A couple of years after its overseas debut, Kia’s EV3 will finally come to the US. The automaker said at the New York International Auto Show that the 2027 edition of the subcompact electric SUV will arrive stateside later this year. Kia won't announce pricing until closer to its sale date, but it has previously said it would target a starting price of $35,000.
The EV3 could be a welcome addition for Americans shopping for a smaller electric SUV. Compact ones that won't break the bank are a relative scarcity in the US, especially after Volvo killed the EX30. The EV3 is close to a 1:1 match with the Kia Sportage, the automaker’s best-selling model, in terms of size and target price.
Kia's SUV will be available in standard-range (58.3 kWh) and long-range (81.4 kWh) options. The former has an advertised range of 220 miles, while the larger one ups that to 320 miles.
The EV3 has a native NACS charging port on the front passenger side.
Kia
The EV3 uses Kia's 400-volt architecture, so it won't charge as quickly as the EV9 and other 800-volt models. Still, Kia says DC fast charging can power the EV9 from 10 to 80 percent in 29 minutes for the standard model or 31 minutes for the long-range tier. The vehicle includes a native NACS charging port on the front passenger side. Meanwhile, Kia's Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) feature, which can provide power to your home during peak usage hours, will be available as a premium option.
As for how much the EV3 will cost, Kia said in 2023 it would target a price range of $35,000 to $50,000. However, the world has changed slightly since then, so we'll have to wait until later this year to confirm. You can learn more on Kia’s website.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/kia-shows-off-the-2027-ev3-at-the-ny-auto-show-132500658.html?src=rss
Toyota is teaming up with Daimler and Volvo to work on fuel cell technology. The Japanese company is signing on to the joint venture cellcentric that Volvo and Daimler launched back in 2020. Once it officially joins, Toyota and cellcentric will collaborate on managing the development and production of fuel cell unit cells.
"We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to soon be joining Daimler Truck and Volvo Group as partners in building a hydrogen society," Toyota President and CEO Koji Sato said. "cellcentric which possess deep expertise in commercial fields together with Toyota ‘s over 30 years of fuel-cell development in the passenger car sector, can combine their strengths to deliver one of the world-leading fuel cell systems for heavy commercial vehicles."
It's a move that runs counter to where the auto industry has been trending. Last year, Stellantis announced that it would end its hydrogen fuel cell development program. That's the company that owns brands including Chrysler, Citroen, Fiat, Jeep and Peugeot. GM also gave up on hydrogen in 2025. Even Toyota had rethought some of its commitment to hydrogen last year, pivoting to emphasize industrial applications rather than commercial ones.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/toyotas-still-trying-to-make-hydrogen-fuel-cells-happen-202237728.html?src=rss
In a letter shared with Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Tesla admitted that its robotaxis are sometimes driven remotely by human operators, Wired reports. Competing self-driving car companies sometimes rely on human operators to tell robotaxi software how to get itself unstuck, but letting operators actually drive those cars remotely is more unusual.
"As a redundancy measure in rare cases … [remote assistance operators] are authorized to temporarily assume direct vehicle control as the final escalation maneuver after all other available intervention actions have been exhausted,” Karen Steakley, Tesla’s director of public policy and business development, shared in a letter to Markey. In those situations, operators are reportedly able to take over Tesla's robotaxis when they're moving at speeds around 2mph or less, and then drive the car at up to 10mph if software permits it.
Engadget has contacted Tesla to confirm the details shared in Steakley's letter. We'll update the article if we hear back.
As Wired notes, that's a bit different than how other self-driving car companies handle human intervention. For example, Waymo's Driver software can call on human help — Waymo calls them "fleet response" — to offer context and answer questions to help it navigate complicated driving situations. The company claims these workers never drive the robotaxi themselves, but they are able to see the car's environment through its sensors to help it get unstuck. Self-driving car companies typically avoid remote operation, Wired writes, because technical limitations like latency and the limited perspective of a robotaxi’s sensors can make it hard to drive them easily and safely.
Tesla's approach to self-driving has always cut against the grain, though. Whereas competitors continue to rely on a mix of radar and other sensors to navigate, Tesla has exclusively focused on using cameras for its Full Self Driving (FSD) system. The company has also had to deal with a number of high-profile crashes related to FSD, which prompted a probe by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in October 2025.
The company launched its robotaxi service in Austin, Texas in June 2025, in a limited capacity and with human safety drivers sitting in the driver's seat in case of emergency. Tesla is also reportedly testing rides without safety drivers in the same area, which might be why it has contingencies for remote operators to step in.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/teslas-robotaxis-are-reportedly-remotely-driven-by-humans-sometimes-200639550.html?src=rss
A Baidu Apollo robotaxi in Wuhan, China. | Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images
Numerous robotaxis operated by Chinese tech giant Baidu froze in a major city on Tuesday, reportedly trapping passengers inside, stranding them on highways, and causing at least one accident in snarled traffic.
Police in Wuhan confirmed receiving multiple reports of Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxis stopping in the middle of streets and being unable to move. Police said no injuries have been reported and that preliminary investigations suggest an unspecified "system failure" is responsible for the outage.
