Whenever oil prices go up, the mainstream press responds with a spate of articles about EVs. However, it’s not at all clear whether this corresponds to any substantial increase in EV sales.

The link between oil prices and EV sales has always been tenuous—and temporary. As Viet Nguyen-Tien, Gavin D. J. Harper and Robert Elliott point out in a recent article in The Conversation, media interest in EVs was kindled during the 1973 oil embargo, only to disappear when oil prices returned to “normal” levels. The cycle has been repeated several times since.

However, the writers argue that this time may be different. The main reason that high oil prices don’t cause EV sales to spike has been the substantially higher purchase price of EVs, and that price differential is steadily dwindling.

Battery costs have fallen 93% since 2010, The Conversation reports. EV industry cognoscenti have long predicted that a pack-level battery price of $100 per kWh would be the tipping point for widespread adoption. Battery prices in the US are now very close to that price (and far cheaper in China).

Technological improvement is not the only driver of plummeting prices—economies of scale and network effects have also played important roles. More battery production leads to lower costs, which leads to more production, in a virtuous cycle.

“This loop does not need an oil crisis to keep spinning,” write Nguyen-Tien and colleagues. In most markets, EVs reached total cost of ownership parity with legacy vehicles some time ago. Now they are approaching purchase-price parity.

And there are several advances on the horizon that could soon make going electric an offer vehicle owners can’t refuse. Chinese EV-maker BYD says its latest Blade battery delivers a range of 450 miles, and can be charged in 10 minutes. The company is already selling its moderately-priced EVs in Europe, and will enter the Canadian market this year. Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, which could turn car ownership from a money pit into a source of incremental income, is making the transition from pilots to commercial deployments.

However, the Conversation writers argue, “The deeper reason this wave will not fade is not technical—it is economic. An EV is a platform. Its value grows as the network around it grows. Every charger built makes the next EV more attractive. Every software update raises the value of every car already on the road. Every recycled battery feeds back into the supply chain that makes the next one cheaper.”

The EV transition is underway—it doesn’t need high gas prices, and it no longer needs government subsidies. (Just ask Harbinger Motors—sales of its electric trucks have steadily grown since federal subsidies expired in 2025.)

The electrification of transport is making vehicles cheaper, cleaner, quieter and more fun to drive. One thing it won’t do, alas, is eliminate geopolitical risk. Today, EV supply chains mostly run through China, and neither governments nor automakers are doing much to rectify that situation. In the three traditional centers of the global auto industry—the US, Europe and Japan—denial, delay and downright delusion remain the norm.

Buckle up.

Source: The Conversation

Everrati Automotive is a UK-based conversion shop that repowers classic cars as EVs. Now the company is branching out into next-generation mobility platforms such as unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which also require advanced electric propulsion technologies.

“Electric propulsion is no longer just about cars,” said Rhodri Darch, Co-CEO of Everrati. “The technologies powering the EV revolution—from advanced motors to battery integration and software-defined capability—are becoming fundamental to unmanned and autonomous systems. UGVs are the natural first move for a company like ours: the technology transfer is close to a lift-and-shift, with a different set of operating requirements. UAVs follow, introducing additional constraints around weight and airspace, and demanding a more aerospace-focused engineering discipline.”

“Batteries are a key enabling technology. In UAVs and advanced mobility, everything comes back to energy density, weight and control,” said Dr Andy Palmer, founder of Palmer Automotive. “If you can package more usable energy into less mass, and manage it intelligently, you unlock range, payload and reliability in one move. That’s exactly where electrification expertise translates—we’ve spent the last decade learning how to make batteries not just powerful, but predictable, scalable and safe. Apply that to UAVs, and you move from niche capability to operational utility.”

Everrati focuses on developing advanced electric propulsion systems for integration into specialist platforms, rather than designing entire vehicles. Through its Powered by Everrati division, the company works with a specialist partner ecosystem that includes motor manufacturer Helix, manufacturing specialist DASIS, McLaren subsidiary Motion Applied and bespoke battery builder Raeon.

