Cars

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It’s a new year, and these are now the only EVs that get a tax credit

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lease instead of buy —

Strict rules about battery components from China make most plug-ins ineligible.

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concept of ev tax credit

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It’s a new year, and while few of us still have the headache of needing to remember to write the new year on checks, 2024 brings a new annoyance of sorts. As of yesterday, tough new US Treasury Department rules concerning the sourcing of electric vehicle batteries went into effect; as a result, most of the battery and plug-in hybrid EVs that were eligible for the Internal Revenue Service’s clean vehicle tax credit until Sunday have now lost that eligibility.

Under the federal government’s previous program to incentivize the adoption of plug-in vehicles, it offered a tax credit, up to $7,500, based on the battery capacity of a BEV or PHEV, and once a car maker sold more than 200,000 plug-in vehicles, it lost eligibility for the tax credit—Only Tesla and General Motors reached this threshold.

Changes came as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and went into effect at the start of 2023. Thanks to heavy industry lobbying, credits linked to union-made EVs went by the wayside, with US Senator Joe Manchin acting as point man for companies like Toyota that sought to slow down the EV transition.

As we’ve detailed in the past, the new rules allow for a tax credit of up to $7,500 for the purchase of a new EV. But there are plenty of conditions. Final assembly must take place in North America. There are income caps for the buyer and a price cap for the vehicle—no more than $55,000 for a sedan or $80,000 for an SUV, truck, or minivan. Half of the tax credit is tied to a certain amount of domestically refined or processed minerals in the battery pack, the other half to a certain value of the pack having been assembled domestically.

While that includes countries that have free trade agreements with the United States, it significantly limited the number of new EVs that were eligible for the tax credit. (However, the IRS chose to read the law in such a way as to still allow the full $7,500 tax credit for clean vehicles that were leased, even if not assembled in North America.)

The list of eligible cars changed throughout the year as the rules were implemented in stages, and as automakers refined their supply chains as required. But toward the end of 2023, the Treasury published another new guideline. Now, any car with a battery that contains material from or made by a “foreign entity of concern”—which means Russia, Iran, North Korea, or China—cannot be eligible for the tax credit.

While the first three nations on that list are not particularly far down the road of EV battery making, the same isn’t true for China, which dominates the field, particularly in terms of processing the critical minerals used in lithium-ion batteries. The FEOC rule also applies to batteries made by Chinese-owned companies even if the cells are produced here in the US.

Consequently, the list of BEVs and PHEVs that are still eligible for the new clean vehicle tax credit now looks rather meagre. The following clean vehicles still qualify for the full $7,500, although we should note that the first two on the list (the Chevrolet Bolts) have ceased production now:

  • 2022-2023 Chevrolet Bolt EV
  • 2022-2023 Chevrolet Bolt EUV
  • 2022-2024 Chrysler Pacifica PHEV
  • 2022-2024 Ford F-150 Lightning extended range battery
  • 2022-2024 Ford F-150 Lightning standard range battery
  • 2023-2024 Tesla Model 3 Performance
  • 2023-2024 Tesla Model X Long Rage
  • 2023-2024 Tesla Model Y All-Wheel Drive
  • 2023-2024 Tesla Model Y Performance
  • 2023-2024 Tesla Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive

Additionally, the following vehicles qualify for a $3,750 tax credit:

  • 2022-2024 Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid
  • 2022-2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee PHEV 4xe
  • 2022-2024 Jeep Wrangler PHEV 4xe
  • 2022-2024 Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring
  • 2023-2024 Rivian R1S Dual Large
  • 2023-2024 Rivian R1S Quad Large
  • 2023-2024 Rivian R1T Dual Large
  • 2023-2024 Rivian R1T Dual Max
  • 2023-2024 Rivian R1T Quad Large

But there is one bright piece of news concerning the clean vehicle tax credit in 2024. From January 1, dealers are now able to pass the entire credit on to the buyer at the point of purchase. This applies to both new and used EVs, even in cases where the buyer may not have a large enough tax liability at the end of the year to claim the full credit the old-fashioned way.

It’s a new year, and these are now the only EVs that get a tax credit Read More »

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Here’s how the EPA calculates how far an EV can go on a full charge

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Here’s how the EPA calculates how far an EV can go on a full charge

Aurich Lawson | Getty Images

How does the US Environmental Protection Agency decide how far an electric vehicle can go on a single charge? The simple explanation is that an EV is driven until the battery runs flat, providing the number that goes on the window sticker. In practice, it’s a lot more complicated than that, with varying test cycles, real-world simulations, and more variables than a book of Mad Libs, all in an effort to give you a number that you can count on to be consistent and comparable with other vehicles on the road.

The start of EPA mileage testing

The EPA started testing vehicle fuel economy in 1971, and that initial testing still plays a major role in how modern cars are measured.

The year before, President Richard Nixon signed the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (followed by the Clean Air Act of 1970) and established the EPA with a mandate that included lowering motor vehicle emissions. Part of the EPA’s plan to reduce emissions was to let buyers know just how much fuel a car would use so they could cross-shop cars effectively.

Testing started with a route called the Federal Test Procedure. The EPA adopted an 11-mile (18-km) route that was originally done on real roads in Los Angeles. The route had an average speed of 21 miles per hour (34 km/h) and a top speed of 56 mph (90 km/h). Tailpipe emissions were measured, fuel economy was calculated, and the “city” fuel economy rating was born.

By the time the 10-mile (16-km) Highway Fuel Economy Test was added in 1974, the tests were performed in a lab on a dynamometer. Running tests on the dyno made them more consistent and easier to repeat, though it wasn’t perfect.

