The Volkswagen Group is by far the most charged of the legacy automakers—it’s making massive investments in electrification, converting entire factories to EV production, and rolling out fast charging networks across the US and Europe. Chairman Herbert Diess recently won an important vote of confidence from the company’s board, which agreed to back his ambitious… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "dealerships "
Recurrent raises seed money to fund its independent reports on used EVs
Recurrent, a Seattle-based startup that provides independent reports on the condition of used EV batteries, has raised $3.5 million to power its business. The startup officially launched in September to offer third-party reports on the battery life and range of used EVs to help car buyers make purchase decisions. Recurrent says it has more than… Read more »
Shoppers buy more EVs if they understand charging—and now there’s proof (exclusive first look)
New-car salespeople have simple motivations: They want to spend the least time selling you a new car for the highest possible commission. You buy a new car every five years or so; they sell up to 25 cars a month. They make money on the difference in knowledge. That makes electric cars a problem: they… Read more »
Volvo Trucks pilots VNR Electric truck at California dealership
Volvo Trucks North America has deployed its first pilot VNR Electric truck in Southern California as part of the Volvo LIGHTS (Low Impact Green Heavy Transport Solutions) project—a collaboration with the South Coast Air Quality Management District and 13 other organizations to develop a blueprint to scale up the adoption of battery-electric trucks. The first… Read more »
The war is over: Nissan to switch from CHAdeMO to CCS in US and Europe
Fight fans have been following the fortunes of the competing DC fast charging standards, CHAdeMO and CCS, for the past several years, but it’s been apparent for a while that the tide of the struggle has turned. When we reported on recently released figures from the DOE showing that the two standards account for similar… Read more »
VW to shift to dealer agency model for EV sales
It’s no secret that auto dealerships are a major bottleneck for EV sales. Legacy automakers may cast an envious eye on Tesla’s direct-to-customer sales model, but they cannot practically (or legally) cut the dealers out of the equation. Now Volkswagen may have found a way to solve this dilemma, at least in Germany. VW has… Read more »
Seven future electric pickup trucks. Maybe.
Over the first 10 years of their existence, most modern battery-electric cars have been compact hatchbacks or Teslas. While a few are marketed as crossover utility vehicles, none have been the full-size pickup trucks that make up a huge and very profitable segment of US vehicle sales. That’s about to change. What follows is a… Read more »
Colorado to allow direct sales model—good news for Tesla and Rivian
The tedious and complicated war between Tesla and the auto dealers continues to drag on. At present, the country is a patchwork—some states explicitly allow Tesla’s direct sales model, some explicitly prohibit it, and in others some sort of compromise has been reached. Tesla recently won an important battle in Michigan, and now it appears… Read more »
Porsche announces base version of Taycan EV
As anticipation builds for Porsche’s upcoming Taycan EV, the company has announced a third, entry-level version. The Taycan 4S will be available with two battery sizes: the Performance Battery, with total capacity of 79.2 kWh and power of up to 522 hp (390 kW); and the Performance Battery Plus, with 93.4 kWh and 563 hp… Read more »
2020 Chevy Bolt to offer 259 miles of range
Starting with model year 2020, the Chevy Bolt will offer an EPA-estimated range of 259 miles, a 21-mile increase over previous model years. Chevy says its battery engineering team improved the cell electrodes by making small changes to the cell chemistry, which allowed them to increase the vehicle range without needing to change the physical… Read more »