di Acilia e della compagnia di Ostia.

Source: LeEco Breaks Ground on $1.8 Billion China Electric Car Plant

Electric vehicles look to give the San Diego Auto Show a bolt

After years of promises and potential, 2017 may be the year alternative-fueled vehicles gain some real traction in the car market.

And attendees at the San Diego International Auto Show, which opens Thursday at the Convention Center, can get their first peek at some of the models upon which policymakers as well as car makers have pinned so much hope.

"It's going to be very telling," said Jeremy Acevedo, pricing and industry analyst for Edmunds.com. "As to where this technology is, how it's resonating with shoppers out there, I think 2017 is going to be a very strong barometer."

Among some of the alternative-fueled vehicles on display include the newly-designed Toyota Prius — called the Prius Prime — and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles such as the Toyota Mirai and the brand new Honda Clarity.

The market has even gone upscale, with the likes of BMW, Mercedes and Cadillac offering prime spots on the convention floor for their own clean-energy cars. The Cadillac CTS hybrid plug-in has a starting price of just over $75,000.

But the all-electric Chevrolet Bolt EV may be the "it" car at this year's auto show. Last month, the Bolt was named Motor Trend magazine's Car of the Year for 2017. 

Not to be confused with the Chevy Volt, the plug-in hybrid on the market since December 2010, the Bolt EV is now available at dealerships in California and Oregon.  

Electric vehicles — known as EVs for short — have garnered a lot of attention in recent years but not too many sales in comparison to conventional, internal-combustion vehicles.

They make up less than 1 percent of the nation's sales in new vehicles. Even in tech-obsessed California, plug-ins represent just 3 percent of new sales.

Two of the biggest obstacles for EVs? Their sticker price and "range anxiety" — the fear that the car's charge will conk out and leave a driver stranded.

The Bolt EV is designed to address those complaints. 

It has a baseline price of $37,495 and, with federal and state incentives, the cost to consumers goes down below $30,000. That's a price range that Chevy hopes will lure middle-class buyers, not just the wealthy who can afford Teslas that can easily top $100,000 with all the high-tech bells and whistles.

Tesla is also poised to unveil its own affordably-priced electric car. Elon Musk's company has taken about 300,000 deposits on its Model 3, priced in the mid-$30,000 range, but the car is not scheduled to roll out until late 2017.

The Bolt EV's range promises to go 238 miles between charges. That's more than twice the distance of most other EVs on the market. 

"In the past, the first thing you did when you got into your EV was worrying: Where is my next charger? Will I make it to my destination?" said Shad Balch, product specialist for Chevrolet, who rolled up on the eve of the auto show Wednesday in a cranberry-colored Bolt after cruising from Los Angeles.

"So the fact that you can get at least 238 miles of range in this car means you can go so much farther without having to worry at all," Balch said. "For many people, they'll just plug in once a week if this car is their daily commuter."

But the road to EV heaven hasn't been smooth.

Despite a federal tax credit of $7,500 and California rebates that range from $1,500 to $5,000 — not to mention stickers that allow single motorists in cars that meet the state's definition of of zero-emissions vehicles to drive in the HOV lanes — the sales of clean-energy cars in California have been flat.

Instead, car buyers have spent more of their dollars on light trucks and sports utility vehicles.

For more than two years, the price of gasoline in California has dropped well below the $4 a gallon mark.

"That doesn't do a whole lot to incentivize people to go out and and buy a car that has a plug and that embrace that (EV) technology now," said Acevedo.

In addition, the miles-per-gallon standards for crossover SUVs have improved to such a degree they have become competitive from a fuel-efficiency standpoint to passenger cars. 

"They're definitely not the massive, gas-guzzling SUVs you remember from decades ago," Acevedo said. "They're smaller, more nimble and hugely more efficient."

That poses a problem when it comes to meeting the lofty goals for electric, plug-in and hybrid vehicles set by California's policymakers.

Legislators in Sacramento have insisted the state get its emissions of greenhouse gases 40 percent below the 1990 levels in the next 13 years.

Gov. Jerry Brown wants 1.5 million zero-emissions vehicles on the state's highways by 2025, the same year the California Air Resources Board has mandated that clean cars make up at least 15.4 percent of all vehicles sold in the state — five times more than the current level.

Under the Air Resources Board's zero-emissions program, manufacturers are given credits tied to the number and types of clean vehicles sold. If a manufacturer falls short, it can buy credits from car makers that exceed the quotas. 

Critics say the rules are unrealistic, forcing car makers to lose thousands on each zero-emission vehicle they sell, thus making each clean vehicle essentially a "compliance car" to keep them in the good graces of the Air Resources Board.

Balch said Chevy is committed to making the Bolt EV a success.

"If it was a compliance car we wouldn't give it a 238-mile range," Balch said. "This is a car we intend to sell nationwide and it's priced at a level where everyone can afford it."

Tesla does not have a spot reserved at the San Diego auto show because the company skips over the car dealer process, dealing with potential buyers directly. The auto show is presented by the New Car Dealers Association of San Diego. 

With the growing number of alternative-fueled vehicles entering the market like the Tesla Model 3 and the Chevy Bolt EV, there's talk in the auto industry that 2017 will be viewed as a major test.

"I think we'll have critical years for years to come," said Kevin Leap, director of the San Diego International Auto Show. "The distance you can drive on one charge is really improving, the battery technology is improving, particularly in California where we're so environmentally conscious." 

San Diego International Auto Show

San Diego Convention Center

Thursday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Friday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Sunday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Monday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

More than 400 vehicles displayed

Admission:

Age 13 and older: $12

Military with ID: $9

Seniors 62 and older: $9

Children 7-12: $8

Children 1-6 when accompanied by an adult: Free

rob.nikolewski@sduniontribune.com  

(619) 293-1251 Twitter: @robnikolewski

ALSO

Conking out: Low-emissions vehicles sales slump

Millennials enter the car market … carefully

After six years, California vehicles finally stall

 

Source: Electric vehicles look to give the San Diego Auto Show a bolt

China's Jiangling Motors unit awarded electric car licence - state planner

Dec 28 A unit of China's Jiangling Motors Corp Ltd has been awarded a licence to manufacture 50,000 electric vehicles, according to an online posting by the country's state planner viewed by Reuters on Wednesday.

The company is the seventh to receive such permission under a licencing programme specifically for new energy vehicles. (Reporting by Jake Spring and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Sam Holmes)

'); $('.second-article-divide').append($('.slider.slider-module')); $('.third-article-divide').append('Also In Auto & Truck Manufacturers'); var median = (relatedItemsTotal / 2); var $relatedContentGroupOne = $('.related-content.group-one ul'); var $relatedContentGroupTwo = $('.related-content.group-two ul'); $.each($relatedItems, function(k,v) { if (k + 1 Also In Auto & Truck Manufacturers
Source: China's Jiangling Motors unit awarded electric car licence - state planner

Electric-Vehicle Users Could See Power Bills Skyrocket In New Year

SANTA CLARITA (CBSLA.com) – Electric-vehicle owners in the Southern California Edison service area could get sticker shock on their electric bills beginning Jan. 1.

In 2017, a new fee will take effect for customers who use more than four times the average amount of electricity of other families in their area.

To help mitigate that cost, Edison offers two separate rate options for EV owners, the Electric Vehicle and Time of Use plans.

Under the Electric Vehicle plan, electricity used to charge your car is billed under a separate meter. Lower rates will apply during off-peak hours of 9 p.m. to noon.

Under the Time of Use plan, you are charged lower rates at night, between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., but you pay more for electricity during the day, with on-peak rates from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.

If you remain under the standard plan, you will have to pay a monthly high usage fee when you go over 400 percent of the baseline usage for your area.

Jason Vasquez uses the Time of Use Plan. He tells CBS2 he can charge his Ford Fusion at night and keep the cost low.

"So, as long as we can charge the car during those off hours, we're fine," Vasquez said.

The problem, however, comes during the summer months, when he needs to run air conditioning during the day.

"It might be cheaper simply to run off gas on this vehicle during the summer than to go over that 400 percent," Vasquez said.