Small changes and tweaks were made over the years, with the biggest change announced in 2005. That year, the EPA announced changes to the test to meet new highway speeds, account for heating and air conditioning use, and make the test more relevant to real-world driving. Drivers weren’t able to hit the published numbers, and the EPA wanted to fix that. The system was introduced for the 2008 model year and is largely the one we use today.

Modern range testing

Today, automakers have two different test options for EVs. The automaker can decide that it wants to perform a “single cycle” test. On that test, the car drives the EPA city cycle over and over again until the charge runs out, then does the same on the highway cycle, starting with a full charge. The process is repeated for reliability. The alternative is that the automaker can perform a multi-cycle test that has completed four city cycles, two highway cycles, and two constant speed cycles.

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The test cycles

The city cycle

The EPA’s Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule is the official “city cycle” test loop. It is a complicated graph of time, vehicle speed, and allowable acceleration. The total test time is 1,369 seconds, the distance simulated is 7.45 miles (12 km), and the average speed is 19.59 mph (32.11 km/h). As with all of the tests, the exact speed required at each second of the test is laid out in a spreadsheet.

The highest speed reached on the test is 56.7 mph (91.25 km/h), and there are several periods where the vehicle sits stationary. Stationary seconds of the test made more sense when it was designed to measure a gas vehicle’s idle emissions and consumption, but it does still have some relevance today when it comes to climate control use and energy required to accelerate the vehicle.

The highway cycle

For higher speeds, vehicles complete the Highway Fuel Economy Driving Schedule (HFEDS). This test has a top speed of 59.9 mph (96.4 km/h) and an average of 48.3 mph (77.73 km/h), and it takes 765 seconds to complete.

Only the UDDS and HFEDS tests are required to certify an EV. But a top speed of 59.9 mph is a much lower highway speed than most drivers will experience.

Driving more quickly or using climate control can greatly impact range. More tests were introduced to help give a more realistic range, and they’re part of the 5-cycle test covered below.

Here’s how the EPA calculates how far an EV can go on a full charge Read More »

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Here are the 10 best cars we drove in 2023

2023 Kia Niro, 2023 Kia Niro EV, 2023 Toyota Prius Prime, Car of the Year, Cars, Genesis GV70 Electrified, Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, Hyundai Ioniq 6, Polestar 2, porsche 356, Porsche 911 Sport Classic, Toyota GR Corolla, toyota prius, Volvo EX30 / /

fewer EVs than last year —

EVs, hybrids, and a couple of sports cars—here are the 10 best cars we drove in 2023.

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Here are the 10 best cars we drove in 2023

Aurich Lawson/Getty Images

The mince pies have been eaten, the crackers have been cracked, and the days are starting to get longer. That means it’s time to look back on the best vehicles we tested in 2023. It has been a good year for electric vehicles, which accounted for almost one in ten new vehicles sold in the US this year. We’ve also driven some rather good hybrids, as well as a pair of sports cars that reminded us that there’s still room for enthusiast cars. Read on to find out which cars made the cut.

1. Polestar 2

You'd be hard-pressed to spot the difference between the 2023 Polestar 2 and the 2024 Polestar 2, but the improvements are obvious when you drive one.

Enlarge / You’d be hard-pressed to spot the difference between the 2023 Polestar 2 and the 2024 Polestar 2, but the improvements are obvious when you drive one.

Jonathan Gitlin

In addition to claiming the top spot in 2023, Polestar might also win a prize for the most significant reengineering job for a midlife refresh. Normally, an automaker might restyle the bumpers or change the headlights and tweak the interior when it gives a model its spruce-up after a few years on sale. Not Polestar—it mostly left the cosmetics alone but moved the electric motor in the single-motor Polestar 2 from under the hood, where it drove the front wheels, to the rear, where it now drives the rear wheels.

Combined with a bit of a bump in power (ok, 29 percent more power and 48 percent more torque), the result is a real driver’s car, with better steering and handling than the front-wheel drive Polestar 2 it replaces. There’s more standard equipment than before, and it’s more efficient, too. Only about 30 percent of US Polestar customers have picked the single-motor model in the past, but they’re missing out. The twin-motor car might be faster, but it’s less engaging to drive, has less range, and costs a whole bunch more.

2. Hyundai Ioniq 6

From this angle there's a hint of the 1994 Lagonda Vignale concept to the Ioniq 6, and that delights me.

Enlarge / From this angle there’s a hint of the 1994 Lagonda Vignale concept to the Ioniq 6, and that delights me.

Jonathan Gitlin

Korean EVs built using Hyundai Motor Group’s highly competent E-GMP platform took the top spot in 2021 and 2022, but this year Hyundai will have to settle for first runner-up with the Ioniq 6, a somewhat eccentrically styled but highly efficient sedan. Like the other E-GMP EVs, its battery pack operates at 800 V, which means (among other things) it’s capable very fast DC charging—just 18 minutes connected to a 350 kW charger will return the Ioniq 6’s battery pack to 80 percent, which earned this EV the top spot in a recent test of which EVs added the most range the fastest.

The Ioniq 6’s bold exterior is partnered with a more restrained interior that, while not flashy, is spacious and comfortable. And its little whale tail spoiler is a delight, especially when the sun catches the inset prismatic panel on its upper surface.

3. Toyota Prius

The Prius used to be considered quite cool back when it was the first mainstream hybrid on sale. Now in its fifth generation, the new one finally looks really cool.

Enlarge / The Prius used to be considered quite cool back when it was the first mainstream hybrid on sale. Now in its fifth generation, the new one finally looks really cool.

Jonathan Gitlin

The transformation of the Toyota Prius from fourth- to fifth-generation would be worthy of one of Hans-Christian Anderson’s fairy tales. Out went a weird-looking car that appeared to have been designed by two entirely separate teams that then crashed their creations together; in came a super-sleek replacement with a more-steeply raked windshield than a Lamborghini Huracan.

