Tag Archives: EVs

News

Norway Just Quietly Killed the Gas Car—And Did It with a Spreadsheet

If the internal-combustion engine had a natural predator, it wouldn’t be lithium or silicon—it would be Norway’s tax code.

In 2025, Norway didn’t just continue its electric-car experiment; it all but finished the job. Nearly 96 percent of all new cars registered were fully electric, up from an already eyebrow-raising 88.9 percent the year before. By December, that number flirted with 98 percent, a figure that would sound like science fiction anywhere else in Europe. And this wasn’t a shrinking market limping toward electrification—total new-car registrations jumped 40 percent, reaching 179,549 vehicles.

This wasn’t an accident. It was a deadline.

Buy Now, or Pay Later

The surge came as buyers raced ahead of a tax reckoning. In October, the Norwegian government announced that new tax increases would arrive in January 2026, and the market reacted instantly. Shoppers didn’t wait around—they bought electric, and they bought now.

Under current rules, electric cars priced below 300,000 Norwegian kroner (about €25,300) will remain exempt from value-added tax even after 2026. That carve-out is the golden ticket. Below that price line, EVs aren’t just competitive—they’re the obvious choice. Above it, the math gets harsher, but it’s still far kinder than what internal-combustion vehicles face.

Gas and diesel cars, meanwhile, are buried under duties so heavy they might as well come with a warning label. In Norway, buying an ICE vehicle isn’t just old-fashioned—it’s financially self-sabotaging.

Automakers Follow the Money

Manufacturers saw the wave coming and scrambled to surf it. Supply increased as automakers diverted inventory to Norway to capitalize on demand. As Ford Norway director Per Gunnar Berg put it bluntly, vehicles not originally intended for the country were rerouted “as soon as possible” to meet appetite.

And who benefited most? No surprises here.

For the fifth straight year, Tesla topped the sales charts, grabbing 19.1 percent of the market. Volkswagen followed with 13.3 percent, and Volvo landed at 7.8 percent. But the real story may be China’s quiet advance: vehicles built there now command 13.7 percent of the Norwegian market, up from 10.4 percent a year earlier. BYD, in particular, more than doubled its sales, proving that Norway’s EV transition isn’t just reshaping powertrains—it’s reshaping brand hierarchies.

The Carrot Is Nice. The Stick Is Better.

Norway’s transformation stands in sharp contrast to the rest of Europe, where EV adoption continues at a slower, more cautious pace. The difference isn’t infrastructure or consumer enthusiasm alone—it’s policy philosophy.

According to Christina Bu, director of the Norwegian Association for Electric Cars, convenience isn’t the whole story. Incentives matter, yes—but so does pressure. The country didn’t just make electric cars easier to buy; it made gasoline cars harder to justify. High levies, rising ownership costs, and shrinking advantages have steadily squeezed combustion engines out of relevance.

In other words, Norway didn’t politely invite EVs in. It showed gas cars the door.

The Endgame Is Already Here

There’s a delicious irony in all of this: Norway, one of Europe’s most significant oil producers, is also the continent’s most successful EV market. It turns out that when the rules are clear, consistent, and unapologetically tilted toward the future, consumers adapt fast.

Norway didn’t wait for the market to “naturally” transition. It engineered the outcome—and now the gas car is functionally extinct.

The rest of Europe is still debating. Norway already moved on.

Source: Reuters; Photo: EPA-EFE

News

Mercedes EQB Recall: Don’t Fully Charge Your EV

If you’re the type of Mercedes EV driver who already checks the range estimate more often than your bank balance, we’ve got news that won’t help your blood pressure. Mercedes-Benz is advising owners of certain EQB electric SUVs to cap charging at 80 percent—not to preserve battery health, not to optimize efficiency, but because charging to 100 percent could, in engineering terms, trigger a “thermal event.”

In plain English: the battery could short-circuit and catch fire. And unlike a check-engine light or a rattling trim panel, battery fires tend to command your full attention—and the local fire department’s.

The good news, such as it is, is that this recall affects a vanishingly small slice of Mercedes’ EV fleet. Just 169 vehicles are involved, including 100 EQB 300 4Matic models, 48 EQB 350 4Matics, and 21 single-motor EQB 250s. That’s barely enough cars to fill a Costco parking lot, though that’s cold comfort if yours happens to be one of them.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because Mercedes has been here before. Earlier in 2025, the company recalled more than 7,000 EQBs in the U.S. for—you guessed it—fire risk, issuing the same temporary advice to keep charging below 80 percent until a software update could be applied. Déjà vu, now with fewer vehicles.

