The truth about electric cars: Wheels magazine preview – Yearbook 2018

OUR SECOND annual ‘Future Edition’ is on sale now, where we take stock of motoring’s sometimes uncertain future, and take an in-depth look at the technologies which are being developed around the world.

For this issue we’ve driven more electric cars than in the past 20 years of Wheels. Australia’s first EV Megatest was also conducted, and we learned some valuable lessons about the reality of electric car ownership in this great wide land of ours. We gathered together the current crop of EVs and plug-in hybrids and took them a long way out of their comfort zones.

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Meanwhile, Ash Westerman was sent to taste the Audi E-Tron, which is looking to take on the Jaguar I-Pace and Tesla Model X.

Closer to home, we took part in an Australian exclusive drive of the Tesla Model 3, to get a better understanding of the Californian disruptor’s most important model to date before it arrives Down Under.

Phil Scott takes a deep dive into the future of autonomous driving, and sits down with Detroit royalty turned EV evangelist Larry Burns to find out why he is backing the electric revolution.

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Not even the gas-guzzling world of motorsport is safe from the electric wave, and we tested Jaguar I-Pace racer to get a better understanding of what the future of four-wheeled competition will look like.

As the car industry continues to charge headlong into an electrified future, it’s natural that some performance companies are starting to worry about how their electric cars will sound.

Lamborghini is one such company, and we reveal that the Italian supercar manufacturer is on the cusp of announcing a patent that will change the way we view (and hear) electric cars.

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It’s not all electric though, with Hyundai’s hydrogen fuel cell-powered Nexo also driven.

Now, we understand that electric cars aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, so we also stole the keys to Ford’s Mustang Bullitt for a thrash down memory lane.

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And if you prefer your Wheels magazine to be more explicitly fossil-fuelled, we’ve also released a special best drivers’ cars issue, which is on sale now. It’s chock full of all the best drives and cars that enthusiasts love. Think of it as a best-of compilation of 2018, so if you only buy one mag this year, you know what to do…