Forget about range anxiety and charging—the real barrier to EV adoption is affordability. The market badly needs a better selection of lower-priced EVs, but they’re mighty slow in coming. Hyundai has several more affordable EVs in the pipeline—the new 2024 Kona Electric is expected to have a starting price under $33,000. The IONIQ 3 is… Read more »
Tag: The Vehicles
Video: Bobcat introduces new electric skid steer loader
From job sites to farms to mines, off-road vehicles are steadily electrifying. Bobcat, an American manufacturer of compact farm and construction equipment, has introduced what it calls the world’s first all-electric skid steer loader, a follow-up to the electric track loader Bobcat introduced two years ago (a skid steer, as opposed to a tracked vehicle,… Read more »
Solaris Bus & Coach sells 12 electric units to Warsaw Public Transport Authority
Polish bus manufacturer Solaris Bus & Coach will deliver 12 of its articulated Urbino 18 electric buses to the Warsaw Public Transport Authority during 2024 and 2025. The new buses will expand Warsaw’s existing fleet of 150 Solaris electric buses, one of the largest in Europe. They will be operated by Miejskie Zakłady Autobusowe, a… Read more »
Toyota’s new PROACE MAC commercial van will offer an electric variant in Europe
Toyota has announced the specifications of a new commercial van it will launch in Europe in 2024. The PROACE MAX van will come in six sizes with two wheelbase options, three lengths and three heights. These combinations offer cargo area volumes from 10 m³ to 17 m³, which can hold up to five Euro pallets…. Read more »
Gillig delivers first of 62 battery-electric buses to Florida transit agency
Transit bus OEM Gillig has delivered six Battery Electric buses to the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA), which serves Charged’s home city of St Petersburg, Florida—the first deliveries under a 5-year contract with Gillig for 62 Battery Electric buses. Each of the 40-foot buses sports 686 kWh of onboard energy storage. PSTA’s investment also includes… Read more »
GM’s rosy year-end figures obscure the fact that legacy automakers are in deep trouble
Duplicitous doublespeak has become de rigueur dialect in the auto industry. “We remain committed to an all-electric future,” says GM as it announces a rollback of its electrification plans. “We strongly believe in EVs,” say auto dealers as they support efforts to slow the EV transition. “The greatest responsibility for us as a company is… Read more »
Blue Bird delivers 23 electric school buses to Kentucky school district
Iconic school bus OEM Blue Bird has delivered 23 electric school buses to Carter County Schools in Kentucky, which operates 11 schools serving some 4,200 students. Carter County Schools purchased the electric bus through Blue Bird’s authorized dealer Central States Bus Sales in Lexington, Kentucky. The district received a $9,085,000 grant through the EPA’s 2022… Read more »
Kia EV9 and Volvo EX30: Are they 2024’s most important EVs?
One’s a three-row midsize SUV under $60,000; the other’s a compact hatchback that starts in the mid-30s. Now we’ve driven both. Choosing “best of” or “most important” new cars is always dicey, and doubly so with electric vehicles. New entries are announced virtually every month, and picking the 2025 models that will be most important… Read more »
Another reason to buy electric trucks—driver recruitment and retention because they love them
The trucking industry has a serious driver shortage, and operators are exploring all kinds of ways to improve driver recruitment and retention. Meanwhile, trucking industry trade groups are fighting tooth and nail against electrification. They might be surprised to learn that deploying EVs could be a major hiring advantage, because drivers love them. In a… Read more »
Under pressure from trucking trade groups, California agency will delay its drayage diesel ban
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) will delay enforcing some of the registration and reporting provisions of its Advanced Clean Fleets regulation, which had been scheduled to take effect at the end of 2023. Under the rule, drayage fleets and other “high-priority” fleets had until December 31 to register any legacy combustion-powered trucks operating at… Read more »
