“Honda e” becomes official name of Urban EV, more hybrids to come

Honda e PrototypeHonda last week confirmed a new name for the Urban EV concept that it has showed twice at European auto shows recently. The car will be dubbed the Honda e when it goes on sale in Europe, though the company did not specify any time frame. The company said it has already received 6,500 "expressions of interest" for the car just in Britain. DON'T...

How should EV owners pay for road maintenance? Take our Twitter poll

EVgo charging station in Union City, California with resused BMW i3 battery backupStates around the US are imposing new fees on electric-car owners to make them contribute to state highway maintenance funds. Some can be quite onerous, such as the $1,000 fee for electric-car registration proposed last week in the Illinois legislature, compared to a $148 fee for other cars. CHECK OUT: 17 states have passed extra fees on electric...

Hyundai, Kia team with Rimac for battery tech

Rimac Concept_OneAlong the way to building 44 "eco-friendly" models by 2025, Hyundai Motors, which includes Kia, announced that it will invest $80 million in Croatian EV startup Rimac. Rimac is most famous for building the Rimac Concept One, known at its introduction in 2016 as the world's fastest electric car. The company built eight examples, using, it says...

Volkswagen plans $1.1 billion battery partnership in Germany

2019 Audi e-tron first drive  -  Abu Dhabi UAE, December 2018Volkswagen announced plans on Tuesday to build a large new battery factory—with an unspecified partner or partners—in its home state of Lower Saxony in Germany. Volkswagen has announced plans to build 22 million new electric cars by 2029, and has announced battery contracts for up to 50 million electric cars, without specifying a date...

Tesla Model Y production will strain battery supplies: Panasonic

Tesla Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada [CREDIT - YouTube user California Phantom]Tesla's main battery supplier, Panasonic, says the two companies won't have enough battery-building capacity to support production of the Model Y. In a conference announcing the company's annual earnings last Thursday, Panasonic CEO Kazuhiro Tsuga told reporters that "batteries will run out if Tesla starts to sell the Model Y and expands its...

$1,000 Illinois fee? State fees, credits can make or break EV sales

National Drive Electric Week 2018, Boulder, Colorado [CREDIT: NDEW, Diego Lopez] Among states, incentives for electric cars vary wildly—from Colorado, which offers a $5,000 tax credit for EV buyers, to Illinois, where the legislature just proposed a $1,000 annual registration fee for electric cars. As states implement—or discontinue—various EV incentives, the effect on sales has been dramatic. For example...

Aston Martin Rapide E makes first public appearance at Monaco e-Grand Prix

2020 Aston Martin Rapide E at the 2018/2019 Formula E Monaco ePrixThe Aston Martin Rapide E just made its public debut sitting on a stand at the Shanghai auto show last month, but the company didn't wait long to show it off blasting around a track. The car appeared Saturday racing around the street circuit set up for the Formula E Monaco Grand Prix, which was run on Saturday on a shortened version of the Monaco...

EVgo fast-charge network commits to 100 percent renewable power

2019 Jaguar I-Pace at EVgo chargerIf electric cars are supposed to clean up the environment and reduce global warming—and they are—EV drivers would like to rely on 100 percent renewable energy to do charge. And charging networks are striving to provide it. Many, including Tesla with its Supercharger stations, are building new charging stations with solar canopies or...

Maserati joins ranks of EV holdouts among exotic automakers

Teaser for Maserati Alfieri sports carAlthough it announced the end of using Ferrari engines in its cars last week, Italian luxury-carmaker Maserati won't be going all-electric any time soon. "This is a brand that needs combustion engines,” Maserati's North American chief, Al Gardner, told Motor Trend in an interview earlier this month. “It needs that raw emotion," he...

Dyson patents show possible Tesla Model X competitor

Patent drawing for Dyson electric car due in 2021Dyson, the maker of snazzy, high-tech vacuum cleaners, has said for two years that it will build electric cars starting in 2020. Now the company has released patent drawings that give a hint of what at least the first one may look like. READ THIS: Dyson plans to build its electric car in Singapore The drawings show a long, low crossover...

AAA survey finds more optimism over self-driving cars than in EVs

Image from 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric-car ad by Ourisman Chevrolet, Rockville, MarylandMore Americans think most cars will be able to drive themselves in 10 years than the number who think most cars will be electric in that time frame. That's according to a survey released Thursday by AAA, the nation's leading automobile club and provider of roadside assistance. According to the organization's latest Green Car Guide, only 40 percent...

YouTube-famous Tesla rebuilder opens shop in “coopetition” with Tesla

Rich Benoit and Chris Salvo, founders of the Electric Garage [YouTube screen capture]Without dealerships, service has been a regular challenge for Tesla and its owners. Reports are so rampant about months-long wait times for Tesla service that CEO Elon Musk has acknowledged that addressing service complaints is his No. 1 priority for 2019, especially after the company's sales exploded as Model 3 production ramped up. Now the...

Best deals on plug-in, hybrid, and electric cars for May 2019

2017 Toyota Prius Prime test drive, Ojai, California, Sep 2016With rising interest rates and falling federal plug-in vehicle tax credits on some models, the best deals on electric cars, plug-in hybrids, and conventional hybrids are a little harder to find versus a few months ago. Our partners at CarsDirect.com still found some leases on plug in cars as low as $199 a month in May, and we've rounded up the...

Porsche fined $600 million in Germany over dirty diesels

2013 Porsche Cayenne DieselGerman regulators Tuesday hit Porsche with a $600 million (535 million euro) fine, for its role in selling cars powered by diesel engines designed by Audi that failed to comply with European emissions requirements. The cars, including the Cayenne and Panamera, used a 3.0-liter diesel V-6, exceeded European emissions standards for oxides of...