An annual energy report suggests that getting so many diesels off the world’s roads wasn’t a good thing for global energy efficiency. Germany approves bigger incentives for plug-in vehicles. An Australian company gives vintage Land Cruisers a new life as electric work trucks. And we’ve driven Polestar’s high-performance plug-in hybrid, the Polestar 1. This and more today at Green Car Reports. 

Polestar, the electric-car-focused brand that’s jointly owned by Volvo and Geely, has a very exclusive first vehicle that’s not a fully electric car but an exclusive plug-in hybrid performance car. Today we bring you our first drive of the Polestar 1.

Germany has approved a plan to increase subsidies for electrified vehicles. It’s a serious boost—a 50-percent increase from 2020 to 2025 that will push plug-in hybrid incentives from 3,000 to 4,500 euros ($3,300 to $5,000) per vehicle. 

The annual energy efficiency report from the IEA is out, and it points to some complex dynamics in the transportation sector in 2018. The popularity of SUVs and the aftermath of the VW diesel scandal both played a role. 

And an Australian company is converting old, gasoline-powered versions of a Toyota Land Cruiser we never got in the U.S. into ready-to-drive electric work trucks for use by mines and industrial applications, and then committing to maintain and support them. If it’s successful it could open up an untapped market for electric retrofitting, not just Down Under.

_______________________________________

Follow Green Car Reports on Facebook and Twitter