Unless you know exactly what you want and are willing to put money down and wait, it’s hard to find an electric vehicle in dealer stock to test-drive and buy. While anyone who’s shopped for a new EV in recent months knows that, the latest nationwide study of the electric vehicle shopping experience from the Sierra Club, out Monday… More…
Category: Greencarreports
Ford aims to capture more EV newbies with three-row electric SUV
Ford’s F-150 Lightning electric pickup has managed to capture a high rate of customers who hadn’t considered an electric vehicle before, with EV newbies making up nearly 80% of reservation-holders. And as Ford CEO Jim Farley underscored this week in a quarterly financial call, there’s room to do that again in the near future with… More…
White House: Toyota “fully committed” to electrifying US fleet
Toyota “has been the laggard” on electrifying its U.S. lineup, but is now “fully committed,” White House senior advisor John Podesta said in an interview with Reuters published Tuesday. Podesta said he met with senior officials from the automaker, including chief scientist Gill Pratt, who is one of the executives who even around the time of… More…
Redesigned 2025 Mini Cooper Electric adds driving range, space
The next-generation electric Mini will add more space, and potentially more driving range, in an upcoming redesign, the brand revealed Thursday. The redesigned Mini Cooper Electric, as it’s referred to in a press release from Mini parent BMW, is expected to arrive for the 2025 model year. In addition to a replacement for the current Mini Cooper… More…
Fisker plans to bring swappable batteries to Ocean EV by 2024
The Fisker Ocean electric SUV will get swappable batteries from startup Ample by 2024, Fisker announced Tuesday. But the partnership will target fleets initially. “With today’s announcement drivers can now look forward to a combination of award-winning design and affordability in the Fisker Ocean,” a company release said, “powered by the… More…
CarMax: Owners trading in Civic for Model 3, Prius for Leaf
Consumer interest in used EVs is on the rise, with some of the most popular gasoline cars getting traded in for EVs, according to data compiled by retailer CarMax. Search traffic for terms containing “electric” on CarMax’s website doubled between February 2022 and February 2023, with a peak 5.6% of searches containing “electric,” in October 2022… More…
2023-2024 XC40 Recharge, C40 EVs get $2,500 Costco discount
Costco is offering members a $2,500 discount on the Volvo XC40 Recharge and C40 Recharge—the Swedish automaker’s two all-electric models. The discount is available on 2023 and 2024 models between May 2 and July 31, according to a company press release. A $1,000 incentive is also available for all other 2023 and 2024 Volvo models. The… More…
Hyundai Ioniq 5 goes sideways with e-Corner tech, in-wheel motors
Hyundai’s affiliate technology supplier, Hyundai Mobis, has shown its e-Corner modular steering and propulsion system for EVs in real-world testing, and it’s just released a bit more about what the system will allow dynamically. Put simply, it could dramatically change the maneuverability of electrified urban vehicles, driven or not… More…
Survey: Growing portion of US shoppers are rejecting EVs
Despite strong EV sales growth, the ratio of U.S. car shoppers uninterested in buying an EV is increasing, according to a new J.D. Power survey. “Top-line metrics on overall EV market share, availability and affordability have been on a long-term upward trend,” J.D. Power said in a statement, “but beneath those headline numbers we are starting to… More…
Lordstown indicates Foxconn may be backing out of deal
Lordstown Motors on Monday warned that Taiwan’s Foxconn may be looking to back out of a crucial funding deal that would keep the electric truck maker running—and that it might go bankrupt if the issue isn’t resolved. In a regulatory filing first reported by CNBC, Lordstown said it received a letter from Foxconn on April 21 alleging that the… More…
Daimler plans $650M US charging and hydrogen network for big rigs
Daimler Truck North America announced a $650 million joint venture to develop charging and hydrogen-fueling infrastructure for medium-duty and heavy-duty commercial trucks. Called Greenlane, the joint venture was started in 2022 by Daimler, utility NextEra Energy Resources, and investment firm BlackRock Alternatives. It plans to add charging… More…
Saab braintrust created Emily GT electric car, now mothballed
An electric sedan prototype developed by failed Saab savior NEVS has surfaced in the wake of the company’s shutdown. NEVS bought the remains of Saab after the Swedish automaker went bankrupt in 2011. It once planned to launch a series of four electric vehicles for China, all built on the Phoenix platform that was going to underpin the… More…
Volvo EX90 electric SUV already sold out for its first year
The 2024 Volvo EX90 is still a few months away from the start of deliveries, but the electric SUV is already sold out for its first year of production. Volvo confirmed this in a press release detailing its first-quarter 2023 financial results, although it didn’t disclose how many vehicles would be built in the first-year production run, only… More…
Report: Michelin airless EV tires fit autonomy, law enforcement
Michelin has been testing airless tires for years with an eye toward EV use. While they still aren’t ready for production, executives believe they could be a good fit for autonomous vehicles and law enforcement. European police forces have expressed interest in airless tires because, unlike conventional pneumatic tires, they can’t be shot out… More…
$2.5B boost may keep Vinfast moving despite IPO status
Vinfast has secured additional funding pledges worth $2.5 billion, the company confirmed Wednesday. That may allow it to keep it moving smoothly ahead of its planned U.S. stock-market listing and past that timeframe. Of the new funding pledges, $1 billion will be provided as a non-refundable grant—the language used by the… More…
Costco has no plans to add EV charging as a traffic-driver
Costco was one of the first retail chains to offer EV charging, but it has no plans to bring it back. “It’s not happening in the next few years,” Costco CFO Richard Galanti said during a recent company earnings call, as cited by The Street, after being asked if he was concerned that EV mandates might make Costco’s lucrative gas stations obsolete… More…
Tesla data: Model S/X go 88% of original range at 200,000 miles
On average, the Tesla Model S and Model X lose less than 12% of range after 200,000 miles. That figure comes from a slide in the automaker’s just-released 2022 Impact Report, where Tesla also noted that it estimates most of its U.S.-market vehicles get scrapped when they reach that amount of mileage. In Europe, Tesla estimates most of its cars are… More…
US-bound Honda-developed EV due in 2025, ahead of schedule
The timeline has been pulled forward for Honda’s first dedicated electric vehicle engineered in-house for high-volume production. That yet-unnamed mid- to large-sized EV built on “Honda’s original dedicated EV platform” will go on sale in 2025 for North America—stepped up from a targeted 2026—top Honda… More…
$3B GM-Samsung battery plant might enable electric Corvette, Camaro
GM and Samsung SDI announced Tuesday that they will form a joint venture for battery production. In a release, the companies made clear that this joint venture, starting with more than $3 billion, won’t initially be making batteries that directly replace or augment the brand’s Ultium cell strategy developed with LG. The new plant will… More…
Study: EV policy around gasoline superusers could help the most
EV policy will achieve the greatest climate benefit by prioritizing those that use the most gasoline, according to the advocacy group Coltura. The group recently released a new study building on findings published in 2021 which found that one in 10 drivers burn nearly a third of U.S. gasoline. Coltura coined the term gasoline “superusers” to… More…