Jameson Dow

A couple of new photos leaked over the weekend of the Tesla Cybertruck, giving us a closer look at design changes that we’ve spotted recently from afar.

Sony brought another surprise to CES this year, revealing an SUV version of their VISION-S concept EV, which they showed off at CES 2020, and announcing the formation of “Sony Mobility, Inc.,” a new company to focus on mobility and EV efforts.

Even better, Sony explicitly stated that they are “exploring a commercial launch” of their VISION-S concepts, making this project seem more real than ever.

Hyundai has suspended development of their Genesis hydrogen fuel cell vehicle indefinitely, according to Chosun Ilbo. The news comes hot on the heels of Hyundai announcing an end to internal combustion engine development.

Extreme E is back this weekend for the fifth and final race of its inaugural season, this time on the Jurassic Coast in southern England.

Each Extreme E venue is picked to bring awareness to one aspect of environmental damage humans are doing to the Earth. In the case of the Jurassic X Prix, the focus is on erosion caused by rising sea levels and biodiversity loss caused by human incursion into natural environments.

VW is preparing a software update for its ID. series electric cars that increases peak charging speed from 125kW to 135kW on the largest 77kWh battery.

The 3.0 software also includes improvements to navigation, voice control, and driver assistance.

Images of the upcoming refreshed electric Mini Cooper have leaked, showing significant exterior and interior changes including redesigned taillights and a rimless center screen.

GM will bring the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV back into production in the week of January 24, 2022. Production is currently paused as GM sorts out a battery recall on both models.

55% of registered US voters support a requirement that all new cars sold after 2030 be all-electric, while just 35% oppose, according to a new poll.

Nissan has announced a new electrification plan intending to bring the company into the electric age with four new concepts, $17 billion in investment over five years (including solid state batteries), and 15 fully electric models by 2030.

Hummer EV deliveries are imminent, slated to begin next month as confirmed today by GMC brand chief Duncan Aldred. While the truck will not be EPA rated, GM says it will have an all-electric range of 329 miles.

Rivian sent out emails to Launch Edition reservation holders today with two-month delivery windows for their vehicles. The windows start as early as March 2022, but some vehicles will be delivered as late as September 2022 (or possibly later).

Dodge will end gas-powered Charger and Challenger production in 2024, to be replaced by electric models, according to Dodge brand CEO Tim Kuniskis as reported by Motor Trend.

Ford is going hard on electrification, with a solid showing at this year’s LA Auto Show and big reservation numbers for the F-150 Lightning. Ford has declared its intent to be the biggest EV maker in the world with a big increase in production in the next few years.

But even with all of that, it’s still not enough. By our estimates, with Ford’s planned production ramp, F-150s won’t be readily available without a wait for the better part of the decade.

In October 2017, GM announced that it would release 20 new EVs by 2023 – just over five years from then, and just over one year from now. How’s that going?

If GM’s booth at the LA Auto Show is any indication (and it is): Not very well.

COP26, the 26th meeting of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change’s Conference of Parties has ended with the successful negotiation of the Glasgow Climate Pact, which updates the landmark Paris Agreement with new climate goals (full text here). The new Pact moves forward timelines for updating national goals for carbon reduction and for the first time explicitly calls for a “phase-down” of coal globally.

But experts warn that the new commitments are not strong enough and will still need to be updated, as soon and as strongly as possible, if we want to keep warming below 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels.

A number of new Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles have been delivered in the last few days with missing USB ports, often without any warning before the owners get their new cars home and notice that the car’s phone charger isn’t working.

The automaker blames the missing parts on the global chip shortage.

This week at COP26, a number of nations and automakers agreed to target 100% zero-emission new car and van sales globally by 2040.

But 2040 is not only too late to reach our climate goals based on scientific consensus, it’s also a pathetic, low-effort commitment based on simple math.

Hagerty took the Tesla Model S Plaid out to Willow Springs International Raceway in California and pitted it against two of the fastest gas sedans out there – the BMW M5 CS and Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing – and you’ll never guess what happened next (unless you read the title or looked at the featured image).

West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin – whose state’s banner industry, coal mining, has been largely unionized and been central to the US labor movement since soon after its inception – today called the proposed $4,500 union-made EV tax credit “wrong” and “not American.”

The $4,500 union-made EV credit is a portion of the proposed $12,500 federal EV tax credit, part of the pending Build Back Better act, which updates and expands on the current $7,500 federal EV tax credit available to EV purchasers.

(The following article was sent to us by a concerned Japanese resident who wishes to remain anonymous.)

Remember the first electric Toyota RAV4? Probably not. The early attempt at an EV barely had a range of 100 miles and Toyota sold very few of them. Back in 2010, Toyota and Tesla jointly worked on a second RAV4 EV project and Toyota had invested $50 million in Tesla, which it sold in 2017 (and which would now be worth $20 billion had they not sold it).

The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) unveiled a hydrogen-powered zero emission ambulance this week at Glasgow’s COP26 climate change conference. The vehicle will help the NHS reduce its contribution to UK road emissions and improve air quality and therefore health – thus making health workers’ jobs a little easier to boot.

Extreme E continues its debut season at the Island X Prix in Sardinia this weekend, racing in Europe for the first time.

Each Extreme E venue is picked to bring awareness to one aspect of environmental damage humans are doing to the Earth. In the case of the Island X Prix, the focus is on recent wildfires that tore through Italy this summer, which are exacerbated by rising global temperatures, and on conserving oceanic carbon stores like the ocean seagrass that grows off the coast of Sardinia.

VW, the world’s largest producer of fossil-powered vehicles (by revenue), has produced a graphic comparing its diesel offerings to its electric ones, showing how across several model lines, the electric models come out way ahead in terms of total cost savings.