The great EV pullback: all the obstacles, cancellations, and delays – The Verge

Volvo is trying to put its EV stumbles in the rearview

2026-05-20T13:30:56-04:00

Volvo once had ambitions to fully exit the gas car business. Now it's trying to keep its tenuous foothold in the EV market.

It's not an understatement to say that Volvo's EV journey has been a bumpy one. The compact EX40 has been a consistent winner, but the Swedish brand's other EVs have been plagued with problems. The EX90 was supposed to be a bold statement for the future, but persistent software bugs have forced Volvo into an expensive hardware replacement. The tiny EX30 faired no better, with tariffs upending the rollout of the brand's first mass-market affordable EV, eventually leading to its discontinuation in the US.

But now with …

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Volvo teases a new affordable EV to replace discontinued EX30

2026-05-18T17:48:31-04:00

Volvo's compact, quirky EX30 had a lot of problems when it was first released. Tariffs essentially erased its affordability, making it more expensive to own, and a battery recall made it dangerous to park indoors. But its discontinuation didn't spell the end of Volvo's efforts to sell more affordable electric models. In fact, the Swedish automaker is already at work on a new offering for the US market.

The news of an affordable Volvo EV for the US came during a media roundtable this week related to the US launch of the new EX60. Luis Rezende, president of Volvo Cars America, said that the decision to discontinue the EX30 was not solely abo …

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Honda’s hybrid future starts with new Accord and RDX prototypes

2026-05-15T05:36:16-04:00

Honda revealed prototypes of two new hybrid models, an Accord sedan and the Acura RDX SUV, during its annual business briefing this week, built on a platform that it says will begin launching next year. The RDX was announced earlier this year as Honda's first SUV to feature the next-gen version of its two-motor hybrid system.

Honda also announced it's dropping the goal of having one-fifth of its sales be EVs by 2030 and for 100 percent of its sales to come from EVs and fuel cell vehicles by 2040. Honda now plans to "reallocate more development and production resources into hybrid models."

Honda is planning to launch 15 next-generation hy …

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Ford’s EV and software chief Doug Field is leaving the company

2026-04-15T17:12:05-04:00

Ford is shaking things up as it relates to its EV and software teams. Doug Field, who left Apple five years ago to helm Ford's multibillion-dollar bet on electric vehicles and software, is stepping down next month. Getting a promotion will be Alan Clarke, the ex-Tesla engineer who now leads Ford's California-based skunkworks lab. Clarke's new title will be vice president of advanced development projects, and he will continue to helm the effort to develop Ford's Universal Electric Vehicle (UEV) Platform.

The shake-up comes less five months after Ford announced a massive $19.5 billion writedown on its EV investment, as well as the discontinua …

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Sony and Honda ain’t feelin’ the Afeela anymore

2026-03-25T13:43:05-04:00

Sony and Honda have lost that lovin' Afeela.

The joint venture announced today that it would be discontinuing the $90,000 Afeela 1 electric sedan, as well as the unnamed Afeela SUV concept, as it adjusts to slower EV demand and policy pullbacks. In a statement, Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) determined there was not a "viable path forward" after Honda recalibrated its EV strategy following steep losses.

Earlier this month, Honda said it would take a writedown of as much as 2.5 trillion yen ($15.7 billion) on its EV investments, representing the company's first annual loss in over 70 years as a public entity. The automaker also put the kibosh o …

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All the wrong EVs are getting canceled

2026-04-15T09:00:00-04:00

A Tesla Cybertruck gleaming in the lot of the Tesla showroom in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, on March 29, 2025. | Photo by Simone Lueck / The Verge

These past few weeks have been particularly brutal for the EV industry - and anyone who believes that electric vehicles are the future. Thanks to slowing demand and policy whiplashes, automakers are on an EV murder spree, killing a host of promising new models. The EV graveyard grows bigger by the minute.

And unfortunately, as is often the case, much of the focus seems to be on affordable models that had the potential to attract new customers. Meanwhile, ugly EVs that cost too much and do nothing to move the needle on EV adoption continue to darken our highways.

First, the cheap ones whose bodies have not yet gone cold. The Volvo EX30, a …

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Two more EVs for the trash heap: Volvo EX30 and Honda Prologue

2026-03-17T11:47:37-04:00

The steady stream of news about automakers cancelling or discontinuing electric vehicles continues apace. This week it's Volvo's small, quirky EX30 and Honda's solo electric offering in the US, the Prologue. Both are the latest victims of stagnating EV sales in the US thanks to the Trump administration's decision to eliminate tax incentives.

First, the EX30. The small SUV was the most affordable EV in Volvo's lineup, even if it took some time before it arrived on our shores. Volvo spokesperson Sophia Durr says that the automaker's US division has decided to discontinue the EX30 and EX30 Cross Country after the 2026 model year. It will, how …

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Honda cancels Zero Series EVs, citing ‘extremely challenging’ situation

2026-03-12T10:58:33-04:00

Farewell, Honda Zero. We never knew thee.

Honda is cancelling its Zero Series SUV and Saloon, as well as the Acura RSX EVs, citing an "extremely challenging earnings situation." The Japanese automaker, which unsuccessfully tried to merge with Nissan last year, said it expected to make a net loss of ¥360 billion (~$2.5 billion) to ¥630 billion (~$4.4 billion) in the full year ending this month - which, according to The Financial Times, would be Honda's first ever annual recorded loss since becoming a public company 50 years ago.

Honda, which is grappling with President Trump's tariffs, had been one of the most aggressive automakers in pur …

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Stellantis is in a crisis of its own making

2026-03-03T12:01:17-05:00

Antonio Filosa attends the presentation of the new Fiat 500 Hybrid at the Stellantis FIAT Mirafiori plant in Turin, Italy, in November of 2025. | Elisa Marchina/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Demand for EVs has gone glacial, and one automaker after another is running aground: General Motors threw $7.6 billion overboard. Ford washed $19.5 billion off its books. Leave it to Stellantis to face the most titanic charge yet, a $26.5 billion bill for its own misplaced bet on EVs.

The Jeep, Dodge, and Chrysler parent company hasn't said how much of that unfathomable sum is explicitly due to EV losses, as the write-down wiped away about 25 percent of the company's stock value overnight. Every automaker faces the same cooling EV demand and whipsawing political climate, yet Stellantis appears the most exposed, due in part to longstanding …

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America is at risk of becoming an automotive backwater

2026-02-25T09:21:39-05:00

Traffic moves along the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles in February of 2026. | Apu Gomes/Getty Images

For decades, America's auto industry was the envy of the world, driven by mass production, the rise of Detroit's Big Three automakers, and the iconic stylings of the 1950s and '60s.

Then, through a series of blunders and missteps, things started to unravel. There was the fuel crisis of the 1970s, which led to an influx of Japanese imports that bested Detroit in fuel savings and reliability. And then there were various global financial collapses throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, and a significant decline in automotive quality as the Big Three continued to push bigger and more expensive vehicles, at the expense of road safety and global …

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