Electric Vehicles

Crashing the Gas Car Show To Meet Future EV Drivers

I’ve been ‘crashing’ into a local Porsche and Ferrari meet-up with a notebook in hand. The monthly owners’ meet-up is a mile or two from home. My goal? To find out what the world’s most loyal gasoline fans really think about the future of EVs. Even though most electric cars aren’t invited to this show*…
Cars & Phones Converge: The Smartphone on Wheels

The fact that the sexiest, most talked about car in China has roots in the telecommunications industry is not a footnote—it’s a roadmap. Xiaomi has become a major electric vehicle player, along with Huawei and ZTE. These three Asian firms are not tied to our 125 year old Model T assembly line. The telecom-centric car…
Fear Sells Magazines, not EVs

It will come as a surprise to electric vehicle (EV) owners that their cars have 80 percent more problems than gasoline vehicles. Thus reports the 2025 Consumer Reports (CR) annual vehicle review. It raises the specter that CR is not able to tweak their research methods to keep up with modern EVs. EVS are not…
Fear Mongering & EV Charging Data

A new study making the rounds claims the success rate for public electric vehicle charging is just 71%. It’s a terrifying number for anyone considering a $45,000 electric vehicle (EV)—who wants to buy a high-tech brick that can’t reliably refuel? But before you send that headline to your gasoline-driving friends, it’s essential to look past…
Despite Trump’s Acts of Sabotage, EVs are Here to Stay

Reprinted from , San Francisco Chronicle 10/31/2025 On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end thegovernment’s $7,500 federal tax credits for electric vehicles that had been put in place withthe passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. After that, his administration moved to repeal environmental mandates that also…
Tax Credits Sunset: Media & EVs Do Not

Dateline: October 1, 2025. There’s been a lot of hand-wringing about the demise of the $7500. tax credit for electric vehicles (EVs). Auto executives have sent confusing signals that incite fear. Their retreat to gasoline vehicles has sparked concern that EV production will take a dive, like they did after the “cancel culture” of 1998. …
Safely Harness Energy from Used EV Batteries

Reposted from Marin Voice, Marin Independent Journal, 9/1/2025. This is the time of year when people like to ask what you did on summer vacation. When I tell them I attended a three-day battery recycling conference in Reno, they look puzzled. Indeed, the conference was an unusual choice for someone who nearly flunked freshman chemistry.…
All Drivers Welcome! The Hybrid Gas Station

How do you incentivize drivers of gasoline vehicles to try an electric vehicle? Improbably, it’s at the gas station. The convenience and familiarity of the corner gas station has traction for conventional drivers who are cautious about the new tech. Significantly, it makes their transition to an electric vehicle easier because they experience less uncertainty.…
The EV Tipping Point: Reaching It

We may have reached the tipping point for electric vehicle (EV) adoption in Asia and parts of Europe but North America has not climbed that far. In fact, there is angst that we are now rocking backward. New tariffs, a mantra to drill for gasoline, and the phase- out of tax credits pitch tsunami sized…
Ca. High Speed Rail Helps Electric Vehicles

The California high speed rail, the $100 billion build-out that has yet to complete its 500 mile run would not seem to have much in common with electric vehicles. It’s a coincidence but in 2011, three years after voter approval for the train project, Tesla and Nissan introduced their first EVs in California. Today, electrics…
EVs: A Car for All Seasons

“A Car for All Seasons” is not how we usually market electric vehicles. Buyers in cold Northern states first imagine getting a four -wheel drive SUV, not an EV. The shoppers in hot, desert climates consider a white sedan, or another sun-reflecting color, before they think about the suitability of an EV. Yet EVs, when…
Reputation is Critical for the Ascent of the Electric Car

Reputation is critical for the ascent of the electric car. So, when a plain Google search asserts that 46% of EV owners are considering switching back to gasoline vehicles, something bad is afoot. Fortunately, that bad is misplaced. It reflects not on the cars but on a large private consulting company that occasionally publishes tidbits…
Has the EV Chicken Crossed the Road to Charge?

