Fiat Chrysler submits offer for Renault merger, could jump-start electric car development

Renault logo and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles logoFiat Chrysler Automobiles proposed a merger Monday with French automaker Renault that would result in one of the world’s largest automakers by volume and create one of the most diverse. The wide-ranging, multi-billion-dollar bid was submitted Monday by FCA after a furious weekend of negotiations that may have started off as an exploration of loose…
Source: Hybrid and Electric Car News and Reviews

Electric-car startup Piëch sketches out future models, including SUV

Piech Mark Zero conceptSwiss startup Piëch wants to be more than a pretty face. The company showed a sleek new electric concept coupe at the Geneva auto show in March called the Mark Zero, which it plans to put into production in 2022, and recently released sketches of two models expected to follow the Mark Zero: a four-seat GT coupe, and a five-passenger SUV. As…
Source: Hybrid and Electric Car News and Reviews

2018 BMW i3 recalled for circuit-board issue causing sudden shutdowns

2018 BMW i3Some BMW i3 models from the 2018 model year are being recalled for an issue that could cause sudden power loss and shutdown. At root of the issue is a printed circuit board, part of the Electric Motor Electronics (EME) module, that may not have been made to specifications. The issue could cause the lack of electrical contact, causing the EME…
Source: Hybrid and Electric Car News and Reviews

"Honda e" becomes official name of Urban EV, more hybrids to come

Honda e PrototypeHonda last week confirmed a new name for the Urban EV concept that it has showed twice at European auto shows recently. The car will be dubbed the Honda e when it goes on sale in Europe, though the company did not specify any time frame. The company said it has already received 6,500 “expressions of interest” for the car just in Britain. DON’T…
Source: Hybrid and Electric Car News and Reviews

First drive review: 2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC electric crossover charges ahead, luxury first

2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 first drive  -  Norway, May 2019Norway has a lot of electric cars—so many that it can make anyone driving a new vehicle with an internal combustion engine look like a Luddite. Mercedes-Benz brought us there to experience the EQC—and possibly to normalize it in a sea of EVs that makes California look like a land of late adopters. Outside Oslo, where cars were larger…
Source: Hybrid and Electric Car News and Reviews

Maserati joins ranks of EV holdouts among exotic automakers

Teaser for Maserati Alfieri sports carAlthough it announced the end of using Ferrari engines in its cars last week, Italian luxury-carmaker Maserati won’t be going all-electric any time soon. “This is a brand that needs combustion engines,” Maserati’s North American chief, Al Gardner, told Motor Trend in an interview earlier this month. “It needs that raw emotion,” he…
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VW looking for battery lessons, ‘Ring record with ID R racecar

Volkswagen ID R NürburgringThe clouds parted just long enough to let sunlight timidly lick the surface of the Nürburgring race track in Germany. The previous night, I watched in amusement as an amateur racer had a blast taking a fully stock, 1970s Volkswagen bus around the former Grand Prix track in the pouring rain. On this wet late-April morning, however, I was…
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Report: VW might offload niche brands, nix electric sports car platform

Volkswagen 8-car MEB electric-car lineupVolkswagen’s transformation from the world’s leading maker of diesel cars to focusing on electrics isn’t coming cheap. The company has reportedly paid as much as $30 billion to put its diesel emissions scandal in the rearview mirror (mostly), and it’s investing up to $50 billion more to develop electric cars. But it can’t do everything, and now…
Source: Hybrid and Electric Car News and Reviews

First Mercedes-Benz EQC rolls off assembly line in Germany

2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC Edition 1886German automakers have all said they will go all-in on electric cars, Yet so far, few have actually arrived, with the Audi E-tron trickling into a few U.S. dealerships last week. Now Mercedes-Benz has announced that it produced its first new electric EQC SUV on Monday at its factory in Bremen, Germany. The car will go on sale in Europe, but is not…
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EPA confirms Tesla Model S Long Range at 370 miles, Model 3 efficiency boost

2018 Tesla Model 3As Tesla has scrambled to revamp its model lineup in the face of lower tax credits and falling U.S. sales, some new variants have gone on sale before the EPA’s site, FuelEconomy.gov, has even posted those updated ratings. Now the EPA is displaying official numbers for the Model 3 Standard Range and Standard Range Plus, as well as the new Model S…
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