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The rise of electric vehicles is, overall, a very good thing for the planet and its inhabitants. But any technological upheaval like this is bound to have some less-than-savory side effects. The enormous weight of some new EVs has road safety experts looking into whether America’s highway guardrails need a major overhaul to keep up with the times. An initial test from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Midwest Roadside Safety Facility suggests that guardrails are no match for the new crop of hefty electric pickup trucks. In an October test, a roughly 7,000-pound Rivian R1T traveling at 60 mph ripped straight…
It’s almost as if 2024’s setting up to be a come-to-Jesus moment for EVs, as manufacturers ask what level of growth is truly sustainable for an electrified future. Overspending on development for returns that aren’t happening as fast as expected is leaving manufacturers with a dilemma: Do we press forward, or slow-roll existing plans? GM, Ford, and more are all scaling back their EV plans in the face of softer-than-expected (but growing) demand. Just recently, Elon Musk was candid with shareholders that he does not expect Tesla to be able to sustain the same level of growth it saw in…
Volvo Cars will discontinue funding all-electric performance brand Polestar, the Swedish carmaker said today in its 2023 financial statement. Describing this move as a “decisive transformation phase,” Volvo plans to reallocate funds from Polestar towards its own projects. The decision comes in the wake of a 43% increase in Volvo’s profits in 2023, a record in its 97-year history, the company claims. Both Volvo and Polestar are subsidiaries of China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding group. Under the new agreement, Volvo intends to transfer a portion of its 48% stake in Polestar to parent company Geely, which will become a “significant” new…
Just over a week after initially teasing a new compact SUV called the Yuan Up, Build Your Dreams (BYD) has posted several of the first official images of the new EV’s exterior. Expected to arrive priced in a range between $14,000-$20,000, the BYD Yuan Up has the making to be an ultra-affordable model in China, which could very well make its way over to other markets. Despite snagging the EV sales crown from longtime leader Tesla in 2023, BYD remains a relatively unknown brand outside China. The auto conglomerate knows it has an image problem in Europe and North America…
Following our Q4 and 2023 all-electric car sales report for non-Tesla brands in the U.S., it’s time to take a look at the automotive group level. This will reveal which companies are selling the highest number of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and which are achieving the highest share of BEVs out of their total sales volume. Get Fully Charged Traditional OEMs are scaling up their EV sales In 2023, sales of all-electric cars by traditional carmakers almost doubled compared to 2022. The Hyundai Motor Group, Ford and General Motors were among the top non-Tesla OEMs in terms of BEV sales…
Buying a new car shouldn’t be difficult, but we live in a time where interest in new platforms is gauged by reservations and traditional car buying is still plagued by dealer markups. According to a new study from Cox Automotive, one solution to car-buying woes is to buy an EV. And it looks like GM is a big target for those EV pickup buyers. Welcome to Critical Materials, your daily dose of all things electrified and automotive tech. In today’s roundup, we’re talking about car buying. Specifically, that GM says it has 100,000 reservations for its battery-electric pickups, EV buyers…
The Polestar 4 coupe-like mid-size crossover SUV is officially going on sale in Europe and Australia, with deliveries set to begin in August for these two big markets. But what about the United States? Well, the U.S., along with Canada and Mexico, will have to wait until the middle of 2024 to get its hands on the battery-powered crossover that slots in the same place size-wise as the Tesla Model Y and Hyundai Ioniq 5, but aims for a different audience altogether because of its price tag. Get Fully Charged Polestar’s electric coupe SUV goes to Europe (and Australia) Polestar’s…
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News! California’s rooftop solar and storage market is changing, and the industry is learning to operate in this new reality. California has been America’s top solar market for over a decade, installing more solar capacity than any state every year until Texas took over in 2021. While California reclaimed the number one ranking in 2022 and installations look strong in 2023, the shift in 2021 may be a preview of what is to come. In late 2022, after years of debate, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)…
Neta’s sequential rebound in deliveries in January appears to be largely due to a low base in December. Neta Auto, a brand owned by Chinese electric vehicle (EV) company Hozon Auto, was one of the few to achieve a sequential increase in deliveries in January over December. Neta delivered 10,032 vehicles in January, up 66.76 percent from 6,016 in the same month last year and up 95.37 percent from 5,135 in December, according to data it released today. Neta sold 2,821 units overseas in January, it said. At the end of January, Neta’s cumulative deliveries since inception stood at 385,577…
Plug-in hybrids reached record sales in 2023, with more than 250,000 vehicles sold, or about 20% of total plug-in vehicle sales, according to the Department of Energy. Last year saw strong sales for EVs as well, which surpassed one million units for the first time. The combined market share of hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and EVs rose to 16.3% of total light-duty vehicle sales in the U.S., up from 12.9% in 2022. Plug-in vehicle sales by calendar year, 2010-2023 (via U.S. Department of Energy) Yet by themselves, plug-in hybrids still haven’t reached 2% of new-car sales. With the price positioning of…