Sailing ships were once the backbone of international commerce, and now a Swedish shipbuilder is trying to give sails a high-tech update in order to reduce emissions. Oceanbird is a proposed a 35,000-ton, 650-foot, transoceanic car carrier, powered mostly by wind, that can reduce carbon emissions by a claimed 90% compared to a conventional ship... Wind-powered transatlantic car carrier could cut carbon emissions by 90%
Sailing ships were once the backbone of international commerce, and now a Swedish shipbuilder is trying to give sails a high-tech update in order to reduce emissions. Oceanbird is a proposed a 35,000-ton, 650-foot, transoceanic car carrier, powered mostly by wind, that can reduce carbon emissions by a claimed 90% compared to a conventional ship... 
Shelter-in-place orders early in the coronavirus pandemic caused a massive reduction in driving, and with that, a massive reduction in carbon emissions. But a new survey indicates that post-pandemic driving could undo that—and then some. While most respondents said they agreed that humanity was mainly or partly to blame for climate change... 
Porsche on Thursday revealed a handful of previously-secret concept cars, including a fresh-looking electric van. Set to be featured alongside other concepts in the upcoming book "Porsche Unseen," the Porsche Vision Renndienst concept was completed in 2018, but never shown to the public. The Vision Renndienst had seating for six with a central... 
Electrify America, the charging network created as part of the Volkswagen diesel-emissions settlement, has reached another milestone. The company announced on Tuesday that it had passed 500 charging sites since the opening of its first site in May 2018. The network now includes more than 2,200 individual DC fast-charging stations, according to... 
The BMW iNext electric SUV has been teased numerous times, but on Wednesday we finally got the first details of the production version, along with confirmation that the name will be shortened to BMW iX for the SUV's launch in late 2021, likely as a 2022 model. The iX has retained some of the styling of the original iNext concept car, including a... 
A name familiar to clean-car advocates has reportedly made the short list to lead the Environmental Protection Agency for the incoming Biden administration. Mary Nichols, currently head of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), was one of the names recommended to the Biden campaign for the EPA administrator post during the last stages of the... 
The company you probably once knew for its calculators and computers is still around—developing critical components for electric-car chargers. Texas Instruments is marketing a new generation of gallium nitride field-effect transistors (GaN FETs), which the company claims can double the power density of onboard chargers for electric cars... 
Ahead of the reveal of its E-Transit electric van, Ford released results of a survey showing that many consumers want delivery services to use electric vehicles. The survey was conducted by Ford and Google in the United States, Untied Kingdom, and Germany. Of Americans surveyed, 54% said they would choose an electric-powered delivery service over... 
Chinese automaker Nio on Friday unveiled its first 100-kilowatt-hour battery pack, which will be offered as a subscription-based upgrade to existing vehicles, with "pre-orders" opening November 7. This adds to Nio's "battery as a service" model that involves purchasing the vehicle but paying a monthly fee for the use of the battery pack. That was... 
Artificial intelligence (AI) could help speed up the development of electric-car batteries, according to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal. There is certainly no shortage of areas where engineers seek to improve on current lithium-ion batteries. Increased range, lower cost, and quicker charging times could speed up EV adoption, and they... 
British firm Swindon Powertrain has developed an electric conversion kit for the classic Mini. Available to order now and scheduled to ship in December, the kit includes one of Swindon's own electric motors (with peak output of 160 horsepower), mounted to a Mini front subframe with purpose-designed brackets. A CV joint housing that connects to the... 
Bentley plans to make its entire lineup plug-in hybrid or all-electric by 2026, and will switch entirely to battery-electric vehicles by 2030. Announced during an online press conference Wednesday, the electrification push is part of Bentley's plan to become "end-to-end" carbon neutral by 2030. That also includes lower the environmental impact of... 
Massachusetts voters on Tuesday approved an expansion of the state's 2012 "right to repair" law, and that could put makers of electric cars in an awkward position. The law is meant to ensure that individual owners and independent repair shops have the same access to parts, tools, and software as franchised dealerships. The new expansion of the law... 
Volkswagen plans to transition a Greek island entirely to electric vehicles powered by renewable energy. The automaker is working with the Greek government to turn Astypalea, in the southern Aegean Sea, into a "model island" for zero-emission transportation. The plan calls for a sharing service encompassing electric cars, e-scooters, and e-bikes... 
Diesel cars have historically been the default choice in Europe, but that is no longer the case. In September 2020, new-car registrations of electrified vehicles—including hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and all-electric cars—overtook diesel for the first time in Europe, according to analysis from consultancy JATO. It was only by a small... 
Mitsubishi was a fairly early adopter of plug-in hybrids, but lost the lead to other automakers. Now it appears the company is looking to make up ground. On Monday the automaker said it will launch a robust electrified-vehicle push—centering on plug-in hybrids. This is part of a broader plan to make electrified vehicles—including... 
Aston Martin will use Mercedes-Benz powertrain tech as part of an expanded agreement between the two automakers announced last week. In an interview with Automotive News published Sunday, Aston Martin CEO Tobias Moers explained what this means on the product level: that it will allow the automaker to electrify 20% of its fleet by 2024. Aston... 
Volvo on Monday announced a dedicated electric-motor lab in Shanghai. In combination with an existing center in Gothenburg, Sweden, this will allow future motor development to be done in-house, the automaker said in a press release. Developing motors in-house will allow work to be done in concert with other components, potentially leading to... 
Mitsubishi Corporation is investing in WiTricity, a company that sells wireless-charging systems for plug-in cars, WiTricity announced in a press release Thursday. The specific amount invested by Mitsubishi was not disclosed, but it was part of a recently-closed $34 million investment round, and was made through the Japanese corporate giant's... 
Volvo and sibling brand Polestar announced Thursday that they would sell emissions credits to Ford, allowing the American automaker to comply with European Union carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions rules. Under the rules, automakers must meet certain emissions-reduction targets, but automakers who surpass those targets receive credits, which can be...