The discussion about electric vehicles was once punctuated with concerns about the chicken and egg impasse. Would manufacturers build these vehicles and would consumers buy them if they lacked for an EV charging network? Likewise, if electrical chargers preceded the cars, what if, field of dreams, the vehicles did not show up. There are still…
From Model T to the Tesla: Damaged Reputations

Like the rockets that SpaceX launches and that sometimes fall to the ground, the Tesla brand has lost significant altitude this year. Sentiment towards the company is at an all-time low, and Tesla is ranked at a negative below EV maker VinFast. Vinfast, by the way, is a Vietnamese EV maker no one knows about. …
Messaging About EVs : A Plus and Minus End

All batteries, including those in electric vehicles, have a positive and negative end. Those who have never set foot in an electric vehicle or driven one seem to have lots of opinions towards the technology. These opinions are based on positive and negative reporting so in this post we highlight the ‘plus and minus’ end…
EVs: the Comeback Kid (again)

If electric vehicles (EVs) were cast in a Hollywood movie they would either be the Comeback Kid or Back to the Future. This 1890’s technology gets reintroduced over and over again- and the plot has thickened since 1995. They are now mandated in California and elsewhere as the treatment for greenhouse emissions, less so these…
From Clucks to Trucks: The Enduring Vehicle Tariff

Sometimes electric vehicles ‘best’ their competition in unexpected ways. This year the electric vehicle (EV) could be a nominal winner in the tariff wars. That’s because EVs have considerably fewer parts and components than gasoline cars. The drive train in an electric vehicle might have only about 20 parts, compared to more than 2000 in…
Why EVS Still Make Sense Without Tax Credits

If the $7500 tax credit for electric vehicles vanished, there’s still a business case for building these cars. In California and a bunch of other states, manufacturers who sell a gas-guzzler like a Nissan Armada or a regular F-150, must offset the carbon emissions. Legacy car makers must meet a carbon quota with “production credits”…
Formula E gets Noisy in 2025

Formula E racing is about to get well, racy- if you if want to drill down on the management’s pledge of sustainability, new fuel sources, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
Selling EVs: Smaller, Cheaper, Heavier

Japanese auto makers swept the U.S. market nearly 50 years ago when they introduced smaller, lighter, and less expensive gasoline vehicles to North America. After the 1970’s energy crisis Japanese industry targeted the U.S. automakers weak points, namely boat-sized cars that guzzled at the gas pump. Overseas automakers are poised to do it again- but this…
To Charge or Not to Charge: Interstate Travel for EVs

Electrical outlets are everywhere yet inaccessible for drivers travelling the interstate system in an electric vehicle (EV). They need a DC fast charger, not ones operating at Level 1 or Level 2 speeds. A federal program called the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) aimed to change that by building out DC fast charging stations at…
VW ID Buzz: Is it a Magic Bus in the EV World?

The boxy VW van was often called the “Magic Bus” but it’s going to lose that treasured name now that it’s been reintroduced as an electric vehicle (EV). In appearance, the 2024-25 VW ID.Buzz (aka, Buzz) pays homage to the extended wheelbase, high roof line, and two-tone paint of the original VW bus. But this…
EVs Sell- With or Without Rebates

EVS will sell, with or without the rebates from the government. It’s a pressing issue to consider if there are changes in tariffs, long-range charging infrastructure, and federal tax credits.
Phones and Cars: They Both Crash

It’s not life-threatening when your phone crashes, but it could be if your vehicle does. But what if they are not so different? The union of connected cars and the ubiquitous smartphone brings both crashes and convergence. Smartphone users are accustomed to charging up phones overnight, carrying an auxiliary battery pack if they travel longer…
Selling More Electric Vehicles With Less Tax Credit

Electric vehicles (EV) sales could go in reverse since the status of the federal tax credit is in jeopardy. But the real story is not about the money- it’s the perception of why the $7500. sweetener is needed at all. Fortunately, there’s another government program in the wings. It will lead to selling more electric…
To Swap or Not to Swap? Batteries in the Electric Vehicle

