Bengt Halvorson
@ben-gt.bsky.social
Tracks and unpacks tech in the EV, efficiency, mobility space. Geeks out about cars. Former Green Car Reports mastermind. Now contrib to Car and Driver, others.
Let's burn more gasoline! Here's the fact sheet—although at face value many of these facts do need some backing in science and research.
www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...
www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...
December 3, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Let's burn more gasoline! Here's the fact sheet—although at face value many of these facts do need some backing in science and research.
www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...
www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...
Reposted by Bengt Halvorson
Literally, the last time NHTSA bothered updating its data (from the friggen 2021 model year) the fleet achieved better than the Trump administration is proposing today, and the standard would be moving backwards. www.nhtsa.gov/corporate-av...
December 3, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Literally, the last time NHTSA bothered updating its data (from the friggen 2021 model year) the fleet achieved better than the Trump administration is proposing today, and the standard would be moving backwards. www.nhtsa.gov/corporate-av...
Look at Zillow making itself less relevant.
techcrunch.com/2025/12/01/z...
techcrunch.com/2025/12/01/z...
Zillow drops climate risk scores after agents complained of lost sales | TechCrunch
The move is a loss for homebuyers, who through Zillow had ready access to a property's climate risk scores from First Street.
techcrunch.com
December 3, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Look at Zillow making itself less relevant.
techcrunch.com/2025/12/01/z...
techcrunch.com/2025/12/01/z...
I've spent too much time in hotels, and one of the confounding trends. The absence of a bathroom door is definitely a thing, not at the cheapest or most lux hotels, but at a certain type of increasingly common mid-range hotel.
Like this struggles to explain... why??
Like this struggles to explain... why??
Once again, I'm begging the form-over-function crowd to STOP before I eat a guardrail trying to adjust a basic car setting and/or end up sharing a hotel room where the toilet's completely out in the open.
WHY IS THIS A THING?! www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFPG...
WHY IS THIS A THING?! www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFPG...
What happened to bathroom doors?
YouTube video by Kendra Gaylord
www.youtube.com
November 26, 2025 at 7:31 PM
I've spent too much time in hotels, and one of the confounding trends. The absence of a bathroom door is definitely a thing, not at the cheapest or most lux hotels, but at a certain type of increasingly common mid-range hotel.
Like this struggles to explain... why??
Like this struggles to explain... why??
Reposted by Bengt Halvorson
Automatic emergency braking and rear seat reminders save lives, and while some ADAS technologies do add costs to consumers, these systems can be had on many very affordable cars. They're not the cause of $50K+ ATPs.
Exclusive: Republicans plan to challenge vehicle-safety mandates, such as automatic emergency braking and alarms that remind drivers a child is in the back seat.
Senate Committee to Challenge Auto-Safety Mandates That Hurt ‘Affordability’
Republicans are questioning the value of some features, such as automatic braking and rear-seat reminders.
on.wsj.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Automatic emergency braking and rear seat reminders save lives, and while some ADAS technologies do add costs to consumers, these systems can be had on many very affordable cars. They're not the cause of $50K+ ATPs.
Are we getting a Kia EV4 in the U.S.? A Kia EV3? A Kia electric pickup?
We know automakers are feeling the tariff squeeze. Kudos to one of the brand's top U.S. execs for being blunt about the decisions it faces on EVs, prices, and everything.
www.caranddriver.com/news/a695325...
We know automakers are feeling the tariff squeeze. Kudos to one of the brand's top U.S. execs for being blunt about the decisions it faces on EVs, prices, and everything.
www.caranddriver.com/news/a695325...
November 25, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Are we getting a Kia EV4 in the U.S.? A Kia EV3? A Kia electric pickup?
We know automakers are feeling the tariff squeeze. Kudos to one of the brand's top U.S. execs for being blunt about the decisions it faces on EVs, prices, and everything.
www.caranddriver.com/news/a695325...
We know automakers are feeling the tariff squeeze. Kudos to one of the brand's top U.S. execs for being blunt about the decisions it faces on EVs, prices, and everything.
www.caranddriver.com/news/a695325...
