E-Mobility

The delivery date announcement of the first Tesla Model Y made in Germany comes a week after Tesla received the final approval for its new Gigafactory near the capital of Germany, which is why the American automaker has planned a special delivery day event to celebrate this important milestone.

Volkswagen has now completed its event for the long-anticipated all-electric adaptation of its iconic mini-bus, although the actual global launch onto the market of the ID. Buzz and Buzz Cargo has understandably been delayed. However, we do now know more about their specs and features, their charging and battery capacities included.

If the price of nickel goes from US$20,000 to US$50,000, this adds US$1580 in costs to the typical 60 kWh electric vehicle battery pack, and the price of the metal briefly touched US$100,000 due to the sanctions levied on Russia. Tesla's move to bet on cheaper iron-based LFP batteries for its Model 3 and Model Y looks rather smart now.

Fiido touts its next upcoming product, the Beast, as a cross between an electric scooter and a go-kart. This is because the vehicle has a seat as well as a footboard. It is powered by a sizeable, removable battery and runs on "professional" off-road tires. The OEM is previewing its imminent launch via Indiegogo at present.

The Dance electric bike subscription service is coming to new cities across Europe, including Vienna and Paris. Dance has also announced a new electric moped available to riders in Germany.

Tern has revealed the Quick Haul electric bike series. The new cargo bikes have a lower price point than their predecessors and are accompanied by a range of modular accessories.

E-scooter brand Gogoro has unveiled new solid-state battery technology for two-wheeled EVs. The lithium ceramic battery prototype was developed with ProLogium and will be reverse compatible with existing vehicles that are Gogoro-powered.

Volkswagen has teased the interior of its long-awaited electric bus ahead of its imminent debut. The ID. Buzz is thus revealed as a vehicle finished with a selection of sustainable upholstery and material choices with "intelligent" Easter eggs and features.

Besides an improved range, the new and upgraded model variant Mercedes EQA 250+ also has slightly more torque, but it is also considerably more expensive than the EQA 250 base model.

A short 20 minute stop at a Tesla Supercharger ended with a shock for a Chinese Model 3 owner who was suddenly confronted with a preposterous charge of more than half a million dollars.

Volocopter has raised US$170 million to help it launch its electric air taxi service. The company will use the funds for due diligence required before it can share its service with customers. Volocopter hopes to offer commercial flights by 2024.

An issue with the new 2022 Model 3 and Model Y LFP batteries has left drivers stranded without a charge in both the main and the auxiliary 12V packs. The LFP battery calibration may be the culprit and Tesla now recommends that all owners who got the early Model 3 deliveries charge to 100% at least once a week to remedy the problem.

Rivian increased the pricing of its flagship quad-motor R1T electric pickup model to US$79,500 from US$67,500 without the destinations charges. Facing a backlash and mass cancellations by those who preordered, it has now walked back the price increase for them with an apology.

Segway has unveiled the Ninebot KickScooter D series. Three electric scooters are in the range, travelling up to 24 miles (38 km) between charges.

The person who singlehandedly created the electric vehicle revolution with its Tesla brand of electric car is now calling for more fossil fuels. Elon Musk claims that, in order to achieve energy independence to offset the current oil and gas supply disruption, the U.S. needs to pump more fossil fuels out of the ground.

Honda and Sony are exploring a joint venture to manufacture electric vehicles. The deal is not yet finalised, with a plan to have the first model ready to sell in 2025.

European models of Audi's compact all-electric SUV Q4 e-tron will get faster charging, numerous software improvements for the infotainment system as well as an optional optics package with black trim elements.

Samsung has started developing its own dual-stack OLED display technology to counter the LG technological advancements in the realm. Called the T-series, for tandem, the new Samsung dual-stack OLED tech will bring much longer lifespan suitable for automotive applications.

Autonomous driving technology, AutoMode, has been unveiled by Kia. The company plans to launch this software in the EV9 SUV, which will launch in 2023, with a planned roll out to other vehicles later.

With a matt white paint job accentuated by black trim elements, the appearance of Ken Block's private Audi RS e-tron GT is reminiscent of a stormtrooper from the Star Wars universe.

Polestar has revealed a new electric concept car, the O2. The hardtop convertible has unusual features, such as an integrated drone, and has been designed with sustainability as a priority.

Porsche's upcoming flagship sedan could feature three seating rows with space for up to seven passengers, which could turn it into a viciously fast and, according to the chief designer, revolutionary electric vehicle.

Buoyed by the success of its Mustang Mach-E and F-150 electric vehicles, Ford today split into two new completely different companies - Model E for EVs, and Ford Blue for gas-guzzlers. The word play is on the iconic Model T that started the Ford story as we know it.

Stellantis has revealed the design of the first all-electric Jeep at a recent presentation. The vehicle is due to launch next year and is expected to be smaller than the Jeep Renegade.

Rivian's flagship quad-motor AWD R1T electric pickup model now starts from the whopping US$79,500 instead of the US$67,500 it cost the other day, and that's without the destinations charges. As if to soothe that drastic price increase, Rivian introduced two cheaper RWD models with smaller batteries, but for a 2024 delivery.

The ambitious CEO of the American manufacturer plans to modify the Lightning Strike superbike so it becomes the world's fastest electric motorcycle and can break the land speed record for electric two-wheelers which currently stands at 218 mph.

After the Volkswagen ID.Life, which may officially be called the VW ID.2, looked quite futuristic but also rather bland in its first pictures, a graphic designer has now given the upcoming electric compact car from Germany a more traditional look.

As some police departments around the US add more and more Tesla Model Y vehicles to their respective fleet, others are rather critical of the progressing EV transition as these electric cars are supposedly "too small" and "not designed for police work".

