All posts in Consumer EV’s

nOn Wednesday, Volkswagen officially unveiled the ID 4, the first electric vehicle built on the automaker’s mass-manufactured modular electric vehicle platform, or “MEB,” to be sold in the US. The ID 4 will also be VW’s first affordable crossover SUV to reach America, with a suggested retail price of just under $40,000. The ID 4 is one of the many ways VW has had to atone for Dieselgate, the massive emissions cheating scandal made public five years ago. In addition to nearly $35 billion in settlement fees and fines, VW vowed to spend billions more on a whole new lineup of electric Read more

The electric-vehicle range race continues as automakers do their best to catch up with Tesla’s impressive numbers. Earlier this month Daimler chairman Ola Källenius told shareholders that the upcoming Mercedes-Benz EQS would have a range of over 435 miles (700 kilometers) using the non-U.S. WLTP rating system. We still don’t know what that means for the EQS’s U.S.-specific EPA range number, as our agency uses a completely different series of tests to determine its range estimates. The longest-range Tesla Model S is rated at 402 miles by the EPA, so that will be the number to beat. Unfortunately, we don’t have an updated WLTP number out Read more

As it ramps up electric-car production, BMW has inked a battery-supply deal with Sweden’s Northvolt. BMW plans to buy 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) of batteries from Northvolt beginning in 2024. Batteries will be manufactured at a factory currently under construction Skelleftea, Sweden, which will use 100% renewable energy, according to a BMW press release. Northvolt is also building a battery factory in Salzgitter, Germany, as part of a partnership with the Volkswagen Group announced in May. That factory is also scheduled to start producing batteries in 2024. The new deal will make Northvolt BMW’s third primary global supplier for Read more

Nissan has unveiled the first of its new electric vehicles as part of a turnaround strategy for the loss-making company. The Japanese carmaker is hoping its new all-electric sports utility vehicle (SUV) Ariya will sell well in China. But it faces tough competition from Tesla which has a strong presence in the world’s largest car market. Electric cars are a cornerstone of Nissan’s four-year plan to get it back to profitability. The Ariya was launched online on Wednesday from the company’s headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. Nissan chief executive Makoto Uchida referred to the all-electric SUV as the “flagship of the Read more