Bengt Halvorson, Senior Editor
Articles
-
Tesla’s Thursday night reveal event for the 2020 Tesla Model Y electric crossover SUV, just as previous events from the automaker, was raucous and packed with enthusiastic fans, including many...
-
Mazda range-extended electric car may help the rotary live onThe Wankel rotary, the peculiar pistonless internal combustion engine design that Mazda built so much of its heritage around, may see a resurgence after all. Earlier reports and remarks from Mazda executives have suggested that while the rotary will make a comeback, it will be relegated to...
Bengt Halvorson -
Next Fiat 500 to arrive in 2020 only as electric car, executive confirmsAre you ready for a new generation of the Fiat 500e electric car? At the pace of the auto industry, and its five or six year cycles, it’s overdue. And from a report released last week, it could arrive around this time next year. Last week Fiat revealed an all-electric Concept Centoventi...
Bengt Halvorson -
Electrified Bell Nexus concept shows how Uber Air could take offAlthough flying cars aren’t looking that much closer to reality, your Uber could take to the air in just a few years and be electric. Well, mostly electric, eventually. Hybrid electric-powered vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicles could come into service specifically as air taxis. In...
Bengt Halvorson -
Fiat Concept Centoventi electric car opens Mopar toolbox, looks beyond 500eFiat is 120 years old, and for the Geneva Motor Show the Italian automaker is presenting an electric concept car that celebrates the brand’s “democratic mobility” charge while providing a glimpse of what that idea could mean in the future. The carmaker started with a...
Bengt Halvorson -
Tesla Model 3 gets Supercharging V3 first: How about 75 miles of range in 5 minutes?If you road-trip with an electric car like a Tesla, you soon become acutely aware of miles per hour. That's not the miles per hour you see on the speedometer, but the rate at which the car will gain range when being fast-charged. It determines how quickly you can pull out of the charging station...
Bengt Halvorson -
Higher tariffs placed on cars made in China won't impact Polestar's future plans for the U.S. but could affect the future price of its cars, the brand said Wednesday.
Responding to reports that its...
-
Volvo taking on Tesla with Chinese-built Polestar 2 electric car: details and photosAhead of the Geneva auto show, Volvo’s Polestar electrified performance-car brand has revealed its first all-electric model and first volume-production model, the Polestar 2. The Polestar could prove to be the strongest alternative yet to the Tesla Model 3, with pricing, range, performance...
Bengt Halvorson -
VW ID Buggy teases potential of electric-car platform with some beach funVolkswagen has already served up a suite of concepts for its upcoming electric vehicles built on its modular electric architecture (MEB). While most of those are likely headed to volume production in some form, now it’s brought out a fun one: the VW ID Buggy concept. In a release on the...
Bengt Halvorson -
Kia EV concept showcases brand’s future, more electrified design directionWith its "Imagine by Kia" concept car revealed today at the Geneva Motor Show, Kia aims to show that electric cars don’t have to look boring—that, actually, they can look exciting and emotional. The concept is, as Kia puts it, “a visual embodiment of Kia’s desire to move...
Bengt Halvorson -
Ford C-Max Energi, Fusion Energi owners still waiting for cooler charge cordsSix months after Ford issued a recall over a fire risk and its charge cords, some drivers of Ford plug-in vehicles still don’t have the peace of mind of a new charge cord. The recall, issued last August, affected or the 120V AC “convenience charge cord” that Ford supplies with...
Bengt Halvorson -
Mercedes-Benz EQ Silver Arrow Formula E electric racing car debuts in special liveryMercedes-Benz is formally entering Formula E electric-car racing for the upcoming 2019-2020 season, and for the upcoming Geneva Motor Show it has revealed what it terms a “teaser” version of the racing car, called the EQ Silver Arrow 01. Mercedes says that it “provides an idea of...
Bengt Halvorson -
In 2016, Tesla created a fever pitch over its Model 3 promise: $35,000 with a range of 220 miles. The company claimed more than 450,000 reservations were made for the Model 3, at $1,000 each, in...
-
Honda e Prototype is a production-bound Urban EV for EuropeOne of Honda’s best-received concepts of recent memory was the car that it brought to the Frankfurt auto show in 2017—the Urban EV Concept, a model that reincarnated the automaker’s old City hatchback, with elements of retro Civic thrown in, all built as a modern electric car...
Bengt Halvorson -
Fully electric Porsche Macan due by 2022 will replace gasoline model entirelyPorsche has somewhat publicly, for months if not years, been examining the possibility of producing an electric version of its top-selling model, the Macan. It turns out that may not have been the whole truth, and what's actually now confirmed is a huge step beyond just another version to satisfy...
Bengt Halvorson -
California Autobahn: Bill proposes to cut emissions by adding fast lanesIn the wake of the debate over California’s complicated, delayed, and over-budget Los Angeles-to-San Francisco high-speed rail project, a bill introduced to the California State Senate last week comes up with a simpler solution: just add more freeway lanes, and get rid of the speed limit...
Bengt Halvorson -
Ahead of electric-car production, VW demands suppliers cut carbon emissionsAs Volkswagen ramps up to build a new generation of mass-market electric vehicles in the aftermath of its diesel scandal, regulators and environmental groups will likely be paying close attention to their emissions—especially the emissions created in making them. The Financial Times, in a...
Bengt Halvorson -
Bill Gates calls Tesla “an amazing product,” doesn't see electric trucks working quite yetElectric cars may be seen by some as part of a seemingly unstoppable, powerful technological wave that will disrupt not just the auto industry but most other forms of transportation. Don’t count on Bill Gates as one of those bright-eyed EV cheerleaders; on the other hand, don’t dismiss...
Bengt Halvorson -
Although Ford plans to woo electric-vehicle fans—and attract a new crowd to plug-in vehicles—with its upcoming, Mustang-inspired all-electric crossover, arriving next year, it’s...
-
2021 Ford Mach E: What we know about 300-mile electric SUVGrab some of the pony-car attitude and affordability of the Ford Mustang. Put it into a fully electric vehicle that channels some of what makes the Tesla Model 3 Performance so much in demand, versus other EVs. Support it and nurture it. On a much-simplified level, that’s the recipe behind...
Bengt Halvorson -
Prime time: Amazon invests in electric-truck hopeful RivianRivian on Friday announced that Amazon will invest in the company, as it pushes ahead to bring its lineup of electric pickups and SUVs to market. Although the amount of Amazon’s investment wasn't disclosed, Rivian said that the Seattle-based technology, goods, and services giant led a $700...
Bengt Halvorson -
2020 Kia Soul EV rated for 243 miles, improved efficiencyIn just one model year, Kia has more than doubled the rated driving range for the Soul EV. The 2020 Kia Soul EV, which is expected to reach dealerships this spring, will go 243 miles on a charge—four more miles than the Kia Niro EV—according to the EPA, in ratings that were released...
Bengt Halvorson -
An old tradition, auto shows, could give electric cars a boostLast summer, Volkswagen Group chairman Dr. Herbert Diess said that he doesn’t believe new-car shows will exist (in their present form) a decade from now, and that “motor shows are dead.” You might think Volkswagen of America didn't get the memo. This year it's investing more of...
Bengt Halvorson -
Report: Rivian in talks with GM and AmazonGeneral Motors and Amazon could soon invest between $1 billion and $2 billion into Michigan-based electric vehicle hopeful Rivian, according to a report from Reuters. If the reported talks result in a deal, the two companies could end up with minority stakes in Rivian, as it pushes to get its fully...
Bengt Halvorson