Charged has been reporting on electric trucks for a decade, but the electrification of real-world fleets has been frustratingly slow, and several would-be e-truck builders have gone bust waiting for fleet operators to conduct years-long pilots. Now we’re finally starting to see some large orders. Will 2021 be the year of the electric truck? A… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "Toyota"
2022 Bolt EUV model that Chevy calls an SUV joins an updated Bolt EV priced from $31,995
For 2022, the Chevrolet Bolt lineup will expand from one to two models, with a new, so-called SUV version added alongside the original hatchback. Importantly, the Bolt siblings will take on a new role as the most affordable entries in a lineup of Chevrolet electric vehicles expected to grow significantly by 2025. Chevy dubs its… Read more »
Who’s behind the current wave of hype about hydrogen?
Hydrogen fuel cells are controversial—several automakers, including Daimler, Honda, GM and Volkswagen, have abandoned the technology, while Toyota continues to pursue it. Hydrogen opponents cite its inefficiency relative to batteries, and question the wisdom of building a complex and costly new infrastructure. On the other hand, many believe that hydrogen may have a role to… Read more »
Government of Canada launches Hydrogen Strategy
Most automakers may have rejected hydrogen as an energy storage medium for passenger vehicles (Toyota is the notable exception), but the technology may yet find applications for industrial processes, and in other forms of transportation such as aviation and shipping. Some envision the lightest element as a medium to store energy from intermittent renewable sources,… Read more »
Discoveries highlight new possibilities for magnesium batteries
Magnesium batteries have long been considered a potentially safer and less expensive alternative to lithium-ion batteries, but previous versions have been severely limited in the amount of power they delivered. Researchers from the University of Houston and the Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA) reported in Nature Energy that they have developed a new… Read more »
Comparing 10 Leading EV Motors
Who Wins Out? Munro & Associates’ Analysis of Today’s Leading EV Electric Motors Ever wonder how today’s EV motors stack up against each other? Going beyond traditional product benchmarking, Munro & Associates Inc. has analyzed and compared 10 leading EV motors and developed a comprehensive side-by-side comparison report. Designed to help automakers and suppliers effectively… Read more »
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E first drive report
Ford’s first real EV turns out to be a serious contender from Day One, due to striking looks and universal name recognition. Sitting in the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E as it fast-charged in a Walmart parking lot, a grinning middle-aged man approached. The Mach-E attracts attention—thumbs-up in traffic, stares on the highway—so we figured he… Read more »
New emissions scandal? Tests show PHEVs emit more pollution than claimed
Sometimes it seems automakers will try any powertrain technology in order to avoid selling battery-electric vehicles. First diesels, then hydrogen, were touted as ways to reduce CO2 emissions while still maintaining the fill-er-up-with-fossil-fuel business model (and continuing to crank out the colossal SUVs that carmakers claim consumers crave). Many electric purists have long suspected that… Read more »
GM changes course, no longer backs Trump’s crusade against California emissions rules
Elections have consequences. GM has announced it will reverse course, and no longer back the Trump administration’s effort to bar California from setting its own emissions rules. GM CEO Mary Barra said in a letter to environmental groups that the company is “immediately withdrawing from the preemption litigation and inviting other automakers to join us.”… Read more »
Tesla’s success is “a combination of thousands of heroic feats that no one knows about” (book excerpt)
A new excerpt from Tesla: How Elon Musk and Company Made Electric Cars Cool, and Remade the Automotive and Energy Industries, Edition 4.1. An inside look at the early days David Havasi was a car guy from birth. He grew up near Auburn Hills, and his dad worked in the auto industry. “My childhood was… Read more »