Tesla rivals powering up to fight for electric cars

LOS ANGELES – When it comes to long-range, eye-turning electric cars, Tesla may be in the lead, but a raft of competitors are trying to catch up.

Call them the Tesla fighters, or maybe more appropriately, the Tesla wannabes.

They are hoping to field new models that will win them a bigger chunk of the luxury electric car market as they have watched Tesla come zooming up in their rear-view mirror.

Why the alarm? In October, one analyst says it appeared Tesla outsold Mercedes-Benz in the third quarter. Jean Baptiste Su, principal analyst with Atherton Research, said in a report in Forbes that Tesla sold 69,925 cars in the U.S. compared with Mercedes-Benz’s 66,542, excluding its commercial vans.

At the Los Angeles Auto Show last week, a raft of competitors displayed concept cars that they hoped would light up affluent buyers who prefer the plug to the pump.

The show is open to the public through Sunday.

Tesla, which is displaying all three of its models at the show, already has a massive head-start on newcomers – it began selling its first electric car in 2008 – and has racked up big successes since then. Tesla is forging ahead. It has announced that Tesla drivers have used the car’s driver assist system, Autopilot, collectively more than 1 billion miles.

“Nobody has been able to kill Tesla. They are resilient like you can’t believe,” said Ron Cogan, publisher of the Green Car Journal.

But that doesn’t mean automakers can’t keep trying.

Here’s are some of the vehicles that were introduced at the show:

Audi e-tron GT concept

The German luxury automaker gave a debut to one of the most gorgeous electric cars, the e-tron GT concept, that ap- peared at the auto show media preview.

Its electric motors can crank out 590 horsepower, and zero to 60 mph comes in a zippy 3.5 seconds. The car has a maximum range of almost 250 miles a charge, which is respectable, but a bit short of the more than 300 miles that Tesla offers in its luxury vehicles.

The four-door coupe concept is expected to be followed by a production version in about two years, a vehicle that people can actually buy.

BMW Vision iNEXT concept

Let’s just say it: The BMW Vision iNEXT concept, an electric SUV, is just weird.

It has wood-planked floors, airliner-style steering wheel and wide-opening, side-by-side doors. Then there’s the velour-like rear seat and pink champagne paint that just seem a little over the top.

Still, there’s some serious business at work. Besides being electric, the concept is meant to be self-driving.

Byton K-Byte

This Chinese company, which has research and other facilities in the U.S., is producing an electric sedan and SUV.

The sedan will not only have electric power but also enhanced partial selfdriving capability.

The sedan, the K-Byte concept, and the SUV, the M-Byte, both will feature a video display stretching across the dashboard.

Rivian R1T

This company appears to love to invite comparisons to Tesla.

Nine years in development, Rivian has produced an innovative pickup and an SUV. It says production will start in 2020. It says both will have a battery that will offer up to about 400 miles in range per charge and can produce the kind of acceleration seen in supercars.

The pickup is filled with touches such as a “tunnel” ahead of the bed that can store long items in a protected place.