Cars

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Ban on Chinese tech so broad, US-made cars would be blocked, Polestar says

Cars, Chinese EVs, connected cars, Polestar / /

Polestar has more than a few issues with the proposed rule, according to its public comment. For one, the definition is too broad and “creates crippling uncertainty for businesses.” A better-defined list would be helpful here, it says.

Polestar also says that “if a large portion of manufacturing or software development is occurring outside of the country of a foreign adversary, mere ownership should not be the determinative factor for applying the various prohibitions within the Proposed Rule.” Polestar is a US-organized company and a subsidiary of a UK publicly limited company that is listed on the NASDAQ exchange in New York. Its HQ is in Sweden, and seven out of 10 board members are from Europe or the USA. It builds Polestar 3 SUVs in South Carolina and will build the Polestar 4 in South Korea from next year. In fact, out of 2,800 employees, only 280 are based in China, Polestar says.

With the company’s “key decision-makers” being in Sweden, there is little reason to believe the national security concerns apply here, the company says, saying that the US Commerce Department should consider whether it has gone too far.

Polestar may be the most affected automaker by the new rule, but it is not the only one. Last month, the Commerce Department told Ford and General Motors that imports of the Lincoln Nautilus and Buick Envision—both of which are made in China—would also have to cease under the new rule.

Ban on Chinese tech so broad, US-made cars would be blocked, Polestar says Read More »

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Scout Motors’ new pickup and SUV EVs will start at “under $60,000”

Cars, Scout Motors / /

Range extended to 500 miles

Pure battery-electric Scouts should have up to 350 miles (563 km), but for those who want to adventure a little farther, there will be range-extended versions that use a gasoline-powered generator to top up the battery pack. Such equipped Scouts should be capable of 500 miles (805 km).

A Scout Traveler SUV seen in profile

With looks like these, I think the Traveler will be popular. Credit: Scout Motors

Those miles don’t need to be all on paved roads, as off-road performance has been a priority for this new startup. The platform has more than a foot (0.3 m) of ground clearance and can ford water at depths of up to 3 feet (0.9 m). It also has front and rear axles with locking mechanical differentials. The rear axle is a live axle design, and the front anti-roll bar can be disconnected for more wheel travel. It can also fit 35-inch all-terrain tires.

Scout owners should be able to haul stuff, too—the Terra truck boasts up to 10,000 lbs (4,536 kg) of towing capacity, and the Traveler SUV 7,000 lbs (3,175 kg). And both pickup and SUV can carry payloads of up to 2,000 lbs (907 kg).

You could have a bench seat here if you want. Note all the physical controls on the dashboard. Scout Motors

The Scout name isn’t the only comeback, because you’ll be given the option of an actual front bench seat. If my research is correct, the last new vehicle to be offered with a front bench seat was the 2013 Chevrolet Impala.

We can also expect a thoroughly up-to-date electronic architecture inside the car. Scout describes it as a modern zonal architecture (also known as a software-defined vehicle), and it’s likely the Terra and Traveler will benefit from VW’s $5 billion investment in Rivian, which allows the German automaker access to Rivian’s software after repeated stumbles at CARIAD, VW’s in-house software division.

If this sounds enticing, Scout has just opened its order books. After leaving a refundable $100 deposit, you can pick whether you want a Terra or Traveler and whether it should be a BEV or range-extended version.

Scout Motors’ new pickup and SUV EVs will start at “under $60,000” Read More »

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Tesla makes $2.2 billion in profit during Q3 2024

Cars, Tesla earnings / /

All of that helped total revenue rise by 8 percent year over year to $25.2 billion. Gross profit jumped by 20 percent to $5 billion, and once generally accepted accounting principles are applied, its net profit grew 17 percent compared to Q3 2023, at $2.2 billion. What’s more, the company is sitting on a healthy treasure chest. Free cash flow increased 223 percent compared to Q3 2023 to reach $2.7 billion, and cash, cash equivalents, and investments grew 29 percent to $33.6 billion over the same time period.

