Author: EVAI

West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin is once again criticizing the Biden administration’s EV tax credit rules, reports Reuters.

Manchin, who is known for opposing Biden administration policies and last week left the Democratic Party and registered as an independent, told U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen during a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee that rules requiring locally-sourced battery content in order to qualify for the EV tax credit had been watered down.

Mercedes-Benz battery factory

Implemented under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the battery-materials rules aim to cut China out of the U.S. EV supply chain. The Biden administration last month issued guidelines easing these rules for two years, but it’s still keeping restrictions on Chinese content in place. That appears to be what Manchin is taking issue with.

The Senator said in the hearing that, rather than strengthening U.S. battery resources, the Treasury Department’s interpretation of the battery-materials rules would keep China “in the market for the entire extent of the IRA.” He said the easing the rules, allowing automakers to use China-sourced battery materials such as graphite for a longer period of time, would “break the law.”

Ford Battery Benchmarking and Test Laboratory in Allen Park, Michigan

This is not the first time Manchin has spoken out against an EV-related aspect of the IRA. While still a Democrat, he threatened to stop the IRA over an initial focus on union-made vehicles. That helped scrap a proposed union-made bonus for the EV tax credit, one that would have admittedly applied to only a small number of models initially.

Manchin has also spoken out against the so-called “leasing loophole” afforded by the IRA. In a stretch of the original intent allowed by the Biden administration, that’s led to federal subsidies for EVs that wouldn’t qualify for the tax credit as purchases, including luxury EVs that exceed price caps set by the IRA. A surge in EV leasing has followed, and it serves as an incentive for automakers to continue making more luxury EVs.

The gap between average EV and luxury ICE vehicle loan payments is roughly $100 wider than it was a year ago.

Ineos will offer customization of its Grenadier SUVs A new division called Arcane Works will handle the hand-built personalizations Arcane Works could morph into an in-house modification and tuning division Demand for vehicle personalization continues to soar, with companies like Ferrari and Rolls-Royce adding some form of personalization on every…

What kind of vehicle is the 2024 Jeep Wagoneer S? What does it compare to? Jeep’s first full battery electric vehicle for North America, the 2024 Jeep Wagoneer S is a midsize crossover SUV. It’s related only in name to the Wagoneer full-size SUV that was resurrected for the 2022 model year. It shares a flexible electric vehicle…

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New York City’s iconic fleet of taxis once included some EVs—but you have to look back more than a century to find them.

As National Geographic explains in a recent article, electric taxis had a brief moment of popularity in the city in the 1890s. The fleet quickly grew from a dozen vehicles in 1897 to over 100 by 1899. It’s an important reminder that battery-electric cars are not a new invention. The technology has changed significantly, but many of the qualities that make EVs appealing have remained consistent throughout.

A 19th century model called the Electrobat has considered ideal for taxi service because of its quick acceleration and noiselessness, according to National Geographic. The instant torque of electric motors and lack of exhaust noise have also created many a modern EV enthusiast.

2013 Nissan Leaf electric car tested as taxi in New York City, April 2013

However, electric taxis are also responsible for two unfortunate historical firsts. In May 1899, taxi driver Jason German reportedly became the first operator of an automobile arrested for speeding after being clocked at a heady 12 mph on Manhattan’s Lexington Avenue.

That same year, another taxi driver struck a person in what is thought to be the first pedestrian fatality involving a car. Concerns that pedestrians might not hear quiet electric cars resurfaced in the 2010s, leading to regulations requiring pedestrian sound alerts on both EVs and hybrids.

New York’s 1890s electric taxis were a product of the early, experimental age of the car, when electric power competed with both internal combustion and steam. Both steam and electric cars were relatively popular until gasoline cars and their fueling infrastructure became reliable enough to take a clear lead in convenience.

First Nissan NV200 New York

As EVs re-emerged as a viable alternative to internal combustion in the 2010s, New York City thought about bringing them back. The city council began pushing for electric taxis around 2012, but concerns over charging led officials to consider hybrids instead. The ill-fated “Taxi of Tomorrow” project, which sought to enshrine the Nissan NV200 van as the default New York taxi, was also being implemented at this time but without discussion of hybrid or all-electric versions of the taxi.

Nissan never did achieve a monopoly on New York taxis with the NV200. The fleet now features lots of hybrids, as well as some EVs, although the latter may be less attractive to cab operators now that a proposed EV exemption from the city’s new congestion pricing appears to have fallen through.

It’s also unclear, under the current administration of Mayor Eric Adams, how much progress New York is making toward a goal set by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in an executive order of making all NYC municipal vehicles electric by 2040.

Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis are pausing work on two EV battery plants and may be looking to LFP battery cells to lower costs, reports Bloomberg.

Automotive Cells Company (ACC), a battery supplier for the two automakers with plans to open three new battery plants in Europe at a cost of 7.6 billion euros (approximately $8.2 billion at current exchange rates), has stopped construction at a site in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and paused prep work at a site in Termoli, Italy, according to the report.

Demand for EVs in Europe has slowed, with growth only expected in mass-market segments, ACC CEO Yann Vincent said in an interview on the sidelines of a recent Bloomberg New Energy Finance conference. Mercedes and Stellantis are now requesting lower-cost batteries for entry-level EVs, Vincent told Bloomberg.

2024 Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV

This has led ACC to reconsider its plans. One option is to manufacture LFP battery cells in Kaiserslautern, Vincent said, adding that a final decision is due later this year or in early 2025, with cell production starting up to 2.5 years after that. ACC put out a separate statement June 4 saying it had “reopened discussions on plans” for the Termoli factory, Bloomberg noted.

Mercedes and Stellantis aren’t the only automakers cooling on new European battery factories. Volkswagen said last month that its European battery factories may take longer to reach full capacity, while both VW and Renault have moved away from plans to sell shares in EV or battery businesses, Bloomberg noted.

Sales of battery electric models overtook sales of diesels in 2022, signaling a sea change for the Continent, where diesel was once an institution. And upcoming models like the Renault 5 E-Tech have generated a lot of buzz in Europe.

2025 Renault 5 E-Tech

The EV affordability picture for Europe certainly looks better than that of the U.S. EV prices have skewed lower this year, but there’s a dearth of affordable EVs.

Like Mercedes and Stellantis, Ford aims to fill the affordability gap with EVs powered by LFP batteries, which it plans to make in the U.S. But the affordable EV that’s generated the most interest recently—outside the returning Chevrolet Bolt EV of which there are few details—is the 2024 Chevy Equinox EV, which will have a base version priced at $35,000 with destination.

Vigilante 4×4 builds an array of classic Jeeps based on custom chassis designed to support modern mechanicals as well as powertrains with outputs ranging up to 1,000 hp. Based in Johnson City, Texas, the company specializes in Jeeps sold between 1964 and 1991, often referred to as Full-Size Jeeps, and its latest effort is a prime example of what’s…

Ford’s testing the 2025 Mustang GTD on the Nürburgring The Blue Oval aims to have the Mustang GTD lap the ‘Ring in under seven minutes The Mustang GTD sounds vicious, and might be the most track-capable Mustang of all time Ford is on a mission to lap Germany’s Nürburgring racetrack in a time of less than seven minutes using the Mustang…