Lower and wider than before, the dramatic-looking Prius is still all about fuel efficiency despite the makeover. The engine has grown slightly in capacity, there’s a lithium ion traction battery in place of the previous car’s NiCad pack, and electric all-wheel drive is an option now too. But the real headline is 57 mpg (4.13 L/100 km)—assuming you picked a Prius on the smaller wheels.

In fact, we tested two different Prius variants in 2023, the parallel hybrid and the slightly more expensive plug-in hybrid, which features a bigger battery pack and about 35 miles of electric range. And since I can’t pick which one of the two I prefer, I’m counting them both.

Here are the 10 best cars we drove in 2023 Read More »

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Daily range isn’t a problem with the 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV

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The front of a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV

Enlarge / The previous Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV was the world’s best-selling plug-in hybrid, apparently. Now the new one has more power and a bigger battery, among other improvements.

Jonathan Gitlin

What to make of Mitsubishi, now we’re almost a quarter of the way into this century? For enthusiasts of a certain age, the brand is synonymous with rallying and fire-breathing all-wheel drive sedans with extremely short service intervals. To my old driving instructor, Mitsubishi was the Mercedes of Japan. And a Mitsubishi was even the first electric vehicle I reviewed for Ars, way back in 2012.

These days it feels very much like the third brand at the Nissan-Renault alliance. The rallying heyday is long past, and its lineup here in the USA is down to just three SUVs and the sub-$20,000 Mirage, all focused on value for money rather than all-out luxury. Mitsubishi didn’t follow up the electric i-MiEV with another battery EV, but it does make a plug-in hybrid powertrain for the Outlander SUV.

The Outlander is relatively affordable by today’s standards, starting at $40,345, and a week with a model year 2024 example found it to be a solid PHEV with a big enough battery to make most of one’s daily motoring emission-free.

Yes, the US government considers this a compact SUV.

Enlarge / Yes, the US government considers this a compact SUV.

Jonathan Gitlin

Going by sentiments from our audience, it’s possible to feel that the PHEV has almost been abandoned in favor of more on-trend battery EVs. And data from Consumer Reports isn’t particularly complimentary about PHEV reliability, although the same publication did find PHEVs (and BEVs) are cheaper to maintain than a car that just burns gasoline.

Ars actually tested the new Outlander PHEV—albeit briefly—just over a year ago. But a first-drive event held by an automaker is stage-managed in a way that just spending a week with a car isn’t, and I figured since I quite liked the last model, it wouldn’t be a wasted week.

They say it’s a compact

Mitsubishi classifies the Outlander PHEV as a compact SUV. One can quibble about whether an SUV that’s 185.4 inches (4,709 mm) long and 75 inches (1,905 mm) wide really is compact, but that starts to get into philosophical debates about technical definitions versus the commonly accepted meaning of words. The Outlander PHEV’s 106.5-inch (2,705 mm) wheelbase is sufficiently long to allow for a third row of seats in the back though, so it will seat seven humans, as long as the two in the back are pretty short.

Daily range isn’t a problem with the 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Read More »

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Chinese smartphone company says it wants to build a Porsche challenger

battery electric vehicle, Cars, Xiaomi / /

did they copy Sony this time? —

Xiaomi wants to be a top-5 automaker within the next 15-20 years.

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A turquoise Xiaomi SU7

Enlarge / I know it looks like someone grafted the nose from a McLaren onto a Porsche Taycan, but it’s actually a Xiaomi SU7.

Xiaomi

Xiaomi, a Chinese maker of consumer electronics perhaps best known for taking plenty of inspiration from Apple, is getting into the automotive industry. Earlier today in Beijing, Xaiomi CEO Lei Jun debuted the Speed Ultra 7, a luxury electric vehicle that’s squarely aimed at the spot in the market currently served by the Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S sedans.

Xiaomi wanted to branch out from smartphones and tablets to EVs—that wasn’t exactly news, as the company announced its plans about three years ago. Lei has big ambitions though; he wants Xiaomi to be a top-five automaker within the next two decades.

Making a car isn’t that hard, Lei told the audience. “If you want to build a car, 300 or 400 people and a bit over a billion, and you find a benchmark car and you just need do reverse-engineering and you can do it,” Lei said, then acknowledged that “to build a good car it is still very very difficult.”

That effort was helped by recruiting designers and engineers like Tianyuan Li and James Qui, who can boast cars like the BMW iX and Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX on their resumes. And the company is using the controversial Chris Bangle as a design consultant.

The SU7 will come in two configurations, one with a rear-wheel drive powertrain and the other with a twin-motor, all-wheel drive layout. The RWD car uses a 400 V, 73.7 kWh battery pack and has a range of 415 miles (668 km) accordant to the Chinese government’s test cycle. With 295 hp (220 kW) and 295 lb-ft (400 Nm), this variant will reach 62 mph (100 km/h) in 5.3 seconds.

Xiaomi

The AWD SU7 comes with a 101 kWh pack that runs at 800 V—that enables much faster charging. The pack also gives this version a range of 497 miles (800 km), again based on the Chinese test cycle, not the EPA’s. The twin-motor SU7 has a lot more power and torque, offering 663 hp (495 kW) and 618 lb-ft (838 Nm), sufficient for a sub-3 second 0-62 mph time.

Although Xiaomi is bringing in batteries from CATL, it says the motors are its own design and claims that the current spec, dubbed V6s, exceeds anything currently made by Tesla or Porsche in terms of power to weight or speed, reaching 21,000 rpm and generating 6.78 kW/kg (compared to 6.22 kW/kg for Tesla and 5.29 kW/kg for Porsche).

It’s also responsible for the software in the car. Much like Sony’s Afeela EV, you can expect the SU7 to sync up with all the other Xiaomi gadgets in your life, plus mobile apps and streaming content. And if you were expecting some kind of self-driving capability, you guessed well—there’s a roof-mounted Lidar and viewers of the keynote were treated to clips of SU7s driving and parking autonomously.

