Honda reports more than 60% drop in third-quarter operating profit
> Honda Motor said on Tuesday its third-quarter operating profit fell 61.4 per cent, marking a fourth consecutive year-on-year decline, as U.S. import tariffs and worsening electric-vehicle market conditions weighed on results.
> Japan's second-biggest automaker after Toyota Motor reported operating profit of 153.4 billion yen ($987.07 million) for the period, missing the 174.5 billion yen average forecast from nine analysts polled by LSEG.
> Honda said its automobile business slipped into an operating loss over the nine-month period to the end of December after booking one-off costs related to its EV business, including asset write‑downs and lineup reviews, alongside the tariff impact.
I can see how the Stellantis (Fiat, Citroen, Jeep etc etc) tactic of using existing and universal parts to make 'new' vehicles achieves substantial cost savings. It is though a backward-looking approach by definition.
In a market which is technologically slow-moving, it makes some sense. But that is not the market. BYD is falling over itself in making quantum technological leaps. CATL is simultaneously making batteries both much more advanced and much cheaper.
No matter how much Stellantis wants it to be 2005 again, it isn't coming back. They seem to be willing themselves to become a corporate casualty.
Only seven new petrol-powered cars were sold in Norway in January.
The country, which is the frontrunner in the uptake of electric vehicles, shifted a record low number of new fossil-fuel cars in January, information from the Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council reveals.
Only seven petrol, 29 hybrid and 98 diesel cars were registered, while more than 2000 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were sold.
“Canada's incentive program for zero-emissions vehicles, known as iZEV, was suspended more than a year ago after it ran out of money due to high demand.”
Canadian consumers: we want EVs!
Government of Canada: Hello, we're from 2005. Let's do Fuel Efficiency!
TL;DR Most EV batteries will last longer than the cars they’re in. Battery degradation is at better (meaning: lower) rates than expected. Slow charging is better. Drive EV and don’t worry about your battery.
„Our 2025 analysis of over 22,700 electric vehicles, covering 21 different vehicle models, confirms that overall, modern EV batteries are robust and built to last beyond a typical vehicle’s service life.“
Average degradation rate: The average annual electric vehicle degradation rate is 2.3%.
Power: High-power DC fast charging (>100kW) is the single largest stressor, leading to degradation rates up to twice that of the low power charging group (3.0% vs 1.5% per year).
Climate: Hot climates impose a penalty on battery life, with vehicles operating in hot conditions degrading 0.4% faster per year than those in mild climates.
Utilization: The increase in degradation from high daily use is a measurable but worthwhile trade-off for the gains in fleet productivity and ROI.
State of charge (SOC): For most EV use, there's no need to worry about avoiding fully charging or emptying the battery. Degradation only speeds up when vehicles spend over 80% of their total time at or near-full or nearly empty charge levels.
Every time I interact with anyone from car dealers I assume they're greedy, not genuine, and lying outright. Am I wrong?
So I dropped off the Taycan at Porsche Westwood (because Porsche Boston moved to Natick temporarily...) last Monday because the instrument cluster (giant screen in front of steering wheel) suddenly shut off while I was driving, and an error was thrown in the car.
Now that kind of thing has been happening from time to time, especially more often in the winter. and it'd be back to normal after several hours. But it doesn't always throw an error. I figured the dealer wouldn't be able to do anything because it is not reproducible. This time it threw an error (like the first time it happened), so I figured I'd take it to the dealer.
I called last Wednesday - no update.
Called again last Friday - no update.
Called again today before service department closed. When the service advisor (SA) answered, he said, he was just discussing with the tech, and they believe particular software update and recall would solve it. It should be ready tomorrow.
I do tend to believe it is a software issue, because how flaky and unstable the problem is. But all open recalls for Porsche Taycan don't mention instrument cluster. There may be internal bulletins about that though.
I didn't press him on what service bulletin or recall he was referring to on the phone. I guess I'll need to see tomorrow.
ANYWAY I'm counting the days it stays at the dealer towards the threshold for the Massachusetts Lemon law.
![A sleek, modern device labeled "DONUT Solid State," accompanied by icons representing a car, drone, factory, and charging.](https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Universal-Battery-Platform-400x225.webp "A sleek, modern device labeled "DONUT Solid State," accompanied by icons representing a car, drone, factory, and ...
A sleek, modern device labeled "DONUT Solid State," accompanied by icons representing a car, drone, factory, and charging.
@ jalopnik.com
JALOPNIK
could have come from tire pollution. By the
way, your car's cabin is a hotspot for
microplastics as well.
A further report published in Environmental
Research found an incredible 2,456 chemical
compounds when tire rubber was investigated.
One of the most dangerous was a hydrocarbon
called 6PPD; when it's released into the
atmosphere by tires, it can combine with the
ozone in the air, causing a chemical reaction
that creates 6PPD-quinone - which has proven
deadly to salmon and is now being connected
to neurological issues in humans. PAHS
(Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) are among
the other nasty ingredients in tires, and those
pose a "significant danger to human health and
the well-being of humans," as reported in
Chemosphere. Oh, and the largest non-rubber
material in tires is carbon black, or soot, which
is classified as fine particulate matter - and
that, in turn, is associated with four million
deaths per year.
At New Year's Eve party last night, I was speaking to a friend who had just bought an EV. So naturally I had things to say. This morning she didn't remember everything I had said (no, it wasn't an alcohol induced stupor) so she asked me in email to summarize. I thought other people might be interested. https://www.olum.org/yduj/electric-car-advice.html
Pekin odgryzł się na europejskim serze za elektryki
W mediach jest to powszechnie postrzeganego jako odwet za cła nałożone przez UE na pojazdy elektryczne, ale moim zdaniem Pekin tylko korzysta z okazji, aby domknąć rynek krajowy, a odegranie się za elektryki to „bonus.”
#ev people, I am after something #notACar that can:
Take me the 7km to Bungendore and back with shopping. (There's 100kmph roads on the way, and no safe verge to retreat to.)
Get me out of my house with the cat and the 'go' boxes in the event of a bushfire.
Carry firewood during the winter over a not-great "road".
Is this a thing that might do those jobs?
I saw a postie riding something very much like it on Friday. Any mastodontists used one?
There are some interesting points in the draft Masterplan Ladeinfrastruktur 2030 (Charging Infrastructure) for Germany. 🧵
It includes planned support for #EV charging infrastructure (including electrical works and grid upgrades) in multi-family buildings, as well as depot charging for commercial vehicles. Higher funding is available for trialling bidirectional charging for on-site energy management.
Grid capacity maps should help #EV charging point operators (CPOs) to more easily identify available locations and obtain price indications. Connection requests for MV grid connections should be submitted digitally (this is an EU target).
@whitequark
The real horror is that #EXI is used in an ISO 15118 sandwich on top of HomePlug AV (with broken encryption) and TCP (mostly with no encryption, but sometimes mixed with a wild PKI) to real-time control up to a Megawatt of electric power flowing into a car.
Solid state batteries are now a reality – better in ALL ways than Lithium-Ion
![A sleek, modern device labeled "DONUT Solid State," accompanied by icons representing a car, drone, factory, and charging.](https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Universal-Battery-Platform-400x225.webp "A sleek, modern device labeled "DONUT Solid State," accompanied by icons representing a car, drone, factory, and ...