Whether you’re a fan of electric cars or not, there is one indisputable fact that all of us have to come to grips with. Electric cars aren’t figments of science fiction anymore. They’re not even novelties anymore. Electric cars are real, and they’re going to take the auto industry over. In the years to come, more electric cars will hit the streets, and we best get used to them. The good news is that, as the industry shifts to electrification, there are some electric cars that are worthy of the hype being bestowed on them. You might even say that these EVs could shape the future of the industry as we know it.

Porsche Taycan

The Porsche Taycan is more than just a Porsche, and it's certainly more than just an electric car. It’s the German automaker’s first-ever foray into the all-electric market, and the company has made it clear that a lot is riding on the success of this model. See, Porsche has a pretty expansive plan as far as electric cars are concerned. The goal, according to the automaker, is to build an entire family of electric cars. The Taycan will lay the foundation for that plan. That’s a lot of pressure on the model to do well, especially when you consider that Porsche built a new scalable platform specifically for its electric cars. The German automaker needs the Taycan to succeed so it can justify the investments — over $1 billion - it has made in the segment. Porsche CEO Oliver Blume even said earlier this year that the Taycan is the company’s “make it or break it” model. When the company’s head decision maker makes that statement, you know those words carry a lot of weight.

So, can the Porsche Taycan live up to the hype? Based on what we know about it, it has a good chance of not only living up to the hype, but it could break the Internet, too. The Taycan will be offered with different size battery packs that will offer different range and performance specifications. Multiple drive modes are a given and don’t be surprised if it also carries different power configurations. It’s even slated to have a range of 310 miles. All the stars are aligning for the Porsche Taycan to spearhead Porsche’s EV future.

Read our full speculative review on the 2020 Porsche Taycan.

Tesla SEMI

The high-stakes commercial trucking industry could be in for a revolutionary change in the vehicles they use, and Tesla’s new all-electric Semi truck could be at the heart of that revolution. Introduced late last year, the Tesla SEMI was developed to change the way we look at commercial delivery, specifically when it comes to the massive goods haulers that transport our items from their points of origin straight to our front doors.

If everything breaks right for the Tesla SEMI, and other electric trucks that are being developed as we speak, the commercial trucking industry will change forever. As far as Tesla’s EV truck is concerned, it will be powered by an all-electric drivetrain that can tow 80,000 pounds over more than 500 of miles go range on a single charge. The SEMI was designed to outperform traditional gas-powered semi trucks in a lot of important categories, including performance, safety, and all-around efficiency. It’s no wonder that, even if the SEMI itself isn’t out on the market yet, Tesla has already received a large number of orders from some of the biggest companies in the U.S., a lot of whom rely on the commercial trucking industry to get their goods delivered. Anheuser-Busch, for example, has ordered 40 SEMI trucks from Tesla. Walmart also placed orders for 15 trucks while food giant Sysco and PepsiCo have ordered 50 and 100 trucks, respectively.

Read our full review on the 2019 Tesla SEMI.

Tesla Roadster

It’s been called a “proper weapon” by some, and a “conqueror” by others. Whatever description you may have of it, one thing is clear: the Tesla Roadster could reinvent the supercar industry altogether. Go read its performance numbers and see if your jaws drop on the floor faster than it takes the Roadster to go from 0 to 60 mph. The Roadster can do 0 to 100 mph in just 4.2 seconds, the same time it takes some of today’s sports cars and supercars to cross 60 mph. Elon Musk also promises a quarter-mile time in just 8.8 seconds and hit a top speed of "over 250 mph." Oh, and that 0-to-60-mph time? 1.9 seconds. 1.9 seconds!

Beyond its incredible performance capabilities, the new Roadster looks the part of a proper supercar. No longer is it being designed in the same vein as one of Lotus’ own lightweight sports cars. The new Roadster has a unique look that justifies its electric supercar label. Some of you might be wondering about the irony of giving a supercar a squeaky quiet powertrain, but don’t get lost in the semantics of it. The Tesla Roadster is more than just a sports car. It may actually be a game-changing model that plays a big role in redefining what it means to be a proper all-electric supercar.

Read our full review on the 2020 Tesla Roadster.

Mercedes EQC

Porsche isn’t the only company that’s rolling out an all-encompassing, all-electric family of models. Just like Porsche, Mercedes-Benz has invested more than $1 billion in electrification as part of a plan to create a new division under the company called “EQ.” The first model to come out of this family is the EQC crossover, and it’s already being lined up to make its debut at the 2018 Paris Motor Show.