What comes next?

The days of Tesla promising exponential growth in its car sales appear to be at an end, or at least on hiatus until it can deliver a new vehicle platform. The company says that it believes that advances in autonomy will contribute to renewed growth in the future, but these dreams may come crashing down if federal regulators order a costly hardware recall for Tesla’s vision-only system.

An increasingly stale product lineup is slated to grow in the first half of next year, it says. These vehicles will be based on modified versions of Tesla’s existing vehicles built on existing assembly lines, albeit with some features from its “next-generation platform.” Tesla says it has plenty of spare capacity at its factories in California, Texas, Germany, and China, with room to grow “before investing in new production lines.” Meanwhile, the two-seat CyberCab—which Tesla CEO Elon Musk says is due “before 2027“—will use what Tesla calls a “revolutionary “unboxed” manufacturing strategy.

Tesla makes $2.2 billion in profit during Q3 2024 Read More »

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Mercedes-Benz opens its own recycling facility for EV batteries

battery recycling, Cars, Mercedes-Benz / /

Today, Mercedes-Benz opened its first battery-recycling plant in Germany. The new plant will use an “integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical” approach to recycling electric vehicle batteries and expects to recover more than 96 percent of the valuable minerals and metals used in EV batteries.

“Mercedes-Benz has set itself the goal of building the most desirable cars in a sustainable way. As a pioneer in automotive engineering, Europe’s first integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical battery recycling factory marks a key milestone toward enhancing raw-materials sustainability,” said Ola Källenius, chairman of the board of management Mercedes-Benz Group. “Together with our partners from industry and science, we are sending a strong signal of innovative strength for sustainable electric mobility and value creation in Germany and Europe.”

The plant, which is located in Kuppenheim, Germany, shreds the battery modules then uses a mechanical process to separate plastics, copper, aluminum, and iron. The resulting “black mass” is then subjected to a hydrometallurgical process that extracts the cobalt, nickel, and lithium. The plant runs entirely on electricity generated by solar panels and has an annual capacity of 2,756 tons (2,500 tonnes). While this is not especially high, Mercedes says it will use the knowledge it gains to scale up volumes over time.

Automakers are increasingly interested in closing the loop on EV batteries, particularly given concerns about ethical sourcing of some of the minerals (like cobalt) and a desire for more resilient regional supply chains versus global chains that have turned out to be highly susceptible to disruption through events like invasions or even a ship getting stuck in a canal.

Mercedes-Benz opens its own recycling facility for EV batteries Read More »

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The 2025 VW ID Buzz electric bus delivers on the hype

car review, Cars, Features, First drive, Volkswagen ID. Buzz, VW ID. Buzz / /

Perched in the driver’s seat, I’m not sure why you would need to be, anyway. Nothing about the Buzz’s driving style demands you rag it through the corners, although the car coped very well on the very twisty sections of our route up the shore of the Tomales Bay.

Like last week’s Porsche Macan, the single-motor model is the one I’d pick—again, it’s the version that’s cheaper, lighter, and has a longer range, albeit only just. And this might be the biggest stumbling block for some Buzz fans who were waiting to push the button. With 86 kWh useable (91 kWh gross), the RWD Buzz has an EPA range estimate of 234 miles (377 km). Blame the frontal area, which remains barn door-sized, even if the drag coefficient is a much more svelte 0.29.

Fast-charging should be relatively fast, though, peaking at up to 200 kW and with a 26-minute charge time to go from 10 to 80 percent state of charge. And while VW EVs will gain access to the Tesla supercharger network with an adapter, expect 2025 Buzzes to come with CCS1 ports, not native NACS for now.

I expect most customers to opt for all-wheel drive, but again, American car buyer tastes are what they are. This adds an asynchronous motor to the front axle and boosts combined power to 335 hp (250 kW). VW hasn’t given a combined torque figure, but the front motor can generate up to 99 lb-ft (134 Nm) together with the 413 lb-ft from the rear. The curb weight for this version is 6,197 lbs (2,811 kg), and its EPA range is 231 miles (376 km).