The Dongfeng E70 electric sedans were announced as the world's first commercially available electric vehicles with a solid-state battery when they were delivered as part of a taxi fleet. Now the energy density of the E70's battery pack and its range on a charge have been outed, and they are pretty run-of-the-mill.

Toyota has recently revealed that the batteries it has built through a joint venture with Panasonic retain over 90% of its capacity after ten years. The company has also announced a free charging deal for US customers in partnership with EVGo.

The Tesla Model S and Model X batches produced in North America after mid-February will come without a front radar to augment Tesla's self-driving mode. The more popular Model 3 and Model Y already moved to the cheaper Tesla Vision camera-only solution last May.

Tesla makes at least US$10,000 per electric vehicle sold and this is the strategy that Ford's CEO Jim Farley wants to replicate while executing its own US$50 billion 2030 electrification plan. The other electric carmaker that Ford's CEO admires is NIO which currently beats Tesla at the specs-for-price game with the ET7 performance sedan and its semi-solid state battery option.

In part due to the historic significancy of Tesla's very first electric car, an early and well-kept 2008 Tesla Roadster has now reached a record price as a collector apparently agreed to pay more than a quarter of a million dollars for the original model of the iconic electric two seater.

Tesla's well-established Supercharger network would be a willing participant in the Infrastructure Bill's US$7.5 billion effort to build 500,000 EV charging stations nationwide. In comments sent to the FHA, however, Tesla notes that it'd like its exclusive Supercharger stations to get the same grant treatment as any public stations it builds where non-Tesla cars can be charged.

The loss of cellular connectivity of older Tesla Model S vehicles will disable certain remotely controlled functions, which can be prevented by scheduling the affected electric car for a relatively fairly-priced US$200 LTE modem upgrade.

Tesla is working to bring the full Steam game portfolio to its cars' infotainment systems, some of which are already powered by AMD Ryzen and RDNA 2 GPUs capable of delivering PlayStation 5 level of gaming performance. Asked whether the Cybertruck will be able to run Cyberpunk 2077, too, Tesla's CEO answered "100%."

Firefighting efforts to quell the flames on the burning Felicity Ace ship full of luxury vehicles are complicated by the fact that electric car battery fire can't be easily put out with water. The SMIT Salvage company hired to save the burning ship says they've never had a case like that before due precisely to the electric cars on board.

Volkswagen's talks with Huawei to purchase its autonomous driving unit are reportedly already in the haggling stage regarding the price of acquisition. Huawei recently unveiled the first vehicle that runs on its HarmonyOS platform and VW intends to make it a Tier 1 supplier of autonomous driving solutions for its own electric cars.

The German Federal Motor Vehicle Transport Authority did not provide any reasons for the new investigation and only noted that this specific automatic function of Tesla's autopilot and full self-driving technology may not be permitted in Europe.

The Apple Car's autonomous driving subsystem processing power has reportedly been tasked to the Apple Silicon department responsible for the A15 or M1 chipsets. Apple is apparently developing the self-driving chip for its car project in partnership with Korean OSAT (outsourced semiconductor package test) companies just as it did for the M1 processor.

Buoyed by the generous U.S. government incentives and a growing electric vehicles market in America, Ford's two upcoming U.S. battery factories are now expected to start mass production three months ahead of schedule. Ford's battery partnership with Korea's SK Group - Blue Oval SK - has reportedly already started ordering the Kentucky battery plant equipment.

An off-road hydrogen car racing series, Extreme H, has been announced. The event will accompany the existing Extreme E electric car racing championship from 2024, with a prototype of the racing vehicle expected early next year.

Ford Mustang Mach-E now occupies the top spot in Consumer Reports' electric car rankings for 2022. Ford's premier EV beat the Tesla Model 3 to come out on top. Compared to Mach-E, Model 3 faltered in self-driving safety and the steering wheel, among other factors.

After being denied to board the plane for her flight from Orlando to New York, the apparently intoxicated woman decided to use her US$1,500 motorized suitcase to evade a police officer who was surprised about the speed of the drivable piece of luggage.

The BMW Mini Cooper SE has been earning good reviews owing to its affordable price and decent feature set. The main criticisms, however, include the limited range of the car, small battery size, and no Android Auto support. BMW is all-set to launch the Mini Cooper SE in India on February 24, though all of the first 30 units have already been booked.

Reverse Summon, an upgrade to the Tesla Autopilot's Smart Summon option, is reportedly getting closer to release and the Tesla engineers in charge are working on three smart parking options owners can pick from. One of the Reverse Summon auto-parking choices could be to drop you off close to your building entrance before your Tesla drives off to park itself.

Intel is among the U.S. companies that believes Israel could be the next major semiconductor hub and is now growing its presence in the region with the acquisition of Tower Semiconductor. The move also helps Intel increase the production capacity as related to the IFS initiative.

Some fans argue that buying a luxury electric car does not align with the anti-capitalist and socialist views of the popular political commentator HasanAbi, while some even call the successful Twitch streamer a hypocrite. However, the Porsche Taycan is not his first extravagant purchase that has caused some controversy.

A number of Rivian executives in charge of production and battery development have visited Korea recently to prepare for a pilot production run in local facilities. After the battery development and production partnership with Samsung fell through, Rivian was reportedly still left with Korean suppliers as the only option to gain know-how and speed its American battery factory plans.

Volkswagen's CEO Herbert Diess is of the opinion that Level 3 autonomous driving definitely requires a LiDAR in addition to the cheaper cameras-only solution that, say, Tesla uses for its Full Self-Driving Beta mode. Elon Musk, however, is on record saying that he'd be 'shocked' if the FSD Beta doesn't achieve better safety vision than human drivers this year.