Moving forward in its plans for an electric future — and further abandoning its stalwart models like the Fiesta and Focus — Ford is teasing a bit more information on a “medium-sized” crossover due to be launched next year in Europe.

No naming official details as yet on what the German-made model might be called, but it is fairly clear that the machine will be constructed on Volkswagen’s MEB platform that also underpins VW’s ID.4 EV.

The shadowy shape posted on Twitter by Peter Zillig, chief of marketing for Ford of Europe, has an upright front end, a slab-sided profile and a lowered roofline compared to the Volkswagen. Range after a single charge is expected to be a bit more than 300 miles.

In an announcement Thursday, Zillig said Ford overseas will promote a new “adventurous spirit” marketing mantra to support its fleet of up to seven new electrics planned for production by 2024.

The Medium model is scheduled to slot above Ford’s planned electric version of the Puma, and below another new SUV, referred to as “Sports Crossover,” and to be based on VW’s ID.5. It will follow the smaller version in 2024, Ford executives said.

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Car buyers of all sorts have had a bumpy ride over the last couple of years, but things are starting to look up – at least for used car shoppers. Earlier this week, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November 2022, which showed a slight but promising decline in used car prices.

The BLS found that while the overall CPI climbed by more than 7 percent in November from the same time a year before, used car prices fell by 3.3 percent from 2021. This news comes after reports that wholesale prices for used cars dropped 15.6 percent from January, according to the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index. That drop should have driven a subsequent decline in used car retail prices, but the fall is unsurprisingly slow. Dealers still have plenty of inventory purchased at higher prices, so it will still take time for used prices to come back to earth.

Unfortunately, for new car buyers, the story is not the same for factory-fresh vehicles. In late October, the average transaction price for a new car reached $48,000, and new models of all types are still selling for thousands more than before the pandemic. New car inventory has shown signs of improving, but again, we’re talking about incremental changes that will take time to make an impact.

All of this turbulence is terrible news for used car retailers. Carvana’s stock has tanked, leading many to speculate that bankruptcy or another significant move is coming. CarMax is selling fewer cars, reporting almost 15,000 fewer vehicle sales this year compared to 2021. The trickle-down effects of the current market impact several other industries, including rental cars and small businesses that rely on fleet vehicles. Many can’t find or buy the new cars they need, leading to delays in business operations and fewer rental options for travelers. And, of course, everything costs more.

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• Electric cars are helping push electricity rates down in the US, according to a new study. 
• They bring lots of revenue to utility companies, but don’t cost much to provide energy to. 
• Since utilities can’t reap unlimited profits, EVs help push rates down. 

Owners of electric vehicles aren’t just cutting their own carbon footprints — they’re also helping lower utility bills for everyone else, according to a recent study funded by the Natural Resources Defense Council. 

Researchers at Synapse Energy Economics zeroed in on three California utilities that serve lots of households with electric cars (more than 735,000 at the end of 2021). They compared the costs of providing energy to those EVs with the revenue customers generated and found that from 2012 to 2021, EV owners netted utilities $1.7 billion in pure profit. 

So utilities and their shareholders are getting rich off of Tesla drivers? Not quite: Since utilities are highly regulated and revenue-capped, they need to return excess profits to their customers in the form of lower rates. (In California and some other states, this is done through a mechanism called “revenue decoupling.”)

The key here is that although EV customers use significantly more electricity than others, they’re relatively cheap for utilities to serve when considering the costs of energy generation, transmission, and distribution. A big part of it is that drivers tend to charge their cars during off-peak hours — like overnight — when there’s lots of spare grid capacity and utilities can provide electricity cheaply. 

“Because electric vehicles don’t add a lot of additional capacity costs, because they’re primarily charging off-peak, what they’re doing is they’re more efficiently using the electric grid infrastructure,” Melissa Whited, one of the study’s authors, told Insider. 

In an alternate reality where EV owners consumed most of their electricity during times of peak demand, they’d necessitate costly investments in power transmission and the use of expensive-to-run “peaker” power plants. But in our reality, the opposite is true. 

To arrive at the $1.7 billion figure, researchers assumed that EV owners were billed a higher rate than other customers, in accordance with California’s tiered-rate system that hikes prices for bigger energy consumers. The results could be different in other regions, Whited said. 

Other studies have reached similar conclusions. A 2021 report from MJ Bradley & Associates, a consulting firm focused on environmental issues, found that more EVs charging in Nevada could drop each household’s yearly utility bill by $123 by 2050. 

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A recent report explores how delivery drivers in various countries view their jobs and finds that 71% of drivers report a big increase in the number of deliveries their company has to make compared to five years ago.

