Tesla push for 5,000 Model 3s per week left many unfinished

Tesla Model 3 all-wheel drive Performance rolls off a new assembly line in a temporary structureAt the end of June, Tesla pushed hard to finish 5,000 Model 3s a week. It may have pushed too hard. New internal documents acquired and reported by Business Insider show that of the 5,031 cars produced in the last week of June, 4,300 had some problem that required rework. In auto industry terminology, the percentage of cars that pass company...

2019 Chevy Cruze’s upcoming CVT rated at 33 mpg combined

2019 Chevrolet CruzeFuel economy estimates posted to the EPA's website for the redesigned 2019 Chevrolet Cruze show some changes—plus a big surprise. The latest ratings reveal that the EPA has certified a gas-fueled Cruze with a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) that boosts city fuel economy estimates by 2 mpg compared with the 6-speed...

Volkswagen fires six managers over diesel emissions cheating

Volkswagen TDI diesel vehicles owned by Phil Grate and family, Seattle, WashingtonVolkswagen plans to fire six engineers and managers implicated in the diesel emissions scandal, German media reports noted Wednesday. The dismissals are because prosecutors have recently unsealed evidence of the employees' involvement in the wide-ranging Volkswagen scandal, according to a report by The Associated Press. German prosecutors have...

2019 Honda Insight hybrid earns IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award

2019 Honda InsightIn its latest round of safety tests, the IIHS has awarded the 2019 Honda Insight hybrid its Top Safety Pick+ award. The Top Safety Pick+ is the Institute's highest award, given to cars that perform well in a wide battery of crashes, headlight evaluations, and automatic emergency braking tests. The 2019 Insight aced all of the insurance...

Ford recalls Focus Electric, Fusion Energi, and C-Max Energi charge cords

charging cord for 2012 Ford Focus ElectricFord announced a recall on Wednesday of the 120-volt charge cords supplied with nearly all of the plug-in hybrid and electric cars it built through 2015. The cars affected include the 2012 to 2015 Focus Electric, the 2013 to 2015 Ford C-Max Energi, and the 2013 to 2015 Ford Fusion Energi. Ford says that if the included charge cords are plugged...

Gas guzzling now A-OK, Trump administration says

Oil well (photo by John Hill)Following news that the EPA dropped plans to keep boosting fuel-economy standards, it quietly dropped another bombshell: It's now fine to guzzle gas. Burn as much as you want. According to an AP report carried by the Detroit News, the Energy Department quietly released the news online in a memo in July in support of freezing fuel economy...

Lots of Teslas spill all over Northern California

Tesla factory, Fremont, CaliforniaWatching Tesla—and Teslas—has become practically a spectator sport, especially for those who live near the factory. As production of the company's most popular car, the Model 3, has ramped up that sport has become easier—at least for people in the San Francisco Bay Area. It seems all that production has outstripped the company's...

Van builder Workhorse unveils hybrid helicopter

Workhorse Surefly helicopterSometimes building electric cars may be about more than building electric cars. At an event in New York City last weekend, Workhorse, which is known for converting delivery vans to plug-in hybrid power, aimed a little higher. It revealed a hybrid helicopter, according to an Ars Technica report. The company says it has reinvented the helicopter...

EPA plans to roll back emissions standards on power plants

Smokestacks pollution air qualityAfter wiping out plans to continue boosting fuel economy standards earlier this month, the EPA on Tuesday proposed rolling back emissions standards on electric power plants. The new proposed rule, which the EPA calls the "Affordable Clean Energy" rule, would eliminate Obama-era standards that would have required power plants to reduce carbon...

XL trucks’ Ford F-250 Hybrid gets California approval

XL Hybrids Ford F-250 XL3 HybridThere's no way to save more fuel than to do it in something that already uses a lot of it. That's what XL Hybrids aims to do by adding hybrid and even plug-in hybrid systems to Ford pickups. On Tuesday, the Massachusetts-based "upfitter" announced that it received certification to sell its F-250 Hybrid in California, which has stricter emissions...

How much would you spend on an electric car? Take our Twitter poll

Electrify America 350 kw chargers at Home Depot in Chicopee, Mass.Prices on electric cars are going up. Several factors account for this. For starters, tax credits on electric cars from the two most popular electric-car makers, Tesla and Chevrolet, which is raising effective prices. An even bigger factor raising average prices for electric cars may be the fact that a host of new models are coming from luxury...

New report inside Tesla factory says Model 3 production improving

Tesla Model 3 all-wheel drive Performance rolls off a new assembly line in a temporary structureA new independent report from inside Tesla's Fremont factory shows production of the Model 3 is becoming sustainable. The report, from automotive analysts Eversource ISI Research in London and first carried in FT Alphaville, shows Model 3 production improving, and that the new General Assembly line 4 is making a significant contribution. Tesla...

Saudi investment fund reportedly wants stake in Lucid Motors

Lucid AirThe Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund may be planning to buy a stake in potential Tesla rival Lucid Motors, according to a Reuters report. Tesla CEO Elon Musk suggested last week that he had held talks with the same Saudi investment fund. The report says that the fund has drawn up a term sheet to invest $500 million in Lucid. It could invest up...

2019 Ford Fusion Energi gets longer electric range

2019 Ford Fusion EnergiFord is boosting the battery size and electric range of its Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid sedan for 2019. The new battery will store 9 kwh, up from 7 kwh, to give the 2019 Fusion Energi a range of 25 electric miles, up from 21 miles. The bigger battery should make the Fusion Energi more competitive with alternatives such as the Toyota Prius Prime...