As the electric vehicle (EV) industry evolves a wildcard is whether swappable batteries go mainstream or become another trial balloon in the effort to lower costs and increase range. Swapping batteries is already a niche industry in China, but if history repeats itself here, they will be sidelined in North America. The issue is to swap…
The $27,389 Car: An Electric Vehicle Price-Point

If you are curious about the price- point that convinces drivers to switch to an electric vehicle (EV) think $27,389. That’s a winning window sticker. In dollars, it’s a tad more than the $25,000 car that Elon Musk promised in 2020. Instead, Musk brought the Cybertruck to market which can cost more than $100,000. There’s…
Stop Exporting Those Gas Cars!

The vehicle you traded in a decade or two ago may still be on the road, plying roadways in Central America, Africa, or Eastern Europe. The developing world has been shipping out older, gasoline guzzling cars and trucks for a long time. In fact, one-quarter of the world’s population lives in countries where about 50%…
Dumb: Smartphone Apps Try to Plug Into the Utility Grid

Sometimes it pays to be dumb. Particularly when it comes to smartphone apps that try to plug your electric car into the utility grid. This Fall (October, 2024) a well-known and popular EV charging device failed. Connected Juice Box chargers stopped working. That’s because their European owner, called Enel X Way, stopped supporting this software…
Locally Sourced: Should You Care Where Your Car is Made?

Labels like ‘locally sourced’ and ‘farm to table’ are ways that we discern the quality of our food. They are not generally applicable to transportation as they conjure images of healthy edibles in a reputable supply chain. Until now, locally sourced has not been important in the automotive realm. In fact, car shoppers often paid…
Electric Vehicle Myths: Is it Cleaner to Keep Your Gas Car?

Cars and trucks are on the road for upward of 12 years now. So why not keep your vehicle running instead of replacing it? It’s an electric vehicle (EV) myth that it is cleaner to keep your gas car.
The Car That Never Sleeps: Who Controls the Downloads?

We all get these notifications- “please keep your phone plugged in for a download tonight.” It seems like when we go to sleep our smartphones do not. Increasingly, cars are going to be staying awake too. Modern vehicles require software updates during the downtime when there’s more bandwidth and less interruption. This “synchronicity” brings some…
Ablaze From a Car Fire. Is that Car Electric?

People are afraid of car fires. But they should be less afraid of ones from new electric cars. There’s a lot of flammable misinformation.
Smartphones and Cars Blend… (or brick)

As smartphones and cars continue to blend it seems like phones are the technology, for now, that goes the extra mile. More than 25 years ago, Frances Cairncross, the media editor for the Economist, pronounced the “death of distance.” Cars have become the ultimate smartphone with their large touchscreens, automatic crash reporting, and collection of…
Electric Vehicles at Disneyland (someday)

For as long as I can remember, Autopia is my family’s first stop at the Happiest Place on Earth, aka Anaheim’s Disneyland. Admittedly, that’s incongruous considering we have driven forty or fifty miles on the treacherous Interstate 5 and encountered traffic snarls throughout. But even if you loathe the car trip to Disneyland, you don’t…
Electric Vehicles are Tailgating Superstars

Tailgating should be on everyone’s mind after the LVIII Super Bowl. It was a long party- in fact the longest Super Bowl game in history- and it also had, if you count, the fewest number of ads for new cars. There were just four car advertisements, and three of them touted electric vehicle models (EVs)…
The Big Freeze: Storytelling for Electric Vehicles

Baby it’s cold outside….but the EV stories are heating up. Particularly the ones that favor the status quo.
Future Cars Will Talk

Autonomous cars may be headed your way and they will be in dialogue. Today, Google’s Waymo vehicles display your personal initials when they arrive at your pickup. But they lack an advance way to communicate more information. That will change and future cars will talk. It’s called a “tertiary language.” “Tertiary language” is not a…