EV drivers reported problems nearly half the time they pulled up to Shell Recharge stations, according to a new study. EVgo and Blink charging stations also fared poorly for reliability among consumers, with the most common issues involving payment systems and broken hardware. Tesla Superchargers and the Rivian Adventure Network have the highest reliability among charging stations in the U.S. Road-tripping in an electric vehicle is becoming increasingly easier in the U.S. thanks to a burgeoning network of public charging stations. But that experience is far from perfect. A new Consumer Reports study found that some charging networks are so buggy that drivers have nearly a 50/50 chance of running into problems when they pull up to recharge. The study surveyed 1,230 owners of fully electric cars and plug-in
Tag Archives: ElectricVehicles
Mar
Teardown video shows a broken Volkswagen ID.4 front drive unit. A simple sealing ring seems to be the cause of the failure. Compared to combustion engines, electric drive motors are shockingly simple. Case in point: the front drive unit of the Volkswagen ID.4 and Audi Q4 E-Tron you see in the video embedded below. It’s a very compact unit that integrates the motor, transmission and inverter. However, there is a problem with this particular one: it’s dead. By the looks of it, a bad sealing ring allowed coolant to go where it wasn’t supposed to go, killing the entire unit. In the video, YouTuber I Do Cars , who is well-known for taking apart combustion engines, tries his best to take the front drive unit apart to see what went
Mar
I think nearly everyone would agree that this has been a strange and unpredictable year thus far. But nobody could’ve possibly had “The Lexus RZ will hit the MMA gym and become the second-ever production electric car with simulated gear shifts” on their bingo cards for 2025. Yet that’s where we are right now, and what was previously something of an EV afterthought just got considerably more interesting. Photo by: Patrick George 2026 Lexus RZ Live Photos Lexus launched the RZ as the upscale cousin to the Toyota bZ4X and Subaru Solterra back in 2023. While it is indeed luxurious—I have always found it to be a first-rate Lexus with one of the quietest and most comfortable cabins you can buy at any price—the RZ suffered from those cars’ issues
Mar
Violence against Tesla dealerships will be labelled domestic terrorism and perpetrators will “go through hell”, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday in a show of support for the electric carmaker’s chief, his ally Elon Musk. Shares of the carmaker closed nearly 4 per cent higher on Tuesday, rebounding from the biggest one-day fall in four-and-a half years the previous day, after the president appeared with Musk at the White House to select a new Tesla for his staff to use. Activists have lately staged so-called Tesla Takedown protests to voice displeasure over Musk’s role in sweeping cuts to the federal workforce at the behest of Trump and cancellation of contracts that fund humanitarian programmes around the world. Musk, the world’s richest person, is spearheading the Trump administration’s Department of
Mar
The primary reasons for China’s EV market dominance are myriad and well-trod. China put serious government money behind EVs. It cut red tape, incentivized buyers, and provided cheap property. Homegrown companies with minimal or no experience building ICE vehicles saw the transition as an opportunity, not a chore, as many Western companies clearly perceive it. Yet one factor is as under-covered as it is important. A far larger proportion of Chinese EV buyers are first-time car buyers. Many more had owned only one or two cars before. That’s key for one main reason: In China, EVs were free from much of the baggage still weighing them down here. Photo by: InsideEVs Ford’s CEO recently called the economics of large SUV EVs “unresolvable.” I agree, which is why EREVs and hybrids
Mar
Many of you are worried about the long-term reliability of electric vehicle batteries. I know because you ask me all of the time. Among skeptics and prospective buyers alike, it’s one of the first things to come up: Will the battery last? Yet more and more data is showing that modern EV traction batteries just don’t fail in significant numbers. You don’t have to worry about them. It’s the damn 12-volts that’ll leave you stranded in the office parking lot. Internal combustion drivers know that risk. Traditional cars use a 12-volt battery—usually a chunky lead-acid unit—to start the vehicle and power the electronics. You may expect that EVs, with their massive drive batteries, don’t need these ancient bricks. Yet they rely on them for the exact same reasons. EV 12-volt
Mar
The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra comes with 1,526 horsepower and costs $72,750. The brand wants to sell 10,000 units of the SU7 Ultra in 2025. Recently, the SU7 Ultra beat a Porsche Taycan Turbo GT around the Shanghai International Circuit by about 1.5 seconds. It can be pretty hard to keep up with the breakneck speed of China’s electric vehicle industry. Within about 18 months, Xiaomi pivoted from making cheap cellphones and laptops to a full-blown electric car. That model rocketed to the top of Chinese sales charts and even impressed the hell out of Ford’s CEO, who drove one around the Chicagoland area for weeks. Now, the brand has put 1,500 worth of electric motors in the thing, and they’re gunning for necks of some of the fastest EVs on
Feb
The Ram Ramcharger has a 91.8 kWh battery, but only 69.7 kWh are usable. Ram says this is to provide a consistent driving experience between EV driving and when the truck uses its gas engine. The truck also has a heavy-duty frame and 8-lug wheel hubs to haul more weight compared to its ICE cousin. I know I’ve railed against too-big batteries in trucks in the past, and that includes the all-electric version of this very vehicle. However, when Stellantis previewed the 2026 Ram Ramcharger’s technical details to the media this week, its 91.8 kWh battery felt a little small compared to full EV trucks. Stranger still, Stellantis says that only 69.7 of those kWh are usable, meaning a whopping 22.1 kWh is just in the battery, unable to be
