VW teases electric Microbus revival ahead of 2022 reveal, 2023 deliveries

Volkswagen ID.Buzz teaser, at ID.5 introductionVolkswagen on Wednesday teased a prototype version of its Microbus-inspired ID.Buzz electric van that could closely resemble a production version due for customer deliveries in 2023. A camouflaged ID.Buzz was shown briefly by Klaus Zellmer, head of marketing and sales for the VW brand globally, during the livestream of the ID.5 crossover reveal...

California EV incentive is getting smaller in November

2020 Bentley Bentayga HybridA California incentive for plug-in cars is about to be reduced by half. Effective November 2, the California Clean Fuel Reward (CCFR) for electric cars and plug-in hybrids will go from $1,500 to $750. The program, as recently noted by CarsDirect, requires delivery of a qualifying vehicle by November 1 if buyers want to claim the larger amount...

Range life: The 8 EVs EPA-rated for 300 miles or more

2021 Ford Mustang Mach-EThis week, Tesla lost its lead position in electric vehicle range, held since the 2012 arrival of the Model S. The Model S delivered 265 EPA miles back then, passed the 300-mile barrier in 2016, and now achieves 405 miles in Long Range form. But Silicon Valley rival Lucid Motors has rolled into the scene with its Air sedan, rated last week by the...

Sono is designing Sion solar EV to be a mobile home power bank

Sono Sion with wallboxMunich-based Sono Motors, which is working to bring its solar-supplemented Sion electric car to market for Europe, revealed last week that it is developing its own AC wallbox that will allow the car to be used as a mobile power bank or external home energy storage. While most other such units use the DC fast-charging connector, the Sion unit will...

Confusion brews as retro-style EV startup Alpha Motor turns on the charm

Boyt and Lijewski with Alpha Wolf conceptThe electric vehicle startup Alpha Motor Corporation posted a video this week that showed the “launch” of its Alpha Wolf electric pickup concept. In it, Joshua Boyt and Jay Lijewski appear together on stage, riffing on ideas the way we’ve seen Silicon Valley types and executives do in a wide range of product debuts. No titles are...

Rare GM EV1 electric car survivor converted to a hybrid, parked outside

General Motors EV1 at Howard University (Photo by LeaderoftheNew via Twitter)You never know where an interesting car might turn up. This rare General Motors EV1 has been hiding in plain site, parked outside behind Howard University's school of engineering in Washington, D.C., but was recently spotted by Twitter user Pepe Lucho (via DCist). The EV1 was leased to customers in California and a few other locations between 1998...