Chad Kirchner 
As the war with Iran rages on, energy prices have begun to soar. While gasoline prices aren’t at their pandemic highs, many parts of the country have seen prices increase by 50 to 80 cents a gallon in the first week of the conflict. With reports that the Iranians are mining the Strait of Hormuz, … Read more
It’s not a great time for renewable energy in the United States. The Trump Administration has already rolled back, or is attempting to roll back, any legislation that promoted its use. It might be easy to write this off as just delivering what the taxpayer and the consumer want. But it’s a result of a … Read more
When the One Big Beautiful Bill brought the end of the federal EV tax incentives, the Trump Administration lauded it as bringing choice back to the consumer. Trump then gutted the EPA and its enforcement ability, which also allows for more consumer choice. The government even wants to roll back safety requirements for the sake … Read more
Last week, President Trump’s administration announced that it wanted to open up a pathway for small cars — referred to as kei cars in Japan with special restrictions — to be available to consumers in the United States. I talked about what it would take for the cars to be viable here, both here on … Read more
For the 2026 model year (some cars might be 2027s, depending on when we receive pricing), we have compiled a list of the EVs on sale in the United States and a ranking of their value. We determine value in this case as the number of miles the EV will travel per $1,000 spent at … Read more
As we careen towards the end of November, we start the infamous LA Auto Show week. Auto shows aren’t what they used to be (unless it’s in Tokyo), and there are a few announcements ahead of the show. Today’s announcement is the “all-new” Nissan Rogue plug-in hybrid. And I have to ask, “What is going … Read more
When it comes to electrified vehicles, I’ve seen a litany of ways to describe them. Though essentially, there are five ways to describe an electrified vehicle (as long as you don’t include hydrogen). There’s a 48-volt mild hybrid (which isn’t a real hybrid), there’s a standard hybrid, there’s a plug-in hybrid, there’s a range-extended electric … Read more
Last week on the Decoder podcast, GM CEO Mary Barra stated that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto would eventually be removed from the company’s internal combustion engine vehicles, along with its EVs. There was some backlash online. (Editor’s note: Wait, backlash on the internet?!?!) Today, the company clarified its timeline to The Verge. We are … Read more
(Editor’s note: This article first appeared on The Kirchner Report, our publisher’s newsletter devoted to covering the entire automotive industry.) When I announced the relaunch of this newsletter, some of the first people to sign up had General Motors email addresses. Over my decade or so of working in this business, I’ve had thousands of … Read more
There are fundamentally four types of vehicles out there that use a battery that isn’t just the 12-volt under the hood. There’s a traditional hybrid (which Toyota calls a self-charging hybrid), there’s a plug-in hybrid, there’s a range-extended EV (EREV), and there’s a full battery-electric vehicle. While I know this can be confusing to the … Read more
