Archives

 Toyota’s Prius Prime is an updated take on the company’s popular hybrid, with more emphasis on the EV aspects of the vehicle, including a battery with double the driving capacity, and a few other tweaks that push the car closer toward the EV end of its dual identity, including an acceleration feature that lets the electric motor handle much of the pick-up when you first put your… Read More

 China is looking at electric vehicles as a key way to lower emissions and improve the country’s general environmental sustainability, and Volkswagen is teaming up with China state-owned car maker Anhui Jianghuai (JAC) to help fill that need. The two car companies signed a memorandum of understanding today, effectively paving the way for them to create a new joint venture together to… Read More

 Tesla continues to try to up-end the dealership system in the U.S., which generally requires that franchise-onwned dealers sell cars, vs. automakers selling directly via their own wholly owned dealerships. The latest beat in he ongoing battle comes in Missouri, where Cole County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Green decided in favor of the Missouri Automobile Dealers Association (via Autoblog)… Read More

 How do you make a dent in the energy market? SolarCity is likely one of the few companies that has a good idea of how to answer that question, and one part of its plan includes replacing the roofs of 5 million U.S. homes with solar cells, according to The Guardian. It’s a plan that SolarCity board chairman Elon Musk first tipped on a conference call last month, but now we have a bit… Read More

 Farm egg. It may seem as simple as just that. An egg. The food that Atkins and Paleo diets made popular once again. The food that draws one of many dividing lines between vegetarians and vegans. But this particular egg is one of the more layered, even scrambled (if you will), symbols of Silicon Valley startup-dom. It’s easy to dismiss the Yo’s of the tech world as outliers, but… Read More

 Audi’s upcoming four-door luxury electric car will have a 311-mile range, along with Level 4 self-driving features (essentially full autonomy for those keeping track) and three separate electric motors, according to a new report from Autocar. The car is set to go head-to-head with the Model S, based on these new stats, and will likely be called the “A9 e-tron” when it goes… Read More

 Despite progress in creating bug-resistant crops, pesticide is still one of the most effective and cost-efficient ways to ensure good produce yields. But the current approach actually involves applying a huge volume of pest-control poison – way more than you need, because just 2 percent or so attaches to the plants. The extra 98 percent has a good chance of getting into lakes, streams… Read More

 This year’s Paris motor show will host the unveiling of Volkswagen’s first all-electric car, according to an interview with company chairman Herbert Diess in German magazine WirstschaftWoche. The car will be roughly Golf-sized, according to the chairman, but will feel as roomy as a Passat on the inside, thanks to space saved via lighter frame construction and use of the electric… Read More

 Danish startup Spiri believes urban transportation is still massively inefficient, and it’s setting out to tackle the problem from a few different directions. First, it’s building an on-demand carpooling service, similar to the UberPOOL offering (and the one Lyft just shut down). Second, it’s going to use its own custom electric vehicles to do so. Finally, it’s using… Read More

 Faraday Future is driving a camouflaged version of a real upcoming production EV in LA, according to Electrek. The site reports that a candid shot of a covered-up SUV is actually a test vehicle from the Californian would-be Tesla competitor backed by Chinese consumer gadget company LeEco. The vehicle looks like a crossover-style SUV, similar to a Tesla Model X, and this is in line with… Read More

 Uber’s self-driving cars will hit the road this month, earlier than anticipated. That’s an exciting surprise…unless of course you’re a driver. They won’t be the only ones affected, though. The consequences of robot-induced unemployment could eventually ripple through the rest of the economy. What will happen to Uber’s 1 million drivers? And the 3.5… Read More