It’s a bit of a step up in price, however, as you need to move up to the Pro S Plus trim if you want power for both axles. This adds more standard equipment to what is already a well-specced base model, but it starts at $67,995 (or $63,495 for the RWD Pro S Plus).

A convoy of brightly colored VW ID Buzzes drives down Lombard St in San Francisco.

I was driving the lead Buzz on the day we drove, but this photo is from the day before, when it wasn’t gray and rainy in San Francisco. Credit: Volkswagen

While I found the single-motor Buzz to be a more supple car to drive down a curvy road, both powertrain variants have an agility that belies their bulk, particularly at low speed. To begin our day, VW had all the assembled journalists re-create a photo of the vans driving down Lombard St. Despite a very slippery and wet surface that day, the Buzz was a cinch to place on the road and drive slowly.

The 2025 VW ID Buzz electric bus delivers on the hype Read More »

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Tesla FSD crashes in fog, sun glare—Feds open new safety investigation

Cars, nhtsa, Tesla FSD, Tesla investigation / /

Today, federal safety investigators opened a new investigation aimed at Tesla’s electric vehicles. This is now the 14th investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and one of several currently open. This time, it’s the automaker’s highly controversial “full self-driving” feature that’s in the crosshairs—NHTSA says it now has four reports of Teslas using FSD and then crashing after the camera-only system encountered fog, sun glare, or airborne dust.

Of the four crashes that sparked this investigation, one caused the death of a pedestrian when a Model Y crashed into them in Rimrock, Arizona, in November 2023.

NHTSA has a standing general order that requires it to be told if a car crashes while operating under partial or full automation. Fully automated or autonomous means cars might be termed “actually self-driving,” such as the Waymos and Zooxes that clutter up the streets of San Francisco. Festooned with dozens of exterior sensors, these four-wheel testbeds drive around—mostly empty of passengers—gathering data to train themselves with later, with no human supervision. (This is also known as SAE level 4 automation.)

But the systems that come in cars that you or I could buy are far less sophisticated. Sometimes called “level 2+,” these systems (which include Tesla Autopilot, Tesla FSD, GM’s Super Cruise, BMW Highway Assistant, and Ford BlueCruise, among others) are partially automated, not autonomous. They will steer, accelerate, and brake for the driver, and they may even change lanes without explicit instruction, but the human behind the wheel is always meant to be in charge, even if the car is operating in a hands-free mode.

Tesla FSD crashes in fog, sun glare—Feds open new safety investigation Read More »

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Elon Musk makes bold claims about Tesla robotaxi in Hollywood backlot

Cars, elon musk, robotaxis, tesla autopilot / /

“It’s going to be a glorious future,” Musk said, albeit not one that applies to families or groups of three or more.

Musk claims that Tesla “expects to start” fully unsupervised FSD next year on public roads in California and Texas. A recent analysis by an independent testing firm found the current build requires human intervention about once every 13 miles, often on roads it has used before.

A rendering of the two-seat interior of the Tesla Cybercab

Only being able to carry two occupants is pretty inefficient when a city bus can carry more than 80 passengers. Credit: Tesla

“Before 2027” should see the Cybercab, which Musk claims will be built in “very high volume.” Tesla-watchers will no doubt remember similar claims about the Model X, Model 3, Model Y, and most recently the Cybertruck, all of which faced lengthy delays as the car maker struggled to build them at scale. Later, Musk treated the audience to a video of an articulated robotic arm with a vacuum cleaner attachment cleaning the two-seat interior of the Cybercab. Whether this will be sold as an aftermarket accessory to Cybercab owners, or if they’re supposed to clean out their robotaxis by hand between trips, remains unclear at this time.

