Ford Explorer Plug-In Hybrid released for Europe

2019 Ford Explorer Plug-In HybridFord made big news with its new Escape Hybrid and plug-in hybrid last Tuesday, but they weren't the only new plug-in SUVs the company announced. In the same announcement in Europe, the company revealed a new plug-in hybrid Explorer that will go on sale there later this year. DON'T MISS: 2020 Ford Explorer Hybrid signals the start of a big...

German prosecutors find collusion between automakers over diesel emissions

Exhaust emissions from tailpipe [photo: Simone Ramella, 2005, used under Creative Commons 2.0]The Mueller report may not show collusion between Russia and President Trump's campaign, but European anti-trust regulators say they have found collusion among German automakers to avoid cleaning up tailpipe emissions. On Friday, anti-trust regulators for the European Union charged BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen with colluding to block the...

Towing a camper with a Tesla Model X: Thank Elon for Superchargers!

Fred and Jenny Hooper's 2018 Tesla Model X camping with R-Pod trailer in Sanford, FloridaTowing a camper with an electric SUV may be the ultimate test of any fast-charger network. And, for one couple at least, Tesla has passed. “We were like pioneers in a Conestoga wagon,” says Fred Hooper a Pennsylvanian veterinarian, who, with his wife Jenny, just returned from a 7,700 mile, 45-day trip around the southeastern U.S. in a...

Commentary: Overdue for reform, EV tax credit needs reasonable limits

2019 Chevrolet Bolt EVNow that the federal plug-in tax credit has begun to wind down on the U.S.-made Chevrolet Bolt EV, members of Congress propose to do something about it. Democrats have proposed several bills in Congress to remove the manufacturer-based 200,000-car cap on the credits and extending them for 10 years, and a new proposal by California Democrat Ro...

Tesla unleashes driver warnings from Navigate on Autopilot

Tesla Model 3 dashboard in Autopilot testing with IIHS [CREDIT: IIHS]In a blog post on Thursday, Tesla announced that drivers will no longer have to approve lane changes when the car's Navigate on Autopilot system is engaged. It's a small step, but also a pretty big leap toward self-driving cars. Navigate on Autopilot is Tesla's "on-ramp to off-ramp" self-driving system, which allows its cars that have the feature...

Faraday Future joint venture to create electric MPV based on FF91

MPV designed by Faraday Future, for joint venture with The9Last month the troubled electric car hopeful Faraday Future was given (another) new lease on life, via a new joint venture with The9, a Chinese online game company, that will produce a new model for the Chinese market based on Faraday’s nearly mothballed FF91. It’s now a lot clearer what that vehicle, to be produced as soon as next...

Lucid Motors gets real as Saudi funding comes through

Lucid AIrThings just got real for Tesla competitor Lucid Motors. The company, which announced a $1 billion deal with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund last September, confirmed on Thursday that the investment is complete. That could make Lucid the most realistic competitor to Tesla yet, as it plans to bring its nearly fully developed Lucid Air to...

Ford electric SUV could meet 300-mile target, and then some

Ford crossover EV teaser photoFord has been teasing—even promising—a new Mustang inspired high-performance electric SUV, perhaps called Mach E or Mach 1, that it says will have a 300-mile range. Now the company has announced that the model has earned a 370-mile range rating in the generous European WLTP driving cycle. DON'T MISS: 2021 Ford Mach E: What we know...

Nio teases sleek ET7 coupe, to include next-generation power system

Teaser for Nio ET7 conceptNio, one of a handful of Chinese electric carmakers aiming to be Tesla competitors, just teased its next mass-market car, expected to debut at the Shanghai auto show later this month. Its latest car looks set to be a four-door luxury fast-back, perhaps similar to shadows of a car known as the EVE Vision shown in earlier Nio press materials as...

2019 full-size pickup truck mpg champs: Ford vs. Chevy vs. Ram

2018 GMC Sierra 1500With electric pickup trucks from Ford, GM, and others—including newcomers like Rivian—looking likely to arrive in the next few years, the truck field could be on the verge of a clean, quiet, tailpipe-emissions-free shakeup. That said, you wouldn’t know this segment as being poised on a revolution. Progress in the efficiency and...

Tesla reports sales down, citing delivery challenges in China and Europe

2019 Tesla Model 3 PerformanceTesla claims that its Model 3 electric sedan again in the first quarter of the year outsold all other mid-size sedans from what it considers premium brands—selling 60 percent more units than the closest runner-up. That’s the good news from the California electric car maker, in a production and deliveries update released Wednesday...