Jameson Dow

The globe marked Earth Overshoot Day on August 2, calculated as the day when humanity has used up more than the total amount of resources made available by the Earth over the course of the year. And the day has been getting earlier and earlier every year.

In 2012, Rafael de Mestre did something nobody else ever had – he drove around the world in an electric car, an original Tesla Roadster. And now, he’s driving around the world solo again in that same Roadster as a promotional and scouting tour and to recruit other teams to join him for yet another circumnavigation in 2024.

We got a chance to talk to him about his story when he stopped by for a charge during his second solo circumnavigation.

An “Unidentified Electric Vehicle” (UEV) made front-page news in a small town paper in Montana when the vehicle owner charged it from a public outlet on Main Street.

The Mazda MX-30 EV is back on the chopping block for the 2024 model year after a short reintroduction in California, wherein the car has only sold 66 units in 2023.

Formula E has set a new indoor speed record, 135.9 mph (218.71 kph), smashing the previous record of 102.7 mph set by the Porsche Taycan in 2021.

Early this morning, the Fremantle Highway, a vehicle carrying cargo ship, caught fire in the North Sea, off the coast of Ameland in the Netherlands. The fire has killed one person on board and injured several more, though all 23 crew members have at this point been evacuated from the ship.

Currently, the fire is still burning and the cause of the fire is unknown, according to the Dutch Coast Guard, which is carrying out the firefighting operation. But media reports, seeming to all crib from the same misquote, would have you think otherwise.

Porsche will stay in Formula E for at least two more years than its original five-year commitment, extending through the 2025-2026 season. The news comes on the eve of Formula E’s ninth season finale, a doubleheader of two races happening this weekend in London.

WattEV has opened a 26-port charging depot directly at the Port of Long Beach to charge electric trucks at the United States’ busiest container port. It’s the nation’s largest heavy-duty public access charging station to date.

Last year, we reported on an electric Nissan Ariya that would make a trip from the magnetic North Pole to the South Pole manned by Chris Ramsey of Plug in Adventures and his wife Julie, who were also the first to complete the Mongol Rally in an EV in 2017. The vehicle will be the first of any kind – gas or electric – to manage this feat.

The couple is now well along the way through their trip, and we caught up with them in Southern California to see how things are going.

Mazda has confirmed that the next-generation MX-5 Miata will come in 2026 and will be “electrified.” Though the automaker stopped short of saying what level of electrification that will entail – hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or full electric.

Just a day after new pre-configured dual-motor R1Ts appeared in Rivian’s R1 Shop, Rivian has now added the new “Dual-Motor” and “Performance Dual-Motor” options to its online configurator for new vehicles, letting customers add these options to their custom R1 builds.

Aptera’s “Gamma” prototype of its solar-powered, three-wheeled electric car is overseas right now, doing aerodynamic testing at Pininfarina’s wind tunnel near Turin, Italy, in the shadow of the Italian Alps.

The company is confident that when results come in, the Aptera will have the lowest aerodynamic drag coefficient of any production passenger car.

SAE has voted unanimously to form a task force to expedite its NACS standardization process, and thinks that this process could finish by the end of the year – much earlier than we expected. We spoke with the chair of the task force for some insight on what the process might look like.

Caterham, the British builder of lightweight sportscars, has revealed a new electric concept car, the “Project V,” slated for 2026. And its specs look mighty familiar – not too far off from the original Tesla Roadster from 2008.

The European Parliament adopted a set of rules today to improve the EV charging experience, focusing on easier payments, charging speed, and availability. In a separate move, the UK government is also currently proposing new rules for easier payments and charging station reliability.

Both sets of rules stand to improve the EV charging experience for Europeans and possibly the rest of the world.

Over the years, we’ve seen several car companies tout their decision to create an “EV division” within the company, a group tasked specifically with looking into EV technology and how to implement that within the product line.

But many times, this can still be counterproductive. With the EV shift happening now, companies need to stop thinking about “EV divisions” and go all-in on EV development today.

GM CEO Mary Barra was recently asked about profitability targets for the company’s electric vehicle line and said that it’s on track for EV profitability in 2025.

But, frankly, the whole conversation about EV profitability and cost parity doesn’t make a lot of sense, and here’s why.

We’ve now learned initial pricing for Kia’s upcoming EV9 three-row SUV in one European market, thanks to a price list on Kia’s Belgian website.

Washington state intends to mandate public chargers to use Tesla’s NACS plug if they want public money, according to Reuters, following hot on the heels of Texas’ announcement to do the same.

Iowa is about to adopt an additional “electric fuel excise tax” on July 1, meaning EVs in the state will now pay “fuel” taxes two different ways, whereas gas cars only pay one – and both of these taxes are higher than what a gas car pays.

Cadillac has released a short teaser video of its upcoming Escalade IQ EV, in advance of a planned reveal on August 9.

Denago sent us a review copy of the step-through model of its $1,799 Commute bike, and we’ll take you through what we thought of this big, well-equipped, and comfort-focused bike.

Tesla has issued a new voluntary recall on the Tesla Semi, in the form of a software update to ensure that the side door warning system works properly.

The recall itself isn’t a big deal – it’s just a software update to change how a warning shows on screen – but what it does tell us is a little something about how Tesla Semi production is going.

President Joe Biden has vetoed an effort by Congressional Republicans to roll back the first update to heavy truck pollution standards in 22 years. The new soot standards targeted by Republicans are estimated to save thousands of lives and tens of billions of dollars.

We expected this veto when we originally reported on Senate Republicans passing a resolution to roll back the rule in April. House Republicans went on to pass it in May. Both chambers passed the resolution expecting Biden’s veto, but despite this knowledge they still made yet another public effort to kill Americans and cost them money.