Musk also debuted another autonomous concept, the Robovan. It’s a small bus with no visible wheels, but brightly lit interior room for up to 20 occupants. Musk said little about the Robovan and how it figures into Tesla’s future. In 2017 he revealed his dislike for public transport, saying “it’s a pain in the ass” and that other passengers could be serial killers. 

After promising that “unsupervised FSD” is coming to all of Tesla’s five models—”now’s not the time for nuance,” Musk told a fan—he showed off a driverless minibus and then a horde of humanoid robots, which apparently leverage the same technology that Tesla says will be ready for autonomous driving with no supervision. These robots—”your own personal R2-D2,” he said—will apparently cost less than “$30,000” “long-term,” Musk claimed, adding that these would be the biggest product of all time, as all 8 billion people on earth would want one, then two, he predicted.

Elon Musk makes bold claims about Tesla robotaxi in Hollywood backlot Read More »

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Trek CarBack bike radar lets you know when cars are approaching

Bike radar, CarBack, Cars, cycling, Garmin, Tech, trek, Varia / /

“Car back!”

If you’ve ever been on a group bike ride, you’ve no doubt heard these two words shouted by a nearby rider. It’s also the name of Trek’s new bike radar.

For safety-conscious cyclists, bike radars have been a game-changer. Usually mounted on the seat post, the radar units alert cyclists to cars approaching from behind. While they will work on any bike on any road, bike radar is most useful in suburban and rural settings. After all, if you’re doing some urban bike commuting, you’ll just assume cars are behind you because that’s how it is. But on more open roads with higher speed limits or free-flowing traffic, bike radars are fantastic.

While a handful of companies make them, the Garmin Varia is the best-known and most popular option. The Varia is so popular that it is nearing the proprietary eponym status of Kleenex and Taser among cyclists. Trek hopes to change that with its new CarBack bike radar.

Like other bike radars, the CarBack can be used with either a cycling computer or your smartphone. Mounted either on a seat post or the back of a Bontrager saddle, the CarBack can detect vehicles approaching from as far away as 150 meters, beeping at you once one is in its range.

The CarBack plays just as nicely with Garmin bike computers as the Varia does. When a car comes within range, your bike computer will chirp, the edges of the screen turn orange, and a dot showing the car’s relative position travels up the right side of the screen—exactly the same as riding with a Varia.

Speaking of the Varia, there are three significant differences between it and the CarBack. The first is the effective range, 140 meters for the Varia versus the CarBack’s 150 meters. While riding, I didn’t have the feeling that I was getting alerts sooner. But testing on a busy street demonstrated that the CarBack does have at least a few more meters of range than the Varia.

Trek CarBack bike radar lets you know when cars are approaching Read More »

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The Juicebox and Enel X shutdown: What comes next?

Cars, Enel X, EV charging, Juicebox / /

Meanwhile, a number of companies and open source projects are working on offering third-party support for Juiceboxes. Unfortunately, only newer Juiceboxes support the open charge point protocol; older devices may need to be physically modified, perhaps with open source hardware.

Enel X

As might be expected, lots of charging solution providers are interested in helping Enel X’s stranded commercial customers become their newest happy, smiling customers. But it’s going to be up to those stranded by Enel X to find a new company and platform to work with.

In some cases that might mean migrating existing hardware over, but as SAE notes, Enel X has done little to make that migration simple. And many businesses may find what were functioning level 2 chargers today are just beige-colored bricks tomorrow. For example, with Enel X gone, there are no contracts in place for the SIM cards embedded in each charger that provide the connectivity those devices expect.

“When that goes dead, the only way you can really get those chargers going again is you physically send someone out there, or you ask the person on the property to take out the SIM card, replace it,” said Joseph Schottland, CEO of EV+ Charging. “It’s a big ask, because they’ve got to get the screwdriver out, take the back of the charger off… They’ve got to know where to look.”

