Free Republic

Congressional Republicans are making a last-ditch effort to gut the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) green energy subsidies via President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill.” The House Ways and Means Committee unveiled a draft bill Monday afternoon to repeal several IRA subsidies including those for electric vehicles and so-called clean hydrogen while preserving tax credits for carbon sequestration, biofuels and advanced manufacturing, which primarily benefit solar and battery storage projects. Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma’s Energy Freedom Act would take an even more aggressive approach by proposing a...

A major incident has been declared in the German city of Mannheim after a car reportedly rammed into pedestrians, leaving at least one person dead. Armed police have been deployed across the centre of the city and members of the public have been told to stay away. According to local reports, a black SUV drove at high speed from the city's parade ground towards the water tower into a crowd of people. There are said to be several seriously injured people and numerous emergency services present. It remains unclear whether this was an accident or an attack according to police.

The Ford F-150 pickup truck is no longer America's top selling vehicle according to a new Forbes report citing data from automotive data and analysis from JATO Dynamics. After 40 years at the top of the list, Forbes states data from JATO Dynamics shows the Toyota RAV 4 is the new top-selling vehicle in the United States. The SUV sold 475,193 units in 2024, topping Ford F-150's 460,915 units sold. The swap reflects an increase of 9% in sales for the RAV 4 compared to a decrease of 5% of the popular pickup. The Honda CRV ranked third in sales,...

Key Points * Chinese electric car giant BYD announced late Monday that it was releasing a “DiPilot” assisted driving system for its cars, which includes a 69,800 yuan ($9,555) low-cost vehicle. * BYD also said it was integrating artificial intelligence from Chinese startup DeepSeek into at least the most advanced version of the new driver assist system. * Tesla’s most advanced version of driver assistance, called “Full-Self Driving,” has yet to receive Beijing’s approval. ================================================================= BEIJING — Chinese electric car giant BYD shares hit a record high in Hong Kong trading Tuesday after the company said it is going all...

President Donald Trump’s administration halted the $5 billion Biden electric vehicle charging program, which has been criticized for its poor production of charging stations. Emily Biondi, the associate administrator for the Office of Planning, Environment, and Realty, in a letter to the state Department of Transportation directors on Thursday, said the administration has suspended the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program. “The new leadership of the Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) has decided to review the policies underlying the implementation of the NEVI Formula Program. Accordingly, the current NEVI Formula Program Guidance dated June 11, 2024, and all prior versions...

Ford Motor Company has reported a $5.1 billion loss in its electric vehicle and software business for 2024, with expectations of losing even more in 2025. The Verge reports that on Wednesday, Ford Motor Company announced its fourth quarter and full-year earnings for 2024, surpassing Wall Street expectations. However, the automaker also reported substantial losses in its electric vehicle (EV) and software division, known as Model e. The company lost $5.1 billion in this segment in 2024, a significant increase from the $4.7 billion lost in the previous year. Furthermore, Ford predicts that losses will continue to mount, potentially reaching...

A survey conducted by Santander Holdings USA, attempting to probe the status of middle-class households over the last twelve months, has reported that over half are actively delaying new-vehicle purchases. While the study is broad in scope, encompassing some similarly bleak news about home buying, the two issues seem closely related as rising costs don’t appear to be doing the economy any favors. With 77 percent of the middle-class respondents saying they need a vehicle in order to get to work, one would assume that the demographic is one the automotive sector can rely on for business. However, 52 percent...

Secondhand electric cars are now cheaper than their gas counterparts for the first time - and the gap is widening quickly. This is according to a new study from comparison site iSeeCars, which found the cost of an average used EV dropped $265 below a typical gas car in February. This marked the beginning of the trend - and the price gap has grown to $2,657 as of latest data from May. In the last year, average used car values have dropped between 3 and 7 percent, the report found, while used EV values have plummeted between 29 and 39...

Fisker Group Inc., the EV startup founded by famed designer Henrik Fisker, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — a capstone to months of problems with its Ocean SUV that included recalls and dozens of lemon law lawsuits. The California-based company, which filed for bankruptcy in Delaware District Court, had been seeking a deal with another automaker in a last-ditch effort to rescue the enterprise. The company estimated assets of $500 to $1 billion and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million, according to the filing. Fisker reported between 200 and 999 creditors, including SAP, Adobe, Salesforce and Ansys,...

Originally, Ford had said in 2021 that it would start production in 2025. Full production at a Ford EV factory in west Tennessee that was to deliver the company’s F150 Lightning electric pickup truck is being delayed. State Sen. Page Walley, a Republican, told the "Tennessee Outlook" full production of the vehicle line was being pushed back by nine months as a result of a “read on the economy.” Ford said in 2021 that it would start production in 2025. Now the electric pickup trucks aren’t expected to be delivered to dealerships until 2026, according to the "Outlook." Ford lost...