Feb
Does it make sense to go for a 350 kW DC fast charger when the Chevy Equinox EV can only accept 150 kW? Tom Moloughney tried three different fast chargers to see if it made a difference. Surprisingly, the 250 kW charger had the shortest charging session, not the 350 kW stall. The Chevrolet Equinox EV offers a lot of bang for the buck, but it has a big drawback. Despite its high-voltage battery being described as a 400-volt pack, it’s actually under 300 V when the state of charge is low, and it never goes over 400 V even when it’s full. That’s for cell longevity, but it also means charging times are longer than what is expected of a modern EV. Theoretically, the maximum charging speed is 150
Feb
Interest in electric vehicles grew substantially in 2024. According to a survey from CDK Global, 31% of gas-car shoppers plan to buy an EV. That’s up from 18% in 2023. There are still big misconceptions about the cost of EV ownership across car buyers, though. The percentage of car shoppers who plan to buy an electric car someday shot up in 2024. But you wouldn’t know that based on the breathless coverage of EV demand “stalling.” CDK Global, a company that provides software to car dealerships, surveyed car buyers and found that the percentage of gas-car shoppers planning to buy an EV in the future jumped from 18% in 2023 to 31% in 2024. For those considering hybrids, EV interest was even higher, which makes sense. CDK says that in
Feb
Volvo is looking for a U.S.-based battery supplier for the EX90 electric SUV. The EX90 is built in South Carolina but its batteries come from China’s CATL. Because of the increased import tariffs on Chinese batteries, Volvo was forced to increase the EX90’s price. Volvo was forced to hike the starting price of its flagship electric SUV, the EX90, even before it hit the showroom floor. Because of the increased tariffs on Chinese-made batteries, the Volvo EX90 now starts at $81,290 including shipping, $3,300 more than originally intended. Despite the EX90 being built in South Carolina, its high-voltage battery pack is made in China by Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL). That might not be the case for long, though, as Volvo is looking for an American battery supplier that would
Feb
President Donald Trump’s Department of Transportation just dealt a blow to a key federal program that funds the rollout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the U.S. In a letter to state transportation departments titled “Suspending Approval of State Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plans,” the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) notified states that their plans to deploy charging infrastructure under the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program were no longer approved. Under the NEVI program, states need to submit plans to the FHWA ahead of each fiscal year, outlining how they plan to use the funds. During the Biden administration, the FHWA approved the first four (out of five) years of state plans, for fiscal years 2022 through 2025. Although that funding was essentially unlocked by states, not all
Feb
Extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) are a step between hybrids and EVs, with internal combustion motors that act as generators on longer trips. The technology may help Ford get around an “unsolveable” economics problem with large EV trucks: Consumers won’t pay for the super-sized batteries they require. Ram, Scout and General Motors are also betting on EREVs. Extended-range electric vehicles will be essential to the American market, Ford CEO Jim Farley said on the company’s earnings call Wednesday. The reason is simple: “Americans love their big cars. They love their big trucks,” he said. An extended-range EV, or EREV, is a technology that bridges the gap between a conventional hybrid and an electric vehicle. These cars operate as purely electric vehicles, with all of the vehicle’s propulsion coming from electric motors.
Feb
China and the rest of the world remain thirsty for oil. That means the commodity’s central and volatile role in geopolitics continues, with decades-old realities driving economics, trade, alliances and conflicts for the countries dependent on fossil fuels. Yet, change lies ahead. Last month’s short-lived rally underscores oil’s mercurial clout. Brent crude hit a four-month high of US$82 a barrel after the United States expanded sanctions on Russia and Iran. Oil-supply news shocks continue to have an immediate and enormous impact on the global economy; other policy shifts such as tariff increases matter too. Meanwhile, after years of production cuts, Opec+ members refuse to ramp up supplies before April, if even then. US President Donald Trump wants America to “drill, baby, drill” , thereby forcing prices down to the detriment
Feb
Rivian will allow owners to set their car’s wheel size in the software without going to a service center. Software version 2025.06 includes this change and will be released “soon.” Rivian’s electric trucks and SUVs are known for their impressive off-roading abilities. The R1S and R1T are marketed as adventure vehicles, and if you know the world of overlanding and off-roading, you know that people like to put bigger wheels on their cars to better cope with big obstacles. The problem is that Rivian owners have to schedule a service visit to have their cars’ brains updated so they know what wheels they’re running. The cars still run fine without having their software updated, but the range estimates will be off. That’s a big pain, especially if the closest service
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