The Juicebox and Enel X shutdown: What comes next? Read More »

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“Sticky” steering sparks huge recall for Honda, 1.7M cars affected

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Honda is recalling almost 1.7 million vehicles due to a steering defect. An improperly made part can cause certain cars’ steering to become “sticky”—never an attribute one wants in a moving vehicle.

The problem affects a range of newer Hondas and an Acura; the earliest the defective parts were used on any vehicle was February 2021. But it applies to the following:

  • 2022–2025 Honda Civic four-door
  • 2025 Honda Civic four-door hybrid
  • 2022–2025 Honda Civic five-door
  • 2025 Honda Civic five-door Hybrid
  • 2023–2025 Honda Civic Type-R
  • 2023–2025 Honda CR-V
  • 2023–2025 Honda CR-V Hybrid
  • 2025 Honda CR-V Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle
  • 2023–2025 Honda HR-V
  • 2023–2025 Acura Integra
  • 2024–2025 Acura Integra Type S

Honda says that a combination of environmental heat, moisture, and “an insufficient annealing process and high load single unit break-in during production of the worm wheel” means there’s too much pressure and not enough grease between the worm wheel and worm gear. On top of that, the worm gear spring isn’t quite right, “resulting in higher friction and increased torque fluctuation when steering.

The first reports of the problem date back to 2021 and had started an internal probe by November 2022. In March 2023, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration started its own investigation, but the decision to issue the recall only took place in September of this year, by which point Honda says it had received 10,328 warranty claims, although with no reports of any injuries or worse.

Honda has just finished telling its dealers about the recall, and owners of the affected vehicles will be contacted next month. This time, there is no software patch that can help—affected cars will be fitted with a new worm gear spring and plenty of grease.

“Sticky” steering sparks huge recall for Honda, 1.7M cars affected Read More »

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The Hyundai Ioniq 5 will be the next Waymo robotaxi

Cars, hyundai, waymo / /

Waymo’s robotaxis are going to get a lot more angular in the future. Today, the autonomous driving startup and Hyundai announced that they have formed a strategic partnership, and the first product will be the integration of Waymo’s autonomous vehicle software and hardware with the Hyundai Ioniq 5.

“Hyundai and Waymo share a vision to improve the safety, efficiency, and convenience of how people move,” said José Muñoz, president and global COO of Hyundai Motor Company.

“We are thrilled to partner with Hyundai as we further our mission to be the world’s most trusted driver,” said Waymo’s co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana. “Hyundai’s focus on sustainability and strong electric vehicle roadmap makes them a great partner for us as we bring our fully autonomous service to more riders in more places.”

Now, this doesn’t mean you’ll be able to buy a driverless Ioniq 5 from your local Hyundai dealer; Waymo will operate these Ioniq 5s as part of its ride-hailing Waymo One fleet, which currently operates in parts of Austin, Texas; Los Angeles; Phoenix; and San Francisco. Currently, Waymo operates a fleet of Jaguar I-Pace EVs and has also used Chrysler Pacifica minivans.

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 will be the next Waymo robotaxi Read More »

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EVgo gets $1.05B loan to build 7,500 DC fast chargers

Cars / /

The electric vehicle charging company EVgo has secured conditional approval for a $1.05 billion loan from the US Department of Energy, the company revealed this morning. EVgo has applied to DOE’s Title 17 program, which exists to provide US Treasury-backed loans or loan guarantees for clean energy projects. If the deal is finalized, the money will be used to build around 7,500 DC fast chargers, with powerful 350 kW chargers its priority, EVgo said.

EVgo said the charger build-out will be concentrated in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Texas and should be completed by 2030.

Since the federal government is already spending billions on a network of DC fast chargers along highway corridors, EVgo is instead focusing on creating community charging stations, particularly in areas with a high density of multifamily developments and other communities where EV drivers have to rely on public chargers.

In fact, the company said 40 percent of the chargers will be deployed “in marginalized areas that have been overburdened by environmental impacts.”

EVgo gets $1.05B loan to build 7,500 DC fast chargers Read More »