Free Republic

Rapid charging speeds are getting faster all the time. There are already a few cars capable of 400kW, while BYD’s Flash Charging tech supplies a whopping 1,500kW. But even the latter system involves stopping, plugging in and waiting for about 10 minutes. Honda, meanwhile, is envisioning a future in which you won’t have to stop at all. The Japanese manufacturer is working with The Taisei Corporation and its Taisei Rotec subsidiary on wireless, road surface-integrated charging technology that’s capable of keeping an electric car topped up as it drives along. This isn’t a new idea, but the Honda project stands...

Australia and New Zealand have been ranked among the two fastest growing electric vehicle markets in the world since the start of the Iran war in late February triggered a fossil fuel supply crisis that is still being felt across the globe. The European energy and climate think tank Ember this week published a new analysis that shows that in the six months since the Hormuz energy crisis erupted, electric car fleets in oil-importing countries are estimated to have displaced 200 million barrels of crude oil, with a value of $US20 billion ($A29 billion). Fully electric cars (BEVs) are responsible...

French carmaker Citroen has brought back its 2CV brand in a bid to boost sales of electric cars in a difficult market. The new model, unveiled at the Paris Motor Show, is a small city runabout with retro styling which harks back to one of the company's most famous designs. As a "concept car" intended to show Citroen's direction of travel, it is not yet ready to go on sale but the plan is to have a version in showrooms by 2028. As they face mounting competition from Chinese manufacturers, Citroen and other European brands are exploiting their heritage as...

Gasoline-only cars fell below 50% of global new vehicle sales for the first time, as the Hormuz crisis and record fuel prices accelerated the shift toward EVs. EV sales surged across major markets, with European BEV sales jumping 52% year-over-year in August and second-quarter global EV sales rising 35% from Q1. High oil and fuel prices could permanently accelerate EV adoption, although charging infrastructure and critical-mineral supply remain major constraints. The share of gasoline cars in global vehicle sales fell below 50% for the first time ever as the Hormuz shock and the resulting record-high fuel prices accelerated the previously...

Tesla was just granted a patent for an “Electric Fan Car,” a system that uses four electric ducted fans in the rear diffuser to suck the car down to the road at any speed. The car in the drawings is a Model S, which Tesla stopped building in April. It’s Tesla’s second fan car patent in just over a year, and it arrives two weeks before the company’s latest attempt at a Roadster demo. The USPTO granted US 12,746,987 B1 today. Tesla filed it in January 2024, but it goes back to a provisional application from January 17, 2023. Eight...

President Donald Trump says that he has approved new fuel economy standards that should cut the costs of the vehicle market. “BIG DAY FOR AMERICAN AUTO WORKERS AND CAR BUYERS! I have just approved new Fuel Economy Standards that TERMINATE Sleepy Joe Biden and Pete Boot-EDGE-EDGE's ridiculous EV Mandate," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "The Dumocrats cost our Great Auto Manufacturers $Billions, forced Americans into cars they never wanted, and wasted Billions on Chargers that were never built.” The new standards terminate the EPA’s electric vehicle mandate. "These new Standards will take the waste out of ⁠building cars in America....

Southern California drivers dreaming of a cheap new car may soon have another pint-sized option to consider, if Mexico’s bargain electric vehicles ever make their way across the border. Mexico has unveiled Olinia, a new homegrown electric vehicle brand built around tiny, affordable EVs designed for short trips, small businesses and urban deliveries, according to Marketplace. The Olinia lineup is part of Mexico’s broader effort to develop its own electric vehicle industry rather than simply serve as a manufacturing base for global automakers. President Claudia Sheinbaum has promoted the project as evidence that Mexico can develop its own technology and...

The electric car market grew by 20% from 2024 to exceed 20 million sales. The sales share of electric cars in the overall car market increased to 25%. about 5% of the global car stock is now electrified, displacing 1.2 million barrels of oil per day in 2025. In a growing number of countries, the electric car sales share has recently surpassed 10%. Close to 55% of new cars sold in China were electric in 2025 More than 13 million electric cars were sold in China in 2025. Monthly electric car sales exceeded a 50% sales share in 11 out...

Tesla cars are constantly capturing video data from all their cars that is sent back to their servers. No doubt, this data could be used to track criminals or anyone else by a query to the database. I have not seen this discussed anywhere, but seems like LE or those with ill intent could see this as a treasure. I saw this post: This little blue dot on your phone is a revolutionary invention https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4386790/posts and it made me remember this question. Tesla uses the data to improve their self driving algorithms so billions of videos are uploaded from cars...

