Jo Borrás

Kubota came to this year’s CES with a sprawling display filled with electric equipment, hydrogen gensets, and an onslaught of commercial robots ready to mow, farm, dig, and build. If you weren’t impressed by Kubota’s display this year, you weren’t paying attention.

At CES2025, the impressively built-out John Deere exhibit was all about automation. Autonomous job sites, autonomous farms … but it was this new, battery electric, autonomous lawn mowing robot that stole the show.

Despite big discounts and 0% financing, Tesla sales are down for the first time in a decade … but there’s even bigger robot news with the return of Honda ASIMO, a flying car from China, and a whole lot more from today’s episode of Quick Charge!

The board of directors of the troubled hydrogen fuel cell maker has voted to dissolve the company that developed the first HFC garbage truck to North America last spring, pending shareholder approval.

Honda kicked off the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in high style today with the global debut of the first two models in its new 0 Series of EVs set to roll off the line in 2026 – along with your newest road trip buddy: ASIMO (!).

Hamburger Hochbahn AG operates the city of Hamburg’s bus system, and they’ve just placed an order with Daimler Buses for 350 fully electric Mercedes-Benz eCitaro buses to be delivered to the northern German city for use as zero-emission public transport.

Electric equipment from XCMG can now be ordered with interchangeable battery swap tech, enabling heavy trucks and construction equipment to swap out their BYD-developed, 400 kWh battery packs in just three minutes, and top-off as quickly as diesel.

Portable bathroom company Diamond Environmental showcased its new, all-electric RIZON medium duty commercial truck at a San Marcos, California mobility event last month – and the verdict is in: these electric trucks don’t stink!

Developed by Indian company Farmrobo Technologies, the iMog is a fully autonomous, multipurpose electric farm tractor designed to be a cost-effective solution to support small-scale farming operations and hobby farms.

2024 was big year for Amazon – in addition to becoming the first online retailer for Hyundai cars, the company kept busy putting a fleet of autonomous forklifts, order picking AI-powered robots, and a milestone 20,000th electric delivery van on the road.

International shipping giants DHL partnered with autonomous software company Oxa to deploy a self-driving car in live airport traffic at Heathrow, safely completing more than 800 miles of fully autonomous driving in just 14 days.

On today’s exciting episode of Quick Charge, we explore not one but two existing electric truck fleets that crossed the 5 million miles driven mark this year, along with some potentially exciting news for last-minute shoppers looking for a sweet deal on a new Toyota or GMC Sierra EV, and the Electrek EV of the year.

We don’t want to sound alarmist, but it sure looks like President-elect Donald Trump and his billionaire buddies are plotting to kill federal EV tax credits somewhat sooner than later – and the tariffs they’re promising aren’t going to make cars cheaper anytime soon, either. So if you’re in the market for a new EV, the time is now to score a sweet 0% financing deal and get those tax credits (while you still can).

UPDATE: we’ve got a few new additions for the closing days of 2024, including sweet deals on the Mustang Mach-E GT (above), Toyota bZ4X, and more!

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced $28.5 million in additional funding being made available to install DC fast chargers for private and commercial EVs driving along major travel corridors across the Empire State.

Motiv Electric Trucks may not grab all the headlines, but it’s been quietly putting electric box vans to work throughout California for the past fifteen years. And, last week, the company’s commercial EV fleet logged its five millionth all-electric mile driven.

Volvo has delivered the first of its L20 Electric wheel loaders to New Zealand, with a leading landscape manufacturer putting it through its paces in an early pilot program. The verdict: Volvo’s new electric loader is exceeding expectations!

The Top Gear TV show might be over, but its tamed racing driver – a masked, anonymous hot shoe known only as “the Stig” – lives on … and his latest adventure involves pitching the 1,400 hp electric Ford SuperVan demonstration vehicle around the famed Top Gear test track. Sideways.

Swedish multinational Sandvik says it’s successfully deployed a pair of fully autonomous Toro LH518iB battery-electric underground loaders at the New Gold Inc. ($NGD) New Afton mine in British Columbia, Canada.

European logistics firm Contargo is adding twenty of Mercedes’ new, 500 km-capable eActros battery electric semi trucks to its trimodal delivery fleet, bringing zero-emission shipping to Germany’s hinterland.

Isuzu is giving Red Bull electrified wings – the iconic drinks company is officially the first to put the production version of its new-for-2025 Isuzu NRR-EV medium duty electric box truck to work in North America.

Just a year after it hit the 1 million electric mile mark, Schneider National ($SNDR) and its unmistakable orange semi trucks have thrown down the gauntlet – adding more than 5 million miles to its BEV tally and crossing the 6 million electric mile mark!

On today’s high-powered episode of Quick Charge, we’ve got Honda fuel cell manager David Perzynski here to talk about Honda’s forty year history developing hydrogen powertrains, and the role Honda sees for HFCEVs in a battery dominated world.

On today’s festive episode of Quick Charge, Tesla steps up for its owners by calling in mobile charging stations to cut down on wait time. Meanwhile Hyundai has some extra goodies for your stockings and Texas is cleaning up its act.

On today’s energizing episode of  Quick Charge, judges rule that Montana’s companies owe their kids a cleaner future, the Dacia Sandero looks set to overtake the Tesla Model Y in the European sales race, and a bunch of other stuff.