To its credit, Mercedes isn’t putting as much pressure on the EQC crossover as Porsche is on the Taycan. Make no mistake about it, though, the success of Merc’s first-ever all-electric model is going have huge ramifications on the automaker’s long-term electrification strategy. Fortunately, Mercedes appears to have a solid offering in store for the masses. The Mercedes EQC is expected to draw a lot of design inspiration from the Generation EQ Concept that Merc unveiled in Paris back in 2016. On the performance front, the EQC should get a variety of battery options, one of which could include a 70 kWh battery pack that can produce a range of 310 miles. The electric motors on that model would be good for around 402 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. That output is reportedly good for a 0-to-60-mph sprint time of under five seconds. The EQC may not have the same level of gravitas as the Porsche Taycan, but its level of importance to Mercedes, and to the whole industry, for that matter, should not be understated. The Mercedes EQC will lay the groundwork for the company’s new EQ division. If it doesn’t live up to expectations, the EQ division could get off on the wrong foot. The stakes are high for Merc, and its new all-electric crossover has to deliver the goods.

Read our full speculative review on the 2019 Mercedes EQC.

Ford’s lineup of electric vehicles

Ok, so Ford doesn’t have one specific model that’s going to spearhead its all-electric drive, but the company is investing $11 billion in the initiative and has plans to roll out 40 EVs by 2022. If you can’t wow them with a halo, might as well do it with volume, right? 16 of those 40 EVs will be all-electric models while the rest will be plug-in hybrids.

Ford’s EV strategy calls for most of the models to be EV versions of some of its current models. That’s not to say that it has no plans to develop a completely new model that will be all-electric, but temper your expectations if you thought you’re getting an all-electric halo car from Ford in the same vein as the Porsche Taycan. The good news is that the company’s EV offerings will cover the whole gamut of its lineup. There will be EV saloons, SUVs, and even pickup trucks in Ford’s future, joining the EV version of the Focus that the automaker has already released in a number of markets.

Editors Note: Ford does have the Mach 1, all-electric SUV in the works, however, this is expected to be more of a limited edition model as opposed to a mass-produced offering.

Read our full review on the 2020 Ford Mach 1.

Volkswagen ID

Like seemingly every automaker in the industry, Volkswagen has plans to take the EV segment by storm. As part of its initial assault, the German automaker is rolling out three models under its I.D. sub-brand, beginning with the I.D. Concept that will hit the market sometime in 2020.

Don’t let its size fool you. The I.D. Concept may be the smallest of the three EVs Volkswagen plans to release, but it still takes the configuration of a full-size five-door sedan. More importantly, the concept is being developed to deliver a range between 249 to 370 miles depending on the size of the battery that it has. It’s not going to blow you over with its power — the electric motor only has 186 ponies on tap — but it is expected to capable of autonomous driving, a feature Volkswagen plans to introduce on the model by 2025. Even better, the German automaker has also said that the I.D. Concept will be offered at “an attractive price” when it goes on sale in 2020.

The I.D. Crozz is the second of the three models VW has lined up. It’s an all-electric SUV that will also go on sale in 2020. It will also carry an 82 kWh battery and should be able to reach a top speed of 112 mph. That’s on top of an expected single-charge range of 310 miles, a figure that should get a lot of SUV fans excited. Beyond these figures, the I.D. Crozz will also carry a suite of high-tech features, including a massive 10.2-inch display on the center console, all-wheel drive adaptability, and most promisingly, autonomous driving capability. The last tech isn’t scheduled to arrive until 2025, but the potential of having it available is intriguing.

Finally, there’s the I.D. Buzz, the so-called emotionally driven electric vehicle that pays homage to the company’s iconic Microbus. Seating on the I.D. Buzz can accommodate up to eight people and, according to Volkswagen, the interior can be reconfigured easily depending on the occasion. As far as power goes, the Buzz is the only EV of the three that VW plans to release initially to carry two electric motors. These two motors produce a combined 369 horsepower, allowing the van to spring from 0 to 60 mph in around five seconds. Top speed will be limited to just 100 mph, but it does carry four-wheel drive capability and has a range of 372 miles. The I.D. Buzz is expected to be the third model to arrive and should be in showrooms by 20202.

Read our full review on the 2018 Volkswagen I.D. Vizzion Concept.

Rimac C_Two

Everyone knows that once the electric car segment is strong enough to stand on its own, there’s going to be talk on which among these EV hypercars is going to one day hold the production car record among all-electric machines.

For now, I’m putting my money on the Rimac C_Two, the follow-up to the Concept One hypercar that The Grand Tour host Richard Hammond famously crashed. Official details surrounding the C_Two have yet to be unveiled, but Rimac is already calling its own shot. According to the company, the C_Two will carry a 120 kWh battery pack with a motor setup that could produce as much as 1,888 horsepower and 1,696 pound-feet of torque. All that power is said to translate in a 0-to-60-mph sprint time of just 1.85 seconds, faster than the Tesla Roadster. It can also do 0 to 100 mph in 4.3 seconds just for good measure. While we’re at it, the C_Two can also achieve 260 mph and has a range between of 404 miles. Should you run out of juice, the hypercar’s battery can be recharged to 80 percent in just 30 minutes. Unfortunately, Rimac only plans to build 150 units of its $2.09 million super EV machine. Fortunately, demand for the C_Two is so high that customers who have gotten their hands on one are paying an average of $600,000 on top of the car’s base price just on options alone! And they say the electric car market isn’t lucrative?

Read our full review on the 2019 Rimac C_Two.

Further reading

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