Xiaomi isn’t actually building the cars itself though. Like Sony (which has contracted with Honda) and Fisker (which commissioned Magna), the car will be contract-built, in this case by China’s BAIC. Pricing is yet to be revealed, and there’s no word yet about any possible US imports.

Chinese smartphone company says it wants to build a Porsche challenger Read More »

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EVs and hybrids had a noticeable effect on US fuel consumption, says EPA

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still want more small cars —

Model-year 2022 cars, crossovers, and yes, even SUVs are the most-efficient, ever.

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Fuel gauge's red needle indicating full gas tank on black background. Horizontal composition with copy space.

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I like the idea of drawing the year to a close with some good news for a change, and I think maybe the US Environmental Protection Agency does as well. On Wednesday, the EPA published its Automotive Trends Report, which now included data for model-year 2022 vehicles.

And the data is good: record-low carbon emissions and record-high fuel economy, and the biggest improvement year on year for almost a decade.

For MY2022, the EPA says that the average real-world CO2 emissions for all new vehicles fell by 10 g/mile to 337 g/mile, the lowest average it has ever measured. Similarly, real-world fuel economy increased by 0.6 mpg for MY2022, to 26 mpg—this, too, is a record high and the single-largest year-on-year improvement for both CO2 and mpg for nine years.

And it’s not a one-off. Despite the occasional off year, the EPA’s data shows that since 2004, US passenger fleet emissions have decreased by 27 percent, or 123 g/mile. And over the same time, average fuel economy has increased by 35 percent, or 6.7 mpg. Even better, the EPA says its preliminary data shows even greater declines in carbon emissions and greater increases in fuel efficiency for MY2023.

The report splits light passenger vehicles into five buckets: sedan/wagon, car SUV (aka a crossover), truck SUV, pickup truck, and minivan/van. (The difference between a car SUV and truck SUV is a regulatory definition that includes weight thresholds and things like “does it have all-wheel drive?”.)

Even more good news here: in MY2022, four of the five categories are now the most efficient they have been since the EPA started keeping tabs on this sort of thing. Sedans and wagons saw their emissions decrease 11 g/mile for MY2022. Car SUVs decreased their emissions by 27 g/mile for the same model year. Pickup trucks recorded an 18 g/mile decrease, and truck SUVs improved by 4 g/mile.

Bad news for minivans, however. Not only are there barely any left for sale—accounting for just 3 percent of new vehicles produced for MY2022—this category also saw its average emissions increase by 17 g/mile.

But I’m also not thrilled that 63 percent of all new vehicles built in MY2022 were truck SUVs, pickup trucks, and minivans/vans, which are subject to less stringent corporate average fuel economy standards, as opposed to the more stringent light-duty regulations. The EPA says this is the highest percentage of trucks since 1975, and it’s only going to get worse for model-year 2023.

All you readers who rush to post that “Not Just Bikes” video, cue that up now. Because despite the best real-world fuel efficiency on record, model year 2022 vehicles are larger and heavier than they’ve ever been.

Some of the increase in size and weight is due to improved passive and active safety systems—crumple zones, side-impact protection, better rollover protection, and in some cases almost a dozen airbags throughout the cabin. But some of the growth in size, and much of the increase in power, is down to what the EPA calls “market trends”—it’s what US customers want from their new vehicles, like it or not. And the bad news is that the EPA doesn’t see those trends changing for model-year 2023.

Who did best, who did worst?

The EPA report also calculates trends for each OEM over the past few years, so we can see who’s getting better and who’s getting worse.

I’m often effusive about the engineering and quality of new Korean vehicles, and there’s yet another data point in their favor: They lead the way in fleet average efficiency (29.1 mpg) and carbon emissions (302 g/mile), although obviously brands like Tesla and Rivian that don’t sell any combustion engines have fleet emissions of 0 g/mile.

Kia also showed big gains from 2017-2022, coming in third place after Honda, which actually got dirtier and less efficient over the same timeframe.

Toyota showed the greatest improvement over time, reducing carbon emissions by 32 g/mile and increasing fuel efficiency from 25.3 mpg to 27.8 mpg. Meanwhile Mazda went the other way. It’s now selling many more big SUVs than it used to, and went from 29 mpg for MY2017 to 27 mpg for MY2022.

EVs and hybrids had a noticeable effect on US fuel consumption, says EPA Read More »

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7.1 million miles, 3 minor injuries: Waymo’s safety data looks good

Cars / /
Sensors on top of a Waymo car.

Waymo

Waymo on Wednesday released new crash data based on the company’s first 7.1 million miles of fully driverless operations in Arizona and California. The data show that human-driven cars are more than twice as likely to get into a crash that is reported to the police. And depending on how you do the math, human-driven cars are four to seven times more likely to get into crashes that lead to an injury.

Through October 2023, driverless Waymo vehicles have had only three crashes with injuries—two in the Phoenix area and one in San Francisco. Waymo says all three injuries were minor. If those same miles had been driven by typical human drivers in the same cities, we would have expected around 13 injury crashes.

The new data comes at a crucial time for the self-driving industry. In October, a woman was dragged about 20 feet underneath a vehicle by Waymo’s main rival, Cruise. Since then, Cruise has lost its CEO, laid off 24 percent of its workforce, and suspended driverless operations nationwide.

Cruise’s implosion has left Waymo as the undisputed leader in the driverless taxi market. But it has also heightened public skepticism about self-driving technology in general. So Waymo is going to have to work hard to convince the public that its technology not only has the potential to make the roads safer in the future, but is already doing so now.

The new data provides Waymo fresh ammunition to make that case. If Waymo can maintain its excellent safety record in the coming months and years, it will have a strong argument for continued expansion regardless of what happens in the rest of the industry.

