General Motors

GM and LG Chem will reportedly announce Tennessee battery factory on Friday

On Friday, General Motors and LG Chem are expected to announce a new $2.3 billion battery factory to be located in Spring Hill, Tennessee, say reports from Nikkei, Reuters, and AP. It would be the second US battery joint venture for the American and South Korean giants, after the pair first announced a $2.3 billion… Read more

Ford’s hands-free BlueCruise driving feature coming soon to the F-150 and Mustang Mach-E

Ford has a name for its “hands-free” advanced driver assist system (ADAS): BlueCruise. The company said it would begin pushing the feature via an over-the-air software update to select 2021 Ford F-150 and 2021 Mustang Mach-E owners later this year. According to Ford, BlueCruise will allow hands-free driving on “prequalified sections of divided highways called… Read more

Cruise is bringing its driverless robotaxis to Dubai in 2023

Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company backed by General Motors and Honda, will launch its first international robotaxi service in Dubai in 2023. The news was announced early Monday by Dubai’s crown prince, Hamdan bin Mohammed. As part of the ride-hailing service, Cruise will use its fully autonomous Origin vehicles, which it first unveiled in 2019…. Read more

Polestar is building a zero-emissions car without ‘cop-out’ carbon offsets

Swedish electric performance automaker Polestar says it will build the world’s first truly zero-emissions vehicle without relying on carbon offsets, which it described as a “cop-out.” The company, which was spun out of Volvo and Volvo’s parent company Geely, framed its effort to cut carbon emissions by changing the way its cars are made as… Read more

Volkswagen is really rebranding as ‘Voltswagen’ in the US

Volkswagen is changing the name of its American brand to Voltswagen, in a not-so-subtle nod to the German automaker’s multibillion-dollar effort to become the biggest electric vehicle manufacturer in the world. The company was apparently planning to make the announcement at the end of April but accidentally published a press release about the name change… Read more

Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 electric crossover will be Motional’s robotaxi

Lyft and Motional have selected the Hyundai Ioniq 5 for their forthcoming autonomous ride-hailing service. Motional, which is a joint venture between Aptiv and Hyundai, said the Ioniq 5 was chosen because it represents a “convergence of mobility’s two most transformative technologies — electrification and autonomy.” Motional hasn’t said how many vehicles it would acquire,… Read more

Don’t park your Hyundai Kona EV inside because it could catch fire

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a recall for 2019–2020 Hyundai Kona and 2020 Hyundai Ioniq electric vehicles after over a dozen battery fires were reported. The agency is also warning owners against parking their vehicles near their homes or any flammable structure. An electrical short in the Kona’s lithium-ion battery cells increases… Read more

This tiny car beat Tesla’s Model 3 as the best-selling EV in the world for January and February

The Hong Guang Mini EV edged out Tesla’s Model 3 as the top-selling electric vehicle in the world in January and February, not a small feat for the relatively new hatchback. More than 36,000 of the tiny cars sold in January, compared to about 21,500 Model 3s, and the Hong Guang sold just over 20,000… Read more

Ryder says EV startup Chanje owes millions for undelivered vans

Truck rental company Ryder says it’s owed nearly $4 million from EV startup Chanje after it failed to deliver 100 of the 125 vans promised back in 2017, according to a previously unreported lawsuit in Florida. The lawsuit comes as a massive shift toward electric propulsion is underway in the commercial vehicle space, with new… Read more

Waymo is disclosing more autonomous vehicle data for research purposes

Waymo is publicizing more data from its autonomous vehicles, which it says is for the benefit of the research community. Building on the trove of data it released in 2019, the Alphabet company is calling this latest batch “the largest interactive dataset yet released for research into behavior prediction and motion forecasting for autonomous driving.”… Read more

Hummer’s electric SUV will be revealed on April 3rd

General Motors will reveal an SUV version of its all-electric Hummer EV on April 3rd, the company announced. The automaker unveiled the pickup truck version, with 350 miles of range and a host of high-tech features, last October. GM, which is producing the electric Hummers under its GMC brand, wouldn’t say when the SUV is… Read more

FedEx will spend $2 billion to become carbon neutral by 2040

FedEx will spend $2 billion in “initial investments” to become carbon neutral by 2040, the company announced today. The move comes as many of the world’s biggest automakers are also pledging to phase out carbon-emitting vehicles within the next several decades. FedEx claims it is the largest cargo airline in the world, with more than… Read more

Nikola stops work on electric watercraft and ATV projects

Zero-emission trucking company Nikola has shuttered its so-called Powersports division and is pausing work on an electric personal watercraft and off-road vehicle first announced in April 2019. Nikola stopped work on the projects as part of a larger push to focus on getting its first hydrogen-powered truck out the door, following a number of stumbles… Read more

Hyundai recalls Kona EVs over battery fire risk

Hyundai is finally recalling some 76,000 Kona EVs built between 2018 and 2020 after more than a dozen reported fires related to the electric SUV’s battery pack. It’s the second recall of the Kona EV, but the first global recall, and it will cost Hyundai around $900 million to perform. Hyundai is also recalling some… Read more

Hyundai’s electric Ioniq 5 crossover could be the ultimate camping companion

With two-way charging, the Ioniq 5 could supply power for a full range of electrical devices Hyundai unveiled the all-new Ioniq 5, an electric midsize SUV with nearly 300 miles of range and a two-way charging feature that is sure to make this a popular EV for outdoor activities. The Ioniq 5, which will go… Read more