Genesis' GV60 Magma EV will give you the impression it has a screaming 9,000-rpm V-6 and 8-speed DCT. EREVs, PHEVs, and a real V-8 also fit into the brand's future.
www.caranddriver.com/news/a695214...
www.caranddriver.com/news/a695214...
www.caranddriver.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Genesis' GV60 Magma EV will give you the impression it has a screaming 9,000-rpm V-6 and 8-speed DCT. EREVs, PHEVs, and a real V-8 also fit into the brand's future.
www.caranddriver.com/news/a695214...
www.caranddriver.com/news/a695214...
Thought the Ioniq 5 N was having fun with your preconceptions in an EV? With its motors helping mimic the sensations of gearshifts, the 2027 Genesis GV60 Magma EV will take the simulation up a notch. Eager to experience this!
www.caranddriver.com/news/a694968...
www.caranddriver.com/news/a694968...
www.caranddriver.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Thought the Ioniq 5 N was having fun with your preconceptions in an EV? With its motors helping mimic the sensations of gearshifts, the 2027 Genesis GV60 Magma EV will take the simulation up a notch. Eager to experience this!
www.caranddriver.com/news/a694968...
www.caranddriver.com/news/a694968...
Hyundai Crater concept is a little bit VehiCross, right? Love it.
November 20, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Hyundai Crater concept is a little bit VehiCross, right? Love it.
Click and you shall see the future.
November 14, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Click and you shall see the future.
Love how @nikkifromte.bsky.social and the Transport Evolved crew took the 2017 Bolt EV 2,000 miles to the 2027 Bolt EV event!
Also, GM needs to watch at 37:00 for a well-reasoned reminder of what ACP (and AA) enables.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZURN...
Also, GM needs to watch at 37:00 for a well-reasoned reminder of what ACP (and AA) enables.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZURN...
Bolting to LA: 2,000-Mile 2017 Bolt EV Road Trip to See the New 2027 Model — Part 2 - The Return!
YouTube video by Transport Evolved
www.youtube.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Love how @nikkifromte.bsky.social and the Transport Evolved crew took the 2017 Bolt EV 2,000 miles to the 2027 Bolt EV event!
Also, GM needs to watch at 37:00 for a well-reasoned reminder of what ACP (and AA) enables.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZURN...
Also, GM needs to watch at 37:00 for a well-reasoned reminder of what ACP (and AA) enables.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZURN...
Not quite like old times…
This zinester just spent an afternoon with the different movement it is today. Do you copy?
This zinester just spent an afternoon with the different movement it is today. Do you copy?
November 10, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Not quite like old times…
This zinester just spent an afternoon with the different movement it is today. Do you copy?
This zinester just spent an afternoon with the different movement it is today. Do you copy?
I took a 400+ mile powerhouse out to a different powerhouse: Bonneville Dam!
The 2026 Lucid Air Touring gets new cells (and more range), HVAC upgrades from Gravity, and hands-free highway driving that's smooth enough for motion-sensitive passengers. Best big American electric sedan? Check, mate.
The 2026 Lucid Air Touring gets new cells (and more range), HVAC upgrades from Gravity, and hands-free highway driving that's smooth enough for motion-sensitive passengers. Best big American electric sedan? Check, mate.
November 8, 2025 at 7:49 PM
I took a 400+ mile powerhouse out to a different powerhouse: Bonneville Dam!
The 2026 Lucid Air Touring gets new cells (and more range), HVAC upgrades from Gravity, and hands-free highway driving that's smooth enough for motion-sensitive passengers. Best big American electric sedan? Check, mate.
The 2026 Lucid Air Touring gets new cells (and more range), HVAC upgrades from Gravity, and hands-free highway driving that's smooth enough for motion-sensitive passengers. Best big American electric sedan? Check, mate.
Even if you thought you knew all about the Veyron already, you might learn something here. I did!
Fun longread on a model that always felt like, yes, a moonshot on multiple levels.
Fun longread on a model that always felt like, yes, a moonshot on multiple levels.
The Veyron remains a mythical creature, a technical impossibility, a total moonshot work of art that somehow lives right here on our planet, on our roads.
Reflecting On 20 Years Of The Bugatti Veyron, The Greatest Car Of All Time, With Bugatti Design Director Frank Heyl - Jalopnik
www.jalopnik.com
November 7, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Even if you thought you knew all about the Veyron already, you might learn something here. I did!
