Toyota this week gave an update on its battery research, claiming a major breakthrough in solid-state battery tech, which the automaker hopes to commercialize later in the decade. In an Tuesday announcement that appeared to have been released in coordination with Toyota’s annual shareholder meeting, the automaker said it is aiming to commercialize… More…

The updated 2024 Polestar 2 starts at $51,300 and is scheduled to begin deliveries in August, the automaker announced Tuesday. That base price, which includes a mandatory $1,400 destination charge, is $1,500 more than 2023’s starting price, but the new model year brings many changes and improvements. Polestar has been boosting its range bit by… More…

Consumer interest in EVs is lagging, and cost is partly to blame, according to a new Ipsos study. Despite factors like increased choice of EV models and a revamped federal tax credit ushered in by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), interest in EVs has essentially leveled off, the study suggests. In 2022, 49% of respondents said they were… More…

Why do pickup trucks have to be so huge, and where are the lean, efficient, manageably-sized electric trucks for the city? Emerging from stealth mode Tuesday, California-based Telo Trucks is revealing its thought-provoking answer to that—in the form of an electric pickup that it claims will have all the cab and bed space of a Toyota Tacoma… More…

The White House is offering subsidies to charging stations that use Tesla connectors, as long as they also include Combined Charging Standard (CCS) connectors, Reuters reported Friday. The report follows an announcement by General Motors this week, and Ford a couple of weeks earlier, that they would adopt the Tesla connector, which Tesla recently… More…

Lucid and Fisker in the past week separately announced plans to sell vehicles in China soon. The head of Lucid’s China operations confirmed to Reuters Thursday that the automaker was planning to enter the Chinese market. The Reuters report also cited an anonymous source with knowledge of Lucid’s plans, who said the automaker plans to sell imported… More…

Porsche on Thursday unveiled the Mission X, an electric suoercar concept that could preview a future production model. “As a design study, not offered for sale, with production to be decided in due time, the Mission X is a glimpse into what the sports car of the future could look like,” a Porsche press release declared. The automaker sees the… More…

General Motors has announced that starting in 2025 it will build the Tesla charge port, called North American Charging Standard (NACS), into its future EVs. And so, with three out of three U.S.-based automakers now on board (Stellantis is based in the Netherlands), it seems we truly have a North American charging standard. The news, which follows… More…

Uber and Lyft have pledged to electrify their ride-hailing fleets by 2030, but a new University of Michigan study argues that it won’t make much of a difference. Replacing all current ride-hailing vehicles with EVs would eliminate tailpipe emissions, but the overall benefit to society would still be slight—just 3% per trip on… More…

General Motors on Monday unveiled a new Buick EV concept for China. The Buick Proxima is the product of GM’s China Advanced Design Center in Shanghai, which has pivoted to focus on EVs, according to a press release. A flagship sedan built on a dedicated EV architecture, it sports gullwing doors that are typical concept-car fare, but will likely… More…

The base Tesla Model 3 now qualifies for the full $7,500 federal EV tax credit, joining other Model 3 variants. On Friday, Tesla fans noted that, when building a base Model 3, Tesla then indicated that it was eligible for a $7,500 credit. At that time, the EPA FuelEconomy.gov list of qualified vehicles indicated that model and some of the lineup… More…

Small-car lovers who lament the lack of affordable electric compact cars may get a jolt of energy from Volvo’s reveal on Wednesday of its EX30. The fully electric small SUV is a key piece of its lineup as it transitions to all-EV—one that will start at $34,950, likely not including destination, with available dual-motor all-wheel… More…

General Motors CEO Mary Barra said in a conference Friday that EVs selling for less than $40,000 can’t be profitable just yet. It’s an unexpected statement from the head of an automaker that’s been fairly optimistic about affordable EVs. As reported by Reuters, Barra told conference attendees that EV battery costs are still too high to build… More…

Colorado has revamped its EV tax credit, with a new approach that incentivizes cheaper EVs. HB 1272, which was passed by the Colorado legislature and signed by governor Jared Polis in May, re-ups a tax credit for light-duty electric vehicles that was originally $5,000. As originally enacted, it dropped to $4,000 in 2020, $3,500 in 2021, and $2,000… More…

Remember the line from “Titanic” when Rose is an old woman and she asks, “It’s been 84 years?” With the debut of the U.S-spec Volkswagen ID.Buzz that moment feels oddly familiar. Why did it take so long for the VW Bus to return despite concepts teasing us since 2001? Why did production of the two-row ID.Buzz start in Europe a year ago, and the… More…

Fisker on Thursday confirmed a 360-mile EPA-rated range for its Ocean electric SUV, and said it plans to start U.S. deliveries the week of June 19. The range figure is better than the 350 miles that Fisker estimated at the introduction of the Ocean, in November 2021. It applies to the Ocean Extreme model, which uses a 113-kwh battery pack, with… More…

Volkswagen has provided a first look at the long-awaited U.S.-bound ID.Buzz electric van—finally, in the form Americans will be able to buy. What have we been waiting for? U.S. versions of the 2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz, VW says, will be made in the same Hanover, Germany, factory as the European model but they’ll have a third row of… More…

Ford on Thursday announced the start of a pilot program allowing Uber drivers in some markets to lease EVs by the week for use on the ride-hailing network. With a pilot program called Ford Drive, the automaker says that it will offer Mustang Mach-E models in San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, with the Los Angeles program starting Thursday… More…

EVs may not achieve cost parity with gasoline cars until after 2030, Ford CEO Jim Farley said Wednesday. Speaking at an investor conference, Farley said that, for most automakers, EVs will remain more expensive to manufacture than internal-combustion cars until the end of the decade, reports Reuters, adding that this counters analysts’ prediction… More…

Battery fire concerns have prompted a recall of nearly 6,400 Jaguar I-Pace electric SUVs from throughout the model’s production run. Jaguar on Wednesday said the battery energy control module software will be updated, and battery modules will be replaced if necessary, in 6,367 vehicles from model years 2019 to 2024 free of charge, according to… More…