Battery costs have been falling for years, but the rising cost of raw materials is pushing them upward now. At least one CEO doesn’t see how EVs’ cost premium can be passed along to consumers. A big, 2-door Maybach electric concept goes rugged-posh. Toyota taking it slow with EVs, we look at what it plans to do with its Prime plug-in...
There will be future Prime plug-in hybrids from Toyota. Just don’t necessarily expect them to raise the bar for the genre quite like the RAV4 Prime. That’s among the takeaways from a recent check-in on Toyota’s electrification strategy with Cooper Ericksen, Toyota Motor North America VP for product planning and strategy. But...
Mercedes-Benz on Wednesday unveiled a very different kind of EV concept for its Maybach ultra-luxury sub-brand. The Project Maybach concept is an off-road coupe designed in partnership with the late fashion designer Virgil Abloh, who died earlier this week at the age of 41. The posthumously revealed concept combines exaggerated coupe proportions...
The added cost of manufacturing electric cars is "beyond the limits" for what the auto industry can sustain, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said in an interview with Reuters published Wednesday. EVs bring 50% additional cost over internal-combustion vehicles, Tavares said, adding that there is "no way" that added cost could be transferred to...
In order to produce affordable electric vehicles at scale, automakers need to both drive down battery costs and secure a stable supply of critical materials. For General Motors and its Ultium Cells LLC joint-venture battery plants with LG Energy Solution, that will be aided by plans announced Wednesday to form a joint venture between the automaker...
Global average battery prices fell 6% between 2020 and 2021, but they might be on the rise going forward, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance's (BNEF) annual battery price survey. Lithium-ion battery pack prices averaged $132 per kwh in 2021—down from $140 per kwh in 2020—and $101 per kwh on a cell basis, the report said...
Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis are investing in Massachusetts-based solid-state battery firm Factorial Energy, becoming the latest in a series of automakers to back development of solid-state batteries. Multiple solid-state battery firms have cropped up promising improvements in performance over the lithium-ion chemistry used in nearly all current...
New cars are packed with technology, but they lack style and personality.
Kia has provided a first look at a redesigned, second-generation Niro, plus a nod that this sustainability-focused crossover will again be offered in hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and fully electric versions starting next year. The company hasn’t provided any update on which of these models are U.S.-bound—or even how the Niro’s...
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell and Chinese EV firm Nio last week announced a cooperative agreement to expand charging and battery swapping stations in Europe and China. The agreement includes a network of co-branded battery swapping stations, starting with two pilot sites in China, the two companies said in press releases. Shell and Nio hope to...