There is a fourth option, which is to install solar panels on your roof and generate your own electricity for your home and car. The installation, though, could cost thousands of dollars upfront.

For more information on each plan, click here.

Source: Electric-Vehicle Users Could See Power Bills Skyrocket In New Year

Merry Electric Car Christmas From Gas2!

The content produced by this site is for entertainment purposes only. Opinions and comments published on this site may not be sanctioned by, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sustainable Enterprises Media, Inc., its owners, sponsors, affiliates, or subsidiaries.

Source: Merry Electric Car Christmas From Gas2!

New Data Supports The Obvious – Automakers Neglect To Advertise Electric Cars

9 hours ago by Steven Loveday

BMW should get an award, as the company spent a "whopping" $19 million on national advertising for the i3

The Sierra Club analyzed CompetiTrack and Motor Intelligence data shared by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM), pertaining to automotive advertising markers. Not surprisingly, automakers are spending much less, if anything at all, on marketing electric cars, thus advertising is minimal or non-existent.

Ford spent a grand total of $0 marketing and advertising the Fusion Energi nationally

Let's take a look at some of the 2015 data for cable and broadcast TV for nationwide audiences:

The Ford Focus boasted 4,750 ads  – The Ford Focus Electric was at about 200

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class was advertised 1,400 times – The Mercedes-Benz B-Class EV saw zero

The Chevrolet Cruze enjoyed 700 spots – The Chevrolet Volt only had 200

The Nissan Sentra saw 3,500 ads – The Nissan LEAF fared better than most, at 1,750

In ads specifically for a California-based audience, due to CARB and ZEV credits, numbers were better. But, somewhat peculiar is that in Northeast ZEV states, statistics weren't as promising. The Chevrolet Volt was advertised 800 times in California, but only 10 times in Northeast ZEV states. The Volkswagen e-Golf was the exception, with twice as many ads in the Northeast ZEV states, than in California. However, the ad numbers were nothing close to the 2,200 national ads for the ICE VW Golf.

Sell it like you mean it: Kia Soul EV ad pot featuring a robotic dog

Automakers and dealerships are quick to state that they are doing everything in their power to sell electric cars, blaming low sales volume on lack of consumer interest. While consumer interest is admittedly lower than that of ICE cars, the Sierra Club proved through another recent study, that automakers and dealerships "doing everything in their power," is markedly false. It involved sending volunteers to dealerships to inquire about electric cars. The "mystery shoppers" found little support.

Sierra Club points out that for the BMW i3, Ford Fusion Energi, Chevrolet Volt, and Nissan LEAF, almost nothing was spent on advertising for the Northeast ZEV states. Furthermore, Ford spent a grand total of $0 marketing and advertising the Fusion Energi nationally. BMW should get an award, as the company spent a "whopping" $19 million on national marketing for the i3. Remember, we are talking about automakers that spend billions on marketing and advertising.

Visit the link below to see charts breaking down advertising figures in greater detail.

Source: Sierra Club

Tags: advertising, BMW i3, chevrolet volt, electric cars, evs, Ford Fusion Energi, marketing, Mercedes B-Class, Nissan Leaf

Get Updates

Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter to receive updates.

Source: New Data Supports The Obvious – Automakers Neglect To Advertise Electric Cars

Uber launches first electric car fleet in Madrid

Madrid: Ride-hailing service Uber Technologies launched in Madrid on Thursday its first fleet of electric cars.

In Spain's capital city, as elsewhere, Uber's service of matching private car owners with passengers has prompted anger among the heavily-regulated taxi sector.

The company hopes the introduction of cleaner cars will help improve its image in a city governed by left-wing, environmentally mayor Manuela Carmena, said Carles Lloret, managing director of Uber for southern Europe

Madrid's city administration in November unveiled new measures at combating pollution, from limiting private traffic in the centre to tightening speed limits on access roads.

"We want to do things that are in line with what the town hall wants," Lloret said.

Regulation and hostility from local taxi firms drove Uber off Spanish streets at the end of 2014 after a Spanish judge ruled the company did not comply with the country's laws and represented unfair competition.

But it returned to Madrid in April with UberX which, unlike its previous UberPOP service, used professionally licensed drivers. The fleet of electric cars form a part of its premium UberONE service, which offers extras such as in-car Internet connections.

Uber operates in Madrid with restrictive licences which it says impedes expansion. It hopes the launch of the environmentally service may encourage a liberalisation of the car-sharing sector.

"We would love to see more licences awarded in the future, perhaps for greener cars so there could be more in circulation," said Lloret.

Founded in 2009, Uber Technologies Inc. has expanded exponentially worldwide but has come up against opposition from traditional taxi drivers and faced court injunctions in several countries, including Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands as well as Spain. 

Source: Uber launches first electric car fleet in Madrid

Uber launches electric fleet of Teslas as self-driving California cars are cancelled

Uber executives will undoubtedly have mixed emotions as they arrive to work at the company's San Francisco headquarters on Thursday morning. On one hand, the company's freshly launched self-driving car pilot in San Francisco has come to an early and abrupt end. The Department of Motor Vehicles was tired of the back and forth with Uber, which had refused to obtain special permits for its self-driving Volvo SUVs because it insisted they did not fit California's definition of true autonomous cars. So, the DMV revoked the registrations of all 16 vehicles, making it impossible to operate them legally on San Francisco roads.

On the bright side, Uber launched a new fleet of Tesla taxis on Thursday, its first ever fleet of electric vehicles.

"We're now looking at where we can redeploy these cars but remain 100 percent committed to California and will be redoubling our efforts to develop workable statewide rules," an Uber spokeswoman said following the California DMV's decision to revoke the registration on each of Uber's self-driving cars. For the time being, the company has not announced concrete plans to relaunch its self-driving car initiative.

But halfway around the world, things are looking much brighter for Uber on Thursday.

Uber first began to test electric vehicles for its on demand car services in London and Portugal, but fleets have yet to officially launch in either of those markets at this point. Instead, Uber's first fleet of electric taxis has just hit the roads in Madrid, where a severe problem with pollution has prompted a great deal of interest in electric vehicles.

As has been the case in many markets, Uber ran into problems with Spain's taxi commission following its launch in the country. It's new fleet of Teslas is seen in part as an effort to play nice with the local government in Spain's capital city. Uber currently operates with a restricted permit in Madrid, which prevents the company from expanding its operations in the region.

"We want to do things that are in line with what the town hall wants," an Uber executive told Reuters. "We would love to see more licenses awarded in the future, perhaps for greener cars so there could be more in circulation."

Uber's new fleet of Tesla cars will be part of the company's "UberONE" service in Madrid, a costly high-end taxi service that offers premium features to passengers, such as in-car Wi-Fi connectivity.

Source: Uber launches electric fleet of Teslas as self-driving California cars are cancelled

WiTricity and General Motors Come Together To Make An Efficient Charging System For Your Electric Car

Industry pioneer in wireless power transfer over distance, WiTricity, announced that it is entering in a partnership with General Motors (GM) to test an advanced wireless charging system prototype for electric vehicles. The two companies will be testing WiTricity's Drive 11 park-and-charge system. The testing will focus on wireless charging systems that operate at 7.7 and 11 kW charge rates. This system is intended to comply with the standards proposed by the SAE International's J2954 Committee. It also has the capability to charge both BEVs (battery electric vehicles) and EREVs (extended range electric vehicles) which is pretty great as because low battery issues are among the greatest problems we face today.

This power company combination is bound to bring something good by working together. WiTricity is offering the prototype, so what is GM offering? Well General Motors is known for its quality and its tech solutions. It will be offering customers various electrification solutions via this partnership. GM motors aims to increase its knowledge of real world performance and wishes to integrate similar technologies into its vehicles. It wants to provide drivers to with better ways to charge their electric cars. This system which the company is working on will allow the drivers to automatically receive power from a source below the vehicle.

This design will work for all plug-in vehicles and can be installed as a 'floor pad' in a garage or even under a pavement to allow wireless charging in parking lots. Imagine not having to worry about low battery when driving electric cars because charging solutions are available all around. "Wireless charging is a technology that our customers have told us they are interested in," said Pamela Fletcher, GM Executive Chief Engineer – Electrified Vehicles. "By testing the WiTricity prototype system, we can ensure that wireless charging systems will comply with proposed industry standards, which benefits the entire industry and consumers."