Tom Brooks, COO, Raeon: “The demand for battery-powered mobility is hitting a development barrier. Software can improve in weeks, but battery development is still taking years. Our FloLock and AnyVolt technologies allow us to deliver bespoke battery systems in as little as 12 weeks, ensuring partners across defense, marine, robotics and EV platforms remain resilient and scalable.”

Leighton King, Chief Commercial Officer, Helix: “High power density in a compact, lightweight package is an operational necessity in UAV and advanced mobility applications. Our motor and inverter development is grounded in environments where these demands are absolute—motorsport, aerospace, defense. Working with partners like Everrati, who lead propulsion architecture and integration at a system level, allows that specialist expertise to be deployed where it creates the most value.”

Source: Everrati Automotive

Transport agency De Lijn, which serves the Flanders region of Belgium, has commissioned its 1,000th electric bus, and is steadily ordering more. In 2025, De Lijn ordered more than 650 new e-buses, which will be deployed in phases in the coming years.

By 2035, the company plans to phase out diesel buses entirely. This will require a fleet of 3,800 e-buses, representing major investments not only in new vehicles, but also in charging infrastructure, energy supply, software, training and maintenance.

“The 1,000th electric bus is a clear signal that Flanders is moving forward towards sustainable and future-oriented public transport,” said Flemish Minister of Mobility Annick De Ridder. “The Flemish Government provided a turbo investment of 400 million euros for the purchase of electric buses.”

De Lijn is investing heavily in software and employee training during this transformation. In 2025, some 1,400 drivers received specific e-bus training, and 176 technicians received training in electromechanics.

Electric buses require less mechanical maintenance than diesel buses, and lend themselves to a different, more data-driven approach, De Lijn has found. Maintenance is increasingly shifting towards prevention and monitoring, reducing the need for urgent repairs and increasing the reliability of service.

“The enormous behind-the-scenes transformation that many people are involved in is now fully visible on the road with modern, quiet and fuel-efficient vehicles,” said De Lijn Director-General Ann Schoub. “For the traveler, that means more comfortable transport today, and tomorrow completely emission-free public transport throughout Flanders, with a positive impact on air quality, noise and livability.”

Source: De Lijn

French multinational electric utility Engie has won a public contract to install and operate 2,926 EV charging points in the Belgian region of Wallonia.

The new AC charging stations, each with a capacity of 22 kW per charging point, will be distributed across 242 municipalities in Wallonia. Installation will take place over the next two years, and Engie, through its dedicated brand Engie Vianeo, will manage operations for a period of ten years.

This contract follows a similar agreement signed in March for the Brussels-Capital Region, covering 1,640 charging points.

Currently, Engie operates nearly 7,000 charging points across Belgium, located in Flanders and Brussels. (Belgium is roughly divided into three regions: Flanders, Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region.)

Looking ahead, Engie aims to deploy 12,000 charging points across Belgium by 2028. Engie supplies electricity to 27 countries in Europe and 48 countries worldwide.

Source: The Brussels Times

Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation has started shipping engineering samples of the TB9M030FG, the latest in its SmartMCD series of automotive motor control devices. The chip combines a microcontroller and gate driver in a single package and adds a proprietary sensorless approach that enables position-sensorless FOC from zero speed—without the acoustic noise produced by standard high-frequency signal injection methods.

The challenge with sensorless control of three-phase brushless DC motors is detecting rotor position at low speed. Standard approaches superimpose a high-frequency voltage signal onto the drive waveform to infer position, but that harmonic injection generates noise and audible motor sound. Toshiba says its approach enables stable sensorless FOC from zero speed through the low-speed range on salient-pole motors, without that acoustic penalty.

Target applications include electric water pumps, oil pumps, fans and blowers, where electrification of automotive auxiliary systems is pushing demand for more integrated, quieter motor control. Built-in vector engine hardware handles FOC computation offboard the CPU core, reducing software overhead and program size.

