“So, how fast can I really go?” I ask the Vinfast handler sitting next to me in the passenger seat of the VF 8 prototype. I’ve been told before my first chance around the short test loop to keep it under 80 km/h (or right around 50 mph) but as I get ready for my second run I’ve seen a few other drivers zip by at much higher… More…

GM confirmed Monday that it plans to include heat-pump technology in all of its current and upcoming Ultium-platform electric vehicles. That includes the Hummer EV now being delivered and the soon-arriving Cadillac Lyriq, plus many more to arrive in the next several years. In them, the tech will help recover low-level waste heat in ways that can… More…

Chinese battery maker CATL is launching a battery-swapping service in its home country. Called Evogo, the service launches with four stations in the city of Xiamen. A total of 30 stations are planned in that city by the end of the year, meaning drivers will never be more than 1.8 miles from a station, CATL said in a press release. “In the future… More…

The Super Bowl continues to draw ad dollars from many automakers, but not Tesla. Yet in its quarterly earnings report, the automaker mentioned a “Super Bowl Effect” that saw United States orders spike the day after the game. U.S. gross orders on that day—February 13—were higher than at any point in 2022 to date, according to Tesla. The… More…

The United States Department of Energy and several stakeholders have released a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to spur integration of bidirectional charging for EVs and infrastructure. First spotted by solar-focused PV Magazine, the MOU brings together several Energy Department offices, the California Energy Commission, California Public… More…

The Audi E-Tron GT and E-Tron SUV EV families will carry over to the 2023 model year essentially unchanged, and will soon be joined by the Q4 E-Tron and Q4 Sportback E-Tron electric SUVs. Introduced for the 2022 model year in standard E-Tron GT and sporty RS E-Tron GT guises, Audi’s electric sedan gets a standard body-color grille, a second charge… More…

Tesla has reengineered its Model Y around easier manufacturability, employing a structural pack, new-format 4680 cells, and huge cast front and rear body sections. Despite all that innovation, a shift to an 800-volt architecture isn’t planned on any of Tesla’s smaller models anytime soon. But based on comments from CEO Elon Musk and… More…

Volkswagen plans to provide faster charging, longer range, and more power for EVs based on its ubiquitous MEB platform, the head of sales and marketing for VW’s ID family of EVs said during the recent UBS Paris Electric Car Day conference. During a presentation on the ID vehicles, Dr. Silke Bagschik said VW is aiming for 200-kw charging, a maximum… More…

Lexus on Wednesday unveiled the 2023 RZ, the luxury brand’s first dedicated EV, and the first Lexus electric model to be sold in the United States. Scheduled to arrive at dealerships later this year, this small crossover will launch in RZ 450e guise with a 71.4-kwh battery pack affording 225 miles of range, and dual-motor all-wheel drive. The… More…

Lincoln is celebrating its 100th anniversary this week—not of the company’s founding in 1917 but its acquisition by Ford five years later. As a part of those festivities, Lincoln is also unveiling a new electric vehicle prototype, the Star concept, although the company’s future electrification plans remain a bit murky. Lincoln… More…

An electric pickup truck would be “the chance of a lifetime,” Volkswagen Group of America CEO Scott Keogh said in a recent interview with Business Insider. Pickup buyers are known for brand loyalty and very specific preferences, but Keogh said he sees electrification as a “reset moment” that could allow new alternatives from different brands to… More…

Audi on Tuesday unveiled the Urban Sphere concept, a large electric van and the latest of the automaker’s Sphere series of EV concepts. The Urban Sphere was designed with dense Chinese cities in mind, and Audi even consulted with Chinese customers on aspects of the design, the automaker said in a press release. The result is a fairly large vehicle… More…

The all-electric flagship sedan of the BMW lineup, the 2023 BMW i7, has been revealed. And it looks virtually interchangeable with the rest of a completely new 2023 BMW 7-Series lineup revealed Wednesday. The i7 is in fact a version of the 7-Series—a variant of this model line, not built on a dedicated electric vehicle platform that omits… More…

With used-car prices skyrocketing, Tesla is no longer allowing customers to buy cars at the end of leases. “All Tesla vehicles delivered on or after April 15, 2022, are not eligible for purchase,” according to new language on the company’s website first spotted by Electrek. “Third-party dealerships and third-party individuals are not eligible to… More…

Mercedes-Benz on Tuesday unveiled the EQS SUV, a higher-riding counterpart to the EQS sedan launched last year. The new model is scheduled to reach United States dealerships later this year, as a 2023 model. The EQS SUV shares Mercedes’ EVA platform with both the EQS and EQE sedans. It also has the same 126-inch wheelbase as the EQS sedan, but is… More…

A Kia electric pickup has already been confirmed as a global model. But it would need to be an upscale model—not focused entirely around value and affordability—to make sense in America, a US Kia executive suggested to Green Car Reports at the New York auto show last week. Kia promised the EV9 SUV for the U.S. market starting in the… More…

The Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid and an all-electric version of the Genesis GV70 will be built in Alabama, Hyundai confirmed last week. Both vehicles will be built at the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama plant near Montgomery, which currently builds gasoline versions of the Santa Fe, as well as the Hyundai Elantra, Santa Cruz, and Tucson. Santa Fe… More…

California aims to increase zero-emission vehicle sales to 35% of all new car purchases by the 2026 model year, on the way to ending sales of new gasoline-only cars by the middle of the next decade. This proposed target from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) includes battery-electric cars, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles… More…

Tesla earlier this week recalled 594,717 vehicles for an issue with its “Boombox” feature that left it potentially noncompliant with federal pedestrian safety requirements. The recall—and over-the-air fix—are essentially a “do-over” for Tesla, now making the cars compliant as long as they’re moving… More…

With increased gas prices driving demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, the average prices for used hybrids and electric cars rose significantly in March compared to the same month last year, according to new analysis from iSeeCars. Average hybrid prices increased 40.5%, while average EV prices increased 35.1%, according to the analysis. Note that… More…