Electric Vehicles

Lifestyle

Rise of the Climate Dads

American fathers love EVs, support clean energy, and are trying to eat more plants.

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A hundred dollar bill as a gas pump.

The Road Tax Experiment Is About to Begin

The gas tax pays for America’s road repair. So what do we do when everyone drives EVs?

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Electric Vehicles

EVs Have a Sabotage Problem

How electric vehicles and their infrastructure are vulnerable to bad actors

An EV and a saboteur.
<p>Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images</p>

In February 2022, Tesla opened a new supercharging station in Oakhurst, California, a town on the scenic road up from Fresno to Yosemite National Park. It was wrecked the first night it was open. Thieves came in the night and cut the thick, black cables from all eight charging stalls that were tucked away in the back corner of a motel parking lot, presumably to steal and sell the copper inside.

Within days, Tesla not only fixed the cables but also installed a mechanical guardian: a solar-powered, camera-equipped “MacGuyver” robot to keep watch over the chargers. So far, the new security guard has thwarted subsequent raids. But the episode and other similar crimes at charging stations — like the time vandals stuffed ground meat into a charging port in Germany, for some reason — illustrate how electric vehicles and the infrastructure that supports them are vulnerable to sabotage and vandalism.

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Electric Vehicles

The Death of the Bolt, the Cheap Little EV We Need

Despite record sales, America’s most affordable EV gets the axe.

The Chevrolet Bolt in a coffin.
<p>Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images</p>

The hottest new car debut of 2023 probably isn’t anything you’ve ever heard of. Unless you live in China, it’s not even something you can buy. It’s the BYD Seagull, a compact electric car from a rising giant in the EV space. And with a range of up to 252 miles and a price tag of 78,000 yuan (only $11,300), it’s expected to become China’s best-selling car within months.

If you want anything even close to that in the United States, good luck. Your outlook got a little dimmer this week when General Motors announced the Chevrolet Bolt EV and its slightly larger sibling, the Bolt EUV, would be discontinued. The decision brings an end to a massively successful line of smaller, affordable, high-range EVs from America’s largest automaker.

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