Lucid Motors will show off its first production vehicle in April at the New York Auto Show. The new automaker, based on Silicon Valley, is using its internal technologies, and is building a factory in Arizona; the first cars built for sale will appear around the end fo the year. Though most people today are […]
In April, the Hyperion Company, an aerospace R&D firm, will officially show off its new division, Hyperion Motors. The company claims its products were developed with NASA; Hyperion’s past work has been on electrolyzers, hydrogen storage, and fuel cell systems. Hydrogen cars were a popular idea when George W. Bush was President, but since then […]
Way back when, Renault bought a controlling interest in American Motors (AMC). Since the government did not allow foreign companies to control military contractors, AMC had to spin off its military supply group, which became AM General. The most visible product of AM General was the HMMWV (“Humvee”), which spawned the civilian Hummer. Because it was […]
The Consumer Electronics Show is a yearly event that sets the stage for innovative technology, previewing consumer technology in many fields, including smartphones, computers, kitchen appliances, and even cars. Next week, FCA will display their electric Airflow Vision concept at CES 2020, giving us a peek at their vision of the future of transportation. They […]
The California Air Resources Board (CARB), that most demonized of government agencies, has finally realized that it’s done all that it can practically do with regular, civilian-owned cars. Now it’s time for trucks. Cummins has sold over 200 electric trucks (like this one) A full tenth of greenhouse gas emissions in California come from trucks, […]
In the latest edition of “Fun Autopilot Fails,” a 2018 Tesla Model 3 rammed a parked state police car in Connecticut on Saturday. The highway patrol vehicle had stopped behind a stranded car on I-95, and the Tesla slammed into it. The police car, while a Ford, was fortunately not a Crown Victoria; those had […]
General Motors and LG (Lucky Goldstar) Chem will open a new plant in Lordstown, Ohio to make batteries, creating over 1,100 jobs (some of which will likely go to former GM Lordstown employees). The investment is estimated at $2.3 billion, and will go to a greenfield site. GM sold its Lordstown plant to Lordstown […]
General Motors (GM) was actually a pioneer in electric cars, with the creation of the Bob Lutz-sponsored Chevy Volt, followed by the Bolt. While it was critiqued by many for not being a Tesla, the Bolt did have two major advantages over the Model 3: it was well made, without the rather insane defects of […]
You can get a light-hybrid Ram 1500 with the V6 or V8 gasoline engines, but, so far, we haven’t seen it with the promised plug-in system. One would think a plug-in hybrid system would be easy for Ram; the Pacifica minivan has been out for a while now, using the same engine, albeit with a […]
The people behind Tesla’s success are now set to build their own electric car in Arizona, starting at the end of 2020. Former Model S chief engineer Peter Rawlinson projected a very slow ramp-up of production to avoid Tesla’s many quality gaffes; that’s one reason why production is estimated at just 15,000 for all of […]