Elon Musk turning you off Tesla? Here are 10 of the best electric cars, driven and chosen by our expert • How to buy an electric car – a guide Elon Musk is never far from a headline these days, from his recent inflammatory posts about the far-right riots in the UK to his endorsement of Donald Trump for president. But his increasingly toxic rhetoric is having a knock-on effect: some Tesla owners are starting to rethink whether they should own his electric cars any more. Sales fell in July for the second straight quarter. It’s a shame, because Tesla makes great electric cars. I’d rate the latest Model 3 as one of the best around. It drives nicely, is built well (a previous Tesla foible), is efficient and Tesla sells it at a price that makes other EV makers do a cartoon double-take. But if you’re committed to electric cars, and Musk is turning you off Tesla, there are plenty of other good options. Established carmakers and newcomers have caught up with and, in many cases, overtaken Tesla with their electric offerings. Here are the 10 best non-Tesla EVs you can buy now; I’ve driven them all except the Renault 5, which is expected to arrive in the UK in the first quarter of 2025. Continue reading...

A secondhand EV is a possibility for many families as the cost of desirable models, including Kias and Teslas, falls to £15,000 If your current car is on the way out and you think an electric replacement is too expensive, think again. Three-year-old Tesla Model 3s and Kia e-Niros that will do 250-300 miles on a single charge can now be bought for as little as £14,000. In the last year, forecourt prices for used electric cars have tumbled to the extent that previously unaffordable models are now within the reach of many families for the first time. Continue reading...

Satellite image analysis shows 329 hectares of forest cleared during development of factory in Germany The development of a Tesla gigafactory near Berlin has resulted in about 500,000 trees being felled, according to satellite analysis. The building of the German factory has been highly controversial and attracted significant protests, as well as prompting a debate about the trade-offs involved in developing a green economy. Continue reading...

There are signs the billionaire is becoming unpopular with the very demographic group most likely to buy EVs Elon Musk has long flirted with rightwing politics, and delights in pushing an image of himself as a contrarian showman. Yet in recent months the billionaire’s political allegiances have started to raise a question for Tesla, the company that he built into the world’s largest electric carmaker: just how far can he go before customers start to abandon his products? The German pharmacy chain Rossmann was one of the first to put its head above the parapet this week. The family-owned company announced that it would not add to the 34 Teslas in its company fleet because of Musk’s endorsement of Donald Trump for US president. Continue reading...

The country has long been the world’s biggest market – but the government’s interest is more geopolitical than environmental When Kenzi, an advertising worker in Shanghai, bought an electric vehicle in November she wasn’t even thinking about the environmental benefits. She had read Elon Musk’s biography and thought the Tesla 3 looked good. She also knew that if she bought an EV she could bypass the long wait and cost of getting licence plates, which are rationed by the government. “It’s not easy to get a licence plate in Shanghai, but you get a licence for free when you buy an EV,” she said. Continue reading...

Electric vehicles are ‘batteries on wheels’ that can put energy back into the National Grid when solar panels and windfarms do not provide much power Electric cars make some people afraid of the dark. While the batteries produce much less carbon, they require much more electricity to run. This has prompted ominous warnings that Great Britain and other wealthy countries set on banning new petrol and diesel cars risk plunging their populations into darkness. In recent months British net zero-sceptical newspapers have warned that the shift to EVs would “risk overwhelming the grid, and threaten catastrophic blackouts” when intermittent sun and wind fail to provide the necessary power. Another article claimed: “It won’t take an enemy power to put us all in the dark – just energy customers doing normal things on a normal winter’s evening.” Continue reading...

Despite being told there was ‘no crossing to be paid’, a driver received 23 penalty notices In November I had to start using my boss’s car for work. After making my first journey across the Dartford crossing on the M25, I tried to pay the Dart charge. I typed in the car’s details but the website clearly stated there was “no crossing to be paid”. I presumed that this meant my boss had the car on his own Dart account. As a result, I did not add it to my own account. Continue reading...

All new cars must have the devices from 7 July, adding fuel economy as well as safety. Will mpg become the new mph? In the highway code and the law courts, there is no doubt what those big numbers in red circles mean. As a quick trip up any urban street or motorway with no enforcement cameras makes clear though, many drivers still regard speed signs as an aspiration rather than a limit. Technology that will be required across Europe from this weekend may change that culture, because from 7 July all new cars sold in the EU and in Northern Ireland must have a range of technical safety features fitted as standard. The most notable of these is intelligent speed assistance – or colloquially, a speed limiter. Continue reading...

Electric automaker’s quarterly deliveries fell for two straight quarters for the first time ever Tesla’s global sales fell for the second straight quarter despite price cuts and low-interest financing offers, another sign of weakening demand for the company’s products and electric vehicles overall. The Austin, Texas, company said on Tuesday that it sold 443,956 vehicles from April through June, down 4.8% from 466,140 sold the same period a year ago. The sales were better than the 436,000 figure that analysts had expected. Continue reading...