Solar roadway, VW ID.4 drive, Nissan e-Power, timeline for ICE ban: Today’s Car News
The first solar roadway in the U.S. is being tested—in Georgia. We drive the electric vehicle at the front of VW’s mass-market push for the U.S, the ID.4. Nissan is scaling up its e-Power hybrid system in Japan. And at least one automaker thinks that making plans to ban gasoline vehicles makes more sense than a maze of credits. This and more, here at Green Car Reports.
Does setting a timeline for an all-out ban on gasoline vehicles make more sense than credit systems for EV sales and programs juggling subsidies? Volvo’s chief suggested that, and it’s the first time we’ve heard the CEO of a global automaker take that position.
Green Car Reports drove the 2021 Volkswagen ID.4 electric SUV. And although our time behind the wheel was limited to just an hour—and the experience was still hampered by a hobbled infotainment system—it was enough to see that the ID.4 brings forth much of the e-Golf’s on-the-road charm.
Nissan has announced that its Note hatchback—sold in previous-generation form as the Versa Note in the U.S.—will go all-hybrid in Japan, with a version of the company’s e-Power series-hybrid system. Although Nissan and Infiniti have in the past confirmed that a scaled-up version of e-Power is still on the way for the U.S., in more performance-focused form, the company has become more tight-lipped about its plans for the system.
And over the weekend we reported on what’s claimed to be the first U.S. solar roadway to be activated within a city. Although durability has been an issue on some other test sites, with previous versions of the panels, is this an idea worth testing—or even wider deployment?
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