Volume of deliveries is a significant issue for U.S. drivers. When drivers were asked whether deliveries “had increased a lot” at their company, the U.S. came in sixth out of 11 countries, with 33% saying that was indeed the case, according to the report from Scandit.

A big increase in workload — coupled with other pressures such as an expectation to work faster — could potentially lead to driver safety concerns ranging from stress behind the wheel to the temptation to speed in order to get the job done.

Consider, for example, that 67% of global respondents said they now have to complete deliveries to different types of drop-off points, 66% are now expected to work faster, and the same amount (66%) reported an increase in new tasks like identity verification at the door. As it concerns U.S. delivery drivers specifically, approximately 62% said they now have to complete deliveries to different types of drop-off points — indicating another pressure that fleet operators need to keep in mind as it could impact safety.

Driver shortages are another key challenge for the industry as e-commerce continues its long-term rise. On average across fields, people aged 24-34 change jobs once every 2.4 years. But according to the Scandit research, drivers are more likely to move. The research notes a substantial upheaval and expansion in delivery driver recruitment over the last two years. This is both in terms of new drivers coming in, as well as existing drivers switching roles.

And the problem is worse in the U.S. While 50% of global respondents said staff shortages have increased during the last five years, in the U.S., 55% noted staff shortages. Here again, there are potential safety implications as fleet operators must onboard new drivers quickly — but still ensure that they get proper training, take all correct safety precautions, and abide by the rules of the road.

The report covers three types of delivery companies — courier companies, retailers, and postal services, and ultimately paints a picture of a complex role for today’s drivers with key pressures such as higher delivery volumes, more drop-off and pickup-up points, an expectation to work faster, and rapid turnover. With that as a backdrop, the safety implications for delivery drivers are many — from drowsy driving for those who are overworked, to possible violations like speeding, to high anxiety, which may even lead to road rage.

Fleet operators need to reinforce best practices with their delivery drivers. It’s also a good idea to remind them of some stark facts. For example, drowsy driving killed some 633 people in 2020 alone — so urge your busy delivery drivers to get seven to eight hours sleep nightly. And remind them to avoid rushing to meet demanding delivery schedules. Sadly, some 11,258 people lost their lives in speeding-related collisions in 2020 alone, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Speeding is never justified. No delivery is worth someone dying.

Scandit, along with research company Opinium, randomly sampled and spoke to over 1,200 drivers from 11 countries for its report. The countries involved in the study include Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S.A.

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Armed forces and public sector workers will benefit from a £500 contribution to their next used car as part of a limited-time offer from heycar.

The online used car marketplace is offering the sum as a finance contribution to qualifying car buyers in celebration of new partnerships with Motor Source Group and Forces Cars Direct.

They will also be able to benefit from heycar’s free delivery service as part of the offer.

Chris Wood, commercial director at heycar, said: “Evolving to meet customer needs is at the heart of what we do. Britain’s public sector personnel and Emergency Services Workers go above and beyond on a daily basis and we want to put the ‘feel-good’ into their car purchasing experience.

“This deal provides an exclusive used car platform for them to browse and offers more quality used vehicles to choose from. Under eight years old and with less than 100,000 miles on the clock, this partnership means our everyday heroes can buy with added confidence.”

Motor Source Group offers a unique discounted new car programme for emergency services personnel, including police, prison employees, fire service, NHS staff, teachers, and past and present armed forces personnel.

According to heycar, customers currently save £4,900 each on average and have saved over £166 million in total since 2010.

Steve Thornton, the founder and chief executive of Forces Cars Direct and Motor Source Group, said: “We’re constantly looking for new ways to recognise and reward our customer groups and this exciting partnership is one which we feel has fantastic benefits for our customers.

“As we head into next year, this is just one of the initiatives that we’re eager to pass on benefits from, alongside our ongoing community support and contributions to our public sector personnel and Emergency Services Workers.”

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Cash-strapped McLaren Holdings Ltd. has recently sold some of its prized heritage car collection to Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat Holding Co. to raise capital. 

The supercar maker was forced to seek an injection of funds after identifying “certain technical upgrades” on its Artura hybrid supercar that triggered delivery delays, McLaren said earlier this week during its third-quarter earnings. Its main shareholder — with Mumtalakat owning a near 60% stake — agreed to support the company with an additional £100 million ($123 million), the company said. 

A McLaren spokesman confirmed the sale of some heritage vehicles to the company’s main shareholder in return for the cash infusion, without elaborating on the details of the cars sold. 

