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“We built it, you make it.”That’s the motto for Slate, a new American electric vehicle company, which just revealed its launch model and is backed by ex-Amazon (AMZN) executives, including, reportedly, Jeff Bezos’s family officeSlate said its EV pickup, a bare-bones truck with a footprint smaller than a Ford (F) Maverick, will cost somewhere in the mid-$20K range, and it will come in any color you want — as long as it’s slate gray, that is. The option-challenged vehicle offers a choice of two battery sizes for the rear-wheel-drive truck: a 52.7-kWh battery pack targeting 150 miles of range and...

Slate Auto’s new vehicle is designed to make EVs more accessible by making most features optional add-ons. The company says it will start delivering vehicles in 2026. *************************************************************** A new auto startup is launching with a made-in-America EV that with federal tax credits will cost just $20,000. Backed by Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt, Slate Auto says that affordable price is possible because of its pared-down, basic model that can then be customized—and even transformed from a truck into an SUV. Slate Auto has been in stealth for almost three years, says CEO Chris Barman, who worked as a Chrysler...

It could take up to five years to develop a domestic supply chain to supplant China’s global monopoly in processing rare earths into materials needed to produce everything from iPhones to F-35 fighter jets. While the United States has most of the 17 rare earth elements and 50 critical minerals underground, it has no industrial capacity to refine them into processed metals and magnets, according to Melissa “Mel” Sanderson, American Rare Earths board member and Critical Minerals Institute co-chair. “Currently in the United States, we have zero magnet manufacturers,” Sanderson told The Epoch Times. She said that’s why China imposed...

Beijing instructed South Korea to halt rare material products such as transformers, EVs, aerospace and medical equipment.. Beijing has asked South Korean companies to cease exporting products containing Chinese-originated heavy rare earth metals to U.S. defense firms, warning that Seoul could face sanctions. China’s Ministry of Commerce sent official notices to at least two South Korean companies recently, the Korea Economic Daily reported on Tuesday, citing sources in the South Korean transformer industry. The outlet said the letters did not specify what type of penalties South Korean companies could face if the industry continues to export equipment to the U.S....

Great Wall Motor, a China’s firm, aims for long-distance travel with its next-gen Haval Xiaolong Max hybrid EV. GWM's Haval Xiaolong Max PHEV SUV. credit: GWM China’s Great Wall Motor (GWM) has introduced the second-generation Haval Xiaolong Max plug-in hybrid SUV, featuring updated exterior styling and the company’s in-house Coffee Pilot Plus driver assistance system. The new model promises to offer more range, power, and smart features. Haval Xiaolong Max blends modern styling with practical features The latest Haval Xiaolong Max follows the brand’s “rhythmic natural aesthetics” design language with a refreshed exterior that gives the SUV a more modern...

Tariffs of up to 45 per cent on Chinese-made electric cars imported into the European Union may be replaced with a new ‘minimum pricing’ system after previously stalled discussions between the two trading partners were re-started. A ‘minimum pricing’ arrangement – also referred to as ‘price floors’ or ‘price undertakings’ – between the European Union (EU) and China would see tariffs abolished and set minimum prices agreed upon. According to Reuters, European trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic has said any new policy would have to be as effective as tariffs, given the approach has previously only been applied on ‘homogenous commodities’....

The Chinese EV giant delivered 1 million+ cars in Q1 and continues to pull ahead on some pretty huge metrics.In its preliminary earnings for the first quarter on Tuesday, electric automaker BYD revealed that net income could jump as much as 119% in the first 3 months of the year to 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), after delivering more than 1 million EVs across Q1 — up almost 60% on the same period last year. Easy rideWhile Trump’s tariffs have been a major bump in the road for other automakers, BYD — which had no plans to sell cars in...

Tesla’s sales in the United States fell almost 9 percent in the first three months of the year even as the overall market for electric vehicles grew, according to data compiled by a research firm. Car buyers are moving away from Teslas and toward models like General Motors’ Chevrolet Equinox electric vehicle, which starts at around $35,000 and can travel more than 300 miles on a charge, Cox Automotive, the research firm, said in a report. Sales of all-electric vehicles in the United States rose 11 percent during the first quarter to about 300,000 cars and light trucks, Cox said,...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Tesla officially launched in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, marking a new chapter in the company’s global expansion after Elon Musk ’s troubled relationship with the kingdom — but the Middle East country’s extreme heat could pose a challenge for its electric vehicle performance and battery efficiency. Musk and Saudi Arabia have had a complicated history. Back in 2018, the Tesla CEO claimed he had secured funding from the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund to take the company private. That deal never happened, leading to lingering tensions. With the launch of its first showroom and service center...

In three years, the project has managed to deliver 93 out of 55,000 vehicles. Return to sender. That's the message two Republican lawmakers have regarding the Biden's administration's $3 billon contract for 55,000 electric postal trucks. That's enough to replace a quarter of the USPS fleet. So far, the Wisconsin-based defense contractor Oshkosh has delivered a whopping 93 vehicles. At at that rate, they should be done by the time we open the first post office on Mars. Par for the course for any government EV initiative. As are the reported cost overruns. Fortunately, we've entered the DOGE age. And...

