Kia is celebrating its 80th anniversary The automaker commissioned an electric conversion of its Pride hatchback A pair of 10-kwh batteries provide up to 120 miles of range in the restomod Kia turns 80 this year, and to celebrate the automaker’s U.K. division commissioned an electric restomod of a humble Pride hatchback. The EV conversion was done… Read more…

Two BMW electric sedans are being recalled over steering components that could break, requiring more effort to turn the wheel. The recall includes 202 BMW i5 sedans from model years 2024 and 2025 and just 21 BMW i7 sedans, all 2024 models, plus non-electric versions of both. The recalled vehicles may have steering spindles manufactured with… Read more…

Eliminating internal-combustion engines would also eliminate many jobs related to engine-related technology, Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda told Reuters and other media Thursday. “If electric vehicles simply become the only choice, including for our suppliers, those people’s jobs would be lost,” said Toyoda, who previously held the job of CEO and is… Read more…

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Thursday night introduced the Cybercab, an autonomous electric vehicle so fully focused around the evolution of Tesla’s so-called full self-driving system that it doesn’t have a steering wheel or any pedals. Tesla may have gotten some pushback about omitting the turn signal stalk and shift lever in some of its… Read more…

Nissan is recalling certain Leaf electric vehicles due to a risk of batteries overheating and catching fire while fast charging, the NHTSA disclosed this week. Owners are advised not to fast charge their vehicles until recall work is completed. The recall includes 23,887 Leaf hatchbacks from model years 2019 and 2020, but just 1% are estimated to… Read more…

General Motors is now rolling out its PowerBank energy-storage battery packs, providing the first real competition to the Tesla Powerwall home energy-storage system directly from an automaker. While other automakers have discussed energy-storage products, and the Ford F-150 Lightning can be had with a home backup power system, GM appears to be the… Read more…

Volkswagen plans to launch eight affordable electric vehicles by 2027, brand boss Thomas Schaefer said in a recent interview with German publication Auto Motor und Sport (via Reuters). “We have to produce our vehicles profitably and put them on the road at affordable prices,” Schaefer said in the interview. One of those affordable models will be… Read more…

Nissan is recalling certain Leaf electric vehicles due to a risk of batteries overheating and catching fire while fast charging. Owners are advised not to fast charge their vehicles until recall work is completed. The recall includes 23,887 Leaf hatchbacks from model years 2019 and 2020, but just 1% are estimated to have the defect, according to… Read more…

Most electric vehicles don’t have multi-speed transmissions—and don’t need them. Multi gears may even hurt efficiency, in fact. But that hasn’t stopped Honda from experimenting with a manual transmission for electric cars. The automaker is currently testing a manual gearbox—complete with a clutch pedal—for EVs, an engineer told… Read more…

Nissan’s taking a 25% stake in ChargeScape ChargeScape is a vehicle-to-grid joint venture formed by BMW, Ford, Honda, and now Nissan Nissan has a vision for the “fuel station of the future” where EVs would double as energy-storage units Nissan on Monday announced that it will join ChargeScape, the vehicle-to-grid joint venture formed in 2023 by… Read more…

General Motors on Tuesday filled in some details on plans to use cost-cutting lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells in future EVs. Now it has a number for the level of cost-cutting that’s potentially gone into the next Bolt EV. As reported by InsideEVs, GM executives said at an investor conference that LFP cells would combine with other… Read more…

The Tesla Cybertruck’s been turned into a police car The Irvine Police Department took delivery of its police-spec Cybertruck The conversion to police spec was handled by UP.FIT The world hasn’t gotten quite bad enough for the emergence of RoboCop, but the first police-spec Cybertruck has reported for duty in California. In July the Irvine Police… Read more…

Uber is looking to increase utilization of EVs for its ride-sharing service, in part by updating its app to help get riders matched with EV drivers more easily. That starts with making the Uber Green option all-electric—in some cities, at least. Uber Green currently includes both EVs and hybrids, but Uber announced Tuesday that it had enough… Read more…

Nissan’s taking a 25% stake in ChargeScape ChargeScape is a vehicle-to-grid joint venture formed by BMW, Ford, Honda, and now Nissan Nissan has a vision for the “fuel station of the future” where EVs would double as energy-storage units Nissan on Monday announced that it will join ChargeScape, the vehicle-to-grid joint venture formed in 2023 by… Read more…

The Porsche Taycan has been recalled, and the root cause is once again the electric car’s battery pack. On Monday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) posted the recall for certain 2021-2024 Porsche Taycans. The recall is due to the high-voltage battery pack that may experience a short circuit within the battery module… Read more…

General Motors will drop the Ultium name from the modular EV batteries and related components used in all of the automaker’s current and planned U.S.-market EVs, CNBC reports. The hardware will remain the same, but GM will erase the Ultium name other than for production operations such as its Ultium Cells LLC battery joint venture with LG… Read more…

Honda aims for aero-savvy EV shapes—and SUVs—with upcoming Series 0 platform 0 Series boasts an air suspension and 3D gyro tech from robots Radiant heat and a heat pump will help maintain range edge in winter Last week, at Honda’s R&D facility in Tochigi, Japan, I caught up on all the engineering work that’s gone into… Read more…

Chevrolet expanded the Silverado EV lineup for 2025 The 2025 Silverado EV can be had with up to 492 miles of range on the WT Max Range pack The 2025 Chevrolet Silverado EV costs $57,095 The 2025 Chevrolet Silverado EV gains a new mid-level grade and gets range boosts across its lineup, topping off at an estimated 492 miles of range for the WT with… Read more…

Honda might add the sounds of vintage performance models to future EVs The sounds might be offered for download for a small cost It’s potentially part of in-vehicle purchases capability in Honda’s next-gen user interface The upcoming Honda 0 Series EVs we just previewed, are shaping up to be super-quiet inside. But would you rather like your Honda… Read more…

The Porsche Taycan has been recalled, again. The root cause is once again the electric car’s battery pack. On Monday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) posted the recall for certain 2021 to 2024 Porsche Taycans. The recall is due to the high-voltage battery pack, which may experience a short circuit within the battery… Read more…