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Bridget McKenzie tells Insiders she is working on the opposition’s transport policy ahead of the next federal election – including EV plans Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Liberal senator Bridget McKenzie has again left the door open for a Coalition government to level a road user charge against owners of electric vehicles, indicating concern about decreasing fuel excise and the impact on budgets for road repairs. But the shadow transport minister also said the Coalition wouldn’t follow the US in banning Chinese-made EVs, which put her at odds with comments on Sunday from Nationals colleague, Barnaby Joyce. He invoked last week’s Hezbollah members’ pager explosions in raising his concern about technology he claimed could be made with a “malevolent purpose” by a “totalitarian state”. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Upgrade to Merseyside site will allow it to build hybrid cars and prepare for electric vehicle production Jaguar Land Rover has said it will spend half a billion pounds to upgrade a Merseyside factory to build hybrid cars and prepare for electric vehicle production. Britain’s largest automotive employer – officially known as JLR – said it has already spent £250m on new car production lines, machinery, people and digital technology at the Halewood plant, with plans for £250m more over the coming years. Continue reading...

Move comes after weeks of uncertainty over reports of financial problems as green vehicle sector struggles Business live – latest updates The Swedish batterymaker Northvolt is to cut 1,600 jobs, in response to “headwinds” blowing through the electric car industry. The battery company announced redundancies across three of its sites on Monday, including 1,000 in Skellefteå, in northern Sweden, where it is suspending the expansion of Northvolt Ett, Europe’s first homegrown battery gigafactory. Continue reading...

Automotive lobby group warns ‘multibillion-euro fines’ will punish manufacturers without relaxation of rules Europe’s car industry has called for the relaxation of EU emissions targets after sales of electric cars stalled further in August, adding to growing political pressure that threatens to slow the transition away from fossil fuels. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), a lobby group, said that its members could face “multibillion-euro fines” because the shift to electric production has not been quick enough to meet the EU targets. Continue reading...

Nordic country, paradoxically a major oil producer, has set target for all new cars sold to be zero emission Electric cars now outnumber petrol cars in Norway for the first time, an industry organisation has said, a world first that puts the country on track towards taking fossil fuel vehicles off the road. Of the 2.8m private cars registered in the Nordic country, 754,303 are all-electric, against 753,905 that run on petrol, the Norwegian road federation (OFV) said in a statement. Continue reading...

Labour reinstates 2030 ban on sales of new cars running solely on petrol or diesel Business live – latest updates Sales of some new hybrid cars will be allowed until 2035, the government has said, but it denied that this was a change to a manifesto pledge to ban petrol and diesel cars from 2030. Ministers plan to reinstate a 2030 ban on new cars that run solely on petrol and diesel that was dropped by Rishi Sunak a year ago , with a decision yet to come on which hybrid cars will be allowed. That final decision will be made after consultation with carmakers and other interested parties. Continue reading...

Trump promises to end electric vehicle mandate. Harris has been silent, risking swing state autoworkers’ critical votes As the critical swing state of Michigan hangs in the balance, experts warn that Democrats’ poor messaging over the shift to electric vehicles could lose them the state in November’s election . “I will end the electric vehicle mandate on day one, thereby saving the US auto industry from complete obliteration, which is happening right now,” Donald Trump told the Republican national convention in a speech this summer that would reach tens of millions of people. Continue reading...

Stellantis suspends output for four weeks after it becomes latest carmaker to be hit by slowdown in EV sales Stellantis is to halt production of the electric Fiat 500 model for four weeks because of a lack of orders in Europe. The Franco-Italian company, which also owns the Citroën, Vauxhall and Peugeot brands, said production would be suspended from Friday. Continue reading...

Elon Musk turning you off Tesla? Here are 10 of the best electric cars, driven and chosen by our expert How to buy an electric car – a guide Elon Musk is never far from a headline these days, from his recent inflammatory posts about the far-right riots in the UK to his endorsement of Donald Trump for president. But his increasingly toxic rhetoric is having a knock-on effect: some Tesla owners are starting to rethink whether they should own his electric cars any more. Sales fell in July for the second straight quarter. It’s a shame, because Tesla makes great electric cars. I’d rate the latest Model 3 as one of the best around. It drives nicely, is built well (a previous Tesla foible), is efficient and Tesla sells it at a price that makes other EV makers do a cartoon double-take. But if you’re committed to electric cars, and Musk is turning you off Tesla, there are plenty of other good options. Established carmakers and newcomers have caught up with and, in many cases, overtaken T...

The company is seen as crucial not just to local but national wellbeing – and never before have its workers been threatened in their own homeland like this ‘Earthquake at Volkswagen” ran the stark headline in the Wolfsburger Nachrichten , the newspaper serving the north German city that is synonymous with the carmaker. The news that the crisis-stricken company was weighing up the closure of factories in Germany for the first time in its history, and prematurely dissolving its 30-year-old employment protection agreement as part of an attempt to save around €10bn (£8.4bn), had barely filtered through to the workers emerging from Gate 17 at VW’s main factory in Wolfsburg on Monday, where a lone reporter had been dispatched to capture reaction at shift’s end. Continue reading...

Plan to cut German factories is politically fraught but makes sense economically VW considers German plant closures to save billions in costs When Bernd Pischetsrieder attempted to cut jobs at Volkswagen in the early 2000s, he was forced out. When Herbert Diess tried the same, he got the same result , leaving in 2022. Yet now Volkswagen appears to be deliberately grasping the nettle. “This time it’s different,” says Matthias Schmidt, a Berlin-based automotive analyst. Chief executive Oliver Blume is “VW through and through”, and his actions likely reflect the desires of the controlling Porsche and Piëch dynasties, Schmidt said. The course is set for a historic clash over the future for Germany’s largest carmaker. Continue reading...

Carmaker tells staff it expects to sell 500,000 fewer vehicles than before Covid as it defends plan to close German plants Business live – latest updates Volkswagen says it has “a year, maybe two” to adapt to a slump in European car sales, as it seeks to justify proposals to close factories in Germany for the first time in its history. The carmaker told workers at a meeting at its Wolfsburg headquarters on Wednesday that it expected to sell 500,000 fewer vehicles than before the Covid pandemic, “the equivalent of around two plants”, and predicted it would not return to its 2019 level. Continue reading...

ELM Mobility joint venture by Prodrive and Astheimer Design aims for 10,000 one-person quadricycles by 2030 Two British automotive companies have teamed up to build thousands of electric delivery vehicles in the UK – the latest in a line of businesses attempting the risky push into vehicle manufacturing after several prominent failures. The motorsport manufacturer Prodrive and Astheimer Design have said they plan to build 10,000 of their one-person delivery vehicles by 2030, with production planned for the UK. Continue reading...

Rachel Reeves should reform vehicle taxes to fill £5bn ‘black hole’, says Campaign for Better Transport Campaigners have called on the chancellor to introduce a controversial pay-per-mile road charging scheme on electric cars, warning of a £5bn “black hole” in tax revenues from motoring. In a letter to Rachel Reeves, the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) urged her to reform vehicle taxes, with fuel duty poised to dwindle in the coming decade as petrol and diesel cars are phased out. Continue reading...