Electric vehicle startup Faraday Future, also known as FF, is moving forward with its $1 billion factory in North Las Vegas, Nevada. The company is holding an official ground-breaking ceremony with state officials today – you can watch the stream below.

FF also released several new details about the factory and its features, as well as the concept rendering seen above. expand full story

Although Toyota is betting big on hydrogen vehicles, the Japanese automaker seems to be slowly warming up to electric vehicles as an alternative to broaden its lineup of zero-emission cars. This week, the automaker unveiled a new electric vehicle concept in partnership with Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR).

Unfortunately for EV enthusiast, it’s another ‘weird-mobile’ and it’s called the uBox. expand full story

Volkswagen has been trying to improve its brand image since the ‘DieselGate’ scandal last year, and part of the effort to remedy the situation has been to reiterate its commitment to electric vehicles. CEO Matthias Müller has since announced that the group’s brands will introduce 20 new electric vehicles by the end of the decade.

More recently, VW decided to showcase its EV initiatives through a public event at its ‘Transparent Factory’ in Dresden. expand full story

We knew it was coming for a while, but today the California Air Resources Board (CARB) confirmed the exact timeframe. The California Clean Vehicle Rebate (CVRP) will be increasing for low- and moderate-income drivers, while it will also introduce a cap for high-income drivers.

The change will apply statewide to vehicle purchases or leases effective March 29, 2016. expand full story

Fortune is running a Koch Industry advertisement-as-commentary piece today ‘authored’ by Jim Mahoney, the employee signaled out in a Huffington Post article last month as leading a $10M campaign against EVs.

The piece doesn’t directly reference Tesla by name, but it does feature pictures of the Model S both in Fortune’s article and subsequent social media push by the publication (see above).

We advised that these hit pieces were coming but didn’t know they’d be coming so soon.

It looks like electric vehicles are still in the “fighting phase” as we learn today that billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch are planning to back a new group of lobbyists with a focus on “boosting petroleum-based transportation fuels and attacking government subsidies for electric vehicles”, according to refining industry sources talking to the Huffington Post….

According to the Huffington Post, the Kochs are teaming up with James Mahoney, a member of their company’s board, and lobbyist Charlie Drevna, who until recently was the head of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers. Their mission will be to “make the public aware of all the benefits of petroleum-based transportation fuels”.

Mahoney is a petroleum industry veteran who uses a few tired gems like: expand full story

France is among the many European markets that greatly helped Tesla grow its fleet in 2015. The automaker delivered a total of 50,580 cars globally last year, which represents an overall 60% increase over 2014, while the company’s deliveries grew 115% in France in 2015. expand full story

(Thanks to Zac Hall for images and video and checking out the back seats/CarPlay)

I have two electric cars at home – a plug-in Prius and a base model 2013 Tesla Model S. Yesterday, I drove the car that felt like their natural offspring: the compact crossover Chevy Bolt… expand full story

Fully Charged’s latest video features Jonny Smith’s modified Enfield 8000 ECC now called the “Flux Capacitor”. The vehicle beautifully illustrates how far batteries have come in the last few decades. When originally manufactured in 1974, the car was equipped with 300 kg of lead-acid batteries for 96 volts, now Smith equipped his with 145 kg of li-ion batteries for 378 volts.

The video and specs below: expand full story

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) updated its study on the average greenhouse gas emissions of electric vehicles versus gasoline-powered vehicles based on electricity sources and reiterated that on average, EVs indeed create less emissions than gasoline-powered cars. expand full story

Volkswagen’s new board of management issued a new statement this morning highligting its new strategy to come out of the emission scandal. CEO Dr. Herbert Diess about the announcement:

“The Volkswagen brand is repositioning itself for the future. We are becoming more efficient, we are giving our product range and our core technologies a new focus, and we are creating room for forward-looking technologies by speeding up the efficiency program.”

On top of obviously changing its diesel strategy to now comply with American and European standards, the company plans on making significant investments in electric vehicles. expand full story