2024 Volvo EVs, California’s diesel truck ban, slowing the SUV shift: Today’s Car News

California is clamping down on diesel polluters. A CEO suggests the market shift to SUVs may be over. And Volvo is switching some of its EVs to rear-wheel drive. This and much more, here at EV kind of cars.

Volvo on Tuesday revealed the return of rear-wheel drive, in more efficient single-motor EVs. The configuration returns for 2024 in Volvo’s two most affordable EVs, the XC40 Recharge and C40 Recharge.

California has just taken regulations preventing older diesel trucks, implemented more than a decade ago, to their next step: enforcement. With more polluting pre-2010 diesel big rigs now banned, operators are being fined and denied registration in the state. 

The shift from passenger cars to SUVs continues, although some within the industry see the trend reversing in the future. According to the CEO of Citroën, SUVs are “done” due to EVs—as aerodynamics and the need to deliver maximum range at a reasonable cost will reverse the trend. Just tell that to its wildly successful SUV-focused corporate cousin, Jeep. 

Toyota has rebuilt two classic zero-tailpipe-emissions 1980s Corolla GT-S coupes—one with a battery electric powertrain, and one with a hydrogen combustion engine. The project points out how retrofitting existing cars is a possibility for car lovers. 

The upcoming rotary range-extended Mazda MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV was detailed last week, and it provides a puzzling set of components and mixed interface signals. It’s a vehicle that Americans, quite literally, might not get. 

And could hydrogen fuel-cell tech replace aircraft jet engines for cleaner passenger air travel? With the cryogenic hydrogen storage