Where they can get away with it, certain legacy carmakers are still perfectly content to be dragged, kicking and screaming, toward electrification. Curiously though, there are instances in which the self-same car companies that make little effort in their home country can’t resist the revenues on offer in nations with significant EV sales. Numerous of them have fought for Norwegian consumers in recent years, and even electric vehicle laggards, Toyota, now have a pure electric vehicle for the Chinese market, despite aggressively campaigning against “plugging in” in Europe. 

Obviously the short answer to the question above is yes, as Volkswagen at present has no plans to bring the ID.3 to North America, but what if they did? Would the Europe-friendly ID.3 succeed where the eGolf failed, or will the ID.4 simply be the better fit for the highways of the US and Canada? We recently reviewed the ID.3 and were impressed. Can the ID.4 create the same excitement that its “little brother” has in Europe, and does the Dieselgate scandal still linger in the consciousness of the North American consumer?

Mazda is known for its maverick streak. Where others zig, they zag, and there is much to admire in a pioneering approach. As it has innovated around the rotary engine, might Mazda be similarly innovative with its first ground-up battery electric vehicle?

When we first embarked on our Fully Charged journey — 10 years and 553 episodes ago — we were especially attracted to electric cars and the clean energy that could potentially power them. Over time, and to our occasional astonishment, the adaptability of the humble battery has opened up new applications as easily as a swiss-army knife. Aviation is something we never thought we would see in our lifetimes, and it’s still in its infancy, but a wave of E-boats are about to make their bow. Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, is known as “the Venice of the North” and with its thousands of waterways is outlawing diesel boats from 2025. Naturally, other European Cities are set to follow. When we were invited to be part of an Ocean Clean-Up organized by AIM ZERO in Sweden, we didn’t hesitate.

After a full 21 months since Fully Charged took the test-version vehicle out in sunny South Africa, Robert Llewellyn finally got to grips with the “First Edition” VW ID.3 in the not-so-sunny south of England.

It’s no secret that, having had a few of them, we are fans of Volkswagen‘s Golf. And surely with its similar proportions, the ID.3 is its logical, technological successor. But does the reality match that expectation?

The Urban EV concept burst onto the scene at the Frankfurt Motor Show three years ago. With its “cutesy faced” front end, Honda had found a forward-looking design to spearhead its electric car efforts, and with a similar face at the rear, it appeared attractively retro, too. While the eventual design lost a few elements in translation, it looked like Honda had hit a home run. In the end, though, while they swung and hit, have Honda ultimately played it too safe?