The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has reinstated a previously-enacted increase in penalties for automakers whose vehicles don’t meet fuel efficiency standards for model years 2019 and beyond. Federal fuel efficiency requirements have proven to be an effective incentive for legacy automakers to begin selling EVs (they have also saved drivers millions of dollars… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "Stellantis"
Ford to spin off its EVs into separate “Model e” business unit
Ford has announced plans to spin off its EV efforts as a separate business unit called Model e. Automakers often seem to choose names that we pundits dislike (see Stellantis and the Chevy Bolt), and this one is doubly daffy because of a historical association with a certain California-born carmaker. Tesla originally wanted to call… Read more »
Will Fiat’s new Panda take the title of least expensive EV?
If there’s one thing that the EV market sorely needs, it’s more low-priced, entry-level models, and rumor has it that an upcoming electric version of the Fiat Panda will be aimed at the unglamorous but potentially profitable bottom end of the market. We can only call this a rumor at this point, as Fiat’s web… Read more »
Factorial Energy raises $200 million for solid-state battery tech
Massachusetts-based solid-state battery developer Factorial Energy raised $200 million in a Series D funding round from Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis. It will use the funding for research and development, commercial production and the deployment of batteries with its Factorial Electrolyte System Technology (FEST) electrolyte. While Stellantis announced 2026 as its goal for introducing the first competitive… Read more »
Chrysler says it will go from no EVs to all EVs in six years
The current headlines assure us that automakers are “racing” to go electric (woohoo!), and it surely sounds like the race is on at Chrysler. The brand, which currently sells no pure EVs, has announced that it will make the transition to all-electric by 2028—one of the most ambitious timelines yet announced by any automaker. In… Read more »
EPA’s new emissions rules—the best EV news from Washington in years
The US Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a set of new auto emissions standards, which the New York Times calls “the most significant climate action taken to date by the Biden administration, and [the] highest level ever set for fuel economy.” The story so far: In 2017, major automakers asked the incoming US president to… Read more »
Tesla lobbies to increase penalties for automakers who don’t meet fuel economy standards
In the arcane world of federal fuel economy standards, automakers that fail to comply with the US Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements can buy emissions credits from an automaker that has excess credits to sell. This has turned into a lucrative side business for Tesla, the only company that has sold substantial amounts of… Read more »
2021 Jeep Wrangler 4xe: The legendary SUV brand’s first plug-in hybrid
The plug-in hybrid version of the Jeep Wrangler offers useful all-electric range and great electric torque—if drivers plug it in. Do they? The accelerating pace of electric vehicle launches has brought us to this: The first Jeep in the US to get a plug-in hybrid version is the legendary Wrangler. In Europe, it was smaller… Read more »
Tesla buyers offered a choice between LFP or NCA battery packs
For most car buyers, their technical automotive knowledge amounts to this: they know a car has an engine (or motor), and they want the biggest, most powerful one they can afford. Early-adopting EV buyers seem likely to be a little more knowledgeable, and Tesla is taking the unprecedented step of giving buyers a choice between… Read more »
Nissan aims to make BEVs 40% of US sales by 2030
Nissan has become the latest automaker to say it would like to sell more EVs in the US. The automaker announced its “intention” to make battery-electric cars over 40% of its US sales by 2030 (in addition to sales of hybrids and plug-in hybrids). Nissan also said that “every all-new Nissan vehicle offering in key… Read more »