McLaren’s heritage vehicles count 54 rare Formula 1 racing cars and F1 supercars, according to its 2021 annual report. The same report states that the company sells cars from its collection from time to time. 

“We are in active talks with all shareholders regarding a recapitalization of the group,” McLaren said on the call, indicating the additional funds won’t be enough. It’s also continuing talks for potential partnerships. 

McLaren reported a loss of £203 million in the nine months through September, compared with a £69 million loss a year ago. Liquidity at the end of the third quarter declined to £87 million, down from £171 million. 

The British marque has sought emergency financing multiple times over the past few years from shareholders amid long delays in the launch of the Artura. The latest round of fundraising comes just months after its shareholders — which also include investment firm Ares Management Corporation and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund — gave £125 million through convertible preference shares.

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A motorcyclist was badly injured and the driver of a stolen SUV was killed in a horrific chain-reaction collision on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu near Los Angeles, when the Lexus SUV careened into a pickup truck, causing the pickup to spin and crash into the rider.

The crash was captured in a dramatic video by the motorcyclist, Stephen Levey, who was recording his ride on a phone hanging around his neck.

“All of a sudden, there’s a truck coming at my face,” Levey told station KTLA.   

According to Los Angeles police, the unnamed driver of the 2017 Lexus NX, which was stolen, had just been released from a rehabilitation clinic. In the video, he speeds through an intersection and attempts to maneuver between cars on the highway. He clips the rear of a grey pickup truck in his path. The truck hits Levey.

The SUV then slams into a 30-foot-high embankment, lands upside down, catches fire and explodes before passers-by can drag the driver out. He later died at a hospital, police said.

Levey, meanwhile, was airlifted to a hospital where he had extensive reconstructive surgery to his shattered right arm and a badly damaged right foot, and was treated for a collapsed lung.

“The consensus was I wasn’t going to make it,” Levey told a KTLA reporter in an interview that aired Wednesday. The crash occurred last month. “I spent 11 days in the hospital and now I’m home. Eleven days ago, I didn’t think I was going to be alive,” he said. “I’ve got nine broken ribs, so I cannot cough, sneeze, clear my throat, blow my nose. Eating and drinking is a massive challenge. It’s very painful.”

Levey said he is accumulating large medical bills. “To say I’m concerned about what my future holds is a massive understatement.“ 

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Cyber Monday deals have finally begun. If you’re hoping to save on some electric scooters or e-bikes, then check out this list below with some of the best early deals we could find for the occasion. We’ll be keeping this list updated prior to and throughout Cyber Monday, so check back often! 

LED lights along the deck of the scooter … what’s not to love?! The SmooSat E9 is lightweight (14 lbs) and foldable, making it easier to carry and store. The power button allows you to set the desired speed of the scooter between three options — 5, 8, or 10 mph. The LED display mounted to the handlebars shows riders battery level and speed. The E9 Pro is designed for kids between 3′ 9″ and 5′ 3″ and has 3 adjustable handlebar heights to accommodate. It’s equipped with a 130W brushless motor and 21.6V rechargeable battery that’s rated for 5 miles of range per charge. It’s important to note, in order to engage the electric motor the scooter needs to be kick-started to 3 mph. To stop the scooter, simply press on the rear foot brake.

The F Series of e-scooters certainly aren’t cheap, but nearly $200 off makes this Segway a much more interesting proposition for those in the market. You can choose between the F25, F30, or F40. We’re currently looking at the F25 because it’s got the bigger discount ($170 off), a solid power output (300W), a great top speed (15.5 mph), and an impressive range (212.4 miles).

Electric scooters and hoverboards are a great last mile transport option for commuters. They’re also great for good ol’ fashioned fun. Segway is a top-rated maker of e-riders, and its Ninebot S model is currently on sale. The self-balancing personal transport has a top speed of 10 mph and 13.7 miles of range. And though some assembly is required if you buy from Amazon, the Segway Ninebot is still a top pick among users. Oh, and the Ninebot S is compatible with Segway’s Go-Kart Kit, which is also currently on sale!

Can we say that the Swagtron Swagcycle is dripping with swag? Name aside, the EB-5 Pro+ is an affordable zero-emission last-mile transport option for adult riders. Key features of this e-bike include the fact that the lightweight (37 lbs) aluminum frame is foldable for easier transport and storage, it has a top speed of 15 mph, and a removable battery with 15.5 miles of range when fully charged. The Swagcycle e-bike has a 4.1-star average rating from nearly 1,200 Amazon reviewers.

