Jennifer Mossalgue

A massive data leak at software company Cariad, a Volkswagen subsidiary, reportedly left the personal data, including geolocation data, of some 800,000 EV owners online and accessible for months. A major blunder from an automaker already in crisis.

Volkswagen announced a “Christmas miracle” with sweeping changes to its German operations but no immediate factory closures, layoffs, or wage cuts. Still, some 35,000 jobs are on the chopping block soon, but factories should remain open.

Ford, General Motors, and Toyota North America are donating $1 million each to incoming president Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration. Ford and GM are throwing in a fleet of vehicles for the January 20th event, too, for good measure.

Toyota has reportedly decided to build a new EV plant in China in hopes of clawing back business from BYD and other Chinese-owned rivals eating away at its market share.

Unless Tesla pulls out a miracle in the final stretch, the Telsa Model Y very likely won’t take the lead as Europe’s best-selling vehicle this year. That honor looks to be going to an entirely different type of vehicle, the ICE hatchback Dacia Sandero.

BMW is expanding an innovative process for reclaiming and reusing EV raw materials in building a brand-new €10 million ($10.4 million) cell recycling center. The new German plant will work to radically slash costs in building EVs and push the company closer to a closed-loop battery cell production.

A new Bloomberg report cites that Volkswagen may in fact be working on a deal to keep its factories in Germany open.

Stellantis has announced that it is pushing ahead the launch of its range-extended Ram 1500 Ramcharger before the release of the Ram 1500 REV, the automaker’s first BEV light-duty pickup truck. The Ram brand originally planned to launch the Ram 1500 BEV in the first half of 2025.

European automakers are reducing prices on EVs while raising prices on their ICE models, all in hopes of avoiding hefty fines as the European Union’s new emissions rules tighten at the beginning of 2025.

Alphabet’s autonomous driving unit Waymo is going overseas for the first time and testing its tech in Japan. In early 2025, the company will begin testing its Jaguar I-PACE vehicles in Tokyo, with plans to stay in the region for the foreseeable future.

Italian sportscar brand Lamborghini says it is pushing back plans for its first BEV model to the far-away year of 2029.  

Starting in January, BMW will fill up all new diesel models it builds in Germany with HVO 100 hydrotreated vegetable oil.

Walkability, electrified transport, free public EV charging – cities earning the top spot in urban mobility include San Francisco and Paris.

While incoming president Donald Trump aims to cancel contracts for new EVs for the US Postal Service, the postmaster general says he defends its electrification plans and won’t return any funding for EVs – unless Congress forces the issue, of course.

Europe’s vision of building homegrown EV batteries to cut its reliance on China is dying. But China is more than ready to step in where other companies have failed.

Hyundai aims to set up nearly 600 public EV fast charging stations across India in the next seven years – all part of a major push to quicken the pace of EV adoption in the country as well as investment in a country that is ripe with potential.

Vietnamese EV maker VinFast has announced plans to build a second plant in Vietnam at a breakneck pace – its fifth globally – to double the production capacity of its VF 3 and VF 5 models.

As Volkswagen is in turmoil on its home turf in Germany with massive labor strikes, the company looks to be relocating manufacturing of its ID. Buzz retro-style minivan EV out of the country.

Dodge has just released a new ad for its all-electric Charger Daytona that sticks true to its engine-revving, muscle-car roots while ripping into EV rivals as “weak” and “soulless sleep pods.” Is it enough to convert its muscle-car fanbase?

The electric Porsche 718 lineup is set to launch next year, bidding farewell to the gas-powered 718 Cayman and 718 Boxster. But that plan has hit a major snag in the fallout over Swedish battery maker Northvolt filing for bankruptcy.

Pope Francis has officially gone electric, with Mercedez-Benz delivering the first-ever battery-powered popemobile to the Vatican – a reworked version of the G-Class SUV, bathed in white with special tweaks for lots of handwaving to the crowd. Check it out.

As the European Union slaps more restrictive tariffs on EVs pouring in from China, Chinese automakers have found a workaround: they’ll just make and export hybrids instead, since hybrids of all varieties are bizarrely exempt from the tariff scheme.

After losing ground in China and Europe, Ford looks to expand in a market full of untapped potential for electric vehicles – Indonesia. The automaker is investing in an EV plant in Indonesia – the world’s largest producer of nickel – setting up shop close to its $4.5 billion nickel processing project.

Volkswagen CEO Olivier Blume faced a huge booing crowd in Germany today, telling tens of thousands of workers that the company isn’t operating in “a fantasy world” and that plants will be closing and jobs will be lost. Here’s the latest.