Jameson Dow

Subaru invited us to try out its upcoming rugged Trailseeker EV’s off-road chops on a muddy day in Southern California. But how does it compete in the crowded electric SUV market?

BYD will hold a press conference on March 5 unveiling several new versions of its technologies, including new batteries, ADAS software, and a 1,500kW charger that has already been spotted in the wild.

Rivian just announced a new division within the company focused on feats of performance, but with a uniquely Rivian twist, aiming for extreme off-road stunts instead of your standard circuit racing.

Subaru invited us out on a (rare) rainy California day to experience its new EV and see just what it can do off-road. But beyond it’s off-road abilities, how does it stack up to the rest of the market today?

Waymo has started driverless robotaxi operation in 4 more US cities today: Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando. This brings the running total to 10 cities, while Waymo’s highest-profile competitor in the space, Tesla, currently operates driverless robotaxis in zero cities, despite big claims to the contrary.

Tesla is now selling a base model all-wheel drive Cybertruck starting at $60k, and has cut the price of its top-end Cyberbeast model to $100k, down from $115k. The move comes as the company struggles to sell the controversial truck, which has heretofore never come close to meeting its projected volume.

Update: Elon Musk now says this price and/or trim will only be available for 10 days.

The largest real-world study yet, accounting for nearly a million plug-in hybrid vehicles, shows that PEVs use far more gasoline than previously claimed. The study comes just as Europe is about to change PHEV regulations, with industry lobbying to maintain the current highly inaccurate numbers.

A coalition of 17 environmental groups have filed suit against the EPA’s recent illegal attacks on clean air and climate science, pointing out that the rule will raise American energy costs by $1.4 trillion by the EPA’s own numbers, in addition to massive health and environmental costs.

In July, the US Environmental Protection Agency proposed a plan to delete its scientific finding recognizing that greenhouse gases are harmful to human health, with the goal of making cars less efficient, deadlier and more costly. Public comments widely opposed the plan, but now before the agency has barely even started reading those comments, it announced today that it’s going through with its illegal plan anyway.

(Update: This article has been updated to reflect that the finalization was announced in a press conference today)

Rivian’s upcoming R2 SUV is undergoing final validation testing, ahead of its planned release in the first half of this year – with at least one vehicle spotted without camouflage (but with a wrap) on public roads in recent days.

Tesla has ranked last place in a survey of brand reputation in Europe’s largest car market Germany, with a massive year-over-year collapse leaving it behind several other companies with already-poor reputations. It ranked poorly in Nordic countries as well.

A new lawsuit has been filed against Tesla over the death of a young man in one of its Model Y vehicles, blaming Tesla’s electronic door handle design for trapping the driver inside the car after a crash.

It’s one of many similar lawsuits cropping up against Tesla lately – but a recent change in Chinese regulations should soon end this problem once and for all.

Tesla has abruptly decided to give up plans to build an autonomous charging station for future driverless taxis in downtown San Francisco, ahead of a public hearing on the matter. The plan had received pushback from the Teamsters union, though whether that influenced Tesla’s decision is not clear.

Norway, the world’s leading country in EV market share, still managed to maintain high EV market share right after retiring EV incentives, showing the world a path to resilient electrification of the auto industry.

In December, the US Department of Transportation proposed a plan to make cars less efficient when Americans are already paying record-high energy bills during an affordability crisis fueled by tariff-driven inflation. That plan is still up for public comment, with comments ending in two days.

The two main utilities that own a Colorado coal plant which was ordered to reopen by fossil shill Chris Wright have pushed back on the order, stating plainly that it would raise costs and would not benefit reliability for Colorado electric ratepayers.

China has officially moved forward with a proposed ban on flush EV door handles, with an effective date of January 1, 2027. The regulation will force a redesign of many EVs with sleek, electronically-actuated handles, a design popularized by Tesla.

Waymo has started providing rides with its autonomous taxi service to San Francisco International airport, starting today for select riders.

On Tesla’s Q4/FY2025 earnings call yesterday, Musk mused about the growth rate of its paid robotaxi service, which it launched in Austin this year.

But there’s little evidence that the network is working at the level he claims it is today, and it seems extremely unlikely that it will scale at the rate he claimed either.

On today’s Tesla Q4 earnings call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to a question about Cybertruck’s failed design by stating that Cybertrucks could be used for intra-city autonomous deliveries.

But that betrays a simple misunderstanding of how shapes work – and why the Cybertruck has not become accepted as the hyper-utility vehicle that it was originally marketed as.

Tesla has once again suggested that it has Robotaxis operating in the San Francisco Bay Area, despite the company cannot legally operate autonomous vehicles in the state of California.

Sales of electric cars outnumbered petrol-powered ones in Europe in December for the first time, even as Europe loosened rules to allow automakers lenience to pollute more.

But the huge increase in EV sales, led by BYD, was not accompanied by a similar boost in Tesla sales, with the company still seeing huge year-over-year declines in its global sales performance.

Chevy is delivering 2027 Bolts to dealerships as we speak, bringing back the much-beloved electric hatchback which had been retired in 2023, with some nice updates but a very familiar form.

But it may not last for too long – GM says this refresh is only available for a “limited time,” so get it while you can. (Update: We now have an indication that “limited time” could be about 18 months)

A federal district judge in Washington ordered that $5 billion in National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) funds must be made available to states, after having been illegally frozen in February.

Update, Jan 23, 2026: This story was originally posted June 25, 2025, with a preliminary judgment releasing funds for 14 states. Now, A federal court has entered final judgment permanently protecting the NEVI program across all 50 states and ruling against the Dept. of Transportation. This story has been updated in accordance.