Paris Motor Show 2018: European-made cars go electric – The Verge

The future of electric car design has yet to be written

2018-10-05T08:00:02-04:00

Mercedes-Benz EQC. | Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

Carmakers are a weird bunch. On one hand, they're willing to give their designers free rein and millions of dollars to explore distant-future concepts, but then their production vehicles toe a narrow, unadventurous design line. Attending the Paris Motor Show this week, I see this dichotomy everywhere around me. Renault's EZ-Ultimo self-driving limo is parked a few feet away from a fleet of anonymous-looking SUVs. Audi's attention-grabbing PB18 E-tron supercar is flanked by uniformly forgettable autos. And Peugeot's gorgeous e-Legend Concept is a drop of design flair and aggression amid a sea of visual predictability. I came to Paris looking …

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Peugeot’s e-Legend Concept is a muscle car for the electric age

2018-10-04T09:29:30-04:00

Rotating phlegmatically beneath an immodest #UnboringTheFuture banner at the Paris Motor Show, Peugeot's e-Legend Concept might be my favorite of all the electric concept cars I've seen this week. Its design is inspired by the classic Peugeot 504 coupe, with a more aggressive styling that reminds me of Ford's latest Mustang GT. But beneath that old-school muscular look is a fully autonomous, connected, all-electric vehicle. It's a car that looks to the future without devaluing the brand's past, and I love the result.

Peugeot's premise with the e-Legend is that you shouldn't have to compromise on anything. The car has four driving modes, wit …

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Even this Mercedes-Benz SUV knows USB-C is the future

2018-10-04T01:20:05-04:00

At the 2016 edition of the Paris Motor Show, Mercedes-Benz launched its all-electric EQ brand with the debut of a concept SUV, and now two years later the German company has returned to the French capital with the final road-going version of that car, the EQC. A lot rests on the success or otherwise of the EQC, but two things stood out to me when I saw it for myself in Paris this week: it's prettier than the pictures, and it has no fewer than three USB-C charging ports inside, so I'm already a little enamored with it.

Car exhibitions can sometimes feel like inflated promise factories, as all we ever seem to hear about are concept this and d …

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Electric cars still face a big hurdle: the charging system

2018-10-03T14:20:18-04:00

Electric cars hit a new global sales record in 2017 - 1 million cars sold, with more than half of that in China - but there may be a hitch to mass adoption: the number of adequate charging stations available. Before consumers take the plunge on a new electric car, they need to know that they can charge it.

The number of electric charging stations in the US is small but growing. As of September 2018, there are an estimated 22,000 public charging stations in the US and Canada that are classified as level 2 and DC fast charging. (Typically, fast-charging stations supply 60 to 80 miles of range for every 20 minutes of charging.) By comparison, …

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Mercedes’ EQ Silver Arrow blends classic design with electric superpowers

2018-10-03T12:25:21-04:00

The Mercedes-Benz Vision EQ Silver Arrow. That's the name Mercedes has given to its latest breathtaking concept car, which the company actually deems a "show car" because it's meant as an homage to the historic 1937 W125 Silver Arrow as well as an exciting teaser for electric supercars to come. So nothing here is imminently coming to an electrified Mercedes near you, and yet, the mere sight of the EQ Silver Arrow is a celebration in itself. Flamboyant, exaggerated, elongated, seamless, and smoothed and polished to a fine sheen, this car is the sort of thing we all daydreamed about in our youth.

Needless to say, this electric Silver Arrow pa …

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Audi’s PB18 E-tron concept can convert into a single-seater racecar

2018-10-03T04:00:01-04:00

First exhibited at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance a month ago, Audi's PB18 E-tron is the German marque's unrestrained vision for what an all-electric racecar you can also drive to the shops might look like. It's so outlandish that Audi hasn't even bothered to give it much of a name: the PB18 is in reference to Pebble Beach, and the E-tron is simply Audi's umbrella term for its electric cars.

On first blush, I was sure this was merely a designer's indulgence. Just look at the egotistical single seat in the middle of the low-slung chassis, the enormous windshield, the exposed suspension, and the elaborately ornamental headlights. The PB …

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Renault’s EZ-Ultimo luxury self-driving concept is a giant slice of ridiculous

2018-10-03T01:48:41-04:00

The Paris Motor Show is Renault's "home" car exhibition, so the big French company always makes an extra effort for it. Today's new self-driving concept from Renault is arguably its least realistic, but certainly one of its most provocative. Called the EZ-Ultimo, it expands the EZ family of all-electric, distant-future concept vehicles - which also includes the EZ-Go robot taxi - with a self-driving luxury limo.

Photos scarcely do justice to the scale of the EZ-Ultimo. This thing is better compared in size to yachts than any sort of regular car. Fans of ultra opulent concept cars will recognize an affinity between Renault's Ultimo and Rolls …

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The electric car is here — if you’ve got the money

2018-10-02T11:00:02-04:00

The annual parade of the world's biggest auto shows is about to start this week in Paris, and for what really feels like the first time, a number of carmakers are finalizing, building, selling, or even nearing the delivery of their first flagship electric cars. And these aren't just concepts, or camouflaged pre-production cars like we've seen in the past. EVs from big-name luxury brands like Audi, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW are on the way, meaning incumbents in the space, like Tesla, will soon have lots of direct competition.

But only a few models will approach the more affordable mid-$30,000 starting price set by GM's Bolt. That means …

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Smart’s Forease concept tries too hard to be cool when being electric is enough

2018-10-02T10:17:23-04:00

One of the premières mondiales of this year's Paris Motor Show is today's unveiling of the Smart Forease all-electric concept car. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Smart brand, this concept is intended to convey a more fun and whimsical design for electric urban mobility, but I find it comes across as cutesy rather than cute.

Before arriving at the Forease, I checked out Smart's existing EQ Fortwo coupe, which has that characteristically boxy Smart car shape, a basic interior, and a price that dips as low as $15,000 in places like California where electric vehicle subsidies incentivize its purchase. The Fortwo is, in a lot of ways, t …

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