The Segway Ninebot S Kids is a great transportation toy for children 8+, able to reach speeds of up to 8.7 mph with a max range of 8 miles on a single charge. You can connect a phone via Bluetooth to be able to ride to your own tunes and it even features real-time intelligent voice safety reminders, encouraging riders to slow down and ride carefully. The tires are non-slip and maintenance free. It even comes in 3 different colors, white, pink and blue.

The Massimo electric bike is a great e-bike for kids. It has 2 speeds, up to 6 hours of battery life and works for kids ages 5 and up. The Massimo also has a seat that adjusts from 18″ to 22″ and sits on two 16″ extra large wheels. Parents can even set the top speed for the bike, between 9 mph and 15.5 mph.

This e-bike by TotGuard is a great pick for many reasons, not the least of which is the price! The bike has 3 riding modes: e-bike, assisted bike and normal bike and the battery is even totally removable if you want to go old school and get some exercise while it charges. The battery only takes 5 hours to completely charge and provides riders with 25-30 miles in full electric mode or 50-60 miles in assisted mode. The bike is made of an aluminum alloy and features 21-speed gears to give riders a ton of options. Last but not least, the company promises to provide “lifelong free exchange and return services of the electric bicycle.”

This Hiboy S2 scooter could be the last scooter you’ll ever need. It has a 500W electric brushless hub motor, can hit speeds of up to 19 mph and has a max travel range of up to 25.6 miles. The max load is 220 lbs, so this is a good option for older kids and adults alike. It’s also rocking 10-inch solid tires with rear dual shock absorbers to make travel over rough terrain and speed bumps a whole lot more comfortable as well as “ultra-bright headlights with a range up to 15 meters.” Don’t worry about braking, the Hiboy comes equipped with a double braking system with disc braking and eABS regenerative anti-lock tech. Like many scooters, it also comes with an app that allows you to fine tune your ride and last but not least it’s even collapsible for easier storage.

Your Cyber Week Shopping Guide: See all of our Black Friday and Cyber Monday coverage. Shop the top Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals on Yahoo Life. Engadget’s tech experts curated the best deals on highly-rated electronics for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Learn about Black Friday trends on In the Know, and our car experts at Autoblog are covering must-shop Black Friday and Cyber Monday auto deals. 

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Like flying cars or full autonomy, solar-powered electric vehicles are cool to read (and write) about but never seem quite ready for the mainstream and masses. Aptera has been teasing its sun-powered, three-wheel EV for more than a decade, and after rising phoenix-like from bankruptcy, it recently announced it will start production next year. Yeah, OK, sure.

Lightyear and Sono Motors also plan to start production on their more conventional solar-powered cars within the next year and have collected tens of thousands of preorders. While the Lightyear 0 sedan and Sono Sion hatchback both have solar panels embedded in their bodies to soak up sunlight and turn it into electricity to charge the cars’ batteries, they dramatically differ in price. The Lightyear 0 starts at about $265,000 (before taxes), while the Sono Sion starts at about $25,000 excluding tax, title, and fees – less than one-tenth of the Lightyear 0’s price.

While Munich-based Sono doesn’t have immediate plans to bring the Sion stateside, the company recently conducted a tour of the U.S. to drum up interest and ink on the car and ring the NASDAQ opening bell to celebrate its November 2021 IPO. Whoopi Goldberg and I rode in the Sion – not together – and I spoke with Sono COO Thomas Hausch about the company’s plans and why the brand and car’s names are so similar to both an audio company and a defunct auto brand.

Bumpy, Bondo-like look

While I haven’t encountered the Lightyear 0 in person, it’s clear from seeing and riding in the Sion why it costs much less. It’s a boxy budget five-door hatch with 456 half-cut solar cells integrated into the exterior, giving it a bumpy, Bondo-like look that may not bother the green-car crowd but will likely trigger disdain among automotive-design aesthetes.

The solar cells generate from 70 miles (in typical weather) to 152 miles per week (in optimal, always sunny) environs, adding to the Sion’s range of 190 miles – enough for “full self-sufficiency on short distances,” said Sono. Otherwise, the Sion’s liquid-cooled 54-kWh battery pack can be energized from 0% to 80% in about 35 minutes at a DC fast-charging station. With a Level 2 charger at 240 volts, it takes four hours to reach the same capacity.

Sion sells an 11-kWh wall box home charger with bi-directional capability, allowing the car’s battery to serve as power storage to run a home for up to five days, according to Sono. The car can also be used for portable juice while tailgating, camping or on a construction site or even charge other EVs at up to 11 kW.