The Skoltech team tested six plasma compositions on the capacitance of carbon nanowalls. Plasma treatment introduced foreign atoms into supercapacitor electrodes to enhance performance. Skoltech ********************************************************************* Scientists at Russia’s Skoltech have achieved a refined understanding of how plasma treatment can significantly improve the capacitance of supercapacitors. Their latest findings reveal that a specific mixture of nitrogen and argon plasma can double the areal capacitance of carbon nanowall electrodes. This could lead to the development of supercapacitors with greater energy storage capabilities and broader applications. “These are energy storage devices that complement batteries in electric cars, trains, port cranes, and elsewhere,”...

US Experience The US has seen two eras in e-bike injury—an early era with the majority of deaths in older patients who have the financial resources to purchase earlier generation and more expensive e-bikes but were less skilled riding a bicycle. During the pandemic, sales of all bikes increased, and the closure of gyms and social distancing led some to purchase e-bikes as a safe option for outdoor exercise. In the second era, e-bike prices fell significantly and became more affordable, leading to a dramatic increase in pediatric use and injury. [snip] For decades, MarinHealth Medical Center has been the...

"How many deaths are we prepared to accept in order to rush through an EV transition that nobody wants?"

Here are two examples of how Democrats stole tens of billions of dollars from taxpayers.This is why they hate DOGE so much.Original: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/03/28/ev-charging-stations-slow-rollout/Archive: https://archive.ph/k6JkEBiden’s $7.5 billion investment in EV charging has only produced 7 stations in two yearsMarch 29, 2024President Biden has long vowed to build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations in the United States by 2030. Those stations, the White House said, would help Americans feel confident purchasing and driving electric cars, and help the country cut carbon pollution.But now, more than two years after Congress allocated $7.5 billion to help build out those stations, only 7 EV charging...

China’s BYD reported annual revenue of 777 billion yuan ($107 billion) for 2024, leapfrogging Tesla as competition between the two EV rivals heats up. “BYD has become an industry leader in every sector from batteries, electronics to new energy vehicles, breaking the dominance of foreign brands and reshaping the new landscape of the global market,” Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD, said in a statement. The filing comes shortly after BYD announced a new battery technology that it claims can charge EVs almost as quickly as it takes to fill a gasoline car. Last week, BYD unveiled an ultra-fast...

California now has more electric vehicle (EV) charging stations than gas nozzles, but consumer demand is struggling to meet Gov. Gavin Newsom’s target of ending gas-powered vehicle sales by 2035, and federal support is in doubt. The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday: Electric vehicle charging ports now outnumber gas nozzles across the Golden State, a sign of the increasing number of zero-emission vehicles on the road. But the milestone arrives as the federal government has moved to deprioritize the shift away from gasoline-powered cars. … The number of accessible chargers across California has nearly doubled since 2022. Just since August,...

It’s become vogue on the right to trash electric vehicles. And, mostly, we’re right to. Most of them are garbage retrofits that rely on a garbage network of chargers which are made by garbage ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) manufacturers who have absolutely no idea what they are doing. What they are manufacturing is virtue-signaling, not cars with anything even remotely resembling good EV—or any other type of—engineering. And then there’s Tesla. There are EVs, and there are Teslas. And though they are both clearly electric cars, they are two completely different animals. This article aims to give you a permanent...

It’s become vogue on the right to trash electric vehicles. And, mostly, we’re right to. Most of them are garbage retrofits that rely on a garbage network of chargers which are made by garbage ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) manufacturers who have absolutely no idea what they are doing. What they are manufacturing is virtue-signaling, not cars with anything even remotely resembling good EV—or any other type of—engineering. And then there’s Tesla. There are EVs, and there are Teslas. And though they are both clearly electric cars, they are two completely different animals. This article aims to give you a permanent...

As the push for renewable energy intensifies, the demand for effective electricity storage solutions becomes increasingly critical. Current lithium-ion batteries, commonly used in electric vehicles and portable electronics, are hitting their limits. According to Xiaolei Wang, a chemical engineering professor at the University of Alberta, these batteries are not well-suited for large-scale energy storage required for the electrical grid. Survives 380,000 charging cycles Wang and his research team are focusing on an innovative approach to battery technology: grid-level aqueous batteries that utilize seawater as an electrolyte. Collaborating with the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan, this approach could...

Oh, the irony. And in progressive Seattle, no less! Thanks to the quick-thinking decision of a driver in the Pacific Northwest, the man who covered his face while terrorizing this woman for driving a Tesla should be rather easy to find. And perhaps he can answer why he feels justified in lecturing others abut vehicle choices when he drives a car that makes Gaia cry and Greta Thunberg snarl: ... A mother says she was harassed and cut off by another driver for driving a Tesla, an incident she described as terrifying and unprovoked. The confrontation, which was caught on...