According to Mercedes, the newly recalled cars are “early-stage” 2022–2023 model-year EQBs. Later vehicles supposedly received more robust battery hardware, sparing them from this particular drama. For the affected cars, the company says drivers will likely get warning messages if things start getting spicy under the floorpan while driving. Unfortunately, a parked EQB could still ignite without so much as a polite heads-up.

Naturally, you might assume Mercedes would replace the suspect batteries with improved units. Naturally, you’d be wrong. The fix is—again—a software update, scheduled to roll out via dealerships in early 2026. Until then, owners are stuck playing battery-management limbo.

That’s especially painful given the EQB’s already modest range. The dual-motor EQB 350 carries an EPA rating of just 227 miles on a full charge. Knock that down to 80 percent and you’re looking at roughly 180 miles. Add a sensible buffer at the bottom end of the gauge and real-world usable range could shrink to around 150 miles.

That’s enough to visit relatives across town, but probably not across the state—unless you enjoy spending quality time at freeway charging stations, contemplating life choices and scrolling through apps that insist your charger will be available “any minute now.”

For now, Mercedes EQB owners affected by the recall can take solace in two things: first, the odds of being impacted are low; and second, Mercedes insists the fix is coming. Eventually. In the meantime, charge cautiously, park thoughtfully, and maybe keep the holiday travel plans local.

Source: Mercedes-Benz

News

Toyota Thinks Your EV Could Be the Next Nuclear Power Plant (Well, Sort Of)

Toyota has spent the better part of the last decade preaching patience in the electric transition, hedging its bets with hybrids while the rest of the industry sprinted toward full battery power. Now the company is making a different kind of bold claim—one that doesn’t involve 0–60 times or range figures. According to Toyota, a future fleet of electric vehicles with two-way charging could collectively deliver power on the scale of dozens of nuclear reactors.

No, your driveway isn’t about to glow in the dark. But the idea behind vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology is simple and quietly radical: your EV doesn’t just consume electricity—it can also give it back.

Toyota has kicked off a new phase of its V2G pilot program at its North American headquarters in Plano, Texas, partnering with energy provider Oncor. The test setup uses a Japanese-spec Toyota bZ4X paired with a Fermata Energy bidirectional charger. This isn’t just a fancy wall box. It can charge the car, then reverse the flow, sending energy back into the grid when demand spikes or prices make it worthwhile. The system continuously monitors grid conditions and electricity-market signals, deciding when to store power and when to sell it back.

Texas isn’t the only proving ground. Toyota is running similar pilot projects with San Diego Gas & Electric in California and Pepco in Maryland, effectively stress-testing V2G across very different energy markets. The goal is to understand not just the technical hurdles, but also how customers might actually live with this tech—when they’re comfortable sharing their car’s stored energy and what kind of compensation makes participation worthwhile.

At its core, V2G turns EVs into rolling batteries that plug into a larger ecosystem. When connected to a compatible charger, the vehicle can feed electricity back into the grid during peak demand. Utilities must be equipped to accept that power, and drivers always retain control—they can opt out at any time. In return, participants typically receive credits or payments, which is why utilities like to call these networks “virtual power plants.” It’s less sci-fi than it sounds and more spreadsheet-driven than exciting, but it could be transformative.

Here’s where Toyota’s nuclear comparison comes in. The company estimates there are already more than four million fully electric vehicles on U.S. roads. If every one of them supported two-way charging, Toyota claims they could collectively deliver around 40,000 megawatts back to the grid—roughly equivalent to the output of about 40 nuclear reactors.

That’s a big “if,” of course. Not every EV will be plugged in at the right time, not every owner will want to participate, and today’s charging infrastructure isn’t ready for mass bidirectional power flow. Still, the math hints at something important: EVs aren’t just a transportation shift, they’re an energy one.

For car enthusiasts, this is a different way of thinking about performance. The future EV spec sheet might not just list horsepower and range, but also how many kilowatts your car can sell back to the grid while you sleep. Toyota, long criticized for moving cautiously on full electrification, may end up shaping how EVs fit into daily life—not as rolling gadgets, but as critical pieces of national infrastructure.

It’s not exactly the stuff of burnouts and Nürburgring laps. But if Toyota is right, the quietest revolution in the automotive world might be happening while your car is parked.

Source: Toyota