Electric Vehicles News & Discussions

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Faraday Future plans a comeback with a sub-$30,000 electric minivan
By Abhimanyu Ghoshal
January 09, 2025
https://newatlas.com/automotive/fx-supe ... nivan-mpv/

After an awfully rough start to its mission to dominate the luxury EV game in the US over the last few years, Los Angeles-based startup Faraday Future (FF) is launching a whole new strategy.

It's building out what's effectively a new brand, Faraday X (FX), to deliver mass market vehicles with intelligent tech. And it's starting with minivans... err MPVs.

Call them what you will, but that's the plan. Max Ma, global CEO of FX, said that minivans like the Lexus LM and Toyota Alphard are popular luxury people carriers for celebrities and discerning customers in Asian markets – and similar vehicles with AI and electric powertrains could do well in the US.

FF had actually worked on a minivan concept, the V9, back in 2019 – but the project was halted due to the litany of financial and managerial challenges the company faced back then.

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Norway on track to be first to go all-electric

13 January 2025, 00:51 GMT

Norway is the world leader when it comes to the take up of electric cars, which last year accounted for nine out of 10 new vehicles sold in the country. Can other nations learn from it?

For more than 75 years Oslo-based car dealership Harald A Møller has been importing Volkswagens, but early in 2024 it bid farewell to fossil fuel cars.

Now all the passenger vehicles for sale in its showroom are electric (EV).

"We think it's wrong to advise a customer coming in here today to buy an ICE [internal combustion engine] car, because the future is electric," says chief executive Ulf Tore Hekneby, as he walks around the cars on display. "Long-range, high-charging speed. It's hard to go back."

On the streets of Norway's capital, Oslo, battery-powered cars aren't a novelty, they're the norm. Take a look around and you'll soon notice that almost every other car has an "E" for "electric" on its license plate.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg52543v6rmo

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Amazon makes ‘largest ever’ UK order of electric trucks to cut carbon emissions

Tue 14 Jan 2025 08.05 GMT

Amazon is to deploy nearly 150 electric heavy goods vehicles as well as piling packages on to trains and post-style trolleys in an effort to reduce the carbon footprint of delivering goods in the UK.

The tech company said it had bought more than 140 electric Mercedes-Benz heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and eight Volvo lorries – which it says is the UK’s biggest order of electric trucks – that can take loads of up to 40 tonnes.

The vehicles will hit the road over the next 18 months, increasing the online retailer’s electric HGV fleet from nine at present.

The US-owned company’s switch to electric logistics is partly funded by the government under its zero emission HGV and infrastructure demonstrator programme (ZEHID). Amazon plans to install fast-charging points across its UK network to keep the trucks in action.

Amazon’s move is part of a £300m investment in green transport for the UK, announced in 2022, when the group hoped to have as many as 700 electric HGVs on the road by 2025, up from just five then, as well as thousands of smaller electric vans.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... ions-train

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Compact electric truck tempts off-grid haulers with solar panel options
By Paul Ridden
January 16, 2025

As the production window approaches for what's described as "the world’s most efficient EV pickup," California-based startup Telo has formed a partnership with storied solar electric car maker Aptera. The latter will supply its photovoltaic cells for optional solar paneling for the upcoming compact electric truck.

"Our unique curved solar cell design makes it the perfect application to propel automotive utility further than ever before," said Aptera co-founder and co-CEO, Steve Fambro. "Together with Telo, we’re harnessing the power of the sun to make life off the grid a reality for everyone by putting the sun to work for them."

The Telo MT1 e-truck measures 152 inches (3.86 m) in length, which is about the same as a Mini Cooper SE. Despite its compact footprint, the truck's bed comes in at 60 inches (1.52 m) – that's longer than the bed of a Rivian R1T. In an effort to "extend our mighty, mini-truck's sustainability profile" the Aptera partnership will allow drivers to option in solar panels to eke out more miles between battery top-ups.

https://newatlas.com/automotive/telo-mt1-aptera-solar/

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The First Electric Minivan Will Change the Way You Think About EVs
by Adam Clark Estes
January 16, 2025

Introduction:

(Vox) When I stepped up to test drive the all-electric Volkswagen ID. Buzz, the first thing I thought was that it looked as if it were grinning, almost too much. But once inside, the smug mug made sense.

The Buzz is the first all-electric minivan in the United States and a leap toward luxury compared to its iconic predecessor, the VW Bus from the 1960s. It can seat up to seven people with lots of legroom, has more interior cargo space than a Suburban, and features a vast electrochromic sunroof that turns opaque at the touch of a button. With a low center of gravity thanks to its battery, the Buzz turns on a dime. A few days after my test drive, Volkswagen’s electric minivan won the 2025 North American Utility Vehicle of the Year award at the Detroit Auto Show.

I’m not here to sell you a minivan. But I do think we’re witnessing a watershed moment for EVs, one that might change the way you think about our electrified future.

December was the best month ever for EV sales worldwide, and the number of EVs sold in the US last year reached a record 1.3 million. Some industry analysts expect that number to climb in 2025, when there will be even more options to go electric at some of the lowest prices yet. And thanks to some simple changes to plug standards, this year should also see progress in building out the nation’s charging infrastructure, thanks to an influx of cash from the Biden administration, which has historically been terrible but is inching its way toward good. While the incoming Trump administration is poised to eliminate some tax breaks for EV buyers, experts in the sector say that the industry’s momentum is unstoppable.