Mass production is scheduled for January 2027.

Source: Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation

Intelligent payment solution provider WEX has launched a new capability within its WEX EV At-Home offering.

The company’s new EV At-Home with Vehicle Fraud Protection is designed to ensure accurate and secure reimbursement for at-home charging. WEX explains that manual reimbursement processes and limited visibility into charging activity can be a burden for fleet managers. EV At-Home verifies charging sessions using a combination of vehicle, charger and utility data, helping businesses to ensure that they are only paying for legitimate fleet usage. By comparing vehicle data directly with submitted home charging sessions, WEX enables fleet operators to identify unauthorized or personal charging expenses before reimbursement occurs.

“Home charging is one of the largest visibility gaps in fleet electrification today,” said Sarah Booth, Senior Director, Connected Fleet at WEX. “With EV At-Home with Vehicle Fraud Protection, we’re giving businesses a way to trust what they’re paying for.”

WEX’s broader EV ecosystem enables businesses to manage fuel and electric charging through a single account, invoice and set of controls. EV At-Home allows fleets to take advantage of lower residential energy costs while maintaining strong protections against “spend leakage.”

“Fleets don’t just need access to EV charging, they need accountability,” said Booth. “This solution brings together the data, controls and simplicity required to scale EV adoption with confidence.”

Source: WEX

Rivian and Redwood Materials are deploying 10 megawatt-hours of second-life battery storage at Rivian’s manufacturing facility in Normal, Illinois. The system uses more than 100 retired Rivian battery packs and is described as the largest repurposed battery energy storage system for a US automotive manufacturer.

Redwood is integrating the used packs into a stationary setup—called a Redwood Energy system—managed by the company’s Redwood Pack Manager technology. The stored energy dispatches on-site during peak demand periods, letting Rivian draw on its own retired packs instead of purchasing more grid power. Both companies say the system is rapidly scalable as more retired packs become available.

EV battery packs are engineered to far outlast the vehicles they power, designed for many hundreds of thousands of miles and often still healthy when a car is retired. Repurposing those packs as stationary storage extends their useful life before recycling and defers the need for costly new infrastructure. Redwood’s pitch is that the US already holds a growing domestic stockpile of these packs, and converting them to dispatchable energy is faster than building new storage capacity from scratch.

“Our partnership with Redwood enables us to utilize our vehicle’s batteries beyond the life of a vehicle and contribute to grid health and American competitiveness,” said RJ Scaringe, Rivian Founder and CEO.

Redwood’s JB Straubel focused on the infrastructure gap: “Electricity demand is accelerating faster than the grid can expand, posing a constraint on industrial growth…Our partnership with Rivian shows how EV battery packs can be turned into dispatchable energy resources, bringing new capacity online quickly, supporting critical manufacturing, and reducing strain on the grid without waiting years for new infrastructure.”

Source: Rivian

Rockit Motors has raised more than $47 million in equity and debt facilities from MKB Equity Partners, National Bank of Canada and BDC Capital. Rob Briscoe, the company’s President and CEO, retains majority ownership and control.

The Montreal-based company manufactures electric motors, generators and components—stators and rotors included—for OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers in power generation, rail, e-mobility and industrial markets. Rockit operates facilities in the US, Canada and Mexico.

The capital will fund co-investments in tooling, machinery and equipment alongside customers, plus hiring across sales, engineering and program management. The company positions itself as a near-shoring option for OEMs moving motor production out of overseas factories in response to tariff, cost or capacity pressure. Rockit also acquired Motors Coils Mfg. Ltd., a rail traction motor service provider, in 2025, adding aftermarket capability in North America.

“Our purpose is simple: to be the catalyst of new possibilities for companies that are shaping the future of electrification,” said Rob Briscoe, President and CEO.

MKB Partner Jesse Teichman noted the scale of the sector: “Rockit Motors expertise in electric motor production, essential to systems that consume nearly half of global electricity, underscores the strategic importance of this partnership.”

