All the News, Reviews, Guides and Reports on Electric Cars

The latest generation of affordable electric cars offers more than 100 miles of range. In the case of the Hyundai Ioniq, which goes on sale in April, you can travel 124 miles on a single charge—while the Chevy Bolt EV, available now, goes a whopping 238 miles on a full charge. With the introduction of these two battery-electric cars—the two most recent EV models to hit the market—we see for the first time that maximizing range might not be the most critical factor for electric car buyers.

Why do some consumers who want an electric car not go forward with the purchase? Surveys consistently indicate that cost is the prohibitive factor. But what if you could buy a capable battery-powered car—one with plenty of driving range for nearly all your commuting needs—for less than $10,000? That’s highly possible if you consider buying a five-year-old electric car.

Hyundai announced today that it will sell its Ioniq electric car for $29,500, which after a federal tax incentive, drops the price to $22,000. That sticker price—for an all-electric vehicle officially rated to go 124 miles on a single charge—handily beats chief competitors on economics, driving range or both. The first US sales of the Hyundai will begin in the coming weeks.

General Motors has sold about 2,000 of its small 238-mile all-electric car. While it’s still early for consistent reports from owners about issues such as real-world range, the first drivers (and media outlets that have given the Bolt a spin) reveal how an affordable long-range EV changes everything about the technology.

The 2017 Chevrolet Volt and Toyota Prius Prime, both plug-in hybrids, were awarded “Top Safety Pick+” awards from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). However, the IIHS today announced that two leading pure electric cars—the Tesla Model S and BMW i3—fell short of the highest safety awards.

In the past five years, BMW has invested more than $2 billion in its electric vehicle program. Yet, sales have been relatively modest, with a significant uptick in plug-in adoption yet to come. “We expect rather quick progress in every field, be it price, range or charging,” said BMW’s Heinrich Schwackhöfer, product manager for the i3. “Today, we are still at the very beginning of this huge change process.”

Electric vehicle incentives are not likely to be supported under President Trump. What’s at stake? Well, we can look at precipitous drop in EV sales in the State of Georgia when its $5,000 tax credit for electric cars expired in 2015.

Ford Motor Co. announced sweeping plans this week about its work on “vehicle electrification” in the coming years. Among those plans,Ford promised to produce a pure EV sport utility vehicle, with a driving range of 300 miles, by 2020.

When sales of the all-electric Nissan LEAF peaked above 30,000 units in 2014, it appeared the Japanese automaker made a smart early bet on EVs. Unfortunately, the number of new takers of the LEAF has steadily declined since then. It could be a make-or-break year for the Nissan LEAF in 2017.

Chevrolet delivered its first three Bolt EVs to customers today. That makes it the first of an expected future wave of relatively affordable all-electric cars that provide more than 200 miles of driving range on a single charge.