We can’t let Europe and China have all the fun—EV sales in North America’s EV capital, California, are finally taking off. According to the California New Car Dealers Association, some 53,261 plug-in vehicles were sold in the Golden State in the first quarter of 2021, representing 10.8% of the total auto market. The pandemic was… Read more »
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New CarGurus survey shows rising consumer interest in EVs
Over the years, we’ve seen many surveys of consumer sentiment about EVs, but this one feels different. E-mobility has been getting a lot of press lately, and consumers, auto dealers and automakers are a lot better informed than they were a year or two ago. In February 2021, CarGurus surveyed 1,097 automobile owners in the… Read more »
Slow fleet turnover means ICE vehicles could be on the roads for decades
Sales of EVs are growing—in some ahead-of-the-curve markets, plug-ins are outselling internal-combustion vehicles—and countries and regions around the world are announcing deadlines to phase out fossil-burners. However, as a recent New York Times article points out, it could take years, if not decades, before electrification leads to substantial reductions in emissions. The problem, ironically, is… Read more »
Honda hopes to go electric in North America by 2040, will develop solid-state batteries
Have the last two holdouts among major automakers just hopped on the electric bandwagon, or are they just indulging in some fast-follower greenwashing? Following Toyota’s announcement of a new line of battery-electric vehicles, Honda now says it plans to make battery-electric and fuel cell vehicles 100% of its North American sales by 2040. There are… Read more »
Hino speeds production timeline for its Class 4-8 electric trucks
Hino Trucks, a subsidiary of Toyota, is accelerating the production timeline for its suite of battery-electric vehicles. The new Class 4-8 electric trucks are now slated to go into low-volume production in Q4 2022 and full production by the end of 2023. The company originally planned to have its BEV range in production by 2024,… Read more »
Can the global battery supply chain keep up with anticipated EV demand?
As global demand for EVs increases, many are questioning the adequacy of the existing battery supply chain. A recent article in Transport Dive discusses the challenges involved in building a global supply chain that can keep up with the anticipated growth in EV production. Elon Musk said in October that a shortage of battery cells… Read more »
Machine learning could lead to durable fast-charging batteries
Scientists at Stanford University are harnessing machine learning (ML) to design better batteries. In addition to using ML to speed up scientific analysis by looking for patterns in data, the researchers combined it with knowledge gained from experiments and equations guided by physics to discover and explain a process that shortens the lifetimes of fast-charging… Read more »
Heavy-duty electric trucks start to appear in fleets
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 »
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 »