Future of the partnership

"The electric vehicle has been recognized as central to the future of mobility, and GM has been a leader, making EVs accessible to the broader market. The convenience of wireless charging will help accelerate adoption even further," said Alex Gruzen, CEO, WiTricity. "Our team is proud to work with GM on this project. Wireless charging for EVs, based on industry standards, is inevitable as we move toward a future of self-driving and autonomous vehicles, and this project brings us one step closer to realizing our vision of a world powered wirelessly."

WiTricity is putting great efforts in trying to create easy and efficient park and charge experiences and is currently working with the best automakers and Tier 1 suppliers to make this possible. The company has announced licensing agreements with companies including Toyota, Delphi, TDK, IHI and BRUSA. The company is also in contact with carmakers to drive global standards for wireless charging systems. The company is also trying to incorporate quality with originality and is also trying to follow various standards. These standards include SAE International, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), STILLE and China Automotive Technology & Research Center (CATARC).

source

Share Tweet Submit

Source: WiTricity and General Motors Come Together To Make An Efficient Charging System For Your Electric Car

Auto Giants Nissan, Renault, Mitsubishi To Share E-Car Platform

Auto Giants Combine Forces to Produce Not-So Expensive Electric Cars

Nissan Motor Co, Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp agreed to combine their electric vehicle platforms in a move to cut prices down to levels comparable to conventional gasoline cars.

The auto giants are emboldened to combine the e-car platforms as two auto giants Volkswagen AG and Toyota Motor Corp announced their goal to mass-produce battery electric vehicles amid strict global regulations on emissions.

Amid the commitments of Franco-Japanese alliance partners Renault and Nissan on zero-emission transportation, both auto companies have struggled to cut costs as they developed their electric cars separately.

Nissan Leaf will share will share key components with Renault and Mitsubishi

Media reports say Renault and Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp, which recently came under Nissan's control, will use the same e-car platform as Nissan's remodeled Leaf electric car that is set to go on sale around 2018.

The three companies will share key components such as the inverter, motor, and battery. This move aims to cut the Leaf's price by about a fifth.

The Leaf is the world's top-selling highway-capable plug-in electric car. More than 230,000 Leafs have been sold worldwide through July 2016.

The Nissan logo. Renault-Nissan Alliance

Franco-Japanese alliance partners Renault and Nissan have been strategic partners since 1999. Taken together, the Renault-Nissan Alliance sells more than one in 10 cars worldwide. The Alliance controls nine major brands including Renault, Nissan, Infiniti, Renault Samsung Motors, Datsun, Dacia, Lada, Venucia, and Mitsubishi.

In 2013, the car group sold 8.3 million cars worldwide which was behind Toyota, General Motors, and Volkswagen for total volume. In 2014, the Renault-Nissan alliance passed 8.5 million vehicles sold globally.

The Alliance is the world's leading plug-in electric vehicle manufacturer. Its global sales reached more than 350,000 all-electric vehicles by the end of August 2016.

Renault is based in Paris, France, while Nissan is based in Yokohama, Japan.

Source: Auto Giants Nissan, Renault, Mitsubishi To Share E-Car Platform

The Chevy Bolt Is the Ugly Car of the (Very Near) Future

If you're in the market for a car, there are some good reasons not to buy Chevrolet's new Bolt. Maybe you insist on leather seats, take long road-trips to the middle of nowhere, or have a boat to tow around. If not, GM's new long range electric vehicle will be at the very least entirely sufficient for your needs. At best, it will be a giddy surprise.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. The first affordable electric car to top 200 miles on a single charge was expected to be a vehicle of compromise, a bundle of "buts." Indeed, the most impressive things about the Bolt are the attributes it lacks. The car is not tiny, boring or slow. And it handily topped its goal, coming in with an EPA-estimated 238-mile range, almost exactly the distance between New York and Boston or Washington D.C.

The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV is tall, stubby and full of busy design details.

Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

It is not, however, a looker. "Pragmatic" is probably the best adjective to describe the car. It looks like a stubby pod, cluttered by a smattering of busy design cues—swooping creases, bits of black plastic, and too many lights. The odd design works like clown-car magic on the interior, however. Chevy managed to peg the driver's seat high for a commanding view of the road, while leaving plenty of headroom for tall people in the front seats and in back.

The Bolt's design is neither futuristic nor timeless, but that's likely the point. GM has boldly designed electric cars in the past and it didn't go so well. The Bolt simply looks like a lot of other contemporary cars—a little Buick Encore, a little Honda HR-V and a dash of BMW i3. The shape grows on you. It's athletic; small without being wimpy, sturdy without being bloated.

Darin Gesse, senior manager of GM product strategy, admitted that design took a second seat to function. "We talked to customers about what they wanted and it all came down to range and price and range," he said. "Everything else wasn't even second on the list; it was like 9th."

On the Road

Forget about curb appeal. On the road, the Bolt is charming. It's quick, even for an electric car, thanks to a relative dearth of weight and clever gearing of the electric motor. It accelerates eagerly all the way up to its 95 mile-per-hour limit.

Steering is tight and precise with plenty of weight and feedback. The ride is simultaneously forgiving and firm, thanks to GM's chasis tuning expertise and the big slab of a battery. The 60 kwh lithium-ion monolith keeps the vehicle grounded through turns, stiffens the frame and absorbs the typical vibration that comes with pushing a box of metal through the air at highway speed.

That massive battery, however, comes at a hefty price. GM spends about $9,000 on each one compared with a couple hundred bucks it costs to build a small gasoline engine. The yawning chasm of cost is clearly recouped somewhat inside the car. The cockpit is a cheap collage of plastic and hard rubber that feels down-market even on a $30,000 vehicle. It is "nice" in the way Ikea furniture is "nice," which is to say it is thoughtful, pragmatic, and not terrible looking. You just don't want to touch it too much.

Plastic and rubber go a long way to keep costs down inside the Bolt, and it shows.

Source: Chevrolet

The important bits are better. The 10.2-inch touchscreen in the dash is both responsive and intuitive to use. There's WiFi—which actually works. Behind the steering wheel, the 8-inch digital gauge cluster is sharp and useful. In addition to the current speed, it prominently displays a real-time array of ranges: the maximum, minimum, and average amount of miles left on the battery, which are constantly calculated based on how the car is being driven and how hard the climate control system is working. Chevrolet appears to be almost bragging about the car's range and, like most electric carmakers, it subtly encourages efficient driving by gamifying the experience.

One of the Bolt's best features is a regenerative braking paddle behind the wheel, which simultaneously slows the car and recharges the battery when pulled. After 20 minutes of driving, I found myself hardly using the floor pedal. It's addictive, engaging and a constant prompt of the car's raison d'être.

Financial Engineering

So how did GM pull off a $30,000 car with 200 miles of range? Tesla's promise to deliver on the same equation is still about a year away (longer if you ask Morgan Stanley). Many have expressed surprise about how soundly GM beat the most innovative car company in the world to the punch. But, this race wasn't won by engineering brilliance. It was a financial battle between David and Goliath. This time, Goliath won, which shouldn't shock anyone who understands economies of scale.

At Tesla, unit economics are a brutal reality. With only two cars right now, the company's fortunes rocket or swoon every time it misses or beats production estimates by 1,000 vehicles. Musk has plenty of magic tricks to throw in the mix—from solar panels to giant garage batteries—but at the end of the day, the per-car calculation is hard to escape.

GM can spread costs and revenue over a fleet of about 40 vehicles and four separate brands. It buys parts by the trainload and sourced parts and engineering solutions from across the company. The Bolt's gear-selector comes from Buick. The nifty rear-view mirror, which is essentially a camera most of the time, is courtesy of Cadillac.

GM didn't need to go on a building spree either. It's had an assembly plant outside Detroit since 1983, and it's been building Chevrolet Sonics there for five years. Batteries, meanwhile, are just another part that can be ordered. GM was able to source its power-packs from LG Chem in Korea.

