Sometime in 2018, the all-electric BMW i3 will be getting a battery pack upgrade to 43.2 kilowatt-hours (kWh) — allowing for an EPA range rating of 150 to 155 miles per full charge — according to rumors circulating right now, including from a quite reliable source.
I love doing the US electric car sales report at the end of each quarter. With Tesla’s quarterly figures published, Tesla registration data from Europe and China mostly logged, my estimates for the first two months of the quarter, and a little more estimating (Australia, UAE, etc.), I’m able to check out the remainder I have left for Tesla sales in the last month of the quarter. As has happened nearly every time before, the figure that resulted for US sales in that third month of the quarter actually looked logical, so I left all previous months as initially projected.
Electric supercar concept vehicles show that the electric engine is going mainstream. They herald a new era of electric vehicles and present some exciting prospects of what that future might be. Here’s a rundown of some new electric supercars that have some astonishing specs.
When regular people know I am working in the plug-in car business, their first reaction is: “Oh yeah, that’s the future…”
Some connect that with fighting climate change and give me the thumbs up. Others, possibly more tech-savvy, mention autonomous cars and Tesla, a brand that has a following even outside the electric vehicle bubble. I suspect a portion of Tesla owners buy them because they are sexy, fast and tech laden, with the autopilot being its most important feature, and the fact that they are electric is just an added bonus.
The plug-in market in Europe had a surprisingly strong August month, with over 22,000 registrations, up 68% year over year (YoY). That pushes the plug-in market share up to 1.7%.
After the presentation of the new Nissan LEAF, we realized it wasn’t really a new generation, but more a deep workout of the current one, leaving the real “LEAF II” to 2020/2021.
The US electric car market has continued to grow at a rapid pace in the past year — led by California’s particularly strong electric car market, of course. From January through August, sales of 8 fully electric cars* grew 82% in the country. Sales of 6 plug-in hybrid cars were up 28%. Overall, that meant sales of these 14 plug-in car were up 40%.
Not that long ago, only a few electric cars were on the market. Nowadays, there are a few dozen. We certainly have a few favorites here on CleanTechnica, but every plug-in car really has its own selling points. I’m sure I don’t have a comprehensive list of these in my head, and many of the points are definitely as subjective as opinions about music or movies, but below are many of my thoughts on why I’d recommend various plug-in models.
It seems BMW doesn’t get have an i5 to throw at the Tesla Model 3, but it has rolled out a slightly sportier i3 for people who just needed a little nudge to go for the compact Bimmer.
The new BMW i3S adds some power, features slightly “sportier” styling, and has more of a pitbull stance.
Afeez Damilola Alade-Kolawole, founder of Tesla Rentals and ecarTestDrives, recently took a Tesla Model S P100D to the famous Santa Pod Raceway’s Ultimate Street Car competition. It will surprise no one here to learn that the Tesla was a winner.
