Tesla plans to drastically reduce staffing at its Nevada Gigafactory due to the coronavirus crisis, the local county manager said on Thursday. “Tesla has informed us that the Gigafactory in Storey County is reducing on-site staff by roughly 75% in the coming days,” Austin Osborne said in a post on the county’s web site. A… Read more »
Bollinger Motors has unveiled its patent-pending E-Chassis, a Class 3 electric platform designed for commercial applications. “When we first built our Class 3 B1, we knew there was a commercial aspect to the platform,” says CEO Robert Bollinger. “Not only cab-on-chassis, but entirely new truck bodies can fit on our E-Chassis, and help propel the… Read more »
The US Army has been tentatively testing EV technology for some time. Electrification offers opportunities to streamline the military’s logistics tail and to improve its mobility and reach, and the process needs to move faster, a general with Army Futures Command told Defense News in a recent interview. “Let’s be clear. We’re behind. We’re late… Read more »
As auto plants around the world shut down or shift to producing ventilators, Polestar, the performance EV brand owned by Volvo (which is in turned owned by Geely), announced that production of the Polestar 2 would begin this week at its plant in Luqiao, China. The company is taking stringent health precautions: at the factory,… Read more »
Nissan was an early EV pioneer, but although the LEAF is still a common sight on the streets, sales have been flat in the US. In Japan, however, things look different. According to Nikkei, the LEAF and Nissan’s hybrid models accounted for 25% of sales in fiscal 2018, and the company aims to expand this… Read more »
Ohio is one of several US states that impose taxes on EVs that are far higher than the amount paid in gas taxes by a typical driver of a legacy vehicle. A recently introduced bill aims to change that. Ohio’s current EV tax, which was enacted in 2019, imposes an annual fee of $200 on… Read more »
New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) have announced that over $24 million is available to replace diesel-powered transit buses with new all-electric buses. As part of the state’s $128-million allocation from the federal Volkswagen Settlement, NYSERDA will invest $18.4 million to fund… Read more »
Cold weather poses a challenge for EVs (though hardly a deal-breaker, as thousands of Norwegian drivers can attest). Not only does battery performance take a hit in low temperatures, but the resistance heating systems used in most EVs consume power, reducing range. Tesla has addressed that issue with the design of the Model Y, which… Read more »
Editor’s note: This information is current as of the evening of March 19. Further updates may follow. After several days of contradictory information, and what appears to have been a valiant attempt to keep the vehicle production lines open, Tesla issued the following statement Thursday: Despite taking all known health precautions, continued operations in certain… Read more »
Yellow-machine builder Case has unveiled a new all-electric backhoe, which it claims performs as well as a diesel while saving up to 90% in operating costs. “The CASE 580 EV (electric vehicle) delivers backhoe power and performance equivalent to its diesel counterpart while also providing instant torque, lower jobsite noise, lower daily and lifetime operating… Read more »