The company is expected to lose somewhere in the neighborhood of $9,000 per Bolt, but it likely doesn't crunch the numbers that way. The vehicle is part R&D exercise and part marketing expense. Battery costs are sure to come down. As they do, expect Chevy to keep the price static and dial up the details a bit. And with electric vehicle mandates escalating in 10 states, the Bolt will let GM sell more swanky Silverado pickups at much fatter margins without paying penalties or buying credits from competitors. In that sense, the Bolt is a 3,600 pound chunk of Musk-level game theory.

"Tesla loses money on every car too," said Bill Visnic, editorial director of the Society of Automobile Engineers; GM is just better equipped to mitigate that loss and leverage it into gains elsewhere.

The Anti-Tesla

Regardless of what President-elect Donald Trump has planned, California and nine other states will require 15 percent of new vehicles to be zero-emissions (read: electric) by 2025. European countries, meanwhile, are passing resolutions to ban gasoline engines entirely by 2030.

In a few years, a long-range, affordable electric car will no longer be a novelty. Chevrolet has simply made a very good version of that machine before anyone else. It's a winner-take-all market, but only for the next few months when competitors will begin rolling off the line. Almost every automaker has now committed to making electric vehicles, most recently Fiat-Chrysler and Mercedes.

It's unlikely the Bolt will crush Tesla's nascent Model 3. It has made essentially the anti-Tesla, a vehicle long on utility and short on sexy. What the Bolt will do is lure thousands of buyers who would otherwise buy a conventional car and immediately make obsolete almost every other electric car on the road. At this very moment, thousands of Nissan Leaf owners are quietly kicking themselves.

"You go after the big piece of the pie and hopefully get a lot of it," Gesse said of the car's broad approach to the market.

So how will the Bolt sell? Chevrolet says early demand is outstripping supply, but when we strolled through GM's Orion Assembly Plant, it was only making about 100 Bolts a day. Chevy churns out Camaros twice as fast. But GM didn't make the Bolt because it thought it would outsell its most popular models. It made it because it could.

Source: The Chevy Bolt Is the Ugly Car of the (Very Near) Future

e-Note to Nissan NZ: If this car becomes available, then how about we take it?

The Note e-Power, Nissan's first range-extended electric vehicle.

The biggest-selling vehicle in Japan last month wasn't anything flash-Harry - but a small hatchback. But while the car might be pint-sized, it represents a big pointer to the future for its manufacturer, Nissan.

The car is the Note e-Power, and it is the first model to feature a new drive system that is also called e-Power. It's arrival marks a significant milestone in an electrification strategy under what the brand has dubbed Nissan Intelligent Mobility.

Nissan is well-known for its electric cars - in fact its Leaf hatchback is the world's best-selling pure electric car with more than 250,000 of them sold.

The Note e-Power, Nissan's first range-extended electric vehicle.

With the e-Power strategy Nissan has borrowed from the EV technology perfected in the Leaf, but added a small petrol engine to charge the electric motor's battery when necessary.

READ MORE:* What it's like to drive an electric car* Nissan launches an electric car that runs only on petrol. Say what?* Nissan revives the weird-looking Bladeglider

Power from the battery is delivered to the Note e-Power's compact powertrain that consists of the 1.2-litre three cylinder petrol engine, a power generator, inverter, and the electric motor.

And all that represents one major difference - the owner of an Note e-Power doesn't have to charge the vehicle overnight or worry about so-called range anxiety which has always been the biggest hassle with electric cars. The only range worry with this car is the same as that for conventional cars - when to call into a service station and refuel. 

The Note e-Power is officially classified as a hybrid. But it's what is known as a series hybrid, which means that unlike conventional parallel hybrids in which an electric motor and petrol engine combine forces to drive the wheels, in the Nissan the petrol engine isn't connected to the wheels; it simply charges the battery.

The well-designed cockpit of the Nissan Note e-Power.

This type of system structure generally requires a bigger electric motor and battery because the motor is the only direct source to the drive wheels, and this has made it difficult for car makers to mount the system in small cars.

Ad Feedback

However Nissan has succeeded in reducing the size and weight of these components to the extent the Note uses a battery that is just 1/20th the size of the battery aboard the Leaf - small enough to fit under the car's front seats - but still delivers the same driving experience as a full EV.

This means installation of the EV technology hasn't impacted at all on the amount of room available in the Note e-Power - in all respects it has exactly the same passenger and cargo space as a conventional Nissan Note, which is a hatch of about the same size as a Honda Jazz.

Battery pack is under the front seats, meaning rear-seat room hasn't been compromised.

Of course, being smaller means the battery has much less storage capacity. Although details about the car are sparse, it's understood the battery can store about 1.5 kwH of energy which would be enough to transport the Note e-Power for about 2 km purely on electricity. But in this case size doesn't matter, because the petrol motor is permanently on hand to act as mini-power station on wheels and provide more charge.

Nissan says e-Power delivers lots of torque almost instantly, much like a full EV. The company adds that because e-Power relies on the engine much less frequently, fuel efficiency is comparable to or better than leading conventional hybrids, especially during around-town driving. Once again details are sparse, but it is understood the average fuel use can be as low as 2.3 L/100km.

During a short and strictly controlled drive of this car inside a Nissan facility on the outskirts of Tokyo, the little Note e-Power quickly displayed its instant acceleration, and at the higher speeds it was a quiet operator. Most times the petrol engine ticked over at its most efficient speed which is said to be around 2300rpm, only increasing its revolutions when it needed to pour more energy into the battery pack as we accelerated hard down the back straight of a test track.

The Nissan Note e-Power heads down the back straight of a track on the outskirts of Tokyo.

We're told that the hatchback's total power output is around 80kW, which is about the same as the Leaf EV.

At this stage the Note e-Power is being sold only on the Japanese domestic market, where it has proved so popular it was the country's biggest-selling car in November with around 11,000 sales.

A major reason for this popularity is price, which isn't much more than a standard Note thanks to the fact it carries a much smaller and less expensive battery pack than other EVs. Experts say savings in fuel costs over the life of the vehicle can potentially overcome this price premium.

All of this leads to some obvious questions, such as whether the Note e-Power might be made available outside the Japanese domestic market, and whether launch of this little vehicle is the precursor to more Nissans with the e-Power technology.

We hope so. The Nissan Note is an excellent little hatchback anyway, well built and surprisingly spacious, and the e-Power series hybrid version adds to its appeal. Hopefully if the car ever becomes available to markets outside of Japan, Nissan New Zealand will consider taking it.

 - Stuff

Source: e-Note to Nissan NZ: If this car becomes available, then how about we take it?

Meet The BMW 530e iPerformance: Unleashing Electric 5 Series Heat

by Gabe Beita Kiser4,460 reads

It was only a matter of time before the 5 Series was geared up to nip at Tesla's heels.

BMW has been wagging its finger at everybody lately telling the public an armada of electric vehicles is coming. Laugh if you want but the automaker has only grinned back saying "just you wait." Well, in the famous words of Lil Wayne, "it ain't trickin' if you got it," and as BMW has recently shown the world with its 330e iPerformance, 740e iPerformance, and X5 xDrive40e iPerformance, it sure has it. Aside from the rest of its SUV lineup, the only thing BMW was missing to drive the point home was an iPerformance 5 Series. Well, on that note you can now welcome the 530e iPerformance to this weird wacky era of attempting to ween customers off of the gas pump and onto the voltmeter using plug-in hybrids. BMW hasn't announced pricing of the 530e iPerformance, but if it follows the price increase of its plug-in siblings, buyers will be able to write a check starting at the low $60,000 mark to get the experience of owning an electric car without the associated range anxiety. The electrified 5er is available in either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive for the first time in iPerformance history. Motivating the G30-based sedan is a 95-horsepower electric motor that's connected to a 9.2 kWh battery stowed under the rear seats.

