Free Republic

On Thursday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated that building eight electric vehicle charging stations so far under the Inflation Reduction Act’s $7.5 billion investment in electric vehicle charging stations is “on track.” Because most construction will occur in the second half of the decade. Co-host Joe Kernen asked, “[O]ur designs on electrification of the auto industry, have we recalibrated there? And I’ll just give you one item and you can — maybe you can explain why, but under the Inflation Reduction Act, 7.5 billion for building these charging stations. The latest information, eight have been...

VACAVILLE — Update: After this story was published on Monday, Sept. 16 the customer Ken Wilson provided an update to CBS13 on Tuesday, Sept. 17 that PG&E credited more than $600 to his account, the amount he has overpaid for three years. PG&E also fixed the meter on Tuesday so Wilson is now paying for his own electricity. A Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) customer who lives at an apartment complex in Vacaville recently noticed something was not quite right with his utility bill. After further investigation that included PG&E coming out to check his meter, they discovered he had...

W is considering axing as many as 30,000 jobs as it scrambles to save billions of euros amid a slowdown in the car market, German media has reported. The carmaker recently announced it could close some of its German factories for the first time in history as it struggles to reinvent itself for the electric era. Analysts at Jefferies said VW is considering closing two to three facilities, with as many as five German sites under threat, putting 15,000 jobs at risk. That job losses is feared to have doubled to 30,000, according to Manager Magazin, a leading German business...

CEO Jim Farley is trying to learn from his greatest competitor and is now trying to copy parts of China's electric vehicle playbook. =================================================================== Ford’s CEO Jim Farley first sounded the warning back in May, after his visit to China, but it’s been quietly happening in the background for far longer; Chinese electric vehicles, or EVs, are gobbling up the Chinese domestic market. They may even be on pace to do the same globally. In a Wall Street Journal interview, Farley described the situation as an "existential threat" to Ford, highlighting the rapid pace at which Chinese automakers are advancing...

At the turn of the 20th century, there were thousands of electric vehicles in operation around the world. ================================================================== By the 1890s, steam had established itself as the main source of power for trains, industrial applications and even the occasional passenger car. Gasoline-powered personal transportation was still in its infancy. So electric vehicles were preferred by most because they didn’t require a dangerous crank-starting procedure, they didn’t backfire and spew oil everywhere, and they were perceived as quiet and torquey. Remember, this was a time when you'd get gasoline from your local pharmacist or the area blacksmith, if you had...

Lotus teases a new sports car ahead of its reveal next week, and it's likely a concept that previews the upcoming Type 135 EV. * Lotus is teasing a new sports car called the Theory 1 that will be unveiled on September 16. * The Theory 1 appears to be electric and is likely a concept car that will hint at the Type 135 sports car that will arrive in the next few years. * The teaser videos show an active rear spoiler and a rectangular yoke-style steering wheel. While Lotus still sells the enthralling gas-powered Emira sports car with...

The battery hit temperatures of 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit while it was on fire. California firefighters used about 50,000 gallons of water to put out a Tesla Semi fire after a collision, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday. According to the Associated Press, an aircraft also dropped fire retardant on the “immediate area” to bring the fire under control, the agency reported. The battery hit temperatures of 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit while it was on fire. The truck hit a tree while going around a curve on Aug. 19. Tesla's autopilot feature was not engaged, according to the agency report....

In yet another setback for the Biden-Harris regime’s push for electric vehicles, American consumers are showing a distinct lack of enthusiasm for purchasing new EVs. The latest Mobility Consumer Index (MCI) from consulting firm EY reveals a shocking drop in interest, with only 34% of US consumers planning to buy an electrified vehicle—down from 48% in 2023. This decline raises serious questions about the administration’s ability to force their “Electric Revolution” onto consumers. Now, after seemingly rushing to promote electric vehicles as the future of transportation, the reality is hitting hard: fully electric vehicle interest has plummeted to a mere...

I play mainly acoustic, finger picking and blues styles. I find that sometimes I need to cut through the mix a little more. Best electric? Go.

Every time I write about electric cars, there is an explosion of hostile comments online in which readers angrily denounce electric vehicles and the people who drive them. Much of this animus rests on a plausible yet mistaken assumption — that EV owners are all passionate environmentalists, sanctimoniously swanning around in their zero–emission vehicles while disdaining the ghastly, planet-killing masses burning dinosaur juice. Let me disabuse you of this. That stereotype was perhaps partly fair when applied to the Toyota Prius — although even then I suspect it concerned only a minority of owners. In the case of fully electric...

