Tesla bumps price of Autopilot post-delivery

Tesla Model 3 dashboard in Autopilot testing with IIHS [CREDIT: IIHS]After removing its former Full Self-Driving Mode feature, Tesla is doubling down on selling Enhanced Autopilot. In a new software rollout, the company has temporarily enabled Enhanced Autopilot on all the cars that have the hardware to run it in a 14-day free trial that chief executive officer Elon Musk announced in April at the company's annual...

Best deals on electric, plug-in, and hybrid cars for November 2018

2018 Nissan LeafWith the new 2019 model year in full swing, and the holidays around the corner, a lot of consumers are looking for new cars. That means the deals aren't quite as good as they were in August and September when dealers and automakers were trying to clear out old inventory in preparation for the new models. Some prices have gone up and discounts...

Robyn Denholm appointed new Tesla board chairwoman

2017 Tesla Model 3, in photo tweeted by Elon Musk on July 9, 2017Tesla's board has promoted from within to fill the role of chairman, replacing Elon Musk, who agreed to step down in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Robyn Denholm, one of the two independent directors appointed to Tesla's board in 2014 will be its new chairwoman, the company announced on Wednesday night. Musk agreed on...

Harley-Davidson Livewire electric motorcycle to go into production

Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycleBack in 2014, Harley-Davidson made a lot of noise about its silent electric Livewire motorcycle concept. But the company's been mum ever since about whether it ever planned to build it—until now. At the EICMA motorcycle show in Milan, Italy, on Wednesday, the company finally announced official plans to build the Livewire, after years of...

Battery entrepreneur releases new invention to reduce cobalt

Tour of Tesla battery gigafactory for invited owners, Reno, Nevada, July 2016As other battery scientists are working to develop the solid-state lithium batteries of tomorrow, technology entrepreneur Kenan Sahin is working to make the batteries of today more affordable. Sahin announced at a conference in Berlin this week that his company TIAX has invented a new battery compound that he calls GEMX that reduced the need for...

GoFundMe campaign aims to keep Faraday Future employees afloat

Faraday Future FF 91When some companies fall on hard financial times, they turn to Wall St. to sell stock or to banks to get loans. Faraday Future has tried all of that and is trying to raise another $500 million in cash or debt to continue developing its $300,000 electric luxury car. In the meantime, its employees have turned to Go Fund Me to raise $50,000 to keep...

Commentary: Want faster electric-car charging? Pony up!

Volkswagen MEB platform architectureThe future may be coming for electric cars, but it's not yet clear what it will look like. When modern electric cars first launched between 2011 and 2014, many shared similar specs: about 80 miles of range, overnight charging, a five-passenger hatchback body, and a price starting around $28,000 before tax credits. Some models offered bigger...

Study draws link between climate and weather—via jet stream

ForestFor some, the evidence of global warming is hard to accept, especially when it has been difficult to draw the link between individual storms and an increase in atmospheric greenhouse gasses. Now a new study by a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University has done just that. By studying the pattern of the jet stream, Professor Michael Mann...

Consumer Reports tests Tesla’s Navigate on Autopilot

2017 Tesla Model S testing at Consumer ReportsGPS navigation and Autopilot—two great driving aids that go great together. Tesla has offered both features for a long time, and is now rolling out software that combines them, so drivers can set a destination in their cars' navigation system and it will automatically take action to merge and exit highways, and change lanes to expedite the...

Tesla receives SEC subpoena about Model 3 production numbers

Tesla Model 3 all-wheel drive Performance rolls off a new assembly line in a temporary structureTesla acknowledged in a quarterly regulatory filing on Thursday that it has received a subpoena from the SEC asking about the company's forecasts the company made in 2017 for Model 3 production. Some investors have said they were misled by statements that the company would begin full production of the Model 3 by the second quarter of 2018, when...

BMW readies battery factory for wave of coming electric vehicles

Mini Electric concept, 2017 Frankfurt auto showBMW announced last month it will significantly expand and overhaul a facility to produce batteries for electric cars at its factory in Dingolfing, Germany. The factory currently builds several BMW sedans and coupes, including plug-in versions of the 5- and 7-Series. The new battery assembly line in the factory will cover 65,000 square feet in the...

California girds for battle with EPA over fuel economy

Traffic at the I-10 & I-405 interchange in Los Angeles, California (by Mario Roberto Duran Ortiz)Last Friday, California released a 400-page repudiation of the Trump administration's plan to freeze fuel economy standards and revoke California's statutory right to set its own limits on vehicle emissions. The report comes in response to the EPA and NHTSA's proposed Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient Vehicles Rule, which would undo fuel-economy...

Recall alert: Hyundai Ioniq in the hot seat

2019 Hyundai Ioniq ElectricHyundai is recalling 10,575 Ioniq Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid models from 2017 and 2018 to replace a wiring relay in the drive system. The recall mirrors a similar problem announced last month with the Ioniq's platform-mate, the Kia Niro, which was also recalled. Bad connections in a drive-system relay can cause the relay to overheat and lead to a...