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Electric Vehicle News, Reviews and Analysis

Electric vehicles (EVs) have come a long way in a short time. Barely a decade has passed since the ambitious Silicon Valley startup Tesla Motors introduced the world to an electric car capable of traveling more than 300 miles on a single charge. Since then, Elon Musk and Tesla have convinced many dubious onlookers that electric vehicles are not only here to stay, but that they can become the future of transportation.

Other automakers have joined the EV movement at very different rates. The Nissan Leaf, for example, debuted in 2010 and went on to become the best-selling all-electric vehicle in the world for a time. Competition from the BMW i3 followed, as well as the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt and its all-electric successor the Chevy Bolt EV, but only the Tesla Model 3 has been able to steal the Leaf's crown. Heading into a new decade, electric vehicles are set to go from strength-to-strength, with new models like the Hyundai Kona Electric and Kia Niro EV competing in the entry-level category and the Audi e-Tron, Porsche Taycan, or Jaguar I-PACE vying with Tesla at the top end of the market.

With entire classes of vehicle still lacking an electric version, such as pick-up trucks and affordable SUVs, there's huge potential for expansion and growth in the EV marketplace. For now, Tesla is still blazing the trail, but legacy manufacturers are lining up to electrify their fleets and promising startups like Rivian and Byton are waiting in the wings with exciting new electric vehicles.

The future is bright for EVs and you can keep up to date with all the latest stories right here on Torque News.

All these vehicles are made in China branded American Courtesy GM Media
By Al Castro Jan 4 2019 - 6:09am

The GM Chinese Electric is Coming! GM’s All-Electric Future will be Imported from China and Not Detroit.

ANALYSIS AND OPINION: As GM’s ten year plan for electrification and autonomy turns into a five year plan, that actually now is really an “ASAP plan,” GM is facing a reality that except for the Bolt factory, none of its North American facilities are fully ready for an all out massive BEV production schedule. As GM kills everything off about itself that burns gas, it has no choice but to turn to the Chinese for help. Please welcome the GM Chinese electric car at a dealer near you!
VW Group’s new mobile power bank for BEVs Courtesy VW Media
By Al Castro Jan 3 2019 - 2:29am

VW's Gigantic Cell Phone Power Bank for BEVs: A Mobile Quick Charging Station is a Juice Pack for Your EV

VW is about to unleash into the BEV wild a really cool mobile charger station that will top the cherry on the ice cream of negating the excuses for range anxiety and city BEV ownership: a mobile power bank that can top off as many as 15 BEVs in as little as 17 minutes. It can be rolled around in a parking lot during events, your boss can have one in the office garage, and it makes a great power source during rolling brown and black outs.
Audi Etron-factory shot
By Marc Stern Dec 30 2018 - 8:33am

Prediction For Future: At Least 9 Electric SUVs By 2025

With the old year rapidly running out the clock and the new year waiting in the wings for its turn on the calendar, it's time to make predictions. Here's one that is pretty clear, by 2025 there will be at least nine electric SUVs on the market. They come from across the automotive spectrum from established companies to startups.
Front Page from Engineering and Technology
By Al Castro Dec 28 2018 - 3:16am

The Hybrid Revolt Begins: Supercharging Installation, VW/GM Gas Riddance Acceleration, and GM Massive Hybrid Cancellation Dooms the PHEV

While Tesla and Electrify America sweep themselves across America’s interstates upgrading the supercharger networks, other networks with their superchargers elsewhere, incompatibilities between PHEVs and BEVs that may have been initially overlooked, are starting to become clear: PHEVs are incompatible with superchargers, and while the UK looks to ban them from superchargers, US car makers may already be taking care of the PHEV problem by just outright getting rid of them.
Taycan Turbo
By Marc Stern Dec 27 2018 - 11:01pm

How Can An Electric Sport A Turbocharger? Think About It!

After publishing a story this week about the Porsche Taycan lineup and its pricing, folks began to do a bit of thinking about the top-of-the-line model, the Taycan Turbo! Do you notice there could be a bit of an issue with its name? If so, you pass our very basic English test, if not, it's to detention for you until you find out what is wrong with the sentence.
Aviar R67 from Aviar Motors
By Al Castro Dec 27 2018 - 6:45am

Aviar R67: Even the Russians Want to Make an ALL Electric Mustang that Ford Doesn’t Want to Make or Still Can’t!

