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

Here's the first thing. Alan Batey, General Motors North America President, said the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV will begin shipping to dealers in the fourth quarter. It had been previously reported that the Bolt would ship in October. Bolt has been in “pre-production” since about March. What else should you know?

Having a 240-volt home charger, ideally backed up by a charger at work, is all you need for nearly every day of the year. While it’s nice to have a smattering of public charging stations positioned across the landscape, the bigger and more important task is enabling electric car road trips between major cities—on key corridors.

“If you’ve never driven an electric car, you’ll be surprised,” said Levin. “It’s hard to convey the beauty of an electric car unless you sit in one.” That’s why Plug In America, a national non-profit organization, will give approximately 10,000 people around the country a chance to ride in or drive an electric car during the week of September 10 to 18.

The future of electric car technology seems more promising than ever and the need to reduce the environmental impact from the transportation sector is more critical than ever. Nonetheless, opposition to vehicle electrification is alive and kicking, and showing no signs of letting up.

Tesla is nearly two years away from selling its first relatively affordable model, and the first set of Model 3 units will likely be expensive upper-level variants with price tags well beyond the so-called affordable $35,000 range. In the meantime, now that we’re in the second half of 2016, you can start the six-month countdown to the truly affordable Chevy Bolt.

Despite acknowledgements that a long-range LEAF is being developed, details remain scarce. What has been acknowledged by Ghosn is that Nissan will make a plug-in hybrid, with a system that resembles the gas-electric series hybrid architecture of the Chevy Volt.

Volkswagen Group CEO Matthias Mueller last week said his company plans to sell as many as 3 million plug-in electric vehicles per year by 2025, representing as much as a quarter of the company’s total projected sales. To put that in perspective—in the span of about two product cycles—VW plans to sell in a single year at least twice as many plug-in cars as exist today on Planet Earth.

Tesla announced last week that it will bring back the Model S 60—a version of the car with slightly less driving range. The change is coming about one year after the 60-kWh version was discontinued. The new S 60 will start at $66,000.

Elon Musk, Tesla's chief executive, announced at a shareholder meeting last week that Model 3 owners will be required to pay to access the company’s Supercharger network. For the Model 3 to succeed in the long run, Tesla needs to slice off as much starting cost from the car as possible without compromising the brand’s luxury credentials.

Mercedes-Benz promised last year to offer 10 plug-in hybrids before the end of 2017. Now the company is saying it will add four pure electric cars to its lineup by 2020. These tandem goals, if fulfilled, would fill Mercedes dealerships with a wide array of plug-in sedans and SUVs