7 million miles, 3 injuries

Since their inception, Waymo vehicles have driven 5.3 million driverless miles in Phoenix, 1.8 million driverless miles in San Francisco, and a few thousand driverless miles in Los Angeles through the end of October 2023. And during all those miles, there were three crashes serious enough to cause injuries:

  • In July, a Waymo in Tempe, Arizona, braked to avoid hitting a downed branch, leading to a three-car pileup. A Waymo passenger was not wearing a seatbelt (they were sitting on the buckled seatbelt instead) and sustained injuries that Waymo described as minor.
  • In August, a Waymo at an intersection “began to proceed forward” but then “slowed to a stop” and was hit from behind by an SUV. The SUV left the scene without exchanging information, and a Waymo passenger reported minor injuries.
  • In October, a Waymo vehicle in Chandler, Arizona, was traveling in the left lane when it detected another vehicle approaching from behind at high speed. The Waymo tried to accelerate to avoid a collision but got hit from behind. Again, there was an injury, but Waymo described it as minor.

The two Arizona injuries over 5.3 million miles works out to 0.38 injuries per million vehicle miles. One San Francisco injury over 1.75 million miles equals 0.57 injuries per million vehicle miles. An important question is whether that’s more or less than you’d expect from a human-driven vehicle.

After making certain adjustments—including the fact that driverless Waymo vehicles do not travel on freeways—Waymo calculates that comparable human drivers reported 1.29 injury crashes per million miles in Phoenix and 3.79 injury crashes per million miles in San Francisco. In other words, human drivers get into injury crashes three times as often as Waymo in the Phoenix area and six times as often in San Francisco.

Waymo argues that these figures actually understate the gap because human drivers don’t report all crashes. Independent studies have estimated that about a third of injury crashes go unreported. After adjusting for these and other reporting biases, Waymo estimates that human-driven vehicles actually get into five times as many injury crashes in Phoenix and nine times as many in San Francisco.

To help evaluate the study, I talked to David Zuby, the chief research officer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The IIHS is a well-respected non-profit that is funded by the insurance industry, which has a strong interest in promoting automotive safety.

While Zuby had some quibbles with some details of Waymo’s methodology, he was generally positive about the study. Zuby agrees with Waymo that human drivers underreport crashes relative to Waymo. But it’s hard to estimate this underreporting rate with any precision. Ultimately, Zuby believes that the true rate of crashes for human-driven vehicles lies somewhere between Waymo’s adjusted and unadjusted figures.

7.1 million miles, 3 minor injuries: Waymo’s safety data looks good Read More »

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Disgraced Nikola founder Trevor Milton gets 4-year sentence for lying about EVs

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Web of lies —

Prosecutors had asked for a heavier sentence to deter future fraud.

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Trevor Milton, founder of Nikola Corp., arrives at court in New York on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. Milton is set to be sentenced on Monday after being found guilty of securities fraud and wire fraud in October 2022.

Enlarge / Trevor Milton, founder of Nikola Corp., arrives at court in New York on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. Milton is set to be sentenced on Monday after being found guilty of securities fraud and wire fraud in October 2022.

The disgraced founder and former CEO of the “zero emissions” truck company Nikola, Trevor Milton, was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday, Bloomberg reported.

That’s a lighter sentence than prosecutors had requested after a jury found Milton guilty of one count of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud in 2022. During the trial, Milton was accused of lying about “nearly all aspects of the business,” CNBC reported.

From 2016 to 2020, Milton’s “extravagant claims” were fueled by a desire to pump up the value of Nikola stock, The New York Times reported. He was accused of misleading investors about everything from fake prototypes of emission-free long-haul trucks to billions worth of supposedly binding orders for hydrogen fuel cells and batteries that were never shipped. In a sentencing memo, prosecutors said that Milton targeted “less sophisticated investors,” the Times reported, engaging “in a sustained scheme to take advantage of” their inexperience.

Nikola’s stock peaked in 2020, but then dozens of fraud allegations were reported by the investment firm Hindenburg Research, causing Nikola stock to plummet promptly. “We have never seen this level of deception at a public company, especially of this size,” Hindenburg Research’s report said. Facing backlash, Milton resigned, voluntarily withdrawing from his company and selling off $100 million in Nikola stock to fund more than $85 million in luxury purchases, the Times reported. Today, Milton remains Nikola’s second-largest shareholder, Bloomberg reported.

By 2021, Nikola had admitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that nine statements made by Milton were “inaccurate.”

The price of these lies to investors was more than $660 million, prosecutors claimed.

Through it all, Milton has denied the charges, requesting to be sentenced to only probation while holding back tears, Bloomberg reported. At his sentencing hearing, he said that his “misstatements” came from a place of “deeply held optimism,” and he did not intend to cause any harm, Yahoo reported.

“I was not a very seasoned CEO,” Milton reportedly said.

Prosecutors sought heavier consequences, asking the judge to order Milton to pay a $5 million fine and sentence Milton to 11 years in prison.

Milton is likely to appeal, Bloomberg reported.

Nikola’s spokesperson provided Ars with a statement on the sentencing.

“Nikola has a strong foundation and is in the process of achieving our mission to decarbonize the trucking industry, which is our focus,” Nikola’s statement said. “We have made significant progress year-over-year and will continue with the same level of discipline and commitment in 2024. We are pleased to move forward and remind the public that the company founder has not had any active role in Nikola since September 2020.”

Nikola’s shaky road to recovery

Current Nikola CEO Steve Girsky has recently said that Nikola will recover by attracting “world-class people to execute on our business plan” and working toward “establishing ourselves as the leader in zero-emissions commercial transportation,” Forbes reported.

