Rivian might build upcoming Ford electric SUV

Rivian R1SRivian will likely be entrusted to build an upcoming Ford electric SUV, due early within the next few years, at the startup’s former Mitsubishi assembly plant in Normal, Illinois. "It would be counterproductive for us to try and make what they have capacity to do in the beginning here, because they've got a factory in Illinois that meets a...

Jaguar targets Tesla owners with I-Pace discounts

2019 Jaguar I-PaceJaguar’s widely available I-Pace electric luxury crossover needs some kind of boost here in the U.S. market, where it still isn’t selling well. For now, that’s arrived in the form of a series of special promotions, one of which looks directly to Tesla owners. The promotions include a $5,000 dealer discount plus a $7,000 Allowance...

The fastest Porsche SUV ever is a plug-in hybrid

2020 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid As Porsche ramps up for the launch of its Taycan electric sedan late this year, today it has a new cheerleader for the performance boost of electric motors at the top of its SUV lineup: the 2020 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid. Although the Turbo S E-Hybrid has the same 14.1-kwh battery pack and 2.4-hour charge time—and the same...

BMW 5-Series plug-in hybrid gets wireless home charging deal

BMW 5-Series plug-in hybrid wireless charging systemAmericans soon will have a fully automaker-supported car that supports inductive wireless charging. BMW announced Friday that it will soon offer inductive charging in the 2019 BMW 530e iPerformance. In BMW’s current nomenclature, that’s the plug-in hybrid version of its 5-Series sedan. The catch: You’ll need to live in one of 13...

EU engine-tech project could help gas catch up with gasoline

2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas, El Segundo, CA, Nov 2011Some biofuels, like biogas from landfills—or synthetic methane—are attractive for use in vehicles as they have a potentially low energy cost to produce. They also have lower criteria emissions, of the sort that affect human health and cause smog. These engines should easily be cross-compatible with those using compressed natural gas...

Can heat pumps solve cold-weather range loss for EVs?

Winter testing of electric cars in Norway by the Norwegian EV Association (Norsk Elbilforening)This past winter’s deep freeze and its record-low temperatures exposed a reality that anyone thinking about an electric car has to come to terms with: Cold winter weather can cut the effective driving range of some electric vehicles by 40 percent or more. Partly to blame is that the resistive heating electric cars rely on (yes, like those...