Tesla's Lock on Electric Vehicles May Not Last As Competitors Ready to Launch

This was the year that Tesla’s lock on high-end all-electric vehicles began to break, with Audi and Jaguar sending electric SUVs out into the world.

They joined more workaday EVs from Chevrolet, Honda, Hyundai, Kia and Nissan.

So 2019 was, finally, the year of the electric vehicle. 

Sales of electric autos were double those from the year before, but they were still dwarfed by their fossil-fuel-powered brethren. With a slew of new models promised for next year and beyond, and with charging station infrastructure still being built out, the tipping point for electric autos is still in the future.

But automakers are betting big on that future. Here’s a look at some of the electric vehicles that are just reaching the market, will soon be available or are expected to arrive in 2021.

AUDI E-TRON SPORTBACK

A four-door coupe version of the full-size Audi e-Tron sport utility vehicle, introduced last spring, the Sportback is expected to be available this spring. The all-wheel-drive e-Tron SUV charges to 80% of its 204-mile range in 30 minutes with a commercial fast-DC charger.

BMW IX3

BMW will start production of its electric SUV next year at its plant in China. The rear-wheel-drive vehicle is expected to provide 286 horsepower and a 273-mile range, according to the European test cycle.

FORD MUSTANG MACH-E

Ford enlisted its Shelby designers to create a traditional-looking electric SUV that would echo its iconic Mustang sedan. Its first version, a 332-horsepower allwheel-drive model, will be available late 2020, with a 459-horsepower GT version expected 18 months from now.

BYTON

Distinguished by many enormous wraparound screens, this Chinesebuilt SUV will be sold in the United States, at a starting price of $45,000, beginning in the second half of 2021. Sales in its home country will start at the end of next year.