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

The first battery-powered minivan available to US consumers rolled off the production line last week at Fiat-Chrysler’s Windsor Assembly Plant in Ontario, Canada. The 2017 Pacifica Hybrid, a plug-in model providing 33 miles of all-electric range, breaks new ground on efficiency for a minivan.

A global consortium of automakers—including BMW, Daimler, Ford and Volkswagen—this week announced a joint venture to beginning in 2017 deploy a highway-based network of 400 high-power charging sites in Europe. EV owners could have the ability to add 300 kilometers (or 190 miles) of range in about 20 minutes.

BMW this month announced that it will introduce a plug-in hybrid version of the MINI Countryman in 2017—followed by a pure all-electric versionin 2019. These new plug-in models will come in addition to BMW's growing list of plug-in offerings.

Automakers, consumers and EV advocates will need to recalibrate. Automakers could downshift on their investment in EV research while reducing production of ultra-efficient cars to a minimal level. The race for the electric car—and the mitigation of vehicle emissions—is about to hit a speed bump.

EVs get bad rap as expensive. Until you look at the Total Cost of Ownership. The sticker price of the vehicle is only the first consideration.

Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported today that Toyota intends to mass-produce an electric car with a driving range of approximately 185 miles. According to reports, the automaker will dedicate a team starting next year to develop the vehicle by 2020. The future model will likely use an existing platform—such as Prius or Corolla.

After remaining very quiet, Hyundai is stating to call attention to the Ioniq, its new EV that goes on sale before the end of the year. The Ioniq deserves attention as the first ever model to be offered as a hybrid, plug-in hybrid or pure electric car.

Infiniti told PluginCars.com in 2014 that its plans for an all-electric car were “delayed indefinitely.” Well, it appears that the indefinite period could soon come to end—as the luxury brand considers producing an EV primarily for China’s growing auto market. Bloomberg reported last week that Infiniti is internally discussing the right timing for introducing an electric car in China.

With the imminent release of affordable 200-plus mile electric cars, there is a pressing need for public charging that is much faster than today's so-called Quick Charging. Anticipating the need for public EV charging with output “up to 350 kilowatts,” an alliance of European carmakers this week officially launched a network of 25 “ultra-fast” chargers.

As Tesla shifts focus to its long-standing goal of producing an affordable long-range EV, a new set of incumbent carmakers appears to be making a move for the luxury electric car market. The new electric players will include Mercedes, Audi and even Maserati.