Industry

BERLIN — BMW will power its new class of electric vehicles with cylindrical battery cells made in six factories by partners including China’s CATL and EVE Energy, as the automaker looks to speed up charging and extend driving range. Two plants each in Europe, China and North America will produce round lithium-ion cells that enable

Mullen Automotive Inc. acquired a controlling interest in fellow electric vehicle manufacturer Bollinger Motors, of Oak Park, Mich. Mullen, headquartered in Brea, Calif., bought a 60 percent stake in Bollinger for $148.2 million, the company said Thursday. The deal marks Mullen’s first foray into the electric truck market, with Bollinger Motors introducing both electric SUVs

DETROIT — The first fully electric Jeeps for the U.S. are scheduled to arrive in 2024. The Wrangler-inspired Recon and a sleek midsize crossover called the Wagoneer S will mark the beginning of the battery-electric era for the brand in its biggest market. The Recon, like the Wrangler, will have removable doors and windows and

WASHINGTON — The nation’s top auto safety regulator on Wednesday released updated guidance to the automotive industry for improving cybersecurity in new vehicles. The latest version updates NHTSA’s voluntary guidance from 2016 and covers a range of cybersecurity issues as cars become more connected and potentially more vulnerable to hacking. “As vehicle technology and connectivity

The secret behind Elon Musk’s goal of selling the most Teslas possible by 2030 lies in the automaker’s pioneering battery technology. The good news is that by using bigger cells and a new process to dry-coat electrodes, Tesla could halve the cost of a Model Y battery, saving more than 8 percent of the car’s

Harman International acquired Israeli startup Caaresys for its car-occupant monitoring system. Caaresys’ technology uses low-emission radar to monitor adults and children in a vehicle cabin, marking the locations of passengers and measuring their vital signs, such as respiration and heart rate. Harman said the company is working with major automakers to provide a production-ready system

Nearly every autonomous driving developer envisions transporting food or other goods in its deployment plans. Despite being a subsidiary of Amazon, Zoox has only one thought: carrying passengers. “We’re really focused on moving people around cities,” Zoox co-founder Jesse Levinson told Automotive News. Package delivery is “not in the immediate roadmap,” he said. While they

Electric vehicle owners are turning to retail chains to play the role gasoline stations have long fulfilled for drivers — a place to recharge the car and the body. Both Starbucks and Ikea recently announced deals with charging networks to install banks of chargers. They are looking to attract customers who need something to do

While the Inflation Reduction Act and other federal legislation double down on battery-electric vehicles, many automakers continue to invest in hydrogen-powered transport. Toyota is the most significant player. It already sells the Mirai fuel cell sedan, and it is using a modular system based on the Mirai’s technology to develop a hydrogen-electric powertrain for heavy-duty

WASHINGTON — General Motors startup unit Cruise LLC said Thursday it had recalled 80 self-driving vehicles and updated their software after a June crash in San Francisco left two people injured. Federal regulators said the recalled software could “incorrectly predict” an oncoming vehicle’s path. Cruise said it had determined this unusual scenario would not recur

Automakers, dealers and repair shops are increasingly deploying 3D scanning technology for a diversity of uses — everything from re-creating rare parts for discontinued vehicles to mapping entire assembly plants to restoring iconic structures. Toyota is one of several automakers using 3D scanning and printing technology for projects large and small as it looks to

SHANGHAI — China has said that automakers must apply for licences to collect geographic data using sensors on intelligent vehicles, highlighting Beijing’s security concerns about the growing sophistication of smart cars’ mapping capabilities. The statement, a clarification of China’s surveying and mapping law, reflects regulators efforts to prevent any scenario where highly-detailed visual data collected

Mercedes-Benz full-size electric SUV will carry a hefty sticker price when it arrives in stores this fall. The EQS SUV starts at $105,550, including shipping, and is available in three variants. The top-of-the-line EQS 580 4MATIC version starts at $127,100, including the $1,150 shipping charge. While the Alabama-made SUV qualifies for a $7,500 federal tax

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said many models’ automatic braking systems perform poorly in nighttime tests. The study, released Tuesday, comes amidst climbing traffic deaths in the U.S., with 2021 having the highest number killed on U.S. roads in a single year since 2005. Of the 23 models tested, only four earned a Superior