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg struggled Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation to explain why the Biden administration has only manged to build “seven or eight” electric vehicle (EV) charging stations thus far. As Breitbart News has noted, while the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 allocated $7.5 billion for EV stations, as part of building a national EV charging infrastructure, no EV charging stations had been built by the end of 2023.

WASHINGTON (7News) — An investigation is underway after a man died in a crash near the White House on Saturday evening, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. At around 10:45 p.m., D.C. police said they responded to the intersection of 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Northwest, D.C. for reports of a crash. When they arrived, they located a man and pronounced him dead on the scene.

Ford’s electric vehicle (EV) division lost $1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2024, which adds up to a $132,000 loss for each of the 10,000 EVs sold. Sales of Ford EVs also plunged by 20 percent compared to last year, and “its revenue plunged 84% to about $100 million, which Ford attributed mostly to price cuts for EVs across the industry.” Ford expects losses on its Model e to hit $5 billion by the end of the year. More: The losses go far beyond the cost of building and selling those 10,000 cars, according to Ford. Instead the losses...

As John Adams said:Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.Now, if Stephen Scherr had taken Adams’s observation into consideration, he might still have a job. (However, no sympathy from me; he’ll be employed in no time at all, making more bad decisions that inevitably cost me money, in one way or another.) From a report at the New York Post this afternoon:Hertz, one of the four largest car rental companies in the world, is replacing its CEO after the company...

Electric vehicle start-up Fisker is exploring bankruptcy, The Wall Street Journal reported this week. Fisker’s stock plunged this week as investors worry about the company’s ability to survive amid a cash crunch. The auto company also said it would slash 15% of its workforce. The Wall Street Journal reported: Electric-vehicle startup Fisker FSR -55.88%decrease; red down pointing triangle has hired restructuring advisers to assist with a possible bankruptcy filing, according to people familiar with the matter. Fisker, which recently warned that it risked running out of cash this year, hired financial adviser FTI Consulting and the law firm Davis Polk...

Automakers from Ford Motor and General Motors to Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin are scaling back or delaying their electric vehicle plans.. consumer demand for EVs hasn’t shown up in the way executives had expected ... The buzz around electric vehicles is wearing off. For years, the automotive industry has been in a state of EV euphoria. Automakers trotted out optimistic sales forecasts for electric models and announced ambitious targets for EV growth. Wall Street boosted valuations for legacy automakers and startup entrants alike, based in part on their visions for an EV future. Now the hype...

Powering the nation’s long-haul trucks with electricity would require the same amount of electricity for more than 46 million homes every year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In 2022, California adopted regulations that required all new cars, trucks and SUVs sold in the state to be zero emissions by 2035. Immediately, 17 states eyed the electric vehicle mandates and started considering their own. That was on top of the Biden administration’s own tailpipe standards, which many say function as a federal EV mandate. The vision of a forced electric vehicle transition hasn't quite gone as California and the Biden administration have hoped. But in...

A green nonprofit that is indirectly funded by a foreign billionaire is pressuring broadcasters to drop advertisements that criticize the Biden administration’s massive electric vehicle (EV) agenda. Climate Power wrote to numerous broadcasters this week demanding that they stop airing American Fuel and Petrochemicals Manufacturers (AFPM)-funded advertisements in swing state markets that rail against President Joe Biden’s plans to impose widespread EV adoption in the coming years. The charitable organization affiliated with Hansjorg Wyss, a Swiss health care mogul and billionaire philanthropist, donates millions of dollars to the Fund for a Better Future, which was the fiscal sponsor for Climate...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- A well-known restaurant in downtown Colorado Springs is picking up the pieces from an overnight crash. It began as a domestic disturbance that led to a string of alleged crimes resulting in extensive damage to multiple businesses downtown. "That is just awful because I know it's a big part of the community," says Ryder Ernewein. A Colorado Springs man is now under arrest after a domestic altercation dramatically escalated, leading to a serious downtown car crash. Colorado Springs Police (CSPD) arrested 24-year-old Fidencio Meza-Pelayo following the Sunday incident. According to CSPD, the overnight series of...

There's a reason very few new automakers have been launched over the past 40 or so years. Building and selling cars takes a tremendous amount of infrastructure. When you add in having to create not just a new design, but a new method of powering your car, you see why big auto has generally been a closed club. Tesla (TSLA) , of course, has crashed that party, becoming the first startup electric vehicle manufacturer to operate at scale. You can credit that to the genius and drive of Elon Musk. It may have been lost in his recent conversion to...