#ev

A billion dollar electric vehicle startup from China has been accused of using photoshopped production car images for their concept cars.

WM Motors, a new electric vehicle startup, recently gained widespread press in Bloomberg, Fortune and Forbes. However, it was Electrek that picked up on the pixelated fakery.

“It appears that one of the first concepts of this billion-dollar EV startup is simply photoshopped images based on promotional pictures of the 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander.”

Faraday Future made a splash earlier this year with its FFZERO1 concept, but the shadowy, China-backed American automaker has lately been seen testing a camouflaged minivan-like vehicle that looks awfully similar to the Tesla Model X.

A recent patent publication reveals that the similarities don’t stop there, as Faraday Future is considering replicating many of the features found on the Model X. However, one detail could explain the mystery at the core of a teaser video Faraday Future released yesterday.

Suppose an automaker improved a terrible-selling vehicle but didn’t bother to tell anyone about it. Chances are they didn’t just forget, so there has to be some fundamental reasoning behind that choice. This is the mystery Nissan has left us with after silently and suddenly replacing the battery in their base model Leaf with a larger one.

We only know about this change due to an eagle-eyed staff member at Green Car Reports, who noticed that Nissan increased the size of the Leaf S battery in a September order guide.

The Tesla Model S is neither new nor surprising anymore. When the electric sedan entered the market in 2012, it shattered perceptions of electric cars and proved electric motoring viable.

Since then, Tesla has established itself as the go-to brand for geeks and early adopters. We’ve driven the Tesla Model S before, so there’s no need to talk about its most obvious features. But recent events make this a great time to talk about its second-most-important feature: Autopilot.

Is Tesla’s autonomous system any good? Can it be dangerous? How far is it from being truly autonomous? And, besides that, how did the Model S improve over the last few years?

Yesterday the Obama administration announced “an unprecedented set of actions” to grow the U.S. plug-in electrified vehicle market.

The initiative represents a broad collaboration between federal agencies, state governments, major automakers, utilities, and others to aid the ongoing push to make electric cars viable alternatives to the internal combustion variety.

Perhaps chief in a laundry list of public and private sector agreements is up to $4.5 billion in loan guarantees for commercial scale charging — including fast charging — to create a nationwide network.

Owners of BMW i3s equipped with optional range extenders — read: two-cylinder engine that generates electricity — are suing the automaker for an issue that could leave those drivers going slow in the fast lane.

According to Green Car Reports, the BMW i3 REx will drop down to 45 miles per hour under certain conditions, which some owners believe is a safety issue.

Electric cars take considerable flack from average consumers for being far too expensive in comparison to gas-powered competitors — and that’s before you realize it takes years to make that money back in fuel savings. Combine those two points with range anxiety and you’ve summarized the major hangups normal folk have with electric-vehicle ownership today.

The U.S. Federal government offers tax incentives, in the form of income tax rebates, to ease the monetary pain of EV ownership for average buyers. Individual states have joined the rebate incentive bandwagon, too. However, the state of Colorado is changing its tune, and will now gift you an incentive before you even drive off the dealer lot — no tax return required.

Is there a Nissan competitor to the BMW i8 in the works? A senior executive has hinted there might be.

Speaking to Auto Express, senior vice-president Shiro Nakamura said an electric sports car is one option the automaker is considering for its upcoming modular vehicle platform.

As promised, Tesla has revealed the tally for first-week orders of the upcoming “affordable” Model 3 electric car, and it’s good news for the company.

It’s also bad news if you ordered late and are hoping to show off your ride anytime soon.

As of today, the electric automaker has taken over 325,000 reservations on the 215-mile range Model 3, which translates into an eventual $14 billion in revenue if no one backs out. With each buyer putting $1,000 down on their order, that means Tesla just made a cool $325 million that could be used to ready the vehicle, and the company’s facilities, for production.

Tesla Motors is cranking out EVs at its fastest clip yet, but buyers who put money down on the Model 3 should still have serious questions about the timeliness of their delivery date.

In the first quarter of this year, Tesla delivered 12,420 Model S sedans and 2,400 Model X SUVs — nearly 50 percent more volume than the same period last year. The electric automaker said a parts shortage in January and February hampered Model X production, but with the issue resolved, deliveries of 80,000 to 90,000 Teslas can be expected this year.

“It’s a headache,” said the Hyundai vice president in charge of eco-friendly vehicles of his company’s efforts to chase Toyota and others in building green vehicles, Automotive News has reported.

Speaking at a South Korean electric car expo, Lee Ki-Sang, senior VP of Hyundai’s Eco Technology Center, went on to state that 26 hybrid, plug-in, full-electric, and fuel cell models will arrive by 2020, but added that Hyundai and Kia’s relatively small home market of Korea will make these moves risky and “difficult.”

One would think that the executive charged with building and selling an innovative line of vehicles would discuss the development of said vehicles with more than a simple yawn.

The Tesla Model 3 had its curtain of hype lifted tonight, and it exists after all.

Sleek, with pronounced shoulders and a roofline that slopes to the decklid, the newest Tesla remains over a year away from production, but at least it now has a face.

Or lack thereof. But more on that later.

Tesla founder Elon Musk said the Model 3 will have an EPA-rated range of “at least” 215 miles, and will retail for $35,000. Every Model 3 — even base versions — will hit 60 miles per hour in less than six seconds.

The wraps are coming off the hotly-anticipated Tesla Model 3 tonight, and the event will be broadcast live at 8:30 p.m. PT, 11:30 p.m. ET.

If you didn’t spent the first order day lining up around the block to put $1,000 down on the lower-priced Tesla, you can at least live vicariously through your computer screen.

Tesla founder Elon Musk tweeted yesterday that tonight’s launch is “Part 1” of the reveal, with the second coming closer to the model’s production date. This implies the Model 3 shown tonight won’t be the exact vehicle you’ll drive when it hits the market in late 2017.

It likely won’t be embryonic, either.

Watch the Tesla Model 3 launch here

If you live in California and your demographics are right, your electric car dream is within reach. Yes, even you, baristas and struggling actors!

The website Leasehackr stumbled upon a killer deal for lower-income Californians (assuming they live near charging stations), and spelled out how leftover 2015 Ford Focus Electrics can be leased for essentially nothing.

If your personal life aligns with Ford’s customer incentives and California’s revamped EV rebate program, it can be done.

If you didn’t think an electric car could stall, Volkswagen has a Golf-sized dose of reality for you.

That, Jeep’s Compass/Patriot successor wants to woo south of the Equator, General Motors gets some good legal news, there’s money in them there charging stations, and Volvo gets a PR boost … after the break!