Commentary: Overdue for reform, EV tax credit needs reasonable limits

2019 Chevrolet Bolt EVNow that the federal plug-in tax credit has begun to wind down on the U.S.-made Chevrolet Bolt EV, members of Congress propose to do something about it. Democrats have proposed several bills in Congress to remove the manufacturer-based 200,000-car cap on the credits and extending them for 10 years, and a new proposal by California Democrat Ro...

Tesla unleashes driver warnings from Navigate on Autopilot

Tesla Model 3 dashboard in Autopilot testing with IIHS [CREDIT: IIHS]In a blog post on Thursday, Tesla announced that drivers will no longer have to approve lane changes when the car's Navigate on Autopilot system is engaged. It's a small step, but also a pretty big leap toward self-driving cars. Navigate on Autopilot is Tesla's "on-ramp to off-ramp" self-driving system, which allows its cars that have the feature...

Lucid Motors gets real as Saudi funding comes through

Lucid AIrThings just got real for Tesla competitor Lucid Motors. The company, which announced a $1 billion deal with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund last September, confirmed on Thursday that the investment is complete. That could make Lucid the most realistic competitor to Tesla yet, as it plans to bring its nearly fully developed Lucid Air to...

Ford electric SUV could meet 300-mile target, and then some

Ford crossover EV teaser photoFord has been teasing—even promising—a new Mustang inspired high-performance electric SUV, perhaps called Mach E or Mach 1, that it says will have a 300-mile range. Now the company has announced that the model has earned a 370-mile range rating in the generous European WLTP driving cycle. DON'T MISS: 2021 Ford Mach E: What we know...

Nio teases sleek ET7 coupe, to include next-generation power system

Teaser for Nio ET7 conceptNio, one of a handful of Chinese electric carmakers aiming to be Tesla competitors, just teased its next mass-market car, expected to debut at the Shanghai auto show later this month. Its latest car looks set to be a four-door luxury fast-back, perhaps similar to shadows of a car known as the EVE Vision shown in earlier Nio press materials as...

Pumped hydro could deliver 100 percent renewable electricity

Potential global pumped hydro storage sites [CREDIT: Matthew Stocks Australian National University)Achieving 100 percent renewable power, as Congressional Democrats' Green New Deal and other proposals around the world envision, will require a lot of energy storage. And while the cost and availability of a storage batteries has made significant progress lately, they may not be the best solution to store renewable energy. A new study by...

Volkswagen ID Roomzz full-size electric SUV to bow in Shanghai

Volkswagen ID Roomz concept for Shanghai auto show 2019Last month, Volkswagen announced that it will expand its upcoming electric-car lineup from 50 new models by 2023 to 70 new models by 2028. But it gave no indication what many of those new models will be. On Tuesday, the brand revealed the sixth new member of its upcoming ID electric family: The VW ID Roomzz, a full-sized SUV will make its debut in...

2020 Ford Escape Hybrid, Byton M-Byte, Lightning Strike: Today’s Car News

2020 Ford EscapeThe Ford Escape Hybrid will make a comeback for 2020—with a plug-in hybrid, too. Chinese Tesla rival Byton reveals the M-byte testing in winter. The Lightning Strike electric motorcycle is out. And our latest Twitter poll asks what kind of electric-car racing matters most. All this and more on Green Car Reports. When the updated Ford Escape...

Lightning Strikes twice with second, affordable electric motorcycle

Lightning Strike Great as the bike may be, the best thing about the new Lightning Strike electric motorcycle may be its name. Perhaps in an effort to beat the Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric bike to market, Lightning introduced its new, more mainstream Strike last week. Unlike the LiveWire or the new Zero SR/F, the Lightning Strike is a sportbike, with riders...

Lithium battery production set to grow 50 percent a year

Lithium-ion battery cellsOne of the biggest upcoming challenges for electric cars is having having an adequate supply of lithium batteries. A new report by Benchmark Minerals, first cited by CleanTechnica, shows battery makers are working quickly to meet growing demand for new lithium-ion battery cells from automakers. According to the company's Battery Factory Data...

New electric motor could eliminate transmissions

Linear Labs Hunstable Electric Turbine motorIt isn’t just batteries that are making big strides in electric cars. Several companies are also striving to make electric motors more efficient and powerful. Now a new Texas company claims it has a new motor technology that can generate twice the torque, three times the power, and 10 percent more range for electric cars in the same weight...

Grove launches hydrogen fuel-cell car brand in China

Grove Hydrogen Automotive fuel-cell carChina is the world's largest market for cars—especially electric cars. The country has even announced that at some point in the future it will ban internal combustion cars. But it's not all about battery electric EVs, it turns out. A new company called Grove Hydrogen Automotive Co. announced that it will focus on fuel-cell cars, starting...

EPA panel says air pollution not harmful

EPA Acting Administrator Andrew WheelerIt isn't just global warming emissions that the EPA plans to deregulate. At a meeting last Thursday, a key air quality standards board at the agency cast doubt on longstanding findings that particulate matter—the microscopic particles spewing from diesel tailpipes—can cause health problems leading to premature deaths. In the absence of...