synd-vehicle-history

  • 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf, first drive, New York City, April 2017

    As VW gears up to begin selling its new ID line of electric cars, supplies of its existing electric car, the e-Golf have dropped to just 10 cars nationwide, according to our partners at Cars Direct. Inventories that low usually mean that cars are being discontinued, but Volkswagen said the model will continue for 2018 and 2019. The company has said it will introduce its ID Crozz small electric crossover, based on VW's new electric-car architecture in 2020. DON'T MISS: Volkswagen ID Crozz electric SUV to launch in US in 2020 The e-Golf is based on VW's standard small-car MQB platform, which...

  • Oil well (photo by John Hill)
    Oil prices could double by 2020, boosting electric car sales

    Despite short term peaks and valleys, and a recent agreement by OPEC to ease production restrictions, the overall trend in oil prices is on the rise. That's the conclusion of Bernstein research, an investment research company, which forecast last week that oil could hit $150 a barrel by 2020, just...

  • Electric double-decker bus by Alexander Dennis
    LA gets first double-decker electric city bus

    When thinking of Los Angeles, clean air and double-decker buses aren't the first things that come to mind. Yet the city of angels will put the first all-electric double-decker bus into service later this year on the Foothill Transit's Silver Line route (or Silver Streak route, depending on which...

  • Tesla Autopilot
    Tesla raises price of full self-driving option–if you wait for it to work before buying

    Tesla has increased the price of a feature that doesn't yet exist—at least for customers who haven't bought it yet. That's according to Tesla's online configurator, which lists the price of Tesla's Full Self-driving Capability feature at $5,000 following the company's latest software update...

  • Fisker EMotion
    Henrik Fisker is latest to claim solid-state battery breakthrough (Updated)

    In the race to build solid state batteries for electric cars, almost nobody is counting on Henrik Fisker and his latest electric-car venture, the EMotion, which debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Fisker, however, now says the car will launch in 2020 with his...

  • 2014 Tesla Model S in China
    Tesla inks deal to build second factory in Shanghai

    A day after it announced price hikes for the Model S and Model X in China, in response to new tariffs on imported electric cars in the country, Tesla has finalized a deal to build a new factory in Shanghai, according to a Bloomberg News report. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was in Shanghai Tuesday to appear...

  • Adding oxygen and cobalt to the cathode prevents lithium from breaking chemical bonds

    Researchers at the University of Maryland, in conjunction with Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a new battery cathode material that they say could triple the energy density of lithium-ion batteries. The new material is an engineered variety of iron trifluoride, a well-known material that has had problems with rechargeability and low power production. In an article in the journal Nature Communications (via ChargedEVs), the researchers revealed how they took iron trifluoride's inherent ability to absorb more lithium ions and added cobalt and oxygen to iron-trifluoride nano rods to...

  • EPA administrator Scott Pruitt  [photo from 2014]
    Pruitt leaves poison pill at EPA for glider-truck emissions rule

    In his last act as EPA Administrator on Friday, Scott Pruitt vacated an Obama-era ruling that dramatically restricted sales of polluting "glider" trucks. Pruitt's earlier efforts to repeal the ruling were opposed by a broad, bipartisan coalition of environmentalists, public health advocates, truck...

  • 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric cars outside dealership    [photo: Patrick Reid]
    GM increases Chevy Bolt EV production to ease supply constraints

    Amid shortages of Chevy Bolt EVs at dealerships across the U.S. and Canada, Chevy has announced it will increase production by 20 percent. So far this year, Chevy has sold fewer than 2,000 Bolt EVs in the U.S. per month, for total sales of just over 9,000. Worldwide, the company says it sold 26,000...

  • 2018 Chevrolet Equinox Diesel, first drive, Teaneck, NJ, Aug 2017
    July 4th green car deals you can still find

    June wasn't a great month for green-car sales, and automakers are offering some bargains to keep them moving out the door. Green Car Reports partner site CarsDirect has listed several great green car deals among its July Fourth deals that continue through this weekend. For shoppers looking for a...

  • 2019 Jaguar I-Pace electric car (crossover SUV)
    2019 is the year of the electric SUV

    In car terms, we're already getting rolling on model year 2019, and it's shaping up to be the year of the electric SUV. Until now, pure electric cars have consisted mostly of small hatchbacks or expensive luxury cars, with one ultra-expensive SUV, the Tesla Model X. With the rollout of the Jaguar...

  • Navya autonomous bus in Sion, Switzerland
    How autonomous vehicles will compound electric-car benefits

    A lot of ink has been spilled over self-driving cars lately—whether they'll work, how they work, and the potential for accidents. What hasn't been discussed as much is how autonomous vehicles could help the environment. Self-driving vehicles go hand-in-hand with electrification, said Raphael...

