Waitlist opens for $40,000 Lightyear 2 solar car due in 2025

Waitlist announced for Lightyear 2 solar car due in 2025.Lightyear has opened a waitlist for its second solar-assisted EV model, which aims for a lower price point and something much closer to mass-market appeal. Straightforwardly called Lightyear 2, this new model is scheduled to start production by the end of 2025 with a base price of approximately $40,000, according to a Lightyear press release. The...

EV range-boosting heated seat belt is a mass-market first

ZF Heat Belt - heated seat belt for EVsYou might already have heated seats and possibly a heated steering wheel in your vehicle. Are you ready for a heated seat belt? That’s what ZF, one of the world’s top automotive suppliers, announced this past week at CES. The innovation is focused toward electric vehicles. While it might sound extravagant and unnecessary, ZF has a...

Ram confirms range-extended EV, considers fuel-cell HD trucks

Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept  -  CES 2023 As Ford and GM appear poised to go big on a range of battery electric full-size pickups, Stellantis and its Ram brand are readying more than BEVs as they shift to cleaner trucks. The range of Ram possibilities that became a little clearer last week, surrounding the reveal of the Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept at CES, includes an electric...

Vinfast details smaller VF 6 and VF 7, confirms US VF 8 deliveries

Vinfast VF 8Vinfast has delivered its first VF 8 electric SUVs to U.S. customers, and it plans to open reservations for the VF 6 and VF 7 follow-up models in March, the company announced at CES in Las Vegas last week. The first 100 VF 8 EVs were delivered in Vinfast's home country of Vietnam in September 2022. Vinfast now says the first U.S. customer cars...

Mercedes plans own EV fast-charging network, starting with America

Mercedes-Benz EV charging networkMercedes-Benz aims to have its own EV fast-charging network in place by the end of the decade, focusing on North America initially and expanding to other major markets like Europe and China. Construction will start this year in the U.S. and Canada, Mercedes announced at CES in Las Vegas this past week. The automaker wants to have more than 400...

BMW i Vision Dee concept: Back to basics for future electric sedan?

BMW i Vision Dee conceptBMW is developing a new family of EVs dubbed "Neue Klasse," German for "New Class," and provided a glimpse of the design direction of those cars with the BMW i Vision Dee concept. Unveiled at CES in Las Vegas, the i Vision Dee is a compact sedan with what BMW calls a "reductive design" that seems to us to be a throwback to the E30 3-Series. Like...

Sony-Honda EV takes form with new prototype, Afeela brand

Afeela electric sedan prototypeThe Sony and Honda's EV joint venture came into greater focus this week at CES, where the two companies unveiled a new prototype and confirmed Afeela as the brand name for the venture. Looking a bit different from the Sony Vision-S concept first shown in 2020, the sleek prototype previews a production model scheduled to begin pre-orders in 2025...