Lifeboat Foundation

After recently reducing prices of its refreshed Han and Tang models, Build Your Dreams (BYD) just launched a new version of its top-selling EV Yuan Plus – known as the Atto 3 in overseas markets – to $16,644 in China, making it one of the lowest-priced EVs out there.

BYD has been targeting its home turf of China, the world’s largest vehicle market, for its latest price-slashing strategy to edge out both EV and ICE rivals with some of the lowest prices on EVs. The price war has already sparked major deals on some of its best-selling EVs, with the brand-new Yuan Plus crossover now available at 11.8% cheaper than the final sale price of its predecessor, reports Reuters.

Now the new Yuan Plus starts at 119,800 yuan ($16,644), BYD posted on Weibo. For comparison, the latest version of the Atto 3 starts in France at €46,690, or $50,650, which includes VAT. In Australia, the Atto 3 starts at $48,011 ($31,336), making that 85% more expensive than in China, Reuters reports.

Ford’s EV sales climbed 80% year-over-year (YOY) in February following aggressive price cuts last month.

After EV sales slipped 11% last month in EV sales last month, Ford saw a big improvement in February with 6,368 all-electric vehicles handed over, up 80.8% over last year.

Ford sold 2,930 Mustang Mach-E models in February, up 64.3% YOY. However, Mach-E sales were down 20% through the first half of 2023 as Ford retooled its Cuatitlan, Mexico plant, where the EV is assembled.

British automaker Jaguar – set to become an EV-only brand next year – is officially ending production of its ICE vehicles by June and stepping into a new era of very expensive but powerful EVs. Assembly lines are stopping to transition to an entirely new EV platform from the one underpinning the long-troubled I-Pace.

Jaguar is looking for a fresh start, and that means the I-Pace is dying too, along with its current crop of gas-and diesel-powered road vehicles. At the moment, five cars are still on sale in the US – the XF sedan, E-Pace and F-Pace crossovers, F-Type roadster and coupe, and the electric I-Pace. But production is ending in June, while the I-Pace will continue to be built until likely next year.

The I-Pace, for its part, has had what seems like endless problems in the past, with the company recalling it last year due to battery fire risk. Not to mention a limited range of around 286 miles for a vehicle with a hefty price tag starting at $73,775 in the US.

Daimler Truck North America just launched a dealer certification program to ensure a “world-class” experience for its electric truck buyers.

The Battery-Electric Vehicle (BEV) Dealer Certification Program isn’t intended to be just another badge for dealers to hang in their showrooms; it DTNA working to ensure quality control at its Freightliner dealerships.

DTNA’s heavy-duty Freightliner eCascadia and medium-duty eM2 trucks are already operational in over 50 fleets across the US, amassing more than 4 million electric miles, so the dealership certification program is timely.

VW Group EV owners still have a bit to wait before NACS adapter roll out. The first one to get NACS support from the factory should be the 2026 Porsche Taycan.

Tesla owners might soon be able to control their car using their Apple Watch, at least if Elon Musk is to be believed. In response to a https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1763707499239121086″ target=“_blank” rel=“noreferrer noopener”>question on social media about whether Tesla could add Apple Watch integration, Musk responded: “Sure.”

Whether Tesla follows through on this remains to be seen. There’s no timeline on when the feature might be added. In fact, it sounds like this wasn’t something in the works until Musk responded to this particular social media post.

Ideally, Tesla’s app for Apple Watch would allow Tesla owners to unlock their car and do things like precondition the cabin, enable/disable Sentry mode, remote start their car, and more. But again, Tesla hasn’t confirmed anything about what to actually expect.

Toyota is boosting its ability to mass-produce “a wide variety” of EV batteries following an agreement with Panasonic to take full control of Primearth EV Energy (PEVE). The move will help Toyota respond to the growing demand for batteries.

The automaker agreed with Panasonic to make Primearth EV Energy a wholly owned subsidiary Tuesday.

Toyota said the acquisition will strengthen its ability to mass produce EV batteries. It is officially scheduled for later this month.

Lotus has revealed a rival to the Tesla Model S Plaid and Porsche Taycan Turbo S.

Harvard scientists have made a significant advance in high-pressure physics by creating a tool that directly images superconducting materials under extreme conditions, facilitating new discoveries in the field of superconducting hydrides.

Hydrogen (like many of us) acts weird under pressure. Theory predicts that when crushed by the weight of more than a million times our atmosphere, this light, abundant, normally gaseous element first becomes a metal, and even more strangely, a superconductor – a material that conducts electricity with no resistance.

Scientists have been eager to understand and eventually harness superconducting hydrogen-rich compounds, called hydrides, for practical applications ­– from levitating trains to particle detectors. But studying the behavior of these and other materials under enormous, sustained pressures is anything but practical, and accurately measuring those behaviors ranges somewhere between a nightmare and impossible.