Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicle buyers reported the highest satisfaction with the process last year. With 80% of new EV buyers saying they were “highly satisfied” with the process, buying an EV was reportedly much easier than an ICE vehicle.

Once an EV darling thought to revolutionize EV production with its concept of micro-factories that crank out delivery vans for the likes of Uber and UPS, UK startup Arrival is in a desperate search for funding after being delisted from Nasdaq this week.

An EV roadshow is headed to East Texas next week, and the Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation is helping to spearhead it.

The US Transportation Department is investing $148.8 million for repairing or updating nearly 4,500 electric vehicle charging ports in some 20 states.

Electric vehicles fail at a lower rate than gas-powered cars in the extreme cold, according to a road assistance service in Norway.

After dropping Tesla, global rental car giant SIXT says it will buy up to 250,000 vehicles from Stellantis for its fleets in North America and Europe.

EV owners are more likely to add solar panels to their homes, according to a new US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) study – here’s why.

As part of President Biden’s massive $7.5 billion plan to extensively build out EV infrastructure in the US – much to the chagrin of some Republican lawmakers –  the government has announced that it is investing $623 million in grants to put 7,500 more EV charging stations on the roads.

Ford is combining olive branches and twigs with recycled plastic in a pilot to make auto parts – and the results are looking promising.

Who says electric vehicles are too expensive? New data shows EV prices are nearly the same as gas-powered vehicles. The gap has closed significantly in recent months with new discounts and competition.

Italy has some of the oldest, most polluting cars in Europe clogging up its roads, and the country is lagging behind other European countries in EV adoption. But the government aims to change that, to the tune of a $1 billion investment to encourage people to ditch their gas- or diesel-burning cars for electric ones.

It was a very good year in France for electric cars, for all kinds of reasons – among them, new cheaper cars entering the market supported by generous government subsidies. In 2023, 26% of new cars sold in France were battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, a huge 47% jump from 2022. 

It was a huge year for profits at Chinese auto behemoth BYD. In 2023, the company sold 1.6 million fully battery-electric vehicles, coming close to Tesla’s projected goal of 1.8 million vehicles. Adding up sales for all so-called new energy vehicles, including battery-only vehicles and plug-in hybrids, BYD sold a whooping 3 million vehicles in 2023.

China’s ever-growing electric vehicle industry is setting up shop in Hong Kong, but not to expand business in the minuscule Hong Kong market. Rather, they are looking to leverage the city’s financial system for global expansion, Bloomberg reports.

New year, new rules: As of January 1, things are about to get a little easier when it comes to getting your federal tax credit for buying an electric vehicle. Now the rebate – which is up to $7,500 for new EVs that qualify and up to $4,000 for used EVs that qualify – is available immediately when you purchase your car, rather than needing to wait potentially months to file a claim with your tax return. And auto dealers are signing up in droves with the IRS.

New data shows electric cars and plug-in hybrids made up more than 24% of all new passenger car registrations in the European Union this year, rising a bit from last year. While gas vehicles still hold nearly a third of the market, diesel rates took a dive.

Legacy automakers are still selling millions of gas guzzlers, but if we were to spin some good news out of that, the Environmental Protection Agency reports that emissions levels have now dropped to “record lows” and vehicle fuel economy is now at a “record high.” But what does it really mean?

France aims to democratize access to electric vehicles with a freshly launched “social leasing” program that allows low-income drivers to lease electric cars for as low as €40, about $43. That includes no down payment and free charging, in some cases, for six months.

The Biden administration has issued a new directive to all government employees to travel by train or electric car, or electric Uber or Lyft, when traveling on official business. As the country’s largest employer, with an annual business travel purchasing budget of $2.8 billion, that could have a serious impact on carbon emissions.

Warnings about another wave of massive job losses at Volkswagen have been circulating for a few weeks, but now a new report says the company will cut one-fifth of its administrative staff. But it is hoping to soften the blow by offering early retirements as opposed to all-out firings, for now at least.  

A new breed of electric vehicles is drawing inspiration from Japanese kei cars, tiny cubes-on-wheels that are highway-legal but not likely to pass muster with US or EU safety standards. But what if we loosened up those standards to help lower prices, enabling broader adoption of EVs to people who don’t have 30 grand or more to spend on a car? That is, at least, one of the ideas that French automaker Renault’s head Luca de Meo has put on the table.