Girsky seems keen to move past the scandal by promoting Nikola’s latest successes. In September, Girsky boasted that daily tests showed that one of Nikola’s fuel cell trucks could successfully run for 900 miles.

“This was quite an accomplishment, and I defy anyone to find another zero-emission vehicle truck anywhere that can run up to 900 miles in a day,” Girsky said.

However, since the 2020 scandal, Nikola’s stock has dropped 99 percent, Forbes reported, and now an investor analytics company called Macroaxis has estimated that Nikola has an 81 percent chance of going bankrupt.

While Forbes credited Milton with most of Nikola’s current woes, it’s not just the scandal causing investment setbacks for Nikola. In August, Nikola also recalled most of its battery-electric trucks—about 209—after a fire probe revealed a “defective part” that “is believed to have caused a battery to overheat” and risk setting trucks on fire, The Wall Street Journal reported.

This represented “virtually all” the battery-electric trucks that Nikola had shipped to customers, the Journal reported. While engineers worked on a solution to keep battery-electric trucks on the roads, Nikola temporarily halted sales of the battery-electric trucks, ramping up production instead on hydrogen fuel-cell electric trucks that remain Nikola’s core focus.

In September, Girsky described the recall as a setback but pointed to all of Nikola’s progress since Milton’s departure.

“It’s a setback, but we’re in it for the long haul,” Girsky said. “We’ve proved the skeptics wrong who said we couldn’t engineer a truck, couldn’t build a truck, and couldn’t sell a truck, and we’re not planning on stopping any time soon.”

Disgraced Nikola founder Trevor Milton gets 4-year sentence for lying about EVs Read More »

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Not all pickups are work trucks—Toyota aims the 2024 Tacoma off-road

car review, Cars, First drive, hybrid pickup truck, Toyota Tacoma / /

Not the official truck of Takoma Park, however —

The TRD Pro trim even comes with seats fitted with shock absorbers.

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A red Toyota Tacoma TRD seen on a trail

Enlarge / Yes, pickup trucks are used in work situations, but they’re also bought by people who want to drive them off-road.

Kristin Shaw

Between a new platform and the model’s first hybrid powertrain, the redesigned 2024 Toyota Tacoma is full of interesting tidbits and both off- and on-road enhancements. The refresh has been a long time coming, as the last time Toyota updated the Tacoma was for model-year 2015.

The Tacoma line began in 1995 as a US-specific version of the global HiLux. Even Back to the Future‘s Marty McFly coveted a black 1985 Toyota HiLux SR5 Xtra Cab, and it appeared in his garage, complete with a kangaroo bar, off-roading lights, and more.

By design, the new Tacoma is larger than the last generation, sharing a platform with the full-size Tundra. Today, the 2024 Tacoma is more fuel-efficient than its smaller predecessor, notching between 20 and 26 mpg (9–11.8 L/100 km) in the gas-powered versions—a 1995 HiLux ranged from 14–22 mpg (10.7–16.8 L/100 km). We’re waiting to see what the hybrid powertrain earns from the EPA; the difference in mpg may be modest, but the horsepower quotient is impressive.

Toyota will sell you a range of different Tacoma trims, many of which can handle some rough stuff. The TRD Off-Road grade is the most specialized.

Enlarge / Toyota will sell you a range of different Tacoma trims, many of which can handle some rough stuff. The TRD Off-Road grade is the most specialized.

Kristin Shaw

In the last few years, the popularity of off-roading has soared, and the segment has exploded, with accessories becoming a cost center for manufacturers, too. The 2024 Tacoma is available with over 100 off-roading accessories, all covered by the same warranty as the truck. At the truck’s launch, we had an opportunity to test it off the tarmac.

More options, more off-road upgrades

Toyota didn’t spare any bells and whistles for the new Tacoma, basing the infotainment system on the new Tundra’s much-improved setup and adding a coilover rear suspension option over leaf springs. Each trim level has a suspension tuned specifically to its grade, including high-end Bilstein shocks for the TRD Off-Road grade.

The differences are evident after driving several trims on a test run in California. Limited trim buyers can choose an available adaptive variable suspension that adjusts to road conditions on the fly; the ride is noticeably smoother than its model siblings. On the other end of the spectrum, the TRD line carries progressively tougher shocks to save your back and neck muscles when powering over dirt and rock obstacles.

Toyota

At the top of the line is the Trailhunter grade, which is equipped with an Old Man Emu suspension by ARB. The Australian suspension setup is designed to increase the range of motion to make off-roading more comfortable—and, as a result, more fun. Its suspension is custom-tuned for the Tacoma and isn’t available as an off-the-shelf product.

Progressively tougher

Two years ago, Toyota showcased the Trailhunter concept on display at the Specialty Equipment Market Association annual megaevent, and the buzz was palpable. More drivers are interested in off-roading, and this one is built to withstand heavy loads (think camping gear like tents, 10-gallon water containers, and portable refrigerators). It also carries an onboard air compressor and is covered in skid-plate armor to protect the fuel tank, mid-body, and front from damage.

In the TRD Off-Road grade, one of the standard technologies is a new 2-inch Bilstein monotube shock with piggyback reservoirs. Tacoma Chief Engineer Sheldon Brown says it’s pretty unusual to see those types of shocks in a core grade of vehicles, but he felt it was important to provide an “incredible” off-road performance.

The piggyback part is key, providing a reservoir of heat management to keep the shocks moving.

The Tacoma TRD Pro's interior.

Enlarge / The Tacoma TRD Pro’s interior.

Toyota

“As we’re moving, we have these long stroke shocks and it’s working this fluid,” Brown says. “The fluid gets warm, the viscosity gets lower, and we get shock fade.” Shock fade is what happens when the damper loses control and the ride loses some of its comfort factor.

