Jameson is based in Southern California and has been driving electric vehicles since 2009 and writing about EVs, sustainability and policy for Electrek since 2016.
You can contact him at jamie@electrek.co, or on his bluesky account that he just set up and maybe will never use at https://blskyl.ink/jamesondow
A dealer cheat sheet for the upcoming VW ID.4 electric SUV has been leaked, and it shows that the company considers gas SUVs, rather than electric SUVs like the Mustang Mach-E, Tesla Model Y, and upcoming Nissan Ariya, as its direct competitors.
Expand Expanding Close
Bob Murray, ex-CEO of the now-bankrupt Murray Energy, has filed for black lung benefits, as reported today by West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Murray Energy was once the largest private coal mining company in the US, and Murray, who spent decades as a coal miner himself, is currently dying of black lung.
Expand Expanding Close
VW’s online configurator for the ID.4 is out, and a new detail has emerged about the car’s towing capabilities. It looks like all ID.4 models will have some towing capability, with the RWD model sporting 2,200lb capacity and the AWD model 2,700lbs. All models will have roof rails as an additional exterior storage solution.
The AWD model will be available mid-2021 as a $3,680 upgrade, for a base price of $43,675 before incentives.
Expand Expanding Close
We got our first look of the upcoming VW ID.4 at a private event last week, but now the car has shown up in public. Over the weekend, it was spotted by reddit user awang44 in a parking lot for a public park in Foster City, California, just a few miles from VW’s Innovation and Engineering Center in Belmont.
Expand Expanding Close
California Governor Gavin Newsom has just announced a ban on the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles starting in 2035. The state will require all new cars and trucks sold after that date to be zero emission vehicles. Californians will still be able to operate gas-powered vehicles after that date, and will still be able to buy and sell used gas cars.
This move is the most aggressive yet-announced in the US, and will have major effects for the auto industry as a whole, given California’s leadership on clean air issues. But the thing is: it should be even more aggressive.
Expand Expanding Close
Drive Electric Week is going online this year — on its 10th anniversary — with events centered around electric vehicle advocacy. Most events will be virtual, though some local in-person events will be held — far fewer than in previous years due to the COVID-19 pandemic (wear your masks!). A full list and map of events can be found on Plug In America’s website.
The week kicks off Thursday, September 24, at 5 p.m. PDT/8 p.m. EDT, with an “all-star” event featuring longtime EV advocates Bill Nye and Leilani Munter. Its host will be NPR’s Peter Sagal. It will be streamed on Facebook Live (no account required to watch). Register here to get more information via email, or find the event on Sierra Club’s Facebook page.
Expand Expanding Close
AC Cars, the British carmaker behind the one of the most beautiful and famous cars of all time, the AC Cobra, is making a fully electric Cobra. It will be the first electric car made by AC.
The car will sell for £138,000 and only 58 will be made.
EVPassport is an upcoming app that promises $39/mo unlimited charging on major EV charge networks. The included networks are Electrify America, EVgo, Chargepoint, Hubject and Greenlots, along with some smaller regional networks on the US West Coast. The app plans to launch in “a few weeks” but is taking wait list signups now.
The app will start with support for iPhone and DC fast charging in the US at first, with initial support for 2,500 DC chargers. It will expand to Android later this year, along with European support (including IONITY). If all goes well, it plans to add Level 2 AC charging support next year.
Lucid has released the results of aerodynamic testing for their upcoming Air electric sedan with an impressive .21 Cd, which they claim makes the Lucid Air the world’s most aero-efficient luxury car.
This will enable the Lucid Air to have up to 400 miles of range (although you probably don’t need that much range, to be honest).
Mercedes will use a full NVIDIA software and hardware system for their vehicles to power self-driving, with the first cars hitting the road in 2024.
The system will be based on NVIDIA’s Orin chip, which they claim outperforms Tesla’s FSD computer by ~38%.
Apple’s WWDC keynote included some good electric vehicle news today, when Apple announced that they would add EV charge routing into their next update to Apple Maps for iOS 14.
This allows drivers to navigate to a destination and automatically be told where to charge and for how long, simplifying the process of taking a road trip with an electric car.
Today, ride-hailing service Lyft announced in a blog post that it will transition every vehicle on its platform to 100% electric operation by 2030. This applies to all cars that use any Lyft platform — including “Express Drive” rental cars, autonomous vehicles, and drivers’ personal cars.
It also announced an end to its carbon-neutral ride program, which will result in a significant increase in Lyft’s emissions over the next decade before reaching all-electric.
In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, Plug in America, the Sierra Club, and the Electric Auto Association are hosting a livestream version of their annual Drive Electric Earth Day event tomorrow. The event will consist of informational speakers, live entertainment, and more. Celebrity guests include race car driver and EV advocate Leilani Münter and the Wall Street Journal‘s automotive columnist Dan Neil.
The livestream will start tomorrow, April 22, Earth Day, at 2 p.m. EDT/11 a.m. PDT on Facebook Live. A Facebook account is not required to view the stream.
Lucid Motors has released a video of their upcoming Lucid Air sedan doing winter testing in harsh conditions in Minnesota.
Tesla just launched the Model Y with the first deliveries happening just a few weeks ago. There were a lot of questions open about the car, most of which have been answered, but one remained: where’s the tow hitch? We’ve got an answer to that now: it’s here, and it’s available as a $1,000 option.
And while we already knew a roof rack would eventually be available, it’s now been added to Tesla’s shop as a $450 accessory, the same price as the Model 3 roof rack.
Tesla has been preparing for a “battery and powertrain investor day,” which had been planned for this month. But with the world shut down due to coronavirus, company plans have changed.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said tonight that battery day is “most likely postponed to mid May” — though it’s also “hard to predict dates right now.”
Andrew Wheeler, head of the Environmental “Protection” Agency (EPA), argued today that his administration’s rollback of auto efficiency standards “sets realistic standards, will reduce pollution, and save lives.”
The problem is, he’s objectively wrong on all three counts. And in his statement, he also proved that he doesn’t even know the name of the regulation he’s attempting to undermine.
Several automakers offered today to turn their manufacturing expertise toward helping alleviate medical device shortages as the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to overload hospitals. GM, Tesla, and Ford were among those who offered help in the US.
Tesla must obey the “shelter in place” order put into place in the San Francisco Bay Area and is not allowed to build new cars at its Fremont factory, according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s office.
Tesla will be allowed to maintain “minimum basic operations” at the plant, but this does not include building new cars.
The Model Y Owner’s Manual hit the internet as Tesla started Model Y deliveries on Friday. We found some good new info from the manual, including the promise of a roof rack accessory. But unfortunately, another highly anticipated accessory, a tow hitch, isn’t mentioned.
Thanks to Tesla releasing the Model Y Owner’s Manual as they started deliveries today, we can finally put the speculation and weird measurement methods to bed and say, confidently, exactly how big it is.
Tesla’s new Model Y comes with a built-in heat pump to increase efficiency of the car’s heating system, which should help it maintain consistent range in cold climates, something that many EVs struggle with.
Tesla told us they’d start delivering the Model Y by March 15, but they’re beating their own estimate this time by a couple days. We’ve heard several reports of customers with scheduled delivery dates as early as Friday.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced today that Tesla has started scouting locations for Cybertruck production and plans to build the truck in “central USA.”
Previously, Musk suggested that Tesla was looking into Texas for a factory. At the time he did not specify that it would be for Cybertruck production, but these two ideas would line up.