NEW: Dozens of robotaxis by Baidu stopped on the road in Wuhan, causing crashes on highways and trapping passengers in the cars-some for mo …
Ford is cutting the price of the 2026 F-150 Lightning by up to $4,000, as confirmed by the automaker to CarsDirect. The price cuts vary by trim, however, and will only apply to more expensive packages for the electric pickup truck. This comes as the $7,500 EV tax credit expired at the end of September.
The 2026 model has a starting price of $63,345 for the STX trim, which is the same price as the previous year's entry-level XLT. The STX replaces the XLT and delivers 536 horsepower, up from the XLT's 452, and 290 miles of range, up from 240.
The Flash edition will receive the full $4,000 price cut, giving it a new price of $65,995. The Lariat, originally priced at $76,995, will get just a $2,000 haircut and will sell for $74,995. The Platinum edition will be priced at $84,995 and will not cost less.
This summer, Ford announced that it would release an affordable midsize all-electric pickup with a starting price of around $30,000 in 2027. The truck would be built on the company's upcoming Ford Universal EV Platform that will be shared by a new family of products. These models would use Ford's upcoming prismatic LFP batteries.
As EV-related tax incentives continue to expire, manufacturers will need to reach into their own pockets to deliver value to consumers. This week Tesla announced the Model 3 and Model Y 'Standard' editions, which give up some luxury touches in exchange for price, with both starting at under $40,000. Inflation has also played a large role in car pricing over the last five years, as $40,000 has roughly the same purchasing power as $32,000 in 2020.
Ford recently walked back a program that would have enabled dealers to offer a $7,500 tax credit on EV leases even after the expiration of federal subsidies on September 30, as first reported by Reuters. The plan involved having the company’s lending arm purchase new EVs out of the brand’s dealers’ inventory, after which Ford would apply for the tax credit on the vehicles. That credit would then have been considered in the EV lease terms for customers, passing on the savings.
GM was set to have a similar program before canceling it earlier this week. According to Reuters sources, GM killed the program after Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio raised concerns about it. It is unclear why Ford followed suit.
Update 11:23 EST: Added more context.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/ford-is-cutting-the-price-of-the-2026-f-150-lightning-by-up-to-4000-144241504.html?src=rss
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a probe into 2.88 million Tesla electric vehicles currently equipped with the company's "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) system. As first reported by Reuters, the NHTSA has received more than 50 reports of traffic-safety violations as well as numerous crashes.
The agency, which oversees the nation’s motor vehicle safety standards, said that Tesla's FSD software has "induced vehicle behavior that violated traffic safety laws," with vehicles reportedly running red lights and driving against the flow of traffic.
Among the reports the agency has received, six of them allege that a Tesla vehicle with FSD engaged "approached an intersection with a red traffic signal, continued to travel into the intersection against the red light and was subsequently involved in a crash with other motor vehicles in the intersection." The probe will begin as a preliminary evaluation, after which the NHTSA could issue a recall if it believes the vehicles pose a great enough risk to public safety.
The agency has conducted numerous investigations into the EV maker this year alone. At the start of the year, it opened an investigation into Tesla's Smart Summon and Actual Smart Summon features, which allow owners to remotely retrieve their vehicles from a parking spot. Just a few weeks ago, it announced an investigation into the 2021 Model Y over its door handles and whether they risk trapping passengers inside the vehicle. This is also not the first time the agency has looked into the safety of Tesla's driver assist features.
Tesla releases its own vehicle safety reports highlighting that accidents per million miles driven are far less common when its FSD technology is engaged than when it is not. However, the company has also fought to have more specific crash data involving FSD kept from public release, citing confidentiality.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/nhtsa-launches-probe-into-teslas-full-self-driving-tech-141102274.html?src=rss
Sound is a complicated topic in cars. Some cars are good because they're very loud. Some cars are good because they're very quiet. A select few cars can be counted in both categories. Really, only Hyundai's Ioniq 5 N has managed to check both boxes, but if Ferrari's promises about its first EV are to be believed, we may soon have another entrant.
At an event at the company's headquarters in Maranello, Italy, Ferrari unveiled the first proper details about its first EV, the Elettrica, which is set to fully debut next year. We're missing a few key details (such as what it looks like), but after spending a day talking to the various engineers behind this machine, I can finally reveal what makes this car move and how it might sound, too.
Power is a key metric for any Ferrari, and the Elettrica has plenty of that. Four electric motors, one per wheel, combine to generate a figure somewhere over 1,000 horsepower. That would put it close to the power of the company's new F80 supercar, but in an era of 2,000-hp EVs, the Elettrica's output isn't exactly stunning.
This is something even Ferrari's chief product development officer, Gianmaria Fulgenzi, admitted: "It's very easy and simple to create power in an electric engine. It's not difficult." Cornering, he said, is what it's really all about. He called current performance EVs "elephants," capable of going quickly in a straight line but failing miserably at being compelling machines to drive.
That's partly why the Elettrica has four motors. That way, the car's traction and stability management systems can modulate power to maximize grip at each tire individually, rather than relying on one or two motors with differentials to try to manage wheelspin.But it goes deeper than that. The Elettrica can also steer each rear wheel independently, more or less on the inside or outside of the turn to help manage (or perhaps even induce) oversteer.