Seats that protect your neck and back

The ultimate comfort feature is an option in Toyota’s popular TRD Pro trim. The engineers and designers worked together to give the new Tacoma new seats for the driver and front passenger that ride on a shock-absorber system.

“The purpose of these so-called IsoDynamic Performance Seats is to keep your head—and in turn, your eyes—steady and focused while driving (or riding in the right seat) on rugged terrain,” Brown says. “If you’ve ever ridden a horse or performed in a marching band, you understand how important it is to keep your vision intact while moving.”

Sounds great, right? The best part is that the new seats, called IsoDynamic Performance Seats, can be tuned and adjusted by body mass, or they can be bypassed via levers on the seatbacks.

This truck was made for getting dirty. But Toyota gave the new Tacoma a wide range of options that will satisfy the person least likely to even touch dirt with one today all the way to the seasoned off-roader.

Not all pickups are work trucks—Toyota aims the 2024 Tacoma off-road Read More »

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Here’s how an off-road racing series will make its own hydrogen fuel

Cars, Extreme E, Features, hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen production, off-road racing, racing / /

Inside Extreme E’s Hydrogen Ambition —

Extreme E, the electric off-road series, is switching to hydrogen in 2025.

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DECEMBER 03: Lia Block (USA) / Timo Scheider (DEU), Carl Cox Motorsport, battles with Amanda Sorensen (USA) / RJ Anderson (USA), GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing during the Copper X-Prix, Chile on December 03, 2023. (Photo by Colin McMaster / LAT Images)

Enlarge / Extreme E travels to remote locations by boat and brings its own energy infrastructure with it. Currently, it makes its own hydrogen on site and uses that to charge EV batteries, but in 2025, the cars will switch to hydrogen fuel cells.

Colin McMaster / LAT Images

ANTOFAGASTA, Chile — On a picnic bench in Chile’s Atacama Desert, one of the most remote locations on Earth, Alejandro Agag is holding court.

“Welcome to the edge of the world,” he laughs, gesturing toward the vast desert around him. A gust of wind kicks a cloud of sand and dust across the table. “It’s amazing, this place.”

The 53-year-old Spanish entrepreneur is taking in the sights and sounds of the season 3 finale of Extreme E, the off-road electric racing series he launched in 2021. Part of the series’ ethos is that it races exclusively in regions of the globe that are heavily impacted by climate change (such as the Atacama Desert—the driest, non-polar region on Earth), typically with no spectators present.

And while the competition during the finale is dramatic—with five of the series’ 10 teams in contention to win the championship—racing has taken a firm backseat this weekend. Conversation instead has centered on Agag’s recent proclamation that Extreme E will rebrand as Extreme H in 2025, becoming the first racing series powered fully by hydrogen.

“We want to be the first to be doing it,” says Agag, holding his hand up to shield his face from the still-swirling sand. “The challenge is there, and we love challenges—the challenge of working with a whole new technology, relevant technology that can have real, huge uses in the economy in general.”

The races are short heats on off-road courses.

Enlarge / The races are short heats on off-road courses.

Extreme E

Agag is no stranger to pioneering new racing technology: He is also the founder and chairman of Formula E, which was the first all-electric racing series when it debuted in 2014. To bolster his credibility in establishing Extreme H by 2025, Agag recently announced that the fledgling series would be joining a working group with Formula 1 and the International Automobile Federation (FIA) to further explore the development of hydrogen fuel. Extreme H is also slated to gain FIA World Championship status by 2026.

“My idea, my pitch, for Formula 1 was to say, listen, you don’t know which technology will be the winning one,” Agag explains. “For the moment, you are betting on synthetic fuels… but hydrogen is going to be, maybe, one technology that could be part of the equation. So that’s all that it is, for Formula 1 to keep an eye on what’s going to happen here. And what’s going to happen is we’ll have the first—and, I think for quite a while, the only—pure hydrogen world championship racing.”

In many ways, the working group makes a lot of sense: Five of Extreme E’s existing 10 teams have direct or tangential ties to Formula 1, with the likes of McLaren, Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, and Jenson Button among its team owners. And the use of hydrogen has become an enticing prospect for all of motorsports, partly because it can be used in combustion engines (“They [Formula 1] like noise… and combustion makes noise!” Agag laughs).

Of course, using hydrogen exclusively to fuel a racing series is no small feat, and other hydrogen-based projects have been plagued by setbacks and delays in recent months. Most notably, the Le Mans hydrogen class has already been delayed to 2027, citing safety concerns.

But Extreme E believes its style of racing—short sprints that last approximately 10 minutes—is perfectly suited to showcasing and testing the power of hydrogen fuel cells, and the series’ leadership is confident that after initial testing last month, they will be running their first fully hydrogen race by February 2025.

At Extreme E's race site in Atacama Desert, a series of solar panels are set up in the center of the race site.

Enlarge / At Extreme E’s race site in Atacama Desert, a series of solar panels are set up in the center of the race site.

Gregory Leporati

Getting all the operations up and running in only 13 months certainly won’t be easy, though. “Switching that one letter to H means we have to switch a million other things,” Agag says.

Here’s how an off-road racing series will make its own hydrogen fuel Read More »

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Tesla Model 3 may lose $7,500 tax credit in 2024 under new battery rules

Cars, IRS clean vehicle tax credit, Tesla, tesla model 3 / /

FEOC —

Tesla’s website confirms the tax credit for the electric sedan is going away.

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Tesla Model 3 may lose $7,500 tax credit in 2024 under new battery rules

Jonathan Gitlin

Tesla has engaged in a series of price cuts over the past year or so, but it might soon want to think about making some more for the Model 3 sedan. According to the automaker’s website, the Tesla Model 3 Long Range and Tesla Model 3 Rear Wheel Drive will both lose eligibility for the $7,500 IRS clean vehicle tax credit at the start of 2024. (The Model 3 Performance may retain its eligibility.)

