New Holland’s T4 Electric Power utility tractor. (Photo courtesy CNH)

CNH puts full-electric utility tractors on deck

New Holland T4, Farmall 75C due out early 2024

Heavy equipment firm CNH plans to get two new all-electric utility tractor models onto at least a few dealer lots in 2024 — including one it bills as a first in the tractor market. CNH’s New Holland Agriculture arm said Monday its T4 Electric Power model, “the first all-electric utility tractor with autonomous features,” will

Ford’s F-150 Lightning Lariat. (Ford.com)

Editor’s Take: The rural problem with EVs

Electric vehicles have a chicken-and-egg problem in rural Canada. Until there are enough charging sites that drivers feel no constraints on travel, electric vehicle purchase will be a hard sell. And until there are enough electric vehicles to create demand for those charging stations, there isn’t an urgent push to install them. When Western Canada’s


Preproduction 2023 models of Ford’s F-series Super Duty pickup trucks. (Ford.com)

Ford to keep AM radio, CEO says

Amid rising concerns, Canada's premier automaker will not drop AM

Ford Motor Co. has gone back on its plan to phase AM radio out of its vehicles. Ford CEO Jim Farley made the announcement Tuesday via Twitter, after company officials said last month that AM would be dropped from new non-commercial vehicles. “After speaking with policy leaders about the importance of AM broadcast radio as

(Zachary Thomas/iStock/Getty Images)

Potential loss of AM radio in vehicles a concern for farmers

Many farmers rely on AM range, signal; U.S. lawmakers launch legislation

Canadian farmers are expressing concern about the possibility of their access to AM radio disappearing. Ford, which has been Canada’s best-selling auto brand since 2009, has stated it plans to stop putting AM radios in non-commercial vehicles by 2024. The automaker’s decision follows those of companies such as Tesla, Mazda and Volkswagen, which have removed


A General Motors illustration featuring a display version of its 2024 Silverado EV pickup, due for release in the fall of 2023. (Media.GM.ca)

GM buyouts cut 5,000 jobs, CFO says

Not much more room seen to raise prices

Reuters — About 5,000 General Motors salaried workers took buyouts to leave the company, putting the company well on the way to hitting a US$2 billion cost-cutting target, the automaker’s chief financial officer said Tuesday. GM shares were trading down nearly two per cent at midday, even though CFO Paul Jacobson said demand for GM’s

Ford’s F-150 Lightning Lariat. (Ford.com)

Ford hikes electric F-150’s price again to battle high costs

Reuters — Ford Motor Co. has raised the base price of its popular F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck again, the automaker’s website showed on Thursday, the latest in a series of price hikes aimed at offsetting high costs. The base variant of Ford’s electric F-150 truck now starts at $59,974, excluding shipping and taxes, up


Mike Loewen with his Hyundai Ioniq 5.

Rural electric vehicles: brilliant or balderdash?

Off the grid: A meme sends a Co-operator reporter on a quest to find the ‘T’ on EVs – and to get behind the wheel

I’ve come across multiple iterations of this Facebook meme. Several cars sit half-buried as a snowstorm rages around them. The caption reads something like, “Can you imagine an electric vehicle stuck here for hours, the battery dying, the saps inside freezing their patooties off? Pry my gas-powered vehicle from my cold, dead hands!” For everyone

Production of Ford’s F-150 Lightning pickup at Dearborn, Mich. (Media.ford.com)

Ford hikes price of cheapest F-150 electric truck variant

Reuters — Ford Motor Co. has raised the price of the cheapest variant of its F-150 Lightning electric truck by nine per cent, to US$55,974, the company’s website showed on Thursday. The automaker has raised prices for its electric pickup trucks twice in a span of three months, as it navigates higher costs and supply


(Scharfsinn86/iStock/Getty Images)

U.S. EPA proposes revamp of biofuel program to include EVs

Mandated biofuel levels to rise through 2025

New York | Reuters — U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday unveiled a three-year proposal to expand the U.S. biofuels policy with bigger volume mandates and — for the first time — to include a pathway for electric vehicle manufacturers to generate lucrative credits. Biden wants to fight climate change by reducing fossil fuel