Charged with Electric Vehicle News and Views
A potential merger between Fiat Chrysler and Renault, which would have involved Japanese partners Nissan and Mitsubishi, is off the table. Fiat Chrysler withdrew the offer after Nissan, Renault's larger but junior partner withheld its support. A report in trade journal Automotive News (subscription required), noted that Nissan representatives... 
It's been six months since General Motors completed the sale of its Opel division in Europe to PSA Group, the French parent of the Citroën, DS, and Peugeot brands. With the sale came licenses to run out the model life of GM-designed vehicles sold as Opels (and Vauxhalls in the U.K.) while PSA developed successors on its own underpinnings. Now... 
It's a high-level troll, and an expert one. French president Emmanuel Macron announced in December that his country would offer grants totaling $70 million to 18 climate scientists, 13 from the U.S., to continue their research until U.S. president Donald Trump leaves office. The money is meant to give these researchers secure funding to continue... 
France followed two other European countries—Norway and the Nethelands—with a plan to ban the sale of new cars powered by gasoline and diesel by 2040. While the country will stick to the 2040 timeline, France's capital city of Paris announced a more aggressive timeline. Ten years ahead of the country as a whole, Paris will phase out... 
Ask a North American driver to name companies that make electric cars, and you'll probably hear Tesla, maybe Nissan, and perhaps Chevy or BMW or Toyota. Chinese drivers may be more likely to say BYD (and perhaps Tesla), but Europeans will likely name Renault. (And Tesla.) The Renault Zoe, now in its fifth year but entirely unknown to U.S. and... 
To most North Americans, the idea of banning all vehicles with internal-combustion engines seems unthinkable. Filling up with gasoline (or diesel) is as American as are dispersed low-density suburbs without mass transit, bike paths, or even sidewalks. Europeans, more of whom live in cities and most of whom have access to a more balanced set of... 
When the updated 2017 Renault Zoe was unveiled last fall at the Paris auto show, it became one of the few electric cars whose range effectively doubled over its model life. Launched in 2012 with a 22-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery, the five-door subcompact hatchback had an effective range of 60 to 90 miles. That was essentially on par with that...