Volvo is paying plug-in hybrid drivers for all the electricity they use

2018 Volvo XC60 T8 R-Design with Polestar optimizationAs Volvo sees it, plug-in hybrids are the path toward achieving one of its high-aiming carbon-reduction goals—making fully electric cars half of its sales by 2025. To do so, the automaker plans to nudge its portion of PHEVs in the U.S. over the next 16 months, to 20 percent, up from about 4 percent today. But it also knows that plug-in...

Crowdfunded Aptera super-efficiency EV will use in-wheel motors

Aptera-Elaphe partnershipAptera, self-proclaimed builder of the world's most efficient passenger vehicle, is partnering with Elaphe Propulsion to bring in-wheel motor technology to its 1,000-mile electric two-seater. If Aptera rings a bell but you can't quite place it, it was a company that was seeking funding to build a hyper-efficient, three-wheel electric car way back...

Bosch uses pyrotechnics to boost battery safety

Bosch PyrofuseThe controlled explosion has been a staple of automotive safety for decades, but the supplier Bosch has found a new way to apply the fundamental technology behind airbag deployment to protect EV and hybrid drivers (and their rescuers) in the event of an accident. Bosch calls this a pyrofuse, and it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like: an...

Classic Morris marque returns with a futuristic commercial EV concept

 Morris JE commercial vanWhen Morris introduced the J-type van in 1948, it took Europe by storm, becoming one of the most ubiquitous delivery vehicles east of the Atlantic Ocean. In 2019, the newly reconstituted Morris Commercial wants to do it again, only with a twist. This is the Morris JE, and as its name suggests, it's a new take on the classic commercial van. This...