  • MG E-motion concept, 2017 Shanghai auto show   [photo: Ronan Glon]

    MG is taking a trip down memory lane with plans to develop a new roadster for China and other markets outside the U.S. The classic British brand known best for its roadsters worldwide from the 1930s to 1980, is now owned by Chinese automaker SAIC and has been building SUVs and sedans for the Chinese market. Now MG design chief Shao Jingfeng has confirmed in an interview with the Australian publication Drive that the company is developing a new roadster in the vein of the Mazda MX-5 Miata, but with a twist—this one will be electric. DON'T MISS: MG returning to its roots developing...

  • 2018 Tesla Model 3
    Tesla Model 3 order guide, pricing details revealed for Performance and all-wheel-drive models (Updated)

    Now that Tesla Model 3 orders are open to all U.S. and Canadian reservation holders, we have more insight into features and pricing. As shown by a new post on Teslarati with screen shots from the Tesla Model 3 order guide, reservation holders can now configure a Model 3 with the Dual Motor and...

  • 2019 Chevrolet Volt
    2019 Chevy Volt gets faster charging, stronger regen, more luxury features

    Updates to the 2019 Chevrolet Volt will help experienced electric-car drivers maximize their electric driving and minimize the times the gas engine needs to run. The biggest improvement is a new 7.2-kw on-board charger that can effectively cut charge times in half. The advantage for Volt drivers...

  • Faraday Future FF 91
    Faraday Future gets a $2 billion lifeline to build expensive crossover

    Faraday Future, the fledgling Tesla competitor working to build a $300,000 electric SUV, has been thrown a financial lifeline. Evergrande Health, a division of a large Hong Kong conglomerate, has committed to invest $2 billion to keep alive the all-electric luxury SUV project, according to a report...

  • Tesla Model 3 all-wheel drive Performance rolls off a new assembly line in a temporary structure
    Tesla Model 3 orders open to all US, Canada buyers

    Tesla Model 3 reservation holders who have been patiently waiting for their turn to order their cars just got a chance to move up in line. The company invited all reservation holders in the United States and Canada to place their orders, according to a Bloomberg report. To place their orders...

  • Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy
    Supreme Court retirement could have impact on environmental protection

    The retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced on Wednesday could have dramatic and detrimental effects on environmental quality. Since the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in 2006, Kennedy has been a pivotal vote on the court, siding with the majority on at least two...

  • Volkswagen turbodiesels await their fate near Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado Springs

    Thursday marks the second anniversary of the VW dieselgate settlement, representing almost half a million consumers who bought various models of VW TDI diesel cars and SUVs that failed to comply with federal or California emissions requirements. Under the court-ordered consent decree approved June 28, 2016, the company was required to file a report showing that it had repaired or removed from the road 85 percent of the TDI diesel models it sold that didn't comply with emissions standards, both in California and nationwide. READ THIS: VW diesel settlement details: buybacks, payments...

  • 2014 BMW i3 REx fast-charging at Chargepoint site, June 2016  [photo: Tom Moloughney]
    ChargePoint invests in commercial charging for buses, delivery vans, taxis

    After opposing the settlement over diesel emissions cheating that led VW to spend $2 billion building out a nationwide network of fast chargers, and suing one of Electrify America's suppliers for patent infringement, ChargePoint, the last of the original charging-network providers for electric...

  • EPA administrator Scott Pruitt  [photo from 2014]
    EPA Administrator Pruitt recruited top oil industry executives, emails show

    EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt left little to chance in trying to make the agency more friendly to the oil industry after he took office last year, according to new emails revealed in a report by Buzzfeed News. The Sierra Club obtained the emails through a Freedom of Information Act request and...

  • Tesla Model S crashed in Ft. Lauderdale, at storage yard
    Tesla battery reignites twice after fatal Florida crash: NTSB report

    Following a crash in early May that killed two teenagers, the battery in the Tesla Model S the teens were driving reignited twice after firefighters had initially extinguished it, according to the preliminary report released Tuesday by the NTSB. The report notes that the car was traveling 116 mph...

  • 2017 Honda Pilot
    Spy photographer captures Honda Pilot Plug-in Hybrid

    Honda has been something of a laggard in the race for electric cars. It looks like that's about to change, if recent spy photos are anything to go by. A shot by spy photographer Brian Williams in Automotive News (subscription required), shows an updated Pilot with both a reconfigured fuel filler...

  • 2019 Jaguar I-Pace S
    JLR to pump money into electric cars instead of diesel

    Jaguar-Land Rover said in a presentation to investors Monday that weak demand for diesel-fueled cars has prompted it to increase its investment in electric cars by 25 percent—to $18 billion—by 2025. Where the company previously said it would offer an electrified version of each new...

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