Every day car manufacturers announce their lofty plans for EV expansion but now that the changeover to electric has become a serious consideration for the masses, what is actually available this year? We look at options from the top car manufacturers, from compact to SUV.
Here is a fantastic resource showing visuals of all current EV and plug-in options: https://future-trends.cleantechnica.com/cars/
Thanks to the Prius, Toyota are synonymous with the electric vehicle industry. They are following on with three new plug-in options in including a Corolla, Levin and C-HR type compact SUV.
With an ambitious goal of 50 electric models by 2025, Volkswagen is making huge strides in this area. Available in 2019 are the e-up!, Golf and Passat - their main focus appears to be on electric rather than hybrid plug-in hybrids.
Kia/Hyundai also have major ambitions in this space and there are multiple models available at the moment including the Kia Niro, Soul, Hyundai Kona, Ioniq and Sonata.
Another mainstream group is that of Nissan-Mitsubishi-Renault. Between them, there is a wide range of range of options from the compact options of the Leaf & Zoe, through to the larger Outlander SUV and Zangoo goods vehicle.
For such a ubiquitous brand, Ford is lagging behind in this space and currently only has 3 models - the Focus Electric, Fusion Energi and C-Max Energi.
We couldn't omit a reference to Tesla as a premium player in the market. The Model S, 3 and X have received the lions share of attention and once production issues are resolved they are destined to take a market leadership position.
Sources:
https://www.kia.com/ie/new-cars/kia-range/eco/
https://www.hyundai.com/worldwide/en#
https://cleantechnica.com/2018/10/29/worlds-10-biggest-automakers-their-ev-plans/