Daimler plans $650M US charging and hydrogen network for big rigs

Rendering of proposed Daimler Trucks Greenlane charging and hydrogen fueling site.Daimler Truck North America announced a $650 million joint venture to develop charging and hydrogen-fueling infrastructure for medium-duty and heavy-duty commercial trucks. Called Greenlane, the joint venture was started in 2022 by Daimler, utility NextEra Energy Resources, and investment firm BlackRock Alternatives. It plans to add charging...

Saab braintrust created Emily GT electric car, now mothballed

NEVS Emily GT prototype - Photo credit: Plint/ProteanAn electric sedan prototype developed by failed Saab savior NEVS has surfaced in the wake of the company's shutdown. NEVS bought the remains of Saab after the Swedish automaker went bankrupt in 2011. It once planned to launch a series of four electric vehicles for China, all built on the Phoenix platform that was going to underpin the...

Volvo EX90 electric SUV already sold out for its first year

2024 Volvo EX90The 2024 Volvo EX90 is still a few months away from the start of deliveries, but the electric SUV is already sold out for its first year of production. Volvo confirmed this in a press release detailing its first-quarter 2023 financial results, although it didn't disclose how many vehicles would be built in the first-year production run, only...

Senate blocks Biden clean-truck rules, without Feinstein vote

U.S. Capitol BuildingThe Senate on Wednesday voted to overturn President Biden's stricter emissions rules for commercial trucks, halting their implementation unless the president vetoes the measure. The 50-49 vote rescinds emissions rules that went into effect last month, marking the first time in 20 years that the EPA has set stricter standards for emissions from...

Report: Michelin airless EV tires fit autonomy, law enforcement

GM, Michelin Uptis airless tire prototypeMichelin has been testing airless tires for years with an eye toward EV use. While they still aren't ready for production, executives believe they could be a good fit for autonomous vehicles and law enforcement. European police forces have expressed interest in airless tires because, unlike conventional pneumatic tires, they can't be shot out...

$2.5B boost may keep Vinfast moving despite IPO status

VinFast VF 8 PrototypeVinfast has secured additional funding pledges worth $2.5 billion, the company confirmed Wednesday. That may allow it to keep it moving smoothly ahead of its planned U.S. stock-market listing and past that timeframe. Of the new funding pledges, $1 billion will be provided as a non-refundable grant—the language used by the...

Costco has no plans to add EV charging as a traffic-driver

CostcoCostco was one of the first retail chains to offer EV charging, but it has no plans to bring it back. "It's not happening in the next few years," Costco CFO Richard Galanti said during a recent company earnings call, as cited by The Street, after being asked if he was concerned that EV mandates might make Costco's lucrative gas stations obsolete...

Tesla data: Model S/X go 88% of original range at 200,000 miles

2023 Tesla Model S  -  Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.On average, the Tesla Model S and Model X lose less than 12% of range after 200,000 miles. That figure comes from a slide in the automaker's just-released 2022 Impact Report, where Tesla also noted that it estimates most of its U.S.-market vehicles get scrapped when they reach that amount of mileage. In Europe, Tesla estimates most of its cars are...

Study: EV policy around gasoline superusers could help the most

2009 Kia BorregoEV policy will achieve the greatest climate benefit by prioritizing those that use the most gasoline, according to the advocacy group Coltura. The group recently released a new study building on findings published in 2021 which found that one in 10 drivers burn nearly a third of U.S. gasoline. Coltura coined the term gasoline "superusers" to...

Reminder: EPA range for EVs isn’t a highway number

2023 Chevrolet Bolt EVEPA fuel-economy ratings have city, highway, and combined categories, but range ratings for EVs only include the latter. There's a reason for that. A new paper published by SAE International and co-authored by Car and Driver testing director Dave VanderWerp emphasizes that the EPA combined EV range rating isn't a number reflective of highway...