Enlarge / Lightning eMotors will supply EV powertrains to Collins Bus to electrify these Type A school buses. (credit: Collins Bus) These days, I’m just as excited about electrifying things like school buses and garbage trucks as I am passenger cars. As usual, replacing a hot and noisy gasoline or diesel powertrain with batteries and […]
That subdued Aviator nameplate is much better than spelling out the model name across the front of the hood. I’m looking at you, F-L-E-X. [credit: Eric Bangean ] Temptation comes in different forms, especially behind the wheel. With a plug-in hybrid SUV, there are two competing urges. Sometimes, the move is to put it in […]
Its looks might still call back to the battlefields of World War II, but there’s nothing old-fashioned about the Jeep Wrangler 4xe’s powertrain. [credit: Jeep ] It is not a hard-and-fast rule, but most cars would be better with the addition of some electric motors. There are always exceptions—heavy batteries|camera batterycamcorder battery|digital camera battery|batterie|cheap batteries […]
Enlarge / The intersection of Interstates 10 and 610 in Houston, Texas, during evening rush hour. (credit: Getty Images) You often hear people say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I bring this up because of an interesting—if infuriating—thread I read this morning […]
The BMW X5 xDrive45e is a 50 mpg plug-in hybrid SUV. [credit: BMW ] It’s been a while since we spent time with BMW’s plug-in hybrid X5. Since then, the German automaker replaced the X5 with an all-new model called the X5 xDrive45e. The brand has returned to its iconic inline six-cylinder engine configuration under […]
Enlarge / Anglo American and First Mode, among others, are converting a Komatsu 930E truck like this one to be powered by hydrogen fuel cells and batteries rather than diesel engines. (credit: Anglo American) At first glance, an open-pit platinum mine in South Africa and the Baja 1000 off-road race don’t have much in common […]
Enlarge (credit: Chevrolet) GM announced last Friday that it was recalling every Chevrolet Bolt it had ever made , including the new electric utility vehicle model that debuted this year. After a string of fires affected Bolt models, the company traced the problem to two simultaneously occurring defects in the cars’ LG Chem-made batteries. The […]
Enlarge / Tesla CEO Elon Musk. (credit: PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images ) If you haven’t been impressed with what you’ve seen of Tesla’s latest Complete Self-Driving beta, version 9. 2, you’re not alone. CEO Elon Musk agrees. “FSD Beta 9. 2 is actually not great imo, ” he said in a tweet last night, “but Autopilot/AI […]
Enlarge (credit: GM ) GENERAL MOTORS has announced that it is recalling every Chevrolet Bolt made to date, including the new EUV models, over concerns that a manufacturing defect in its LG-made batteries could cause a fire. The Bolt was first recalled in November after five cars that hadn’t been in crashes caught fire. After […]
Enlarge / Not sure how those joints will work… (credit: Tesla ) Not content to be an automaker or even an energy company, Tesla now wants people to think of it as a robotics company}. At Tesla’s “AI Day” presentation yesterday, CEO Elon Musk made the surprise announcement that the company is working on a […]