Inside the Sion looks and feels like an entry-level electric vehicle but is surprisingly roomy. It has all the interior bits you’d expect, such as a 10-inch dashboard screen. And something you wouldn’t: a thin, dashboard compartment with a transparent cover filled with green moss. The in-dash vegetation is designed to purify interior air and can be replaced with a conventional air filter. But Sono head of PR and communications Christian Scheckenbach, added that it’s really just a “design element.”

The Sion is also quick, at least with Scheckenbach behind the wheel whipping it around a Silicon Valley parking lot during a demo drive – cutting off a pesky Prius that got in the way. Scheckenbach pointed out the dashboard screen displaying in real time how the solar panels charged the battery under the bright California sun.

Next logical steps: U.S. and China

The Sion will be available in Europe the second half of 2023 and can be purchased directly from Sono. “Our business model does not include dealerships, but it does include a service network,” Hausch said. Sono recently announced an agreement with the Europe-wide Bosch Car Service network for repair, servicing, maintenance and warranty work on the Sion.

The company has 20,000-plus reservations that require a minimum €500 deposit (just over $500) and the average deposit is about €2,000 (or $2,000). The company also has more than 22,000 B2B preorders from fleet operators, including for 12,600 Sions from Finn, a German car-subscription service with operations in the U.S.

The Sion will launch as a lefthand-drive model in 10 European markets, excluding countries with righthand drive. “It might take two years to come to the next country,” Hausch said of expansion beyond Europe.

He added Sono considers “the U.S. and China as the next logical steps,” and the second vehicle in its lineup will be a crossover. “We have a C-segment crossover we built on the same platform and is also a last-mile delivery vehicle,” Hausch said. Sono plans to produce 43,000 vehicles a year using Valmet Automotive, the same Finnish contract auto manufacturer building the Lightyear 0.

Asked about the company and car’s potentially confusing names, Hausch said cofounder and CEO Laurin Hahn’s father was a radiologist and specialized in ultrasounds, with “sono” coming from sonography.

“Sion” came from graffiti on a wall in Munich Hahn often walked past. “That was before they founded the company,” Hausch said. “That there’s a Scion in the U.S. was not known to the founders until years later.”

Hopefully the Sono Sion has a brighter future than Toyota’s Scion. And its solar-powered vehicle proves more practical, real and ready than flying and fully autonomous cars.

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SEOUL — South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd said on Tuesday it will invest more than $3 billion to build a battery cathode factory in Tennessee, as it ramps up plans to meet rising demand for U.S. electric vehicle components.

It’s one of the first major EV-related investments announced by a South Korean firm in the United States since a new U.S. law was passed in August that puts automakers and battery suppliers relying heavily on China for sourcing at a cost disadvantage.

Mass production is set to start outside of Clarksville in the second half of 2025 and the plant will create more than 850 jobs, LG Chem said in a statement. The plant is slated to have an annual production capacity of 120,000 tons of cathode materials by 2027, enough to power about 1.2 million electric vehicles, it added.

Its shares climbed 1.9% on the news, outperforming a 0.3% decline for the broader market.

LG Chem added that it is also pursuing cooperation with mining firms and recycling companies to better support its customers so that requirements of the new law, the Inflation Reduction Act, can be met.

LG Chem is expected to supply cathode materials to Ultium Cells, a battery joint venture between General Motors and LG Chem’s subsidiary LG Energy Solution Ltd (LGES).

LGES, which supplies batteries to Tesla Inc, Ford Motor Co and Hyundai Motor Co among others, last month raised its 2022 revenue outlook to 25 trillion won ($18.4 billion) from 22 trillion, citing new projects from automakers.

LG Chem’s new plant will make cathodes for batteries with a nickel, cobalt, manganese and aluminum (NCMA) chemistry. The NCMA battery, which is about 90% nickel, allows manufacturers to reduce their reliance on expensive cobalt, and reduce their exposure to refining and processing in China.

China currently has 75% of the world’s cobalt refining capacity and 50% of the lithium processing capacity, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

GM has said it will use NCMA battery cathodes from LG Chem for a range of EVs using Ultium-branded batteries.

The Inflation Reduction Act will, among other measures, require from next year that at least 40% of the monetary value of critical minerals for batteries be from the United States or an American free-trade partner in order to qualify for U.S. tax credits. That share will rise to 80% in 2027.

Automakers such as Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp have been hit hard by the new law, which immediately ended credits for about 70% of the 72 car models that were previously eligible for EV subsidies.

At this month’s G20 summit, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol asked U.S. President Joe Biden to prevent discriminatory measures against South Korean companies, his office said.

It added Biden had replied that the implementation of the law should account for the contribution of South Korean investment in the U.S. economy.

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