Korean luxury brand Genesis is reportedly rethinking its plans to evolve into an all-electric brand. The company is instead looking at other electrification options, with plans to launch its first hybrid model as early as next year. But what form it will take reportedly has not yet been determined.
Stellantis will adopt the Tesla-style North American Charging Standard. The parent of brands including Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram was the last holdout among major automakers to go with the NACS plug. It means owners will have access to a substantial wider network of plugs and formalizes Tesla’s Superchargers as the de facto winner in the charging battle. Tesla, meanwhile, is taking steps to prevent the embarrassing charger failures many owners ran into during a recent Midwest cold snap.
The struggling market for fuel-cell vehicles was handed another setback as Shell announced that it was shutting down all seven of its hydrogen refueling stations open to retail customers in California. That might seem an irrelevant number were this to involve its gasoline service network. But it represents nearly one in six of the hydrogen facilities in California and about 12% of the 59 open to the public nationwide.
Chevrolet is rapidly ramping up its battery-electric vehicle lineup, with a mix of products soon to include the Chevy Equinox EV. With deliveries slated to begin “in coming months,” the bowtie brand has released range and other information about the all-electric compact crossover. But the Equinox EV won’t be as affordable as had originally been signaled. Get the details at Headlight.News.
A group of seven major automakers officially launched Ionna — aimed at becoming an EV charging network to rival the Tesla Supercharging system — and, in the process, give motorists more confidence they’ll be able to charge up their battery-electric vehicles wherever they travel.
Japanese automakers, boosted by their hybrid technology, posted sales gains in January, and South Korean automakers saw sales of their EVs increase. Get the details about January sales at Headlight.News.
When Toyota introduced the Mirai fuel-cell vehicle three years ago the automaker tossed in an appealing incentive, $15,000 worth of the hydrogen needed to power it up. At the time, it cost just over $70 to fill Mira’s 5.6-kilogram tank. Today, you’ll pay over $200 – if you can find the lightweight gas, as many of the stations providing it have run dry. And that’s threatening to short-circuit the “hydrogen economy” that fuel-cell proponents have predicted is just around the corner.
Hoping to take advantage of what proponents call the fuel of the future, General Motors and Honda today launched joint production of hydrogen fuel cells at a factory in suburban Detroit. The zero-emission devices will be used to power everything from portable generators to Class 8 trucks. And, as Headlight.News reports, the two automakers aren’t the only ones who see great opportunities with hydrogen technology.
Computers, TVs, drones, “smart” appliances, digital cameras. If those are the things you think of when someone mentions “consumer electronics,” you’re not alone. But you should add automobiles to the list as, these days, they’re starting to look more like smartphones on wheels. Indeed, high-tech “mobility” was one of the big topics at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. And Headlight.News was there, checking out the latest high-tech vehicles, features and services. These are the standouts.
From Henry Ford to the Jetsons, the idea of flying cars has long caught the public imagination. And, finally, they may be coming to reality. Headlight.News talks to RJ Schreiner, a former Marine pilot who’s now chief test pilot for Supernal, the Hyundai subsidiary that debuted its S-A2 flying cab at CES 2024.
Four years after showing off an electrically-power vertical takeoff and landing concept at the Consumer Electronics Show, Hyundai is back with a prototype set to begin flight testing later this year. Headlight.News checks out the latest from the Korean carmaker’s new Supernal eVTOL subsidiary.
Hyundai is one of a small handful of automakers currently marketing a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle. But the South Korean carmaker sees much broader applications for the zero-emission technology and highlighted where that’s taking it during a presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Monday.