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Tesla announced today that it is moving away from using ultrasonic sensors in its suite of Autopilot sensors in favour of its camera-only ‘Tesla Vision’ system. The original plan for the Autopilot system had included eight cameras, a front-facing ...

Toyota, Honda and Nissan get Greenpeace thumbs-down for decarbonisation

According to a Greenpeace ranking of Japanese automakers, Toyota, Honda and Nissan made the bottom of the top ten when it comes to decarbonisation. The statement comes after an analysis of their supply chain and sales records. Pure “zero-emission ...

Giga Berlin still has no functioning fire alarm system

The Tesla car factory in Grünheide still does not have a functioning fire alarm system.The facility has neither fire alarms nor sprinkler systems that are currently operational, which are temporarily replaced by eight employees on duty around the clock ...

German courts challenge Renault over remote battery termination

The German Federal Supreme Court is hearing a case to decide how much power manufacturers have over vehicle batteries in a lease. The court will decide whether it is legal for the battery of an electric vehicle to be ...

Recall issued for the Nikola Tre in the USA

Nikola has to recall all 93 Nikola Tre battery-electric trucks built to date in the US because improper installation of the seat belt shoulder anchors could reduce protection in a crash. Nikola imports the cabs from Italy, where they ...

Volkswagen to recall 10K electric cars

VW will apparently recall around 10,000 units of the ID.3 and ID.4 electric models worldwide. This number includes around 3,000 electric cars in Germany. The electric car rental company Nextmove has reported the upcoming recall, citing communication from the ...

Renault presents electric show car R5 Turbo 3E

Renault’s battery-electric R5 Turbo 3E show car is reminiscent of the Renault 5 Turbo and its successor Turbo 2. Inspired by video games, the reinterpretation has two electric motors that together produce 280 kW and an instant torque of ...

Kitty Hawk may have flown its last flight

Kitty Hawk, the electric aviation startup backed by Google co-founder Larry Page is shutting down. The company said in a tweet and a LinkedIn post that it was winding down operations. “We’re still working on the details of what’s next”, ...

BMW integrates recycled marine waste into the ‘New Class’

For the first time, BMW will use plastic trim parts in the electric models of the ‘New Class’ from 2025 onwards, the raw material for which consists of around 30 per cent recycled fishing nets and ropes. The residual ...

Mercedes is low on chargers

Mercedes plug-in hybrids currently come without Mode 2 charging cables, which enable charging at household sockets. “There is currently a worldwide supply shortage of certain semiconductor components,” Mercedes confirmed. Mercedes could not say when customers would get their cables. ...

BMW presents a one-off, monster electric dune buggy

In a new video, BMW shows the prototype of a purely electric off-roader. However, the 400 kW ‘Dune Taxi’ is apparently only a one-off for promotional purposes. The concept electric buggy is based on the Odyssey 21, the all-wheel ...

Aiways to get Oktoberfest guests to sing, not drive

The Chinese electric car manufacturer Aiways is bringing a special one-off of its electric SUV model U5 to Oktoberfest in Munich with a motto of a beer tap with a charging plug. The SUV features modified camping equipment from ...

Kia EV6 takes the Max Adventure from Oslo to Lisbon

The Max Adventure team drove an all-electric Kia EV6 from Oslo to Lisbon in 89 hours and 12 minutes as part of the ‘Driven To Extremes Euro EV Marathon’. The journey covered 5,109 kilometres through 16 countries. Thus, the ...

VW introduces additional ID concept

At the ID. Meeting in Locarno, VW not only presented the off-road concept ID. XTREME, but also the ID.5 GTX Xcite. The show car is based on the ID.5 GTX with an 82 kWh battery and is a single ...

There’s no easy-going for Tesla’s Autopilot in Germany

Tesla has to improve its driver assistance system Autopilot in Germany once more. The Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) identified weaknesses in the system months ago. Tesla has since been able to resolve some of the complaints, but according ...

Confessions of a Petroholic

Fastned has announced a four-part podcast called ‘Confessions of a Petroholic’. The series follows young petrolhead “Tom” exploring the twist and turns of maybe going electric in conversation with more (in)famous EV advocates. The show launched with a teaser ...

It’s either going with the times or hitting the road for Buick dealers

The GM subsidiary plans to launch the Electra EV next year and wants to sell only electric cars (and SUVs) by 2030. For dealerships wanting to walk in step with the change, this will entail some retooling, but for ...

California to cut down on power use due to heat wave

California is currently experiencing massive problems with its power grids due to a heat wave. Therefore, the transmission grid operator CAISO calls on the population to reduce their electricity consumption in the evening and avoid charging electric cars. The ...

AXA apologises for fake Tesla fire and crash test

French insurance company AXA has made a u-turn following (fake) crash tests with a Tesla car. The insurance had published spectacular images of a burning Tesla, only it turned out they had laid the fire. AXA today released a ...

How to watch self-driving racing cars at a safe distance

Roborace will be the world’s first racing series for autonomous electric vehicles. The electric racing vehicles are controlled by an AI and are operated without a driver in the vehicle. Originally announced as a global framework series for Formula ...

Flashing through 14 European countries in under 24 hours

Two journalists from the British magazine What Car? say they set a new (unofficial) world record by driving a Porsche Taycan through 14 European countries within 24 hours. When the pair started out, Google Maps calculated that they could ...

Renault’s Hippie Caviar Motel targets “glamping” crowd

Renault has announced a purely electric camping van study for the Düsseldorf Caravan Salon starting at the end of August. Called the Hippie Caviar Hotel, the prototype offers a preview of the first purely battery-powered Renault Trafic, which will ...

China: Power to the people or to the carmakers?

The current heat wave in China, which marks the worst heatwave since 1961, is now also hampering car production accross the country. After extreme heat and drought led to power outages, the Sichuan province ordered most factories there to ...

Mazda has sold out of BEVs in the USA

Mazda has announced that its only electric model, the MX-30, is now sold out in the USA. Only 505 units of the BEV model were sold by the Japanese carmaker within ten months of availability there – and all ...

Bank of Australia to cease ICE loans in favour of EV financing

The Bank of Australia will stop granting new fossil fuel car loans from 2025. A post on their website explains, “We’ve chosen 2025 because the change to electric vehicles needs to happen quickly.” The reasoning behind the move is ...

Geely takes two Guinness records

Geely’s electric car brand has broken two Guinness World Records with its first model. The Zeekr 001 secured the titles for the fastest drift ever achieved by an electric car (207.996 km/h) and the fastest electric car slalom (50 ...

First tuning kit available for the ID. Buzz

Norwegian tuner Zyrus Engineering announces a tuning kit for the VW ID.Buzz. For those who want to give their electric minibus a lowered look with a rear spoiler, rear diffuser, front splitter, mirror covers, side skirts and 22-inch wheels. ...

Autopilot doesn’t keep quite what it promises in Germany

A lawsuit filed by the German regulatory agency ‘Wettbewerbszentrale’ against Tesla for allegedly misleading advertising claims regarding the driver assistance system ‘Autopilot’ has failed. After the agency was initially successful before the Munich Regional Court, Tesla appealed against the ...

Piaggio loses EU legal battle over scooter copyright

In the years-long legal dispute over the vehicle design of the German electric scooter manufacturer Kumpan Electric with the Italian Vespa manufacturer Piaggio has reached an important decision: Vespa’s copyright claim to the scooter’s design was not successful. The ...

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