Fun longread on a model that always felt like, yes, a moonshot on multiple levels.
Fun longread on a model that always felt like, yes, a moonshot on multiple levels.
Money-losing because they couldn't get to volume? Not to volume because they played a curious price-hike scheme as battery contracts were skewing downward? See Tesla when it started playing prices up and down with the stock market and mostly sales demand and tell me how that went.
Exclusive: Ford considers terminating the electric version of its F-150 pickup, a move that would make the money-losing truck America's first major EV casualty.
Exclusive | Ford Considers Scrapping Electric Version of F-150 Truck
Once hyped as a ‘smartphone that can tow,’ production of money-losing EV pickup may be shut down for good.
on.wsj.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Money-losing because they couldn't get to volume? Not to volume because they played a curious price-hike scheme as battery contracts were skewing downward? See Tesla when it started playing prices up and down with the stock market and mostly sales demand and tell me how that went.
The Polestar 4 EV goes somewhere fresh with packaging and tech, carries quite the passport. There’s a whole lot of innovation happening here -- most of it good but with a bit of a learning curve.
My takeaway message to Polestar: Allow long test drives!
www.wardsauto.com/news/polesta...
My takeaway message to Polestar: Allow long test drives!
www.wardsauto.com/news/polesta...
First drive: 2026 Polestar 4 EV puts offbeat appeal in view
Loaded with fresh technology and push-pull design compromises, it’s a lot to take in on a quick first drive. Go tell EV shoppers that.
www.wardsauto.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:36 PM
The Polestar 4 EV goes somewhere fresh with packaging and tech, carries quite the passport. There’s a whole lot of innovation happening here -- most of it good but with a bit of a learning curve.
My takeaway message to Polestar: Allow long test drives!
www.wardsauto.com/news/polesta...
My takeaway message to Polestar: Allow long test drives!
www.wardsauto.com/news/polesta...
Sorry, but if the repressed group itself has requested that a name no longer be used, this is simply not a "woke outcry."
If the brand is really this tone-deaf, it's time to move on, with a little more respect for fellow human beings above badges.
www.newsweek.com/jeep-cheroke...
If the brand is really this tone-deaf, it's time to move on, with a little more respect for fellow human beings above badges.
www.newsweek.com/jeep-cheroke...
Jeep sticking with Cherokee name despite woke outcry
Jeep CEO Bob Broderdorf weighed in on the Native American naming controversy during an interview with Newsweek.
www.newsweek.com
November 5, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Sorry, but if the repressed group itself has requested that a name no longer be used, this is simply not a "woke outcry."
If the brand is really this tone-deaf, it's time to move on, with a little more respect for fellow human beings above badges.
www.newsweek.com/jeep-cheroke...
If the brand is really this tone-deaf, it's time to move on, with a little more respect for fellow human beings above badges.
www.newsweek.com/jeep-cheroke...
Just don't tell him this, OK?
A slew of recent reports have tried to ballpark the Trump era's long-term effect on the climate.
But a new one from @rhg.com finds that the range of possible futures is basically the same since he took office.
Here's @emilypont.bsky.social with the story:
But a new one from @rhg.com finds that the range of possible futures is basically the same since he took office.
Here's @emilypont.bsky.social with the story:
In the Long Run, Trump Might Not Mean Much for the Climate’s Trajectory
A new report from the Rhodium Group finds that the range of likely temperature outcomes has essentially not changed since 2023.
heatmap.news
November 3, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Just don't tell him this, OK?
Reposted by Bengt Halvorson
I posted this late Friday. A commenter has pointed me to a fascinating AI analysis of my estimate of the $15B value of the federal income tax subsidy that Tesla lost on Sept 30 (I was close!), and I may put up a piece about that. cc: @niedermeyer.online
montanaskeptic.substack.com/p/tesla-take...
montanaskeptic.substack.com/p/tesla-take...
Tesla Takedown Redux: Something Big Has Changed
Tesla's business success has been built on a foundation of subsidies and mandates. They are rapidly disappearing, making a takedown of Tesla more imminent than ever.
montanaskeptic.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:32 PM
I posted this late Friday. A commenter has pointed me to a fascinating AI analysis of my estimate of the $15B value of the federal income tax subsidy that Tesla lost on Sept 30 (I was close!), and I may put up a piece about that. cc: @niedermeyer.online
montanaskeptic.substack.com/p/tesla-take...
montanaskeptic.substack.com/p/tesla-take...