This shoves the car forward either by itself or with the help of a 2.0-liter inline-four gasoline engine that makes 180 hp. One clever engineer placed the electric motor ahead of the transmission, allowing that torque to be manipulated by the eight-speed Steptronic gearbox and eliminating the need for a heavy torque converter. When the throttle is mashed at a standstill the two power plants work in conjunction to rocket the sedan from 0-60 mph in 6.1 seconds. As with nearly all BMWs, most aspects of the powertrain are variable. One set of selectable modes is the familiar Driving Dynamics Control switch, which houses Sport, Comfort, and Eco Pro modes.

A separate control dubbed the eDrive button accesses the electric drive controls including Auto eDrive, Max eDrive, and Battery Control. The first of those modes keeps the engine and battery working together as you'd expect in any hybrid, never letting the battery get too low but allowing for all-electric travel at speeds of up to 56 mph. Next up is Max eDrive, which is for the committed environmentalist that plans their trips around the electric socket. This setting uses up the battery's juice and allows for an all-electric speed limit of 87 mph. The final mode allows said environmentalist to manually set the charge level for the battery and use the electric motor as a generator.

The idea here is to allow the driver to tailor the interaction between the battery and gasoline engine to keep it charged on the highway and save the energy for when arriving into a dense city where electric power is optimal. If the 530e iPerformance hits traffic along the way, then BMW's latest suite of semi-autonomous drive features will come in handy, specifically Traffic Jam Assist, which uses the radar to come to a complete stop behind the car in front and begin moving again once traffic picks back up. BMW's suite of autonomous systems consists of Lane Keep Assist, Blind Spot Detection, Side Collision Avoidance, and Adaptive Cruise Control, which works at speeds up to 130 mph.

Combined, these features ensure that owners get a taste for the autonomous car life in addition to EV ownership in order to really gear them up for the future. If this sort of ownership experience floats your boat, then be on the lookout for the 530e iPerformance at BMW dealerships come next spring.

Source: Meet The BMW 530e iPerformance: Unleashing Electric 5 Series Heat

Leonardo DiCaprio Promotes Electric Vehicles For BYD As New Brand Ambassador

12 hours ago by Jay Cole

Leonardo DiCaprio and BYD Auto chairman Wang Chuanfu

BYD and Leonardo DiCaprio announced today that the Academy Award-winning actor has signed on to promote electric vehicles in China as the brand's new ambassador.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk talks to Leonardo DiCaprio about climate change in actor's recent documentary "Before the Flood"

DiCaprio is known for his environmental activism, having recently met with President-Elect Trump on the subject, and by taking a leading roll in the climate-change documentary "Before the Flood", and also serving as the UN Messenger of Peace on the subject.

For 2016, BYD is the largest manufacturer of plug-in vehicles (or New Energy Vehicles as it is termed locally in China), of which BYD says is part of its "Cool the Earth by 1°C" campaign for the creation of a "Zero Emissions Energy Ecosystem".  

That commitment includes not only plug-in cars, but utility vehicles, buses, solar PV, renewable storage and light electric monorail systems (note the model held by DiCaprio in the above photo).

"All over the world people are realizing that cars that run on fossil fuels are inefficient and a major threat to the planet. I am very pleased to be joining an effort to increase the number of clean vehicles on the road in China and beyond." – DiCaprio on joining the BYD team

BYD plug-in electric car sales in China – November 2016

Through the first 6 months of the year In China, BYD held a 65% share of the plug-in market, and more than 11% of the global market, with a year-over-year growth rate of more than 100%.

"Mr. Leonardo DiCaprio has greatly inspired the world with his outstanding dedication to saving the planet's ecological environment. As our brand ambassador in China, we are pleased to work with him in promoting public awareness of climate change through the use of new energy vehicles." – BYD Brand and Public Relations General Manager Sherry Li

Details are still scarce on what the actor will be doing for BYD, but a statement from the company says that "DiCaprio will work closely with BYD throughout 2017 to highlight new developments and announcements in China regarding the company's line of new energy vehicles."

Tags: Leonardo DiCaprio, Leonardo DiCaprio brand ambassador, Leonardo DiCaprio BYD, Leonardo DiCaprio China, Leonardo DiCaprio electric vehicles, Leonardo DiCaprio NEVs China, Leonardo DiCaprio UN, Leonardo DiCaprio UN Messenger of Peace

Get Updates

Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter to receive updates.

Source: Leonardo DiCaprio Promotes Electric Vehicles For BYD As New Brand Ambassador

Why Electric-Car Fans Should Watch Lucid Motors Closely

Electric-car start-up Lucid Motors unveiled its first product in a media event in California on Wednesday. Lucid's Air is a sleek high-performance sedan that will have specifications and pricing calibrated to compete directly with Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA).

This is significant, and investors interested in electric and self-driving cars should sit up and take note. The Lucid Air is no flight of designer fancy. It's a serious product, and Lucid is a serious company that stands an excellent chance of succeeding. Read on. 

The Lucid Air is an electric luxury sports sedan that promises long range, thrilling performance, and advanced self-driving capabilities. Image source: Lucid Motors. 

About the car

The Lucid Air is a big luxury sedan that promises to combine extreme high performance with a roomy, comfortable, and quiet interior equipped with a lot of advanced technology. 

Like the top Tesla models, the Lucid Air should be very fast, at least in a straight line. It might be even faster: Lucid claims "best-in-class energy density" for the Air's 100 kilowatt-hour battery pack, which it says will give the Air "in excess" of 300 miles of range. 

Once the Air is in production, a 130 kWh battery pack will be available as an optional upgrade. That will offer "up to" 400 miles of range and "up to" 1,000 horsepower. Both figures are a step ahead of what Tesla's current top-performing models can deliver right now.

Image source: Lucid Motors.

Lucid's battery packs will use a new lithium-ion battery cell developed by the Samsung SDI unit of Samsung Electronics (NASDAQOTH: SSNLF) that promises "breakthrough battery life," according to Lucid's chief technology officer, Peter Rawlinson.

The Air's motor and transmission unit was developed entirely in-house, Lucid said. It claims that it's "smaller, more efficient and more power-dense than competitors, while potentially more reliable." (The word "potentially" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. But as we'll see, Lucid's engineers are not new to the car business.) 

Inside, Lucid promises "executive seating" with cushy, reclining rear seats that offer comfort and legroom comparable to first-class airline seats. A 29-speaker audio system will provide active noise cancellation to ensure that it's a quiet space. 

As you'd expect from a Silicon Valley automaker, self-driving technology will be built in. Lucid will aim to have the Air equipped with "Level 4" self-driving capability at launch, pending approval by U.S. regulators. "Level 4" systems can take full control of the vehicle under most (but not all) conditions, with little to no involvement from the human driver.

The Lucid Air's back seat is scaled for adult comfort. Image source: Lucid Motors. 

Lucid hasn't finalized pricing for the Air. But it said that a fully loaded "launch edition" will be priced around $160,000, with standard versions starting around $85,000. Lucid hopes to get the starting price down to around $65,000 in time.

If all goes according to plan, production of the Air will begin in late 2018. But some big things have to happen in order for that plan to pan out. 

Is this vaporware, or is it for real?

It's for real. This is not vaporware. It could turn out to be a big deal. But there are some caveats that come with that statement.

For starters, Lucid is a real company, founded in 2007. It has about 330 employees, many with past experience at Tesla or at large global automakers. Its chief designer, Derek Jenkins, was formerly the director of design at Mazda North America. And Peter Rawlinson, the chief technology officer, came to Lucid with one of the greatest electric-car resume credentials possible: He was chief engineer on the Tesla Model S. 

In some ways, the Lucid Air can be thought of as the Model S 2.0. It's a very serious, advanced design that reads in many ways as a redesigned Model S informed by experience. And it's clearly very close to production-ready. It's not a show car. 

The shape of the Air's roof allows plenty of rear-seat headroom. Image source: Lucid Motors. 

But that's where the caveats come in: Right now, Lucid doesn't have a factory in which to build the Air or anything else. 

It has a site for a factory, in Casa Grande, Arizona, selected for its proximity to key auto-industry suppliers in Mexico. It has a package of subsidies promised by the Arizona state government, and a detailed plan to start constructing the $700 million facility in the second quarter of 2017. 

