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Should you buy an EV?

Gas prices are hitting the skids and EVs are following suit; nearly every model in today's market has experienced a double-digit decline in sales – with the always notable exception of the Tesla Model S. Some EVs are in the last year of their generation while others have been half-heartedly designed and engineered to fulfill federal government quotas. The two non-Tesla front runners, the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf, are in the unfortunate position of offering customers "2015" vehicles that were designed with 2011 in mind. Yet there's plenty of love in the air. Nissan has built over 180,000 Leafs worldwide, and chances are you will be seeing a second electric vehicle accompanying the Leaf when the new generation is released in the coming months. The Chevy Volt now offers the highest customer satisfaction out of any car or truck sold in North America. Forget the luxury cars, the sports cars, the family trucksters, and even the rolling flagship that guides Tesla's jaw dropping valuation on Wall Street. You want happy with your EV? The brand that's rocking the segment right now is Chevy. It's been doing so for a while. The EV market is poised to become a lot more sophisticated over the next 18 months with the three leading manufacturers – Tesla, General Motors, and Nissan – launching five brand new models along with no fewer than 16 other manufacturers making many of their bread and butter cars available as plug-in hybrids. So, if you want to keep your money as far away from the Arab dictatorships and Russian mafia as Mercury is from Pluto, and enjoy your commute, we're more than ready to do our part! So let's begin with the most important question. What's Your Range? How much driving do you generally do in a day? If the answer to that question is 50 miles or fewer, an all-electric vehicle like the Nissan Leaf may be the best ingredient for your driving recipe. This is especially true if you have a second vehicle you can use for the occasional longer drive or are willing to rent for the weekend. But here's a little surprise for you. The upcoming Chevy Volt was designed to be driven in all-electric mode for over 50 miles. Fifty-three, to be exact. Plus, the Volt's battery has experienced a lot fewer deterioration issues than the Nissan Leaf's due in part to the Volt's liquid-cooled battery, which also uses a lot less of its capacity than the air-cooled Leaf's does.

Koenigsegg sees new Tesla Roadster as the 'gauntlet' thrown down

Christian von Koenigsegg, the man behind the company that holds the current record for world's fastest car, does not like to be outdone. So he did not particularly enjoy hearing the numbers regarding the forthcoming next-generation Tesla Roadster and its vaunted 1.9-second 0-60 mph time. "We kind of had our future mapped out, and then we heard about the new Tesla Roadster and its insane acceleration numbers, and we thought 'Damn, that's put the gauntlet down,'" the Koenigsegg founder and CEO told Top Gear. As he told the site, he enlisted his engineers to start running numbers, and within a couple of days, they'd figured out a solution. "The simplest way of putting it is like this: It's combining direct drive with the hybridization we have in a different format with free-valve engine technology, in a peculiar layout," von Koenigsegg said. He said the powertrain could take a car from 0-250 mph in 14 seconds "or something like this," and said he wants to make a combustion engine with a higher power density than an electric powertrain "for as long as possible." His talk about hybrids brings to mind the Koenigsegg Regera plug-in hybrid, which weighs just 3,505 pounds and puts out more than 1,500 horsepower. It does 0-62 mph in 2.8 seconds — impressive, but a full 0.9 seconds less than the Roadster's purported time. And not surprising for a company that is all about maximizing ponies, Koenigsegg likes to geek out over the details of things like the design of the 1,160-hp Agera RS engine. Could he be talking about the same vehicle as the successor to the Agera RS, rumored to be called Ragnarok? Tesla, meanwhile, unveiled said Roadster at Grand Basel in Switzerland — or rather, it showed off what appeared to be a white, empty design shell that had been shown last year at Tesla's shareholder meeting. And don't forget that the mad scientists over at Hennessey are tinkering with the 7.6-liter V8 for the Venom F5, the key to its quest to hit 300 mph. So buckle your seat belts, boys and girls: Things are about to get very fast. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Image Credit: Drew Phillips Green Tesla Koenigsegg Hybrid Performance Supercars PHEV koenigsegg agera koenigsegg regera hennessey venom f5

Elon Musk says Model S demand in China could require new plant there

It's not exactly news when Tesla Motors chief Elon Musk talks big, but his prediction that sales of the Model S electric vehicle in China will require the California-based company to build a factory there is pretty substantial. Musk tells Bloomberg News that Tesla's sales in China could equal those in the US as soon as 2015. Could is the operative word here, though, since he backed off a tad by calling his production more "low fidelity" than firm. Still, Musk says demand will be strong enough that a factory in China could become a reality in the near future. Tesla recently set the price for the Model S in China at at about $121,000, which is about a 50-percent price premium compared to the US. And while that sounds steep, the extra cost is actually less than the doubling (relative to US) that usually happens when cars and trucks are imported in China. Looks like Musk wants to sell some cars in the People's Republic. Tesla finished strong in the US last year, moving about 6,900 of its battery-electric Model S sedans during the last three months of 2013. That made it the best-selling US plug-in vehicle during the fourth quarter. We'll be tracking when that same feat is achieved in China.