Source: Rockit Motors

Lightship, an American manufacturer of all-electric recreational vehicles, was founded in 2020, and is now scaling up to meet surging demand—the company has announced a major expansion of its Colorado-based manufacturing facility, and launched a new customization offering.

The company will expand its existing 32,000-square-foot facility to a total manufacturing footprint of roughly 76,000 square feet. Construction is underway, and operations in the expanded space are expected to begin this summer. The expansion will quadruple Lightship’s existing production capacity by the end of 2026.

“At a time when many companies in this category are outsourcing their production and supply chain overseas, we’re doubling down on our commitment to American manufacturing, accelerating innovation and creating high-skill jobs in a region emerging as a hub for next-generation mobility,” said Toby Kraus, CEO and co-founder of Lightship.

Today, 80 percent of the component value of the Lightship AE.1 is sourced within the US. The company says this policy gives it tighter quality control, faster product iteration, and greater insulation from global supply chain volatility. The expanded facility is expected to increase vertical integration, while expanding service and R&D capabilities to support future product development.

Lightship is introducing a streamlined configuration for the AE.1, with a starting price of $157,500. The new approach centers on a single, configurable model, simplifying the lineup for customers. The 77 kWh battery pack, previously available only on the $184,000 top trim, is now standard across all AE.1 vehicles.

“More than ninety percent of our customers have chosen the 77 kWh battery. This new lineup makes this popular feature more accessible,” said co-founder and Chief Product Officer Ben Parker. “We are also adding options to give customers the flexibility to tailor the product for home backup, extended travel, short-term rental use, and full-time living.”

Source: Lightship

Volvo Trucks has launched several new or updated electric truck models, aimed at several different use cases.

The new FH Aero Electric with extended range is designed for long-haul and intercity transport. It features a rear compact e-axle that integrates two electric motors and a six-speed gearbox and delivers up to 460 kW (623 hp) of power. It supports 700 kW charging speeds on MCS or 350 kW on CCS. Volvo estimates that charging the 8 battery packs from 20% to 80% using MCS should take approximately 50 minutes—within the legislated rest period for truck drivers in the EU.

Total capacity is up to 48 tonnes GCW (Gross Combination Weight), and payload is up to 28 tonnes. The flexible battery configuration allows operators to optimize the balance between range and payload. An electric power take-off for refrigerated units eliminates the need for a separate diesel generator.

The next-gen FH, FM and FMX Electric models are designed for on-road construction, regional distribution, urban logistics, utilities, refuse and special heavy applications. A new dual-motor drivetrain with an eight-speed gearbox is designed to maximize electric torque, and delivers up to 540 kW (731 hp) of power. Range is up to 470 km, and charging speed is up to 350 kW on CCS.

Total capacity is up to 65 tonnes GCW, and payload is up to 23.8 tonnes (4×2 tractor). These trucks are available with twin-drive axles and low gearing for maximum flexibility. Multiple power take-off configurations are available, including split motors or dual-motor output for cranes, hook lifts or tipper bodies. Truck and body can be operated simultaneously.

“We’re really sharpening our offering here. We are broadening it and making electric solutions possible for an even wider range of transport assignments,” says Roger Alm, President of Volvo Trucks. “This means we can fully match the business needs of our customers. It has never been easier to replace diesel trucks with electric ones.”

“The next-generation FH, FM and FMX Electric are packed with new, smart functions—they offer great driver comfort and make [electric] transport available for a wide range of transport assignments,” says Roger Alm.

Even as Volvo announces new electric trucks, which it says “will be rolled out step-by-step to [unspecified] markets starting in 2026,” the company continues lobbying to weaken emissions standards in the US and Europe, and investing money in hydrogen fuel cells, a technology that many scientists and engineers consider to be mainly a vehicle for prolonging the use of fossil fuels while harvesting government subsidies.

Source: Volvo Trucks