Scooter Doll

Friday and Saturday kicked off the inaugural season of the first-ever electric boat racing league when the first eight teams in the UIM E1 Championship Series motored, foiled, and splashed across the Red Sea in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Marc Anthony’s Team Miami had pole position heading into Saturday’s race, but two other famous names were on the podium; here are the final E1 results.

We are just over one year removed from the initial launch of solar EV startup Aptera’s Accelerator program, which was implemented to not only get customers to commit to their SEV purchase fully but also help give the company some financial runway as it inches toward scaled production. It may have taken longer than anticipated, but the program succeeded, raising nearly $34 million.

If you’ve been inside a Rivian R1T or R1S, you could argue they’re pretty well equipped to handle off-road terrain and are already reasonably customizable with add-ons. However, a custom truck specialist in Florida has reimagined the Rivian pickup for “Apocalyptic” level performance with an entirely customized exterior complete with LED lights, a roll cage, and even Kevlar paint.

A special-purpose vehicle developer out of South Korea has introduced a new line of electric golf carts that can bring more technology and comfort to the game. While these innovative Cruise LABE EVs won’t help shave strokes off your score, they provide luxury, protection from the elements, and a slew of cool features sure to impress others on the links… maybe even the girls on the drink carts.

Just over a week after initially teasing a new compact SUV called the Yuan Up, Build Your Dreams (BYD) has posted several of the first official images of the new EV’s exterior. Expected to arrive priced in a range between $14,000-$20,000, the BYD Yuan Up has the making to be an ultra-affordable model in China, which could very well make its way over to other markets.

On Wednesday, the Norwegian Automobile Federation (NAF) completed its bi-annual El Prix event that tests the range of dozens of popular EVs from around the globe and various price brackets. While Tesla has dominated the last four years, 2024’s winter edition of the El Prix saw a newcomer not only deliver the most range in cold weather but also come closest to its advertised range.

Two months after announcing it had selected Hungary as the desired location of its first passenger EV production facility in Europe, Build Your Dreams (BYD) has completed a preliminary sales agreement for the Hungarian land those facilities should eventually sit atop. It should come as no surprise at this point that BYD is looking to get European EV production up and running quickly and is now moving one step closer.

Tootbus, a prominent sightseeing bus company around Europe, has partnered with electric fleet specialist VEV to deliver more sustainable mobility across its entire operations. Tootbus is currently operating buses that run on hydrotreated vegetable oil but is adopting BEV and solar technology with VEV’s help.

BMW Group recently shared a spring update to its growing line of EVs, which now includes a new all-wheel drive variant of the i5. The BMW i5 xDrive40 will kick off production in March and arrive as a 2025 model-year EV, priced between the eDrive40 and M60 variants.

Automobili Lamborghini has shared intentions to expand its “Direzione Cor Tauri” strategy to decarbonize its entire value chain and significantly reduce carbon emissions per car by the decade’s end. The famed hypercar developer’s product timeline includes launching several new electric vehicles, including a successor to the Lamborghini Urus.

Seven months after kicking off production of its Class 3 electric trucks in Mississippi, EV startup Mullen Automotive has secured fruitful environmental compliance and approvals from CARB and the EPA. As a result, those CARB-compliant states and Washington DC enable tremendous savings to fleet operators who purchase electric trucks from Mullen.

2023 was yet another pivotal year for EVs as the segment began to expand beyond early adopters and into the early majority. What should come as no surprise to most people is that American automaker Tesla dominated Google Trends search data for EVs last year. Still, gas and hybrid specialist Toyota remained the most searched auto brand, not by any specific state.

The public may not yet know who the next actor will be to fill the polished, often knife-equipped, shoes of M16’s top 00 agent – James Bond, but we do have a better idea of what type of vehicle he may be driving to evade the baddies when he makes his on-screen debut. Following an existing supply agreement with Aston Martin, Lucid Motors’ CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson hinted that James Bond’s next vehicle could be 100% electric.

EV-centric brand Polestar just announced it will cut hundreds of jobs in its global workforce in order to lean down and reduce spending, as it looks to bolster sales of its upcoming Polestar 3 and 4 models without relying on additional funding from parents Geely and Volvo Cars.

Italian automaker Maserati is doubling down on its roots and letting the world know that its vehicles will continue to be 100% designed, developed, and manufactured in Italy. That said, some of those Maserati vehicles in the pipeline, particularly the 100% electric ones, continue to face development hurdles. Meanwhile, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares is in a battle with the Italian government over EV sales support.

This week, Lucid Motors invited Electrek to an exclusive ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the opening of Phase 2 of its AMP-1 facility in Casa Grande, Arizona. Part of the festivities included a factory tour, an interview with CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson, and our best look at Lucid’s upcoming Gravity SUV to date. Senior Vice President of Design and Brand Derek Jenkins walked me around Gravity and shared some insights into what went into this unique electric SUV.

During a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the opening of Phase 2 at its AMP-1 production facility in Arizona, Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson briefly teased the automaker’s third model in the works – a mid-size EV that will arrive as a direct competitor to the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y.

Budding EV charging developer FreeWire Technologies gained a significant player in the automotive industry to help get its turnkey charging solutions out to more customers. Today, FreeWire shared that it has partnered with GM Energy to help deploy the former’s ultra-fast EV chargers to commercial and fleet customers in the US.

Fresh off earning the crown as the best-selling brand in China, BYD has (briefly) introduced a new compact SUV to its Yuan family of EVs – one of the larger contributors to its overall sales last year. From what we’ve seen so far, the Yuan Up looks small but mighty, touting some of BYD’s best tech – all at an expected starting price that is sure to entice consumers.

Three months after opening US orders for the long-anticipated three-row EV9 SUV, the folks at Kia invited media out to wine country to test drive it for the first time. We’ve already had up-close encounters with the EV9, but this was our first chance to take it for a spin and really test everything inside and out (including that third row). While you probably can’t put bodybuilders in the back seat, the EV9 delivers in a lot of ways other OEMs are not and at a relatively enticing price point.

Local reports out of Europe state that Stellantis-owned luxury automaker Maserati is putting a pin in the development of an all-electric version of its Quattroporte sedan to ensure it can deliver on the performance previously touted by the Italian automaker. Quattroporte now joins Maserati’s two other flagship BEVs in facing delays.

Two months after first introducing its first-ever lease program for the R1T pickup, Rivian has expanded the offers to now include its other flagship EV – the R1S SUV. Additionally, the American automaker has extended the lease program to an additional territory in the US.

Less than a year after officially unveiling its all-electric L1 electric RV trailer, Lightship has announced it is now flush with funding to accelerate its production. Here’s the latest on the promising young startup.

Eight months after announcing plans to enter the US market, European teledrive service Vay has officially begun commercial operations of its remotely operated EVs in fabulous Las Vegas. Customers can now order a car delivered directly to them without a driver in the vehicle, hop in, drive off, and use it as long as they’d like.