EV startup Rivian, which has facilities in Michigan, California and Illinois, plans to introduce its first EV, a five-passenger pickup, in 2020, followed by a seven-passenger SUV. The company recently announced the appointment of five new executives. Mark Vinnels has joined the company as Executive Director of Engineering and Vehicle Programs. Prior to joining Rivian,… Read more »
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Yet another EV startup: Rivian buys Illinois Mitsubishi plant
Another secretive startup, another web site with pix of smiling multicultural techies and vaguely-worded flights of eloquence about redefining the automobile. But now Rivian Automotive has taken a concrete step towards realizing its dreams, buying a 2.4-million-square-foot former Mitsubishi factory in Normal, Illinois. According to county records, the company paid $2 million for the 500-acre… Read more »
Is it true that only 13 EVs currently qualify for a US tax credit?
Sometimes public policy gets skewered on the horns of a dilemma. The Buy American provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act are aimed at protecting US jobs (and national security) by making EVs with substantial amounts of battery components from “nations of concern”—namely China—ineligible for tax credits. That’s a worthy goal, but to a certain extent… Read more »
Amazon finds utility approvals to be the biggest EV charging infrastructure bottleneck
Many fleets are going electric, but to the best of our knowledge, none are doing so on the same scale as Amazon. The company says it’s now operating some 10,000 of the delivery trucks that it co-developed with Rivian, and it hopes to roll out 100,000 electric trucks by 2030. Building the trucks appears to… Read more »
Kia EV9 and Volvo EX30: Are they 2024’s most important EVs?
One’s a three-row midsize SUV under $60,000; the other’s a compact hatchback that starts in the mid-30s. Now we’ve driven both. Choosing “best of” or “most important” new cars is always dicey, and doubly so with electric vehicles. New entries are announced virtually every month, and picking the 2025 models that will be most important… Read more »
Companies test the latest and greatest EV charging technologies at CharIN’s annual Testival
The Charging Interface Initiative (CharIN), a non-profit standards association with over 300 global members, conducts an annual “Testival” at which vehicle OEMs and EVSE providers test the compatibility between specific EVs and charging stations. CharIN describes the event as “speed dating” for vehicles and chargers. The 2023 Testival North America, a three-day event hosted by… Read more »
New version of Chargeway EV routing app embeds real-time charger info for drivers
EV drivers shouldn’t have to understand kilowatts—or drive up to a dead charger. Chargeway has an answer for all that. The Chargeway EV charging app may still be the best electric-car idea you’ve never heard of. Not as well-known or as widely distributed as Plugshare or A Better Route Planner (ABRP), it remains among the… Read more »
As 2023 wanes, legacy automakers fall farther behind Tesla and BYD
Ever since Tesla’s 2003 founding, industry observers (and even the company’s own execs) have been predicting that the giant global automakers would respond to the new company’s challenge, produce their own compelling EVs, and surpass (or perhaps even acquire) the upstart. Two decades later, that scenario seems more unlikely than ever. As Tom Randall writes… Read more »
EVgo takes steps to promote better charger reliability, releases best practices guide
The bad news about public EV charging is everywhere you look—from trade publications like Charged to consumer mags and local newspapers. The good news is that charging operators are well aware of the reliability problems, and are taking steps to address them. In January, EVgo created a comprehensive maintenance program called EVgo ReNew, and has… Read more »
2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6: Korean Model 3 clone, or something else altogether?
Battery-electric sedans are a rare breed— that makes Hyundai’s striking Ioniq 6 a strong new entry. Quick, name all the battery-electric sedans for sale in the US—that aren’t Teslas. By our count, there’s only been one: the pricey, luxury Lucid Air. Now, there’s another: the 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 is on sale at your local… Read more »