EVs could get more expensive as US trade war heats up

2019 Chevrolet Bolt EVAs the U.S. government's trade war with China heats up, it looks like it soon might spill over into electric cars. Chinese state-run media outlets have begun threatening that the government will impose new tariffs on rare-earth metals used in the permanent magnet motors in electric cars as well as capacitive touch screens and electronic capacitors...

Chinese automaker GAC teams up with Nio for EV, postpones US launch

2019 Nio ES6Nio last week announced a joint venture with state automaker GAC to sell electric cars in China. It's especially of interest in the U.S. because both companies have their sights set on selling electric vehicles here. The equal-split venture, to be called GAC Nio New Energy Vehicle company, will build and sell EVs under a new Hycan brand in China...

Chevron taps retirees to oppose EV charging in Arizona

Chevron signAstroturf lobbying organizations have been a fixture of the EV opposition and anti-climate-action movement—indeed of American politics—for a long time. A new report in the Arizona Republic tells us that support for electric cars still hasn't moved us past that. Chevron is tapping its retirees to mount a letter-writing campaign in...

What kind of EV incentives are most effective? Twitter poll results

Carpool lanes I-5, Seattle, Washington [Credit: SounderBruce-Wikimedia Commons]Last week, we looked at how Norway went from subsidizing the sale of a few electric cars to making it normal to buy an electric car, and wondered how they did it. It took not only tax abatements and incentives for electric cars, but also longstanding, onerous Norwegian taxes on gasoline and diesel vehicles. We wondered, from the perspective of our...

Trump administration takes aim at National Climate Assessment

Hurricane Florence approaches U.S. East Coast Sept. 12, 2018As the Trump administration works to reverse efforts across the government to reduce climate change, the biggest thorn in its side has perhaps been the quadrennial National Climate Assessment, a report last published in November, which the administration buried by releasing on Black Friday, as Americans hit shopping malls in record numbers. The...

$50 billion VW battery plan could need revamp after Samsung cuts back

VW ID familyVolkswagen, with its plan to build 22 million new electric cars across 70 models by 2030, is ground-zero for concerns over battery supplies. As more automakers get serious about building lots of electric cars, there are indications that supplies of batteries to power all those cars aren't ramping up as quickly, leading to shortages of batteries...