Read more here: https://www.vox.com/technology/395054/ ... gen-buzz

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Battery-powered Electric Vehicles Now Match Petrol and Diesel Counterparts for Longevity
January 24, 2025

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Battery-powered electric vehicles are now more reliable and can match the lifespans of traditional cars and vans with petrol and diesel engines - marking a pivotal moment in the drive towards sustainable transportation, a new study reveals.

Researchers used nearly 300 million UK Ministry of Transport (MOT) test records charting the ‘health’ of every vehicle on the United Kingdom’s roads between 2005 and 2022 to estimate vehicle longevity and provide a comprehensive analysis of survival rates for different powertrains.

The international research team found that, although early Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) were less reliable than internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), rapid advances in technology have enabled newer BEVs to achieve comparable lifespans, even under more intensive use.

Researchers found that BEVs demonstrated the most rapid improvement in reliability, with a 12% lower likelihood of failure (hazard rate) for each successive year of production, compared to 6.7% for petrol and 1.9% for diesel vehicles.

Publishing their findings today (24 Jan) in Nature Energy, researchers from the University of Birmingham, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), University of California San Diego, and University of Bern, Switzerland, reveal that, on average, BEVs now have a lifespan of 18.4 years and can travel up to 124,000 miles, surpassing traditional petrol cars in mileage.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1071165

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EV market will grow bigger in 2025, with 1 in 4 cars sold to be electric
By Utkarsh Sood
January 25, 2025

Despite a wave of doubters, the electric vehicle revolution is still going strong. Per the latest report by Cox Automotive, 2025 will be the strongest year for the auto industry since before the pandemic.

The firm has a positive prognosis for the auto industry in 2025. "With 2024 finishing on a high note, Cox Automotive is optimistic about 2025, with plenty of reasons to believe it will be the best year since 2019," said Cox's chief economist, Jonathan Smoke.

A nationally representative sample of 2,557 American car buyers and 526 dealers participated in its most recent study. The aim was simple: to better understand the attitudes, preferences, and views of those dealers and consumers regarding electric car options.
Cox Automotive's 2025 forecasts are good news for the EV industry

https://newatlas.com/automotive/ev-market-bigger-2025/

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Trump administration orders states to halt EV charging programs

Billions of dollars set to flow to fast EV chargers along highways is at risk.

February 6, 2025 at 9:15 p.m. EST Yesterday at 9:15 p.m. EST



By Shannon Osaka and Jake Spring

In a memo released Thursday, the Federal Highway Administration ordered states to halt a $5 billion program to build fast EV chargers on highways nationwide — an initiative that President Donald Trump cited as an example of the “Green New Deal.”
Ask your climate questions. With the help of generative Al, we'll try to deliver answers based on our published reporting.

The letter informs state transportation directors — who are in charge of administering the program — that any plans approved by the Biden administration are now suspended until the Transportation Department provides new guidelines in the spring. “Effective immediately, no new obligations may occur under the NEVI formula program,” the letter reads.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate- ... epartment/

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Unlike Tesla, Ford EV Sales Set New Record In January 2025

For some time, Ford – along with most every other automaker on earth – was keen to invest big bucks in all-electric vehicles, which most saw as the future of the automotive world at the time. A lot has changed since then, however, and demand for EVs hasn’t quite grown at the same rapid pace most expected it to as of late. However, Ford EV sales continue to grow, and in fact, set a new record in the month of January 2025, right alongside the company’s hybrid offerings.

According to FoMoCo’s January 2025 sales report, Ford EV sales set yet another new personal record in January 2025, growing by 21.2 percent to 5,666 units last month. Ford F-150 Lightning sales increased by 7.6 percent on the retail side of the market, while the Ford Mustang Mach-E set a new personal best January sales mark by growing 173 percent to 3,529 units over the same time span – a strong start to the year after closing out 2024 second only to the Tesla Model Y in its segment.

Ford EV sales have been growing by leaps and bounds over the past several months – even if they aren’t quite exploding like most previously expected. In Q4 2024, Ford EV sales in the U.S. increased by 16 percent to 30,176 units, in fact. Of that total, Mach-E sales increased 36 percent to 16,119 units year-over-year, followed by the F-150 Lightning, which posted a 10 percent decrease at 10,703 units sold, while the E-Transit recorded 3,354 sales, a 57 percent increase.

https://fordauthority.com/2025/02/ford- ... uary-2025/

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BMW promises 30% longer range in upcoming EVs with custom batteries
By Abhimanyu Ghoshal
March 01, 2025

BMW has been slowly dropping breadcrumbs about its upcoming Neue Klasse range of electric vehicles (EV) over the last several weeks, and the latest teaser reveals nifty range-extending battery tech.

At an event in the German town of Landshut, which is home to the company's largest component plant, BMW announced that it's developing its sixth-generation BMW eDrive technology (Gen6 for short), and that includes 800-V batteries designed in-house with promising new figures.

https://newatlas.com/automotive/bmw-lon ... batteries/

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