Volvo‘s 2019 S60 will be its first vehicle to be offered without a diesel engine when it goes into production this summer at Volvo’s new plant near Charleston, S.C. The Swedish automaker also confirmed it will offer the sedan in two plug-in hybrid variants when it goes on sale, with mild hybrid versions following in 2019. The S60 is based on the V60 wagon and represents...

New targets will set Scotland on course to become one of the first countries in the world to achieve a 100% reduction in carbon emissions, the Scottish government has claimed, although it has stopped short of committing to becoming carbon-neutral by 2050. The draft climate change bill sets a target of a 90% reduction by 2050 – which the UK Committee on Climate Change states is...

Each business day, FedEx serves over 220 countries and territories with more than 600 aircraft as well as more than 190,000 on-road and off-road vehicles, which includes around 132,000 company-owned vehicles. The shipping company, which has $60 billion-plus in revenue, operates on an immense scale. Over the past decade, FedEx reports saving more than 158 million gallons of vehicle...

As the industry continues to build out electric vehicle charging infrastructure, parallel projects are working to improve it as quickly as it’s deployed. Now we’re seeing some groups launching fast charging stations capable of 350-kW, and more. Meanwhile, wireless charging is making advances, which would allow drivers to simply park and charge without fussing with a...

Since April 2017, a canoe powered solely by solar energy travels back and forth along the 67-km (42-mile) stretch of the Capahuari and Pastaza rivers that connect the nine isolated settlements that live along their banks. The boat Tapiatpia – named after a mythical electric eel in the area – gives the Amazon its first solar powered public transport system. The solar...

The wind industry is growing quickly around the world, especially in China and the U.S., where the total amount of electricity generated by wind turbines nearly doubled between 2011 and 2017. All told, about 25 percent of global electricity now comes from renewable sources like hydropower, wind and solar energy. As John Hall a wind energy researcher, I realize it will be hard for...

The BMW i Vision Dynamics concept unveiled at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show previewed what a production full-electric four-door might look like. Now, BMW has confirmed that a production version will indeed arrive by 2020 and that it will have Tesla-beating range. As reported by Auto Express, BMW CEO Harald Kruger says that brand’s fully electric eDrive line-up, which...

Autocar reports that Rimac, the Croatian electric hypercar maker, has moved the goalposts for its coming Concept Two. Apparently, after hearing Tesla CEO Elon Musk quote specs for the 2020 Tesla Roadster of 0-60 miles per hour in 1.9 seconds and a 250-mph top speed. However, we didn’t know the Rimac’s claimed performance specs previously, and Autocar didn’t...

Toyota has found a way to reduce the amount of a key rare earth metal used in magnets for electric car motors by around 20 percent, which could tame the cost of producing electric cars and reduce the risk of a supply shortage of materials needed for their production. The Japanese automaker said it had developed a magnet which replaces some of the neodymium, a rare earth metal used...

A Massachusetts-based startup says it’s doing something that no other company has been able to pull off: selling lithium-metal batteries commercially. SolidEnergy Systems, a spin-out from MIT, has developed a battery that it says has double the energy density of current lithium-ion batteries. That means that a battery from SolidEnergy Systems could be half the size of a standard...