Get breaking news sent instantly to your inbox

But it will need to raise money to make the factory a fully functional operation. Lucid has said that future fundraising rounds are planned, but it hasn't yet given specifics. 

So should we take Lucid Motors seriously? 

I think we should. Lucid seems to be positioning itself as a sober-minded ("lucid") alternative to Tesla, in part by making a point of being entirely focused on electric automobiles. It doesn't have a whiz-bang CEO like Elon Musk -- but Lucid (which employs a lot of Tesla veterans, remember) might argue that Musk's outsized public image and futuristic visions take attention away from Tesla's products in the here and now.

If anything, Lucid seems quietly determined to learn from (and not repeat) Tesla's missteps. It won't rush the Air into production nor let itself get distracted by far-future visions. That "lucid" attitude, the car itself, and the serious cash already invested in the company make it worth close attention as its plan unfolds.

10 stocks we like better than Apple  

When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* 

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Apple wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

*Stock Advisor returns as of December 12, 2016

The author(s) may have a position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns and recommends shares of Apple.

Source: Why Electric-Car Fans Should Watch Lucid Motors Closely

Lucid Air Is The Latest Electric Car To Be Unveiled

FREMONT (KPIX 5) — Competition is getting fierce in the electric car market.

Just one day after Chevy debuted its Bolt, there's another electric car on the streets of the Bay Area.

The car Lucid Air was unveiled with all the theatrical flourish of an Apple or Tesla product launch.

Menlo Park's Lucid debuted the Air in the increasingly crowded all-electric car market.

Lucid Chief Design Officer Derek Jenkins said, "It's really unlike anything else in the marketplace. It's really about breaking away from the internal-combustion way of doing things."

"Our aerodynamics wizards have patented a vortex-induction system," Jenkins said.

Lucid says it plans to compete with Tesla as well as luxury car makers like Mercedes and BMW.

We got a chance Wednesday afternoon to take a test ride in one of their early prototypes. It's acceleration was surprising.

The Lucid Air boasts a powerful electric engine with a 300-mile range. It will also come equipped with all the hardware, cameras and sensors necessary to be self-driving.

Although its first cars — available in roughly two years — will not be fully autonomous.

Chief Technology Officer Peter Rawlinson said, "It's designed for people who love driving — who derive a lot of pleasure from it. But I don't love driving when I'm stuck on the 101. An autonomous car is a godsend under such circumstances."

The Lucid Air will share the road, and the market, with the best-selling Nissan Leaf, as well as Tesla's line of cars and the recently announced Chevy Bolt, as well as countless hybrids.

And how well it navigates the bumps in the road from concept car to successful company will likely determine its longevity in the electric car field.

Rawlinson said, "It's an exciting phase in our journey. And doubly so, because we kept so quiet for so long."

Source: Lucid Air Is The Latest Electric Car To Be Unveiled

BMW Electric Car VP: In Just 7 Years, Battery Capacity Will Double

6 hours ago by Eric Loveday

Fuel economy comparison by EPA (BMW i3, Chevrolet Bolt EV, Chevrolet Spark EV)

BMW's Stefan Juraschek, vice president of electric-powertrain development, made a rather odd statement to reporters at BMW's testing facility in Munich.  In regards to electric cars, Juraschek stated:

"We simply have to walk through the valley of tears." 

Samsung SDI Cells Used In BMW i3

According to reporters on the scene, Juraschek's comment meant that he's not impressed with today's electric cars, and that both BMW and the consumer would have to put up with subpar electric for quite some time until technology allows for impressive plug-ins.  Hmm…perhaps he's never heard of Tesla?

Juraschek made another comment though and we believe he meant it to be negative, but that's not how it strikes us. Juraschek stated that we'll have to wait 7 years to see a battery like that found in the BMW i3 to have double the capacity of today's i3. Just 7 years to double capacity? That's promising.

Juraschek's overall outlook on electric cars seems solid though, and he openly admits that consumers want (and BMW will deliver) "bigger electric cars and longer driving ranges." 

Overall, kind of a mixed bag of responses from Juraschek, but at least he understands that the demand is there and says that BMW is willing to step up to the plate, so to say.

Source: Bloomberg

Tags: bmw, bmw electric cars, BMW i3

Get Updates

Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter to receive updates.

Source: BMW Electric Car VP: In Just 7 Years, Battery Capacity Will Double

Meet NIO EP9 Electric Car: 15 Facts You Should Know

Electric vehicle is one of the groundbreaking technologies which is changing our world. However, when it first hit the market, it was not a popular choice due to some reasons. But today, electric cars have become the future of automotive. And this NIO EP9 is next in line.

Among the major factors which hindered the world from switching to electric cars are speed and look. They used to be way slower than gasoline car. And the worst part was they just didn't look as luxurious as their price tag. But now, they have changed.

While most part of the world have their eyes on Elon Musk's Tesla, China' NextEV is starting to claw their way into the new world of electric car. The company gathers some of the world's top engineers and experts to build the world's best. Yes, they mean business.

Officially introduced just a few weeks ago, NIO EP9 will hit the road next year. However, there will only be six units produced. And while we wait, let's take a look at fi fteen important facts you need to know about this new generation of electric car. Enjoy the amazing photographs as well!

15. NextEV has its own Formula E racing team.Meet NIO EP9 Electric Car: 15 Facts You Should Know | #15. NextEV has its own Formula E racing team. | source: fiaformulae.com

Even the world of motorsport is taking electric car seriously. Since two years ago, electric car racing has been officially inaugurated by FIA in a form of Formula E Championship.

Of cou rse, at this point, we cannot compare Formula E to the legendary Formula 1 Gran Prix. But, who knows, someday we might be able to.

NextEV NIO, the manufacturer of EP9, has its own Formula E racing team. The team's leading driver is the son of a legendary Formula 1 World Champion, Nelson Piquet. In fact, Piquet Jr. won the Driver's Championship of Formula E on its first season with NextEV NIO Formula E Team.

Even though the team only finished fourth that season, the fact that the car they built was able to get Piquet Jr. to win races is a major testimony to NextEV NIO's quality.

Source: Meet NIO EP9 Electric Car: 15 Facts You Should Know

Electric car share service for Wellington already has a waiting list

JOHN NICHOLSON/FAIRFAX NZ

Finn Lawrence and right Erik Zydervelt co-founders of Mevo car sharing, which will start operating on Monday.

Up to 90 cars taken will be off Wellington's roads with  new electric car share service launching on Monday.

The first three hybrid pool car will be located in a row of special parks on Clyde Quay, where they will charge when not in use, with people able to book the use of the vehicles through their smartphones..

Mevo co-founder Erik Zydervelt said the car share already had a waitlist for sign ups.

A large part of the electricity which charges the new Mevo car share vehicles will come directly from Wellington's winds.

"We put out cars in threes around the city, to start with you will pick up and return to the same locations. As we grow we will work with the City Council so we can move to a pick-up drop-off system and eventually move to a free-floating system, so you can leave them anywhere," he said.

READ MORE:* Government's new electric car package underpowered* NZ's 15,000 motor mechanics get ready for the electric vehicle era* Electric cars make 'economic sense'

There is also a fourth charging point at the location for other privately-owned electric vehicles.

Zydervelt said Mevo's ​fleet of Audi A3 e-trons would fully charge within two hours.

"We estimate about 90 percent of trips can be done on pure electric, and a great deal of Wellington's energy comes from Meridian's West Wind project. It's a fair thing to say that a lot of the energy going into the cars comes from Wellington's wind."

In the next 12 months Zydervelt planned to expand to 50 cars across 64 charging stations, as well as a new car share in Auckland.

In order to launch the project, Zydervelt said the Wellington City Council had to create a policy framework.

Ad Feedback

"Projects like Mevo are setting the blueprints in place for a future of sustainable, accessible transportation that can utilise existing infrastructure in smarter ways. "

Zydervelt said most vehicles were in use only four percent of the time, with business fleets idle during out-of-work hours and private vehicles unused during the week, and by signing up to Mevo the expense attached to these vehicles would be saved.

International studies found that for every share car, up to 30 other vehicles were be taken out of service as businesses and residents found they were no longer required.