People in South Jersey say they are feeling the crunch after their summer electric bills skyrocketed. Many say they were shocked to see their Atlantic City Electric bills increase, in some cases doubling, and they want answers. Shannon Franke, an AC Electric customer, said she was shocked when she got her most recent bill in the mail. She went from owing $434 in June, to $780 in July. By August she owed $1,032

Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign now claims she “does not support” Electric Vehicle (EV) mandates after years of supporting such mandates as a Senator and in her role in President Joe Biden’s administration. According to The Spectator‘s Amber Duke, Harris’s campaign sent an email to supporters on Tuesday claiming “Vice President Harris does not support an electric vehicle mandate.” The statement comes after years of Harris campaigning, championing, and supporting EV mandates that require automakers to produce and sell a certain percentage of EVs to American consumers.

1st Gear: Ford’s New EV Plan Means More Hybrids Last week, we reported that Ford was canceling its plans for a three-row electric crossover as part of an adjustment to its electric strategy because of cooling demand for EVs. Now we are getting a better look at just how much that strategy is changing and what it’ll end up costing The Blue Oval. Chiefly, Ford is expected to take on $1.9 billion in related charges and write-downs. The cancelation of this three-row EV comes after Ford said in the Spring that it would be delaying plans for the model by...

Normal Fire Department (NPD) crews battled a blaze at the Rivian plant parking lot Saturday night. NFD spokesperson Matt Swaney said fire crews were called to Rivian’s Normal plant just before 9:45 p.m. for a reported vehicle fire. He said there is an unspecified number of vehicles damaged by the incident. Witnesses outside the plant said they reportedly saw the fire as early as 9:50 p.m. The EV assembly plant was not affected by the fire, Swaney said.

An exploding electric bike battery was behind the fire last week at an Auburn inn. According to the Auburn Fire Department, the fire happened just before 6:00p on August 15 at the Cayuga Inn at the Finger Lakes (formerly the Days Inn) at 37 William St. Crews quickly made their way to the second-floor room where there were multiple fires were found. After extinguishing the fires, investigators determined an e-bike battery exploded, causing individual cells to scatter around the room. Damage was largely contained to the room with minor water damage on the first floor room below. There were no...

Ford previously pushed back the project only to cancel it amid stiff price competition as electric vehicle manufacturers struggle to move their product ================================================================= Ford Motor announced Wedneday it has scrapped plans for a large electric SUV. The reversal will reportedly result in $1.9 billion in write-downs and special charges. Ford's course change comes amid lower-than-expected demand for electric vehicles, The Wall Street Journal reported. This spring, Ford, a major U.S. automaker, delayed plans for the electric SUV to 2027. Ford blamed the cancellation on pricing pressuring as other automakers use aggressive discounts to move electric vehicles. Ford has another...

We knew that the Democrat party had no respect for the dead, exploiting their “unalive” status for votes, but dragging Joe Biden’s corpse out onto a public stage late at night for appearance’s sake is really just cruel—get this poor dude back to his casket where he belongs!Last night, Biden took the Monday night stage spot (a slot that President Trump rightly acknowledged as “Death Valley”) at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, to deliver his “boring as hell” farewell address of sorts, where and his brain-dead cognitive function was on full display—at one point, Biden actually declared that under...

A day after a Tesla Semi caught fire and left Interstate 80 in a chokehold, California lawmakers are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to delay a state mandate for big rigs in the state to be all-electric by 2045. Along the freeway east of Nyack in Placer County, traffic stretch on for miles as crews tried to extinguish the Tesla fire. Another issue at play was the toxic fumes being emitted from the vehicle, the California Highway Patrol said.

A Tesla big rig that caught fire has both directions of California's Interstate 80 closed in the Sierra Nevada on Monday morning. Cal Fire crews confirmed that they responded to the scene for an electric big rig fire around 3 a.m. near Emigrant Gap. California Highway Patrol later confirmed they are dealing with a hazardous materials situation.... First responders say that the batteries of the electric big rig were still burning more than four hours later.... "The battery itself, you can't just spray water on it to put it out. It takes either some sort of dry chemical or very...

EMIGRANT GAP, Calif. — Parts of Interstate 80 in Placer County are closed Monday morning after an electric big rig caught fire east of Nyack, the California Highway Patrol said. Drivers are being kept off the interstate for at least half a mile in both directions because the Tesla truck's battery was on fire, said Jason Lyman, a CHP spokesperson. The toxic fumes are an inhalation danger, he said.