Honda is reportedly ready to resume the merger talks with Nissan. According to a report from the Financial Times, Honda wants Nissan's CEO to step down. During the talks that failed last week, Honda's CEO was reportedly frustrated with Nissan's slow pace and stubbornness. The merger between Honda and Nissan would have created the world’s…

BMW's Heart of Joy control unit BMW's own Heart of Joy control unit will debut in upcoming Neue Klasse EVs It consolidates multiple separate control units into a single, integrated one Promised benefits include quicker and more precise vehicle control, plus efficiency gains BMW's upcoming Neue Klasse family of electric vehicles, set to start arriving…

The original Volkswagen e-Golf had a 20-kilowatt-hour (usable) battery It was later updated with a bigger battery. The first iteration of the EV had an EPA-estimated range of 83 miles. The Volkswagen e-Golf is far from what we’d call a do-it-all electric car. Debuting back in 2014, it was VW’s attempt at making a mainstream…

Driving on eggshells—not walking on them—might be a good thing. Stellantis is looking to patent a process for incorporating them, or other biowaste material, into tires in order to further lower their environmental impact. In a patent filing published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Jan. 23, 2025, and submitted in…

When the controversial CEO of a global automaker becomes the Best-Friend-in-Chief and helps to define national policy,  there might be some bleed-over into conflicts of interest. It seems that China may be betting on exactly that, especially as Tesla waits for the Chinese government to approve the use of its Full Self-Driving software on Chinese roads. Welcome back to Critical…

U.S. EV market share might be flat vs. 2024, but market expansion means 3% EV sales growth EV sales gained 58% looking past direct sales from Tesla, Rivian, Lucid, others California EV sales were close to flat for 2024, but non-Tesla EV sales gained 21% Policy wildcards include EV tax credit, tariffs, emissions policy, and…

Storytelling. That’s what Fiat CEO Olivier Francois says separates Fiat from the wave of affordable new (mostly) Chinese EVs. He’s quite the raconteur himself, has an Instagram teeming with A-list contacts, and cheerfully admits that the new Grande Panda needs to be a blockbuster. “Heritage is key,” he explains. “Our design is rooted in…

Renault's new solution to extinguish electric vehicle fires can help first responders take out flames faster and more efficiently. EV fires are statistically rarer than ICE vehicles, but in the rare cases when EV batteries catch fires, it's difficult to get them under control. The French automaker has made its EV fire safety tech freely…

California sees EV fast-charger creation continuing in 2025 and beyond Program offers funding now for “ready-to-build” charging projects at retailers Current $1.4B program is part of $10B EV-and-infrastructure plan While the Trump DOT has frozen funds related to the federal EV charging buildout, that hasn’t stopped the creation of more publicly supported chargers in California—and…

Last week, the US federal government froze a national program intended to send $5 billion in funding to efforts at building charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, with the goal being the construction of half a million new EV chargers in the United States by 2030. The funding freeze is the latest in a spate…