From Tesla's website.

From Tesla’s website.

Tesla

The beginning of 2023 saw the start of a new IRS clean vehicle tax credit meant to incentivize people by offsetting some of the higher purchase cost of an electric vehicle. The maximum credit is still $7,500—just like the program it replaced—but with a range of new conditions including income and MSRP caps, plus requirements for increasing the amount of each battery that must be refined and produced in North America.

A new hiccup appeared at the start of December 2023, though—in the form of new guidance from the US Treasury Department regarding “foreign entities of concern.”

China is one of those foreign entities of concern (along with Russia, North Korea, and Iran), and the new guidance says that an EV cannot be eligible for tax subsidies if the components were manufactured or assembled in those countries, or if some of the battery minerals were extracted or refined in those countries (beginning in 2025). It also applies to batteries made by companies that are owned or controlled by foreign entities of concern.

Given the high degree of Chinese state involvement in that country’s auto industry, this will probably mean that fewer EVs will qualify for the tax credit next year.

Tesla is not forthcoming on its site about the reason for losing the tax credit for these Model 3 variants, but it’s not the only automaker to face this problem. Ford also believes the Mustang Mach-E will lose its $3,750 tax credit eligibility on January 1, 2024.

Tesla Model 3 may lose $7,500 tax credit in 2024 under new battery rules Read More »

with-the-heybike-ranger-s,-the-s-stands-for-scooter

With the Heybike Ranger S, the S stands for scooter

Cars, e-bike, electric bicycle, Heybike, personal mobility / /

Urban runaround —

A very fast and foldable e-bike with brake lights, directionals, and a horn.

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Image of a foldable bicycle with a low seat and tall handlebars.

John Timmer

The arrival of e-bikes has blurred the lines between bicycles, mopeds, and scooters. Depending on what country or state you’re in, some e-bikes can legally hit 45 km/hour (28 mph), yet they don’t require a license, registration, or insurance, unlike their competitors. Whether that’s a good or bad thing depends on whether the bike riders in your area ride like lunatics or not.

Regardless of how you feel about the state of things, it’s definitely true that most e-bikes are relatively bike-like compared to mopeds and scooters, lacking things like brake lights, directionals, and other components that make navigating in urban environments a bit safer. Most, but not all. Heybike offers a number of scooter-substitute e-bikes that come with a powered horn, brake lights, directionals, and a zippy motor. As a bonus, they’re foldable. We checked out its latest model, the $1,499 Ranger S.

A foldable heavyweight

Let’s address one thing right away: In our review of the Ranger S’s sibling (the Tyson), we ran into a number of mechanical problems that threatened to make the bike unusable. The only real issue we saw on the Ranger S was a rapidly fluctuating reading of battery capacity. Otherwise, the bike was solid.

Another minor problem we had was with a metal loop that Heybike includes to protect the rear derailleur from damage. Apparently, it served that role during shipping, as it was bent in such a way that it kept the derailleur from reaching the smallest two gear rings. This was pretty easy to spot, and also easy to bend back into its normal position, after which all seven gears were accessible.

The hinge in the center of the frame that allows the bike to fold. The release will only move if the silver metal slider embedded in it is pushed upward from beneath.

Enlarge / The hinge in the center of the frame that allows the bike to fold. The release will only move if the silver metal slider embedded in it is pushed upward from beneath.

John Timmer

The bike’s folding mechanism worked without issue—the frame folds in half so that the front and rear wheels wind up next to each other, and the handlebars fold down to the side. When folded, a different metal loop keeps the front gear ring from resting on the ground.

This is not, however, a “fold it and carry it up the stairs to your apartment” bike. The Ranger S weighs over 32 kg (72 lbs). That’s over 15 kg more than the Gocycle folding bike we reviewed earlier, and it’s enough to make moving it around a challenge. It also lacks any sort of mechanism for holding the bike in a folded position (I’d recommend investing in a bungee cord if you get one), meaning it has a tendency to flop back open as you’re shifting it, adding to the challenge.

This is not to say the folding is pointless. You can definitely store it in a smaller space than many other e-bikes. And it was a snap to lift it into the hatchback I drive, allowing me to take the car in for service without needing to find a place to sit for a few hours. But it doesn’t open up the full range of use cases that an easier-to-manage folding bike would.

When fully folded, the Ranger S is fairly compact but awkwardly heavy.

Enlarge / When fully folded, the Ranger S is fairly compact but awkwardly heavy.

John Timmer

The upside of the robust construction is that the Ranger S can haul a lot of stuff. The total capacity is listed as 180 kg (400 lbs) between rider and cargo. Heybike offers panniers for the rear rack, with 30 liters of capacity, and you can place up to 13 kg (28 lbs.) in an optional front basket. This isn’t a cargo bike, but it can definitely haul some groceries home, even if you’re a heavy rider.

The drivetrain

The Ranger S is a Class 3 e-bike, meaning it has a maximum speed of 45 km/hour (28 mph). That comes thanks to a 750-watt motor that can hit a peak output of 1,200 W. Heybike rates its 14.4 Ah battery as providing enough juice to provide pedal assist for up to about 90 km (55 miles), but that is presumably at its lowest assist setting. It’s clear that running it on its maximum assist setting burned through the battery far more quickly than that, although the rapidly fluctuating battery meter on the display made it difficult to tell just how much more quickly—or how much further I could go before the battery went flat. Range anxiety joined me for many of my rides.

The motor is tied to a cadence sensor, which registers when you’re turning the pedals and kicks in the assist if you are. Since you have to pedal an otherwise very heavy bike for a bit before the sensor triggers the motor, there’s also a throttle that will take you up to 32 km/hour (20 mph) before cutting out.

With the Heybike Ranger S, the S stands for scooter Read More »