German auto manufacturer Porsche announced its second-ever model of an all-electric vehicle. The new EV Macan comes in two forms—the Macan 4 and the slightly beefier Macan Turbo. Both of these all-electric SUVs have high-performance 100-kilowatt-hour batteries. These are also the first Porsches to use an 800-volt architecture, which allows …
Read More »How the Mighty Heat Pump Helps EVs in the Cold
Perhaps you’ve heard: In many places, it’s really very cold out. Deep freezes hit wide bands of the US this week; snow and freezing rain have swept across northern Europe. This is all less than ideal for electric vehicles, which historically have not loved the cold. A handful of Chicago …
Read More »Lamborghini’s Revuelto Is the Outstanding Hybrid of 2023
Let's be honest here, the Revuelto is a transitional car for Lamborghini. It's an in-between step for a brand that, like the vast majority of the automotive industry, is being forced to accept electrification, whether it's excited about it or not. But if you're already a confirmed EV convert, despite …
Read More »Panasonic’s New Powder-Powered Batteries Will Supercharge EVs
Sila, a Californian company cofounded in 2011 by Tesla’s seventh staffer, is going to supply Panasonic with a US-made silicon powder for EV batteries that could banish range anxiety, slash charge times, and even reduce reliance on China. Panasonic’s main US customer is Tesla, and produces around 10 percent of …
Read More »You’ll Be Able Buy Cars on Amazon Next Year
Need a new Hyundai? Just ask Alexa. This week, the Korean automaker announced it will start working with Amazon to sell some of its vehicles on the gargantuan ecommerce site. The Hyundais purchased on Amazon will not, in fact, come in a very big box, but buyers will have the …
Read More »How China’s EV Boom Caught Western Car Companies Asleep at the Wheel
“You won’t believe what’s coming,” warned the title of a January 2023 video from the Inside China Auto YouTube channel. “Europe’s premium car makers aren’t ready for this,” warned another video from the same channel, uploaded in July. Produced by Shanghai-based automotive journalist Mark Rainford, a former communications executive for …
Read More »First Ride: Verge TS Pro Electric Motorcycle
Looking at the rear wheel of the Verge motorcycle makes me grasp something: Futuristic things look futuristic because they look wrong. The wheel appears to have no visible means of support. Where the hub should be is just a yawning hole ringed by irregular steel ridges, looking for all the …
Read More »How Elon Musk and Tesla Helped Spark the Auto Strikes
Elon Musk hasn’t been sighted at the picket lines in Missouri, Ohio, or Michigan, where autoworkers are striking against the Big Three US carmakers. Yet the influence of Musk and his non-unionized company Tesla have been everywhere since the United Auto Workers called the strike last week. In some ways, …
Read More »Autoworkers Prepare to Strike for a Place in the EV Future
Ethan Surgenavic was excited to begin work at a new electric vehicle battery-cell plant in Ohio’s Mahoning Valley last summer. The Ultium Cells plant is a joint venture of General Motors and South Korea’s LG, and he grew up in the area when GM was known for well-paid, unionized jobs. …
Read More »EV Mania Hasn't Killed Hunger for Hybrid Trucks
Last year, Ford sold more than 650,000 F-150 pickup trucks, making it the most popular vehicle in the US for the 46th year in a row. Couple that with Americans’ recent thirst for very big cars, and few things say “US of A” like a truck bed and a little …
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