Wellington Mayor Justin Lester said Council was prioritising 100 car parks across the city for electric vehicle chargers and car sharing.

"We want to encourage more sustainable transport and further establish our leadership in this area."

How does it work?

Sign up to either a business or personal account.

There are three packages, a pay-as-you-go and two monthly contracts, which customers can purchase to match their usage.

Users check the availability of cars on their device, book 30y minutes ahead to ensure availability, and then unlock and start the car from their phones on arrival.

Cars are cleaned and their hybrid engines refuelled by Mevo.

 - Stuff

Source: Electric car share service for Wellington already has a waiting list

Meet NIO EP9 Electric Car: 15 Facts You Should Know

Electric vehicle is one of the groundbreaking technologies which is changing our world. However, when it first hit the market, it was not a popular choice due to some reasons. But today, electric cars have become the future of automotive. And this NIO EP9 is next in line.

Among the major factors which hindered the world from switching to electric cars are speed and look. They used to be way slower than gasoline car. And the worst part was they just didn't look as luxurious as their price tag. But now, they have changed.

While most part of the world have their eyes on Elon Musk's Tesla, China' NextEV is starting to claw their way into the new world of electric car. The company gathers some of the world's top engineers and experts to build the world's best. Yes, they mean business.

Officially introduced just a few weeks ago, NIO EP9 will hit the road next year. However, there will only be six units produced. And while we wait, let's take a look at fi fteen important facts you need to know about this new generation of electric car. Enjoy the amazing photographs as well!

15. NextEV has its own Formula E racing team.Meet NIO EP9 Electric Car: 15 Facts You Should Know | #15. NextEV has its own Formula E racing team. | source: fiaformulae.com

Even the world of motorsport is taking electric car seriously. Since two years ago, electric car racing has been officially inaugurated by FIA in a form of Formula E Championship.

Of cou rse, at this point, we cannot compare Formula E to the legendary Formula 1 Gran Prix. But, who knows, someday we might be able to.

NextEV NIO, the manufacturer of EP9, has its own Formula E racing team. The team's leading driver is the son of a legendary Formula 1 World Champion, Nelson Piquet. In fact, Piquet Jr. won the Driver's Championship of Formula E on its first season with NextEV NIO Formula E Team.

Even though the team only finished fourth that season, the fact that the car they built was able to get Piquet Jr. to win races is a major testimony to NextEV NIO's quality.

Source: Meet NIO EP9 Electric Car: 15 Facts You Should Know

Electric cars spark into a higher percentage of sales

Electric vehicles could make up 15 to 35 percent of total new vehicle sales globally in 2040, according to IHS Markit. The findings are part of a new research project, Reinventing the Wheel, that will be conducted over the first half of 2017.

"The key question is whether we are approaching a transformative shift akin to the first decade of the 20th century, when the internal combustion engine, cheap gasoline, bicycle technology and mass production combined to usher in the automotive age," said Dr. Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of IHS Markit and chairman of the study who wrote about the beginning of the automotive age in his most recent book, The Quest. "Converging developments along multiple tracks are leading us to focus on this important question."

While electric vehicles constitute a small percentage of the world's vehicle sales and are just 1 percent of the on-road fleet today, sales in 2016 are up more than 1,000 percent since 2010—a trend that IHS Markit expects to continue with the potential to make electric vehicles more than one third of the new vehicle sales in 2040.

"Significant advances in battery technology, financial support from governments, regulations and values of millennials will be key factors leading to increases in electric vehicle adoption," said Jim Burkhard, study co-director and chief of research at IHS Markit for crude oil markets and energy scenarios.

Electric vehicle share in individual markets will vary based on these factors, IHS Markit says. For instance, in China and Europe—regions where policies are favorable to electric vehicles—IHS Markit estimates that electric vehicles could comprise over half of new passenger vehicle sales in 2040.

The growth of electric vehicles is one of several forces reshaping the future of transportation that are the subject of Reinventing the Wheel, a major new multi-client research initiative combining the industry-leading chemical, automotive and energy expertise of IHS Markit. This initiative will be the subject of a comprehensive new study to be completed in 2017. Other critical factors to be examined by the study include the potential impacts of car sharing, ride hailing and autonomous vehicles on the transportation ecosystem. The study is set to begin December 15 in Detroit.

"How and when this transformation takes shape will have significant impacts on the global economy and raises fundamental questions for the oil and gas, automotive, chemical and the electric power industries, as well as individual consumers," said Tiffany Groode, study co-director and head of IHS Markit automotive scenarios.

Reinventing the Wheel is a major multi-client research initiative that will provide a first-of-its-kind, system-wide analysis of the new reality of transportation and the potential implications for the oil, gas, automotive, electric power and chemical industries.

Chaired by Daniel Yergin, IHS Markit vice chairman and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Reinventing the Wheel will combine the industry-leading expertise from the chemical, automotive and energy teams within IHS Markit. The project will utilize IHS Markit's long track record of scenarios development to envision content-rich scenarios that encapsulate possible futures for cars and energy, combined with comprehensive analytics and datasets based on the modeling expertise of IHS Markit.

Reinventing the Wheel will focus on the world's largest automotive markets—the United States, Europe and China, as well as India—with projections out to the year 2040. The study, to be completed in 2017, will consist of two parts.

Part I will include the development of scenarios representing potential paths for the future of the car, energy and chemicals. Part II will assess the impact, investment implications and strategic choices for the automotive, oil, gas, electric power and chemical industries.

Source: Electric cars spark into a higher percentage of sales

10 Best Electric Cars For The Money (Right Now)

Cars

Published on December 7th, 2016 | by Zachary Shahan

December 7th, 2016 by Zachary Shahan 

Following my post on "10 Top Cleantech Christmas Gifts" and other recent discussions, I thought it made sense to write an article on what I think are the "best electric cars for the money" right now.

Naturally, this is a subjective top 10 list. Because of the difficulty in comparing some models and the subjective nature of the list, I'm not ranking these 10 — these are just, overall, the 10 electric cars that I think offer the best value for the money.

Renault Zoe

The first long-range affordable electric car (as of October 1), the simple but smooth & comfy Renault ZOE is a wonderful buy. Well, if you live in Europe. The ZOE, as you are probably well aware, is not available on the west side of the Atlantic.

My summary impression from test driving the ZOE last year was that it was pretty basic but comfortable and fun to drive — much more fun than the more expensive and "sporty" Audi A3 e-Tron that I drove right afterwards (due to the e-Tron's plug-in-hybrid powertrain). I like the smooth and sleek look of the ZOE, and as someone who doesn't see much appeal in gaudy excess, I also appreciated the ZOE's sparse yet functional design.

The new ZOE has 400 kilometers (250 miles) of range on the NEDC, or 300 kilometers (186 miles) of real-world range. At 40 kWh, the ZOE has the largest battery of any "affordable" electric car.

Pricing (add €8,000 to the prices to purchase the battery as well):

VERSION RETAIL PRICE INCL VAT (€) * Life Range 2017 €23,600 Life Range 2017 Quick Charge €24,100 Zen Range 2017 €24,800 Zen Range 2017 Quick Charge €25,300 Intens Range 2017 €25,600 Intens Range 2017 Quick Charge €26,100 SL EDITION ONE €28,000 SL EDITION ONE Quick Charge €28,500

Battery leasing options are as follows:

"Flex Z.E. 40" offer, 7,500 km included (additional mileage: €0.05 per km) No minimum commitment period

Starting at €69 / month

"Relax", unlimited km offer (reserved for private individuals) No minimum commitment period

Starting at €119 / month

You can lease the battery and the car together starting at €149/month.

Chevy Bolt / Opel Ampera-E

Deliveries haven't yet begun (from what we've heard), but they should any day now. While the ZOE did inch in as the first long-range affordable electric car, the Chevy Bolt / Opel Ampera-E is offering a big step up on the range front. It is set to offer 238 miles of real-world range, according to the US EPA.

Another hatchback, the Bolt may not remind you of a sexy Porsche or Tesla, but it is a functional car that gets the job done — great for people who see a car as a tool rather than a trophy.

