The steady stream of news about automakers cancelling or discontinuing electric vehicles continues apace. This week it’s Volvo’s small, quirky EX30 and Honda’s solo electric offering in the US, the Prologue. Both are the latest victims of stagnating EV sales in the US thanks to the Trump administration’s decision to eliminate tax incentives. First, the […]
On Thursday, Rivian revealed its most important vehicle to date: the R2, a midsize SUV that eventually will start at under $50,000. As a distinctive EV with an attractive sticker price, the R2 is designed to take Rivian to the next level. In fact, the company is banking on it. If they succeed, then Rivian […]
When Rivian first revealed the R2 in 2024, a lot of the excitement was centered on the starting price of $45,000 – placing it slightly below the current average selling price for a new internal combustion vehicle. Finally, here was a decently sized electric SUV with great design and impressive software that wouldn’t require taking […]
Farewell, Honda Zero. We never knew thee. Honda is cancelling its Zero Series SUV and Saloon, as well as the Acura RSX EVs, citing an “extremely challenging earnings situation.” The Japanese automaker, which unsuccessfully tried to merge with Nissan last year, said it expected to make a net loss of ¥360 billion (~$2.5 billion) to […]
When Donut Lab first announced its solid-state battery earlier this year, there was some speculation around whether the Finnish startup had actually produced a supercapacitor, which is a much shorter-term form of electrical storage. Supercapacitors can charge and discharge quickly, similar to Donut Lab’s claimed solid-state battery. But supercapacitors are totally different from batteries in […]
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the EV struggle, follow Andrew J. Hawkins. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Apologies to the Toyota Prius, but the first hybrid vehicle […]
When Elon Musk burst onto the scene in his little Tesla Roadster, it seemed a matter of time before electricity rendered gas-powered sports cars obsolete. It hasn’t worked out that way. Automakers have struggled to bring purely electric two-seaters to market. The ones that managed to emerge have been flatly rejected by consumers. Porsche has […]
Tesla, Ford, and Volvo occupy the top three spots in a new ranking of 18 global automakers based on their efforts to eliminate carbon emissions, environmental harms, and human rights violations from their supply chains. Toyota, meanwhile, lurks near the bottom of the list, underscoring the persistent difficulty in getting the world’s largest car company […]
Finnish startup Donut Lab is out to prove that its solid-state battery is all that it claims to be. Last week, the test was about fast charging. This week is where things get hot. Like the first test, this one was also conducted by state-owned VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The team set out […]
Since announcing earlier this year that it was on the cusp of a major battery breakthrough, Finnish startup Donut Lab has faced a lot of questions, and plenty of skepticism, about its production-ready, solid-state battery. Could the company really make a fast-charging battery at scale while avoiding some of the theoretical production headaches that have […]