OPINION AND ANALYSIS: Nobody is taking these Russians seriously about the specs and their one year warranty to their recently proposed Russian Mustang BEV, but I tell you one thing: at least they got a spec sheet. They got renders. They got ideas. They even got a warranty for a car they haven’t built yet. They’re eager for publicity and/or to build. I say, where’s the people who invented the damn car to begin with? Do they even know what electricity is beyond a cigarette plug in the dash?
internet charging station
By Marc Stern Dec 26 2018 - 1:54pm

Hackers Can Complicate Electric Vehicle Use By Taking Over Your Charger

With electric car use increasing and with the introduction of intelligent chargers that sit on the internet as part of the iOT (internet of things), comes the word that there are devices that hackers can take over and exploit. Kaspersky Labs, internet security experts, discusses the information.
ID Vizzion
By Marc Stern Dec 24 2018 - 1:09pm

Volkswagen Investment On Electrics, Autonomy, Tech, Mobility Will Be Yuuuuuuge!!!!

Imagine what $50 billion looks like. It's a number so big that if you were to take all the money that makes up the figure and lay it end to end, you still wouldn't know how far it would stretch. With that said, though, $50 billion is the amount VW will be investing in electric cars, autonomy, mobility, and such between now and 2023. It's a lot of money.
The 2020 Qiantu K50 BEV Sports Car by Qiantu Motors Media
By Al Castro Dec 20 2018 - 2:59am

The Qiantu K50 BEV Sports Car: The First Chinese Branded Car May Finally Penetrate the US Market, Backhandedly—and it’s All Electric

For decades Chinese car companies have all tried to enter the US car market to meet some kind of failure. Learning from the lessons of Chinese car companies past, one car maker known as Qiantu Motors (Dragonfly logo, means “freedom”), is teaming up with a California based electric car and energy startup to make its first foray into the US market with a battery electric sports car to take on Tesla’s portfolio. Qiantu starts the competition against the Roadster II, with the 2020 Qiantu K50.
VW ID Buzz
By Marc Stern Dec 20 2018 - 12:18am

VW To Go Retro With Its I.D. Electric Family; Classic Dune Buggy May Appear

As Volkswagen rapidly turns its line from primarily internal combustion to electric, the automaker has turned at times to the past for its new models. That trend will likely continue as the carmaker is reportedly going to build a version of the classic dune buggy as an I.D. electric car offering.
Tesla Model S similar to the 12/31/14 caught fire courtesy Tesla media. A frunk Courtesy tesa forums. A lith ion combustion courtesy YouTube.
By Al Castro Dec 17 2018 - 9:15am

Firearms Onboard a Tesla Should be Holstered or in a Locked Case, Not Discharged through a Battery Pack

ANALYSIS AND OPINION: Attention military, law enforcement, security, and/or hunters who validly possess a firearm, or anyone else with the gall to carry a firearm illegally: the chances of your battery electric vehicle catching fire from a purposeful or accidental firearms discharge through the battery pack are much greater than if pierced through a gas tank. Read this story now coming to light about a 2014 Tesla S to find out why.
New White Nissan Leaf
By Armen Hareyan Dec 11 2018 - 8:48am

The Date of 60kWh Nissan Leaf's Debut Is Known, but Without Liquid-Cooling

Some German automotive reporters have gathered information about the date when the new 60kWh Nissan Leaf will debut and we already know why the 2019 Leaf didn't debut at the LA Auto Show. However, there seems to be a little disappointment that it will be without liquid-cooling. Many EV drivers were waiting for this feature that the Bolt has.
1970 Aston Martin DB6 MkII Volante Drophead Roadster Courtesy Aston Media
By Al Castro Dec 10 2018 - 7:31am

By Offering BEV Conversions to Older Aston and Other Classic Cars, Aston Martin Ensures its Legacy Forever

OPINION AND ANALYSIS: Inasmuch as we are fooling ourselves into believing that gasoline new car purchases will be a viable option even in some parts of the world past 2030, we are also fooling ourselves into believing that we’ll be able to drive our present and near future classic cars around twenty plus years from now. This is a tail pipe dream. Well, like Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin has also found a solution to anticipate this issue.
Bentley’s Heritage from Spped Six to Bentayga Courtesy Bentley Media
By Al Castro Dec 8 2018 - 10:25pm

Will There Ever Be a True Electric Bentley?

OPINION AND ANALYSIS: With VW Group’s accelerated plans to cease gas car production sooner, Bentley needs to ask itself what kind of car company does it want to be? If Aston Martin stuffed battery packs inside the seats and boot spare tire wells and fenders of a Rapide, why there isn’t something similar done inside a Spur or a Mulsanne? Bentley isn’t doing that; they’re running counterculture to their heritage, and risk losing what they worked hard to get after leaving Rolls Royce: not becoming another Cadillac.

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