Are EVs as dynamic Halloween decorations the new pumpkin spice?
All I know is that today the kids on the block are loving the Spoooky on a neighbor's R1T...
All I know is that today the kids on the block are loving the Spoooky on a neighbor's R1T...
October 24, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Are EVs as dynamic Halloween decorations the new pumpkin spice?
All I know is that today the kids on the block are loving the Spoooky on a neighbor's R1T...
All I know is that today the kids on the block are loving the Spoooky on a neighbor's R1T...
To hear idle or rumble by... 307!
Just easy to pick out its big-blocky sound vs. the 305 or 302 (or 304) in stock guise.
Just easy to pick out its big-blocky sound vs. the 305 or 302 (or 304) in stock guise.
Question of the Week: What’s Your Favorite Five Liter Engine of All Time?
Question of the Week: What's Your Favorite Five Liter Engine of All Time?
Learn more about Question of the Week: What’s Your Favorite Five Liter Engine of All Time? on Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online.
bringatrailer.com
October 19, 2025 at 2:16 AM
To hear idle or rumble by... 307!
Just easy to pick out its big-blocky sound vs. the 305 or 302 (or 304) in stock guise.
Just easy to pick out its big-blocky sound vs. the 305 or 302 (or 304) in stock guise.
Is anyone else in my world excited that there's a new Sugar song for like the first time in 30 years?!?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S72...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S72...
Sugar – House of Dead Memories (Official Music Video)
YouTube video by Sugar Copper Blue
www.youtube.com
October 16, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Is anyone else in my world excited that there's a new Sugar song for like the first time in 30 years?!?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S72...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S72...
Let's not regulate jets' global warming or criteria emissions, but instead regulate the condensate trails—ehem, chemtrails—*behind* them.
Oooookay. 🤷🤣🤷
Oooookay. 🤷🤣🤷
"It doesn't get more tinfoil hat."
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is preparing to investigate *chemtrails,* according to an internal memo @stephaniearmour.bsky.social obtained.
A department spokeswoman notably did not deny it.
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is preparing to investigate *chemtrails,* according to an internal memo @stephaniearmour.bsky.social obtained.
A department spokeswoman notably did not deny it.
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Chemtrail? New Conspiracy Theory Takes Wing at Kennedy's HHS - KFF Health News
The idea that airplane vapors are toxic to people or that there are ongoing efforts to intentionally change the climate made the social media rounds. Now, it has found advocates at the Department of Health and Human Services.
kffhealthnews.org
October 16, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Let's not regulate jets' global warming or criteria emissions, but instead regulate the condensate trails—ehem, chemtrails—*behind* them.
Oooookay. 🤷🤣🤷
Oooookay. 🤷🤣🤷
The two different adapters (one for AC, one for DC) is purgatory and will mean some unnecessarily chaotic years for vehicles/charging.
But we'll get through it and I feel more optimistic about NACS advantages long-term.
But we'll get through it and I feel more optimistic about NACS advantages long-term.
As some of us said at the time the great J3400 switch started happening, this isn’t the panacea you think it is. Kevin nails it here.
EVs with Tesla-style ports are all the rage now. But access to the Supercharger network didn’t really move the needle for me.
insideevs.com/news/775910/...
insideevs.com/news/775910/...
October 16, 2025 at 12:47 AM
The two different adapters (one for AC, one for DC) is purgatory and will mean some unnecessarily chaotic years for vehicles/charging.
But we'll get through it and I feel more optimistic about NACS advantages long-term.
But we'll get through it and I feel more optimistic about NACS advantages long-term.
50-kW charging and Apple CarPlay, plus that state of zen, or 150-kW charging and the anxiety of no Apple CarPlay?
Tough decisions.
Tough decisions.
Savoring the calm moments: 50kWh charging brings peaceful pauses, transforming wait time into a zen-like electric refueling ritual. #EVLife
October 10, 2025 at 7:33 PM
50-kW charging and Apple CarPlay, plus that state of zen, or 150-kW charging and the anxiety of no Apple CarPlay?
Tough decisions.
Tough decisions.