As it did in previous decades, Honda has used another maker’s car to enter a new US segment. Honda is often known as the world’s largest maker of internal combustion engines—more than 14 million of them a year. It sells those engines in a variety of containers, from home generators and lawn mowers to ATVs… Read more »
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2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz: electric Microbus finally arrives
It’s instantly recognizable as a VW Bus, but what does it compete against? And will its allure last? The 2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz, an electric reinvention of VW’s 1960s Microbus, is finally here. After a seven-year wait, the high-style 3-row box on wheels will hit dealerships in November and December—with priority going to those dealers who… Read more »
New study: initial charging at high currents increases battery lifespan
Charging lithium-ion batteries at high currents just before they leave the factory is 30 times faster and increases battery lifespans by 50%, according to a study at the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center in California. Researchers at the center report in a study published in energy research journal Joule that giving batteries their first charge at unusually… Read more »
Honda to invest $65 billion in EVs over 7 years
Honda, like its larger compatriot Toyota, is a former environmental leader turned laggard. However, in both cases, we’ve been seeing indications that a new, slightly more EV-friendly strategy may be in the offing. Honda recently announced new investment of 10 trillion yen ($65 billion) in electrification, saying that it expects demand for battery EVs to… Read more »
Hexagon Purus teams with Hino to launch Tern electric truck
Norway-based EV systems supplier Hexagon Purus and Japanese vehicle manufacturer Hino Trucks, a Toyota subsidiary, have launched their electric truck brand, Tern, and its first model, the RC8 Class 8 tractor tailored for the US market. A product of a long-term agreement between the two companies valued at up to $2 billion, the Tern will… Read more »
Three perspectives on China’s EV industry (spoiler alert: legacy brands are toast)
Jeremiads lamenting China’s takeover of the global auto industry are everywhere these days. Three recent accounts stand out from the pack. These articles cover three different aspects of the tragic tale, but all are authoritative, fact-filled pieces written by journalists with first-hand knowledge of what’s going on in the Middle Kingdom, and I recommend that… Read more »
CATL warrants its new EV battery to last for a million miles or 15 years
More bad news for the ubiquitous anti-EV trolls: the million-mile EV battery is in sight. Chinese battery supplier CATL and bus maker Yutong have partnered to launch an EV battery that’s warranted to last 1.5 million km (932,000 miles) or 15 years. The new battery pack is designed to power commercial EVs such as buses… Read more »
Volkswagen quits Australian auto industry lobby over emissions standards
As regular Charged readers know, when it comes to EVs, legacy automakers tend to follow two tracks—while preparing for the transition, and telling the media about how committed they are to electrification, they simultaneously participate in trade groups that actively lobby against emissions standards and other pro-EV regulations. Volkswagen Australia has broken with this trend—the… Read more »
EVs reach 90% market share in Norway as the overall auto market falters
The days of ICE vehicles in Norway are numbered. Some years ago, the government set a goal of 100% electric sales by 2025, and that goal is well within sight. In the month of February, plug-in vehicles took 92.1% of the market, up from 90.1% year-on-year. Battery EVs took a 90% share, as recent tax… Read more »
AMCI’s real-world testing offers a metric to compare EV charging speeds
Reading PRs for new EVs, one might get the impression that charging speed is the most important metric there is. Unfortunately, automakers’ charging speed promises don’t amount to much. How fast a particular EV charges on a particular day depends on so many factors—battery state of charge, preconditioning, even ambient temperature—that the charging times quoted… Read more »