That's not to say the car doesn't have some snazzy tech too — as Kyle relayed to us in January after test driving the Bolt — including a wide-angle rearview camera.

For this kind of standard, every-person, hatchback, I actually think the Bolt looks pretty good. but looks are clearly a highly subjective matter. And it's hard to think of any things the Bolt needs in order to improve (some glaring ones, though, are superfast charging capability and a Tesla-level autonomous driving suite).

Overall, it's hard to claim any other electric car under $40,000 competes with a Chevy Bolt in the current market. Nonetheless, the fact that you could get a used Model S for $48,000, a used LEAF or Volt or i3 for $7,000–23,000, or hold out one year for a Tesla Model 3 would make this a hard purchase to justify for me at the moment.

Base price:

$37,495 before US federal tax credit

$29,995 after US federal tax credit

Chevy Volt

If you need to travel seriously long distances and a Bolt or new ZOE doesn't cut it for you, yet you can't afford a Tesla, I don't think there's another option that compares to the Chevy Volt.

With 53 miles of all-electric range, basically any innercity driving should be covered on electricity alone, but you also have a gas backup if you go on regular drives to Key West (Florida) or Juneau (Alaska).

The Volt is also a sharp-looking car with decent tech and interior comforts. Its owners are ecstatic about it — which should tell you something. And it's won more awards than nearly any other electric car out there.

The biggest problems with the Volt are pretty obvious and dependent on your needs: "only" 53 miles of electric range, only 4 genuinely comfortable seats, excessively tiny chrome on the front (but you can fix that with a little aftermarket detailing).

If you're really looking to get a good deal, a used Volt is certainly the way to go. You can get one for as low as $9,500 (2012 Volt)right now in the US, and there are 261 used options on the market for $15,000 or less.

Base price:

$33,220 before US federal tax credit

$25,720 after US federal tax credit

Nissan LEAF

The Nissan LEAF may have just been demoted to 12th man, but it's still one of the best buys for the money on the electric car market, in my humble opinion, and the fact that you can get a used LEAF for under $7,000 — or choose from 378 for $10,000 or less — could make it the most competitive option on the market.

Also, note that the base LEAF (new) is still ~$7,000 cheaper than the base Chevy Bolt. That could explain why it continues to see >1000 sales a month despite the looming arrival of the Chevy Bolt.

The LEAF is a great all-around car. It does have some drawbacks, but there's a lot more to love than to dislike, and it's the top-selling electric car in the history of the world for a reason or four.

I understand that some people don't like the looks of the LEAF, but I love its design. Again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so this is just one of those subjective factors we each judge on our own.

Again, I encourage you to take a look at our long-term LEAF review with no home charging.

Base price:

$30,680 before US federal tax credit

$23,180 after US federal tax credit

Tesla Model S

It's been named the best car ever produced, named "Car of the Century" by Car & Driver, named one of America's top 10 cars of all time by Motor Trend, got the highest rating in history by the Consumer Reports car review team, was the most loved car of its owners since it was launched according to Consumer Reports data, and has won who knows how any other awards? Yeah, you sort of have to include it — not that I would have any reason not to do so.

The Model S is also crushing the large luxury sedan competition in the US, and perhaps beating the competition in Europe too.

I think you know well enough what the pros and cons of the Model S are, so I won't go on about this one.

Remember, used Tesla Model S electric sedans are selling for as low as $48,000 at the moment.

Base price:

$68,000 before US federal tax credit

$60,500 after US federal tax credit

Tesla Model X

The Tesla Model S's younger but bigger sibling is considered by many to be even better than the Model S. Others are turned off by the vehicles automatic and unique falcon-wing doors. No matter where you stand, though, the Model X is the quickest SUV in history, includes Tesla's market-leading Autopilot driver-assist suite, and seats 7 people about as well as anything on the market — or better than anything on the market.

I think the Model X is the best vehicle you can buy unless you want to accelerate absolutely as quickly as possible — then you'd buy the Model S P100D.

Of course, the Model X isn't cheap. The lowest price for an inventory X is currently $89,600 (base prices for non-inventory, custom-designed, new X SUVs are below).

Base price:

$88,000 before US federal tax credit

$80,500 after US federal tax credit

Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid

It may be a compliance car, but it's one so popular that it never made it to the US market. That's because it was long the only SUV in the plug-in car market, and it offers a decent balance between affordability and comfort/performance.

There are a handful of electric SUVs on the market now, but none come close to the relatively low price of this model. That's not to say it's a bland vehicle, though. From my time test driving the Outlander Plug-In Hybrid, I thought it was super comfortable, spacious, and slick. I'd recommend it to someone looking for an EV in that class — oh, yeah, that's precisely what I'm doing here.

All of that said, yes, this electric SUV still isn't available in the US. European and Japanese buyers can enjoy it, though.

Base price (UK): £31,749 after the £2,500 UK Plug-In Car Grant.

BMW i3

I haven't been shy to admit — despite plenty of criticism of the car — that I personally love the BMW i3. Despite a relatively high price, I still think the BMW i3 is a great buy. It is superbly fun to drive. I love the innovative and super green interior. I love the use of carbon fiber.

Honestly, if you are spending so much money on a car, I think you want a toy to some extent — and the BMW i3 is a ton of fun to play with.

Also, remember that there are some great deals on the used car market and you can get a used 2014 BMW i3 for as low as $18,400, with 55 cars available in the US for $25,000 or less. (It's a similar story in Europe if that's where you're living.)

Base price:

$42,400 before US federal tax credit

$34,900 after US federal tax credit

Renault Twizy

I love the Renault Twizy. It may not be the most utilitarian vehicle on the planet, but it's a super fun commuter/city car that I could really enjoy on a regular basis. It is basic — super basic — and that helps to bring the price down without taking away from the fun.

Again, this is a European model, so Americans and Canadians are basically out of luck for now. Too bad.

Granted, given that you can get a used LEAF or ZOE for approximately the price of a new Twizy, I can see why Twizy sales are so low these days.

Base price (UK): £6,995 without battery leasing (which you must also pay for)

Some PHEV … Or Any Other Electric Car

There are various plug-in hybrids on the market that I'd have a hard time recommending … except in specific circumstances. If you do drive a ton or regularly drive long distances where a Chevy Bolt just doesn't cut it — and assuming you can't afford a Tesla and don't like the Volt or i3 REx for some reason — there are dozens of plug-in hybrids on the market with their own benefits.

Of course, given one's style preferences and individual needs or lack thereof, if you live in one of a few select markets, a pure-electric Fiat 500e, Ford Focus Electric, Kia Soul EV, Volkswagen e-Golf, Volkswagen e-Up!, Smart Electric Drive, or Mitsubishi i-MiEV can also be a great buy! I've heard from happy owners of most of those who loved their decision. That's the beauty of the car market — so much variation.

Overall, I don't think you can really go wrong with any electric model if you do your research and understand your own unique personal/family needs.

Or just hold out a little longer for the Tesla Model 3, Tesla Model Y, or an electric pickup truck from Ford, Tesla, or someone else. 😀

Drive an electric car? Complete one of our short surveys for our next electric car report. Keep up to date with all the hottest cleantech news by subscribing to our (free) cleantech newsletter, or keep an eye on sector-specific news by getting our (also free) solar energy newsletter, electric vehicle newsletter, or wind energy newsletter.

Tags: BMW i3, Chevy Bolt, Chevy Volt, Mitsubishi Outlander Plug In Hybrid, Nissan Leaf, Opel Ampera-e, Renault Twizy, renault zoe, Tesla Model S, Tesla Model X

About the Author

Zachary Shahan is tryin' to help society help itself (and other species) one letter at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director and chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of EV Obsession, Gas2, Solar Love, Planetsave, or Bikocity; or as president of Important Media. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, energy storage, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media: ZacharyShahan.com. Zach has long-term investments in TSLA, SCTY, FSLR, SPWR, SEDG, & ABB. After years of covering solar and EVs, he simply has a lot of faith in these companies and feels like they are good companies to invest in.

Source: 10 Best Electric Cars For The Money (Right Now)