The front motors and inverter on the Ferrari Elettrica.
Ferrari
Finally, the Elettrica will have active suspension, a novel type that debuted on the Purosangue SUV and is also used on the F80 supercar. Ferrari's dampers replace traditional valves and oil with an electric motor that provides the resistance. This means, again, the damping and ride height of the car can be adjusted independently at each corner, nearly instantly.
All that, Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna said, will result in an EV that drives like none other on the road: "We want to show that we are able to harness any technology in a unique way." Making a compelling EV, a type of car that many decry as too samey, would be a bold way to do it.
One key factor to this is a unique sound. Ferrari engineers knew that they needed to come up with some sort of acoustic accompaniment for the Elettrica, but they also knew it had to be authentic. "We didn't create a fake sound, like a starship or something like that," Fulgenzi said. "We wanted to have exactly the sound of the electric engine."
Ferrari came up with a solution similar to the one Porsche used for the Taycan, but it executed it in a novel way. In the Taycan, Porsche sampled and remixed the sounds of the car's electrical components. For the Elettrica, Ferrari actually installs an accelerometer inside the casing of the rear electric motors. That sensor picks up the harmonic resonance and runs it through a digital amplifier to create a sound that isn't a sample — it’s actually coming directly from those motors.
Fulgenzi likens it to an amp on an electric guitar, picking up the near-inaudible vibration of the strings and turning it into (potentially ear-splitting) sound. That's perhaps a bit aspirational, but the proof of course will be in the listening, something that Ferrari sadly hasn't let me (or anyone else) do just yet.
The rear motor and inverter for the Ferrari Elettrica.
Ferrari
They're also not showing anyone what the thing looks like, but it seems safe to expect that this machine will bear a shape and design unlike any Ferrari that's come before. That’s because Ferrari is, for the first time, working with design house LoveFrom, better known as the house that Jony Ive built after leaving Apple in 2019 and then sold to OpenAI for $6.5 billion.
LoveFrom has worked on a fair few projects since its inception, but this will be the company's first car. Given that, we have absolutely nothing to go on when it comes to visual style. But if I had to guess, I'd say something with a minimalist vibe is on the menu based on Ive's previous work. (And also his own car collection, which features a lot of classic bits of iconic British motoring.)
What we do know is that the Elettrica will have four doors and four seats. No, then, this won't be a proper sports car, instead sitting somewhere between grand tourer and SUV. It'll be something designed with a bit of practicality and comfort, able to waft calmly and quietly if you like. Or, with the twist of a few knobs on the steering wheel, it's able to tighten up and get loud when you're feeling more rowdy.
With somewhere north of 330 miles of range, it should make for a decent tourer, too. That comes from a 122 kWh (gross) battery pack that's split up into 15 modules, each containing 14 NMC pouch cells. The cells are initially sourced from SK On, but Ferrari made it clear they're not tied to that supplier.
Indeed, the company hopes to evolve the battery pack design and chemistry over the years, keeping some version of it available for decades to come. This is, after all, a Ferrari, a machine that ostensibly will just keep getting more valuable as it ages. That, though, is a challenge currently stymying other makers of premium EVs.
Can Ferrari make a truly desirable, truly premium EV? Having Jony Ive's name attached certainly doesn't hurt. We'll all have to wait until early next year to see how it looks and how it sounds. I personally won't get too excited about this car until then, but I am very glad that it even exists. Back in 2011, Luca Di Montezemelo, then-CEO of Ferrari, told me that Ferrari would never make an EV. I was skeptical of his statement back then, and 14 years later, I'm glad to see the company finally coming around.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/ferraris-first-ev-is-coming-next-year-with-big-speed-big-sound-and-a-jony-ive-design-083000380.html?src=rss
Last week, it was revealed that the automakers were working with their respective dealer networks on short-term programs that would allow customers to continue to receive the tax credit on leased EVs through the rest of the year. With the tax credit expiring on September 30th, Ford and GM were hoping to keep offering the discount to customers for a short while in order to buoy EV sales.
Ford and GM took a different approach
While automakers including Hyundai and Stellantis have offered cash incentives to bridge the gap for buyers, Ford and GM took a different approach. They sought to buy EVs from their own dealers by having their finance divisions put down payments on all the electric models in their inventory before the tax credit expires. The dealers would then lease the vehicles to customers with a $7,500 discount baked into the price.
But now that plan is essentially moot. GM dropped out first, on Wednesday, followed by Ford, Reuters says. GM opted to kill the plan after Republican Senators Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) flagged the plan to the Treasury Department, calling it “a loophole” and “the total violation of Congressional intent by these nefarious actors.” Even so, Ford and GM did clear their plan with the Internal Revenue Service, according to Reuters.
The automakers were hoping to soften the blow on car shoppers and keep up the momentum that many dealers have been seeing in recent weeks. EV sales spiked in July and August as shoppers rushed to claim the credit before it expired on September 30th. Experts are predicting that now that the credit is gone, EV sales are likely to plummet.
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