Dramatic footage shows the electric double-decker ablaze at the bus depot in west London at around 6pm on Wednesday evening. Dark grey smoke can be seen billowing from the depot as the flames ripped through the number 23 bus, which serves routes from Westbourne Park to Aldwych. Four fire engines and 25 firefighters were dispatched to tackle the inferno and were able to bring the fire under control by around 7pm. No injuries were reported. The bus and two charging points were destroyed in the fire. Nearby Tube station Westbourne Park was closed after the fire broke out, reopening just...

Take a gander at this. https://www.batterydesign.net/catl-and-lithium-air/?srsltid=AfmBOop457aWJd9wnPH7-OFVvhRw7euLp3IgEMGDq75Jq_Abrbn18VFx

MILAN, June 25 (Reuters) - Ferrari's first-ever EV model, which has triggered a flurry of criticism since its unveiling last month, needs to be "digested" before it can be ​understood, the company's Chief Product Development Officer Gianmaria Fulgenzi said ‌on Thursday. The €550,000 ($626,000) Luce is a four-door, five-seat family car which has baffled fans and commentators alike, as it looks nothing like the Italian marque's usual fare of low-slung, ​petrol-powered sports cars. Its styling, largely the work of former Apple designers ​Jony Ive and Marc Newson, has provoked endless unflattering memes on social ⁠media, including some that compared it...

General Motors on Tuesday announced it's releasing a software update that allows some electric vehicle (EV) owners to send power back to the electric grid. The update allows owners of GM's vehicle-to-home energy system, which allows the EV to power the home during a blackout, the expanded capability of sending electricity to the power grid. Owners of the system would be able to sell power from their vehicle back to utility providers at times when demand is high, with GM getting a portion of the proceeds. EVs are viewed as an untapped resource for balancing the electric grid to meet...

A possible price leak for the upcoming Slate electric truck has created a surprising amount of buzz online. Enthusiasts digging through the Slate Truck website found a hidden reference to a starting price of $24,950. Neither the company nor its representatives have confirmed the figure, but that has not stopped people from talking about it, much like they did when Torque News first covered Slate's bare bones design philosophy. This is a developing story because now we are expecting what will come next from Slate about its EV truck's price leak after this price leak. What is interesting is that...

Ireland’s dependence on fossil fuels in transport is leaving the country exposed to repeated fuel price shocks as global energy markets remain disrupted, the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) has warned. Accelerated investment in public transport, active travel, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and grid capacity would reduce this exposure, the council said in the transport chapter of its 2026 Annual Review. Temporary emergency responses to fuel price increases were not sufficiently targeted, it said, recommending that those most exposed and least able to avoid fuel costs be given support. Welcoming the Government’s pilot scrappage scheme to incentivize the purchase of...

1,102,210 views May 12, 2026 Everyone online keeps saying Chinese EVs are cheap knockoffs that could never compete with Tesla, Mercedes, BMW, or the rest of the world. So I flew 9,000 miles to China to see for myself. From self-driving cars and massive EV factories to battery technology and infrastructure that honestly shocked me, this trip completely changed the way I look at the future of electric cars. I thought I knew what to expect… I was wrong. We got a behind the scenes look at CATL and the battery tech powering the future of electric cars. EV batteries...

The battery retained 76 percent capacity after 500 consecutive six-minute charging cycles. Charging an electric vehicle fast without degrading the battery has been one of the harder problems in battery research. A team at Adelaide University says it has a way through it. Six minutes. That is how long it took their new battery cell to reach 85 percent charge, while delivering an energy density of 240.4 watt-hours per kilogram. The result comes from a team led by Professor Shi-Zhang Qiao, an ARC Industry Laureate Fellow in the University’s School of Chemical Engineering, working alongside researchers from Imperial College London....

My family leased a Kia EV9 and a Hyundai Ioniq 5. It shows your mileage may vary in even the most critically acclaimed electric cars. ...“Later that day” ended up taking much longer. The service center did not have the car ready until the end of the day on January 9, 2026, nearly a month after I brought it in.

WEEEEE!Oh, muh gosh, this is going to be so much fun, I can hardly stand the thought.What I especially love about the whole concept is being able to turn the progressive mantra about 'paying your fair share' right on its ear and right back at them. blockquote>Electric car owners could be forced to pay as much as $150 annually under a new tax that is being proposed by bipartisan leaders of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.A new proposed EV fee that will start at $135 annually beginning in October 2026 is included in a new bipartisan draft of...

Key Points Canada is allowing 49,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles to be imported for retail sales annually at a tariff rate of 6.1%. That’s opening the market for auto dealers in the country to sell Chinese EVs. “I think it is going to a be a huge eye-opener,” Michael MacGillivray, who oversees 10 dealerships in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Canada, told CNBC. ============================================================ HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Michael MacGillivray sees the arrival of Chinese electric vehicles in Canada as a potential game changer. “I think it is going to a be a huge eye-opener,” said MacGillivray, who oversees 10 dealerships...