Seven years after Volkswagen’s effort to evade vehicle requirements with rigged software came to light, the automaker has paid an enormous price for landing on the wrong side of the green line — the tally of costs, penalties and fines incurred by the company is well into the tens of billions of dollars. And that’s

STAVANGER, Norway — Tesla CEO Elon Musk aims to get the automaker’s self-driving technology ready by year-end and hopes it could be in wide release in the U.S. and possibly in Europe, depending on regulatory approval. Speaking at an energy conference in Norway on Monday, Musk said his attention was currently focused on his SpaceX

Seven years after Volkswagen’s effort to evade vehicle requirements with rigged software came to light, the automaker has paid an enormous price for landing on the wrong side of the green line — the tally of costs, penalties and fines incurred by the company is well into the tens of billions of dollars. And that’s

ONTARIO, Calif. — Peter Voorhoeve remembers talking at a conference in Singapore five years ago about the potential self-driving trucks held for the freight industry and wondering if any of it would come true during his career or even lifetime. Now head of Volvo Trucks North America, Voorhoeve, 57, is part of the global leadership

Commercial vehicle manufacturer Shyft Group is developing a portable charging system it believes will help fleets transition to electric vehicles without making costly infrastructure investments. Shyft, which was formerly Spartan Motors, launched marketing of its Blue Arc Power Cube remote-controlled, portable charging station in July. The Power Cube carries three megawatts of onboard power, enough

Automakers are caught in a conundrum of whether to quickly adopt new technologies that risk increased complaints from car buyers when they don’t work as expected, according to a J.D. Power study. Consumers routinely punish automakers in quality ratings for car technology not meeting expectations. But consumers will credit automakers when innovations are properly executed,

Getty Images California is to ban the sale of new petrol-only vehicles by 2035, marking a historic step in the state’s attempts to tackle climate change. The new rules are aimed to force car makers to accelerate the introduction to the market of cleaner vehicles. It comes after Governor Gavin Newsom set a target in

Apple’s new version of CarPlay is designed to take over every screen on the dashboard, replacing user interfaces and controls while gaining access to crucial vehicle and driver data. It’s likely to launch a turf war with automakers reluctant to give up such valuable real estate. Where drivers view extending iPhone functions into the dashboard

As used electric vehicles become common, the largest auto auction houses grapple with how to value a car after factoring in the gradual degradation of aged batteries, which typically last eight to 10 years, or about 100,000 miles. Accurately judging the remainder of the battery’s useful life is crucial to building confidence in the used-EV

DETROIT — A modular hydrogen production system is being planned for the American Center for Mobility near Detroit as the vehicle test track looks to adapt its vision to the needs of its customers and the market. Albuquerque, N.M.-based BayoTech Inc. aims to open a “hydrogen hub” at the center by mid-2023 after signing a

Korea’s SK Inc. has invested $100 million in North Carolina’s Atom Power, which aims to upgrade the electric vehicle charging experience in the U.S. with new hardware and software, the companies said Thursday. Based in Huntersville, N.C., eight-year-old Atom Power has developed a digital circuit breaker that provides more control, flexibility and reliability to EV

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Transportation Department said on Tuesday it is awarding $1.66 billion in grants to cities and states to buy 1,800 buses in a shift to cleaner, lower-emission travel. The grants will fund 1,100 zero-emission buses, which will nearly double the existing 1,300 zero-emission transit buses, the White House said. The funding for

A mobility company founded by Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt has left some U.S. cities littered with nonfunctional electric bikes and scooters after abruptly shutting down. Bolt Mobility, in an Aug. 3 statement on its website, said investors had failed to deliver on commitments to the company, forcing it to “significantly scale back operations.” It said

The auto industry is looking to the capability known as Plug & Charge to level the playing field with Tesla’s Supercharger DC fast charging network. It could be a crucial tool in helping drivers charge quickly and more easily as the industry moves to sell more electric vehicles. Tesla has a huge head start with

Stellantis has a lofty agenda as it pushes aggressively into electrification while also striving to generate more revenue through software and to improve the ownership experience with over-the-air updates. But this ambitious to-do list may not even be the trickiest task looming for Stellantis. The company is working to conquer another goal that has perplexed

Prohibiting drivers from using handheld devices leads to lower traffic fatalities, according to an analysis of NHTSA data by driver education company Zutobi. Zutobi ranked states by a “distracted driving severity score” based on state population, the number of distracted driving-related fatalities in 2020 and the percentage of fatalities due to distraction. New Mexico ranked