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 few months after unveiling their new e-208 electric hatch, Peugeot has already added the car to their configurator in Germany.
The lowest option level available is €30,450 for the base “Active” trim (incl. 19% VAT). Germany has a €4,000 EV incentive, so that translates to €26,450 after incentives.
Toyota has been dragging their feet on new vehicle technology for some time now, seemingly happy to continue selling their antiquated gas-powered fleet, with no battery electric vehicles and only one plug-in hybrid and one fuel cell vehicle (powered by 95% fossil-sourced hydrogen) across their entire lineup.
But if you watch their recent ads, the deceptiveness of which we’ve covered before, you wouldn’t know this. Because they continue to misleadingly advertise their “self-charging” “hybrid electric Corolla” as if it’s anything other than a 100% fossil-powered gas guzzler. And in case it wasn’t apparent already: “self-charging” is not a real thing, as the entire concept violates the basic laws of physics.
One of the first questions from a prospective electric car buyer is: “sure I’m not buying gas anymore, but how much will my electric bill go up?” The answer, just about everywhere, is that an electric car is cheaper to drive, but sometimes it’s hard to figure out by how much.
It’s a complex question to answer because of different electric rates around the country, time-of-use rates, and fluctuating gas prices as well. But last night, Tesla CEO Elon Musk suggested that Tesla could build software into their vehicles to answer just that question – and to help owners save money as well. The idea came, as many have, in a late-night answer to a tweet.
A while back, Tesla shifted all of their seat options to “Tesla Synthetic Material” which is not animal sourced, and therefore vegan. But there’s still one non-vegan material in Teslas: the steering wheel.
While it’s possible for customers to order a car with a custom vegan steering wheel, this is an off-menu item and Teslas do not come standard with it. Vegan customers often don’t know about this option, and will end up driving a car with a leather steering wheel because of it. Some don’t mind, but some do. And today, Tesla announced that the Model Y and Model 3 will both be entirely vegan, including the steering wheel, next year.
One of Tesla’s future plans is to roll out a network of self-driving “robotaxis,” dubbed “Tesla Network.” In today’s Tesla shareholder meeting, CEO Elon Musk fielded a question from a shareholder about the possibility of having a human-driven rideshare fleet prior to the rollout of Tesla Network.
This would be similar to Uber/Lyft or other rideshare services, but driven through an owner’s own Tesla app which they already have installed.
Musk seemed responsive to the idea, stating that while the end goal is to have autonomous ridesharing, this might be a good stopgap prior to Tesla gaining regulatory approval for their robotaxi fleets.
The world-famous – and famously deadly – Isle of Man TT race is going on this week, and alongside the gas superbike races there’s an electric-only TT Zero class racing in its tenth year.
In this year’s race, Michael Rutter and Team Mugen set a new electric superbike lap record for the course, with a 121.91mph (196.2km/h) lap in 18:34.172. This narrowly beats the previous record by about a second, and about a tenth of a mile per hour. This is Rutter’s fifth win of the TT Zero.
Automakers have sent another letter to the governments of the US and California regarding upcoming fuel economy rules, asking the EPA to stop a planned fuel economy rollback, the New York Times reports.
Currently, the EPA and DOT are finalizing a rollback of fuel economy standards, which is expected to go into place soon despite challenges by California and the 13 “CARB states” that follow California Air Resources Board rules. If implemented, the plan would likely split the US auto market and cause nightmares for automakers – at least those that sell polluting cars.
Tesla has sold a CHAdeMO quick charge adapter for Model S and X for a while now. When Model 3 hit the road using the same plug as the S and X, people assumed the adapter would work with the Model 3, but early tests showed that it did not.
That seems to have changed today with an update to Tesla’s shop, which now states that the Tesla CHAdeMO adapter is compatible with “the North American version Model S, Model X, and Model 3.” It has also been added to the “adapters” section of Model 3 accessories.
Update: not long after this post, Tesla changed the text in their shop again, and it now states that “CHAdeMO is not compatible with Model 3,” contradicting the page from earlier today (which you can see via Wayback Machine).
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(UPDATE: This article previously stated the EV tax would be $248. It turns out the bill also hikes the registration fee to $148 for all vehicles, but to $248 for EVs specifically. So the “EV Tax” is $100, not $248)
The Illinois legislature has approved a $45 billion transportation bill over the weekend to help improve the state’s infrastructure. Among other things, this bill includes a $100 tax on electric vehicles.
It’s been ten years since the original MINI E hit the road in limited numbers, and BMW is ramping towards production of a new model slated to be released next year. This weekend we saw a short video of the MINI Electric‘s production line, showing that the car seems to be pretty far along and just about ready for prime time.
After a surprisingly exciting race at the often-processional Monaco circuit, Formula E continues this crazy season at the Berlin ePrix at Tempelhof airport this weekend. Last year Audi swept their home race with a 1-2 finish, will they be able to repeat the feat and get back in the running for the teams’ championship this year?
Hyundai and Kia have been getting more serious about electric cars lately, with the new Kona, Niro and Soul EVs coming out all as good packages at reasonable prices. But none of these are performance monsters, moreso regular, everyday, utility cars.
That all seems to change starting today, as the two companies announced an 80 million Euro ($90m) investment into Rimac Automobili, the Croatian supercar maker behind the Rimac Concept_One and upcoming Concept_Two. The intent is to collaborate on the production of two high-performance electric sportscars, one of which will debut under Hyundai’s “N” brand and the other which will use fuel cell technology.
Tesla has been making bold claims about future autonomous driving plans lately, most recently holding an “autonomy investor event” where the company laid out plans for its future full self-driving technology. At that event, Tesla stated that they would be ready to roll out a fully autonomous robotaxi fleet as early as next year, depending on regulations.
Today, CEO Elon Musk pushed that timeline forward a bit, and stated that Tesla’s long-planned autonomous cross-country roadtrip would actually occur later this year. Tesla has made claims in the past about enabling cross-country Autopilot travel, but the news today is that not only will it be possible for Tesla to do this on their own to demonstrate their technology, but that any Tesla owner (*with FSD software) will be able to do the same.
The principality of Monaco, an enclave for the rich and famous which houses its fair share of exotic cars, has been a racing mecca for 90 years. But it’s not just gas cars which find a home here – the famous Monaco Grand Prix circuit, site of the most prestigious race in the world, hosts Formula E for the third time this weekend.
Not only does Monaco host the ePrix, but in addition, the Prince of Monaco, Albert II, has been an electric car supporter for quite some time. He even owns a Model S and drove it around the circuit for a parade lap before the Grand Prix a few years ago.
The exciting, close racing of this Formula E season continues this weekend in Paris. Last race in Rome was the seventh race of the season and again we had a new winning driver and new winning team.
Two weeks ago, Tesla removed the $35k Model 3 from their website, making it an “off-menu” item. When asked, they couldn’t answer how long the model would be available – causing many, including Electrek, to assume that this was an attempt to “kill” the car.
It looks like that death won’t pan out yet, as today during Tesla’s Q1 earnings call, CEO Elon Musk made the promise that the 35k Model 3 “is there and will remain there” for sale for an indefinite time period.
We’ve written before about car sharing platforms being used by EV owners, particularly Tesla owners, to make a little side money with their cars. Turo is the biggest example of this, and they’ve shared some statistics with us about their platform showing that EVs are quite popular there and gaining steam much faster than the rest of the site.
Earlier this week a Model 3 was spotted filming a self-driving demo ahead of Tesla’s autonomy investor event on Monday. Curiously, we heard about this through a TSLA short-seller on twitter. As it turns out, discussion following this tweet in the TSLA short community ended up focusing on the possibility of intentionally causing collisions in order to discredit Tesla ahead of the event.
But that’s not all. According to a legal filing by Tesla in Alameda county courthouse yesterday, the individual behind the short-seller’s twitter account has engaged in a pattern of harassment and stalking of Tesla property and employees and Tesla has officially sought and been granted a temporary restraining order against him.
Instead of picking options and waiting a few weeks for delivery of a custom-configured Tesla, buyers can now browse Tesla’s inventory of new Model 3s online and find cars available for immediate delivery (within a few days).
Sono Motors, a German EV startup, announced today that it will build the crowdfunded solar-powered Sion EV at a manufacturing facility formerly owned by SAAB in Trollhättan, Sweden. The plant is owned by National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), a holding company which acquired most of SAAB’s assets after its bankruptcy.
Sono has contracted NEVS to produce 260,000 vehicles in an eight-year period, beginning in the second half of 2020, and plans to use 100% renewable energy to power its factory. The car will launch at a cost of 25,500 Euros (~$28,900).
Genesis revealed the “Mint” concept, a small electric car made for the city but focused on a luxury experience, today at the New York Auto Show. Genesis calls the Mint “a new vehicle typology” and says that it offers an “innovative user experience.”
There is no current plan to bring the car to production.
Formula E’s action continues to impress this season. In six races, we’ve had six different winners, leaving an incredibly close race for both the drivers’ and teams’ championship. This Saturday, the series returns to Rome after last year’s inaugural Rome ePrix, seeking to continue to produce exceptionally exciting races.
As Tesla moves towards more autonomous features on its vehicles, it has also been teasing a long-term goal of providing owners the opportunity to provide Uber/Lyft-like rides with their vehicles, letting owners make money in their off-time.
The system has been dubbed “Tesla Network” and last night, CEO Elon Musk announced that we’re going to hear more about it later this month.
The annual Drive Electric Week celebration, a week of events where the public can see and drive a variety of electric cars and talk to current owners about their experiences, has been expanded this year with an event that covers the whole month of April. Drive Electric Earth Day runs all the way from April 1-30 and has events scheduled throughout the US, and a few in other countries as well.
Most states have at least one event, with coastal high-population areas hosting several. You can find a map of all the events on Drive Electric Earth Day’s website.