Electric Cars
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Nio EP9's electric track car has set a blistering time up Goodwood Festival of Speed's famous hill climb. The car ran a time of 44.61 seconds during Saturday's Supercar shootout event, which is just a few seconds off the overall record of 41.6 seconds set by Nick Heidfeld in a McLaren MP4/13 Formula 1 car back in 1999. Doing the driving this time was Scottish racing driver Peter Dumbreck. We'll remind you that the EP9 is also one of the fastest cars around the Nürburgring. It set a time of 6:45.90 around the Green Hell in 2017, and despite what the title of the video says the EP9 is...
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VW ID R claims electric car record at Goodwood with 43.05 run
The Pikes Peak record-smashing Volkswagen ID R has already toppled another top time. VW brought the electric time attack special to this week's 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed in an attempt to blitz the event's hill climb and set a new record for electric cars. And on Saturday, with Romain Dumas...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Tesla is the first automaker to lose electric car federal tax credit
Soon, Tesla electric cars will cost up to $7,500 more as the automaker is first to reach the 200,000-vehicle threshold for federal tax credits. It means the tax incentives will enter a phase out period. Green Car Reports confirmed with Tesla Thursday that the automaker had passed the 200,000-car...
Sean Szymkowski -
Mini teases design of electric Hardtop due in 2019
Mini on Thursday gave us our first look at some of the design of its electric Hardtop due in 2019. The vehicle was previewed as a concept at the 2017 Frankfurt auto show, and judging by the latest teasers design elements from the show car will make it onto the upcoming production model...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Enjoy this 360-degree video of Roborace's autonomous run up Goodwood hill climb
The Goodwood Festival of Speed is well known for courting some of the world's finest automobiles and high-performance machines. This year, something very different was in attendance. Roborace on Thursday tackled Goodwood's famous hill climb with its self-driving electric race car, known as the...
Sean Szymkowski -
Pininfarina reveals more of electric Bugatti fighter, future plans
If you’re a storied brand waiting to break free, your best strategy is to make a big splash. Such is the situation of Pininfarina, which plans to launch a range of four new cars under its own name between 2020 and 2025, company executives told Motor Authority in a private meeting in New York...
Eric C. Evarts -
After installing the first of many 350-kilowatt, 800-volt charging stations in Berlin, Germany, last year, Porsche has begun erecting the so-called Turbo Charging stations at dealerships. The first dealership is the Porsche Center in Berlin-Adlershof. Four parking spaces feature the new chargers, which offer double the voltage over current DC fast-charging stations (400 volts). With the added voltage, Porsche's stations will charge any car with a Combined Charging Standard (CCS) in as little as 20 minutes with a 250-mile range. To ensure normal operation and safe transfer of energy, the new...
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Tesla reveals plans for Chinese plant as new tariffs start to bite
Tesla has been hinting at a Chinese plant since 2014 and now the automaker has finally confirmed one. Following a meeting Tuesday with Chinese officials, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Shanghai would become the first location for one of its so-called Gigafactories outside the United States. The new plant...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Tiff Needell drives the Electric GT Tesla Model S race car
British racing driver and television host Tiff Needell was present during last month's launch of the new FIA-backed, production car-based electric racing series known as the Electric Production Car Series (EPCS). The launch took place at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya where Needell got to test...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
No mirrors, just screens: Audi shows off e-tron electric SUV's cockpit
After delaying the debut of the e-tron electric SUV, Audi has revealed the first look at the model's interior. And it's properly futuristic. Audi's typical interior design language remains on display, but it's clear the electric SUV received a few unique pen strokes to set itself apart. Wedge-like...
Sean Szymkowski -
Mercedes-Benz electric concept recalls record-setting Silver Arrow
Eighty years ago, Mercedes-Benz set a record for the fastest land-speed vehicle on a public road. It was only last year that the German brand lost the title to Koenigsegg and its Agera RS. Mercedes hasn't forgotten about the achievement, and now it has created an homage to the legendary...
Sean Szymkowski -
Tesla chief vehicle engineer not returning from leave of absence
Tesla has lost one of its top engineers in Doug Field, who will not return after taking a leave of absence from the electric-car maker in May. The Wall Street Journal first reported on Field's departure on Monday, the same day Tesla announced it had reached its goal of 5,000 Model 3 electric cars...
Sean Szymkowski -
Tesla took every hour—including a couple extra hours Sunday—to meet its self-imposed deadline of building 5,000 Model 3 electric cars in seven days. The automaker reported Monday that it had concluded the three-month period ending Saturday by building 53,339 vehicles, including 28,578 Model 3 sedans, which is a 55-percent increase over the first three months of 2018. Model 3 production was up nearly 300 percent over the first quarter of 2018, and the automaker predicted it would build 6,000 sedans per week by the end of next month. The automaker was reportedly running production...
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Hong Kong firm to buy 45 percent of Faraday Future
Remember Faraday Future? The cash-strapped electric car startup hasn't been in the headlines of late but it isn't dead yet. In fact, the company may have been thrown a lifeline in the form of a stake sale to Hong Kong firm Evergrande Health Industry Group, a subsidiary of property developer China...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Tesla Model S Electric GT car ready to race
Formula E may be the premier league for electric car sports, but Electric GT's Electric Production Car Series (EPCS) wants a slice of the budding motorsport. Electric GT together with EPCS race team SPV Racing held a launch ceremony in Barcelona, Spain on Tuesday where the competition-ready Tesla...
Sean Szymkowski -
The tides are changing: electric-car class coming to NHRA
Someday, the drag strip will fall silent as the first set of electric dragsters lines up. The NHRA stopped short of setting a specific date, but the body will one day welcome electric racers. Glen Cromwell, current president of the NHRA, confirmed the governing body includes electric drag racing in...
Sean Szymkowski -
Jaguar Land Rover increase electrification investment to $18B
Jaguar Land Rover plans to increase its investment into electrification for future electric cars by 25 percent, the automaker said in an investor presentation Monday. The added investment will see the figure climb to $18 billion total by 2025, Bloomberg reported. JLR cited poor demand for diesel...
Sean Szymkowski -
2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC spy shots and video
Prototypes for Mercedes-Benz’s electric SUV based on the Generation EQ concept from the 2016 Paris auto show have been spotted. Earlier test mules had been using the makeshift body of a GLC Coupe to hide the new mechanicals, but now we can see the true shape of Mercedes' first volume electric...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Audi's crucial new e-tron won't be revealed on August 30 as originally planned due to the latest diesel scandal-related crisis plaguing the automaker. The e-tron was scheduled to be revealed at an event in Brussels, Belgium, where the electric SUV's plant is located, but the reveal will now take place in the United States at a later, unspecified date, Audi confirmed Monday to Automotive News (subscription required). The delay will likely see Mercedes-Benz become the first of the German luxury brands to unveil a volume electric car. Mercedes' EQC electric SUV is scheduled to be revealed on...
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Nico Rosberg test drives the Nio ES8 electric SUV
Formula 1 world champion Nico Rosberg was recently in China where he was able to visit electric car startup Nio and test drive the company's ES8, a twin-motor, mid-size SUV with 644 horsepower on tap. He came away impressed with the vehicle's acceleration and handling, though he wasn't a fan of the...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Why VW tackled and shattered Pikes Peak electrically
For want of a $12.24 ball joint in 1987, Volkswagen might not be here. That year, the twin-engine, 652-horsepower Golf driven by Jochi Kleint broke a front ball joint a mere three turns from the finish line, therein sowing the seed of revenge. So, if not for that bit of bad luck, VW might not have...
Jim Resnick -
VW targets solid-state battery production by 2025
Solid-state batteries have the potential to realize a major step up in performance and safety of electric cars, which is why every major automaker worth its salt is investigating the technology. The latest to make its endevors known is the Volkswagen Group, which on Thursday announced a $100...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
VW ID R electric racer smashes Pikes Peak record
Volkswagen has done it. The German automaker's ID R electric race car has not only broken the record for electric cars in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, it's also broken the record for all classes by setting a blistering time of 7:57.148 during the 2018 running held on Sunday. The...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Tesla sues ex-employee who claims whistleblower status
After Tesla CEO Elon Musk accused an ex-employee of being a saboteur, Tesla filed suit against former Gigafactory technician Martin Tripp on Wednesday in a Nevada federal court, according to a Thursday report in the Washington Post. The lawsuit accuses Tripp of stealing confidential photos and...
Sean Szymkowski