Bradley Berman

Electrify America and Hyundai-Kia have a two-fold problem with their fees for fast-charging. First, where it is allowable, the fees are based on time and charged  by the minute. The second part of the problem is that those fees are tiered, based on the maximum possible kW charging rate ­– not the rate that your car actually charges. Today, Electrify America announced a temporary fix for the Kia Niro EV by ditching the tiers and charging a flat rate of $0.35 per minute.

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Donald Trump last week gutted fuel economy standards, a direct attack on electric vehicles. The move further separates federal emissions standards from California’s strong zero-emission rules. Thank goodness, BMW, Ford, Honda, and Volkswagen sided with California by striking individual deals with the state for higher efficiency. Now Volvo joins those four automakers by directly negotiating with California about emissions.

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Fears about the end of internal-combustion vehicles are a real thing for some automakers. In the past week or two, Volkswagen, Porsche, and Mazda all championed the long-term future of internal-combustion vehicles by pointing to the potential of synthetic and biofuels, such as ethanol and microalgae.

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Rivian was expected to make the first customer deliveries of its electric truck later this year. The company slowed down work at its factory in Normal, Illinois, in mid-March, and then shut down operations there on March 20. The Pantagraph, a local newspaper in the Bloomington-Normal area, now says that Rivian’s first deliveries will slip into 2021.

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Imagine parking your EV, pushing a button, and a solar EV-charging cover automatically unfurls to protect your car and add a few miles of range. That’s exactly what a French company that produces thin-film photovoltaics and a French EV startup created. While still in the prototype phase, and presented in a goofy video, the idea is maybe not as far-fetched as it first seems.

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When Mercedes-Benz unveiled the Mercedes EQS electric sedan last year, the company said that a pair of electric motors would produce 350 kilowatts (470hp) of power. The UK’s Autocar now reports that an AMG high-power version of the EQS will be produced, amping things up to higher than 600 horsepower. It appears that Mercedes-Benz wants EVs that stack up against Tesla’s Plaid versions, even if not quite as powerful.

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Hyundai did a digital reveal of its Prophecy EV concept last month. Now the company says the model is more than a concept. According to Hyundai, the Prophecy is a showcase of vehicle features that will be offered in the not-too-distant future.

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Volkswagen needs to increase its output of electric cars to meet CO2 regulations in the EU. But reportedly, the company continues to work through software problems with its upcoming new ID.3 EV model expected this summer. Now an internal VW document reveals that production of the E-Golf, VW’s current but discontinued best-selling EV, will be extended to around September. Customer deliveries in Europe will be pushed until the end of November.

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Chevrolet increased Q1 2020 sales of the Bolt EV by 36.1% compared to a year ago. The rise in purchases of the all-electric Bolt defied the gravity of a dismal quarter for overall Chevrolet sales. With help from attractive discounts and incentives, Chevy sold 5,873 Bolts — an amount that could make it the second most popular EV in the US.

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There will come a day when ultra-fast, electric-vehicle charging stations are as ubiquitous as gas stations. South Korea is making progress toward that goal with thousands on the roadmap and at least 76 gas stations already equipped for rapid EV pit stops.

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BMW’s majority-owned Chinese company, BMW-Brilliance, began construction this week of a 3.2-square-kilometer plant. The expanded facility will help BMW produce 150,000 EVs a year in China. The list of models includes all-electric versions of the 3-Series and 5-Series sedans, as well as the X1 crossover and another SUV EV.

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After March auto sales tanked due to the pandemic, Ford today became the first automaker to propose a government stimulus program for the auto industry. One approach would be a “Cash For Clunkers” program based on the 2009 stimulus measure.

In October, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) proposed the very same thing: a plan to help vehicle sales by granting consumers as much as $5,000 to trade in a fuel-thirsty gas car for a low- or zero-emissions vehicle.

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General Motors announced today that it will work with Honda to produce two next-generation EVs. Honda will develop the two models with unique interior and exterior designs – and they will be powered by GM’s recently unveiled Ultium battery system. The vehicles, to be sold as Honda models, are expected to go on sale in the United States and Canada in the 2024 model year.

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With 3 billion people sheltering from the global pandemic, oil demand has plummeted. Crude storage locations are filling up. US drillers are shutting down production. And some producers are paying customers to take their oil. In a glimpse into a future when nearly all vehicles run on electricity, some crude prices are experiencing rollercoaster-like dips, rapid ascents, and plunges to nearly zero.

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BMW and Mercedes-Benz will both have pure-electric, large luxury sedans in the next year or two. Those models will join the Tesla Model S in the field of full-size EV sedans. But Audi this week said that it decided against an all-electric A8. Instead, the German luxury brand will equip the A8 with a plug-in hybrid with about 30 miles of electric range.

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There’s never a good time for a pandemic. But for the engineers working on the all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E, and now working from home, the timing could have been a lot worse. The final engineering sign-off on the base model was early February. So engineers can now do the last tweaks remotely, according to Robert Iorio, the Mustang Mach-E’s vehicle engineering manager.

Dozens of the electric SUVs are circulating between engineers, each one getting a thorough wipe-down before being swapped to the next home’s driveway.

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We’re coming up on the first anniversary of Audi announcing its plans to introduce 20 new EVs in the next four years. The Volkswagen luxury brand yesterday posted a summary of its plans, repeating the goal of making 800,000 EVs a year by 2025 – using, count ‘em, four different EV platforms.

It might seem strange to have more platforms than cars at this stage. But Audi told us about the method to their madness.

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China is poised to temporarily ease its quotas for EV production, according to Reuters. The reason cited for the backsliding is to give automakers a chance to recover from slumping sales due to the coronavirus pandemic. The move would follow the United States relaxing its vehicle emission rules. However, unlike the US, China plans to extend its electric-vehicle subsidies for two years.

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Jeep has been promising up to four new electric vehicles for more than two years. So it would be easy to dismiss Christian Meunier, Jeep’s chief, when he makes new claims about his outfit as “the world’s most sustainable SUV company.” But his interview today on Autocar reveals a new type of EV message: raw performance. That should excite both 4×4 buyers and EV fans.

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General Motors was planning this year to refresh the Chevrolet Bolt with design and technology enhancements, including more comfortable seats and offering adaptive cruise control for the first time. However, the company told Electrek today that it’s delaying the launch of the new and improved version from this year to 2021 – due to business impacts from the pandemic. The updates will now come with the 2022 model-year Bolt.

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The British Medical Journal is calling for warning labels to be placed where consumers buy fossil fuels. The US and British health experts that authored the article explain that more than 118 countries use stark warnings on cigarette packages to change behavior related to smoking. Similar warnings should be placed on gas pumps because burning fossil fuels are linked to 3.5 million premature deaths per year.

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The Trump administration plans to release a final rule Tuesday on vehicle mileage standards through 2026. Trump is expected to reverse Obama-era efficiency standards, gutting one of the country’s most significant measures to combat climate change and the public-health impacts from tailpipe emissions. The implications for the electric-vehicle market could be experienced for several years.

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Retail auto sales in China dropped 45% in the first three weeks of March. It might take into the fall for the Chinese auto market to recover. So, to jumpstart the resumed sales of EVs, automakers are using creative but gimmicky methods. Will they bring car buyers back to dealerships and put them behind the wheel of an EV?

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Ford says that its engineers who were sent home due to the coronavirus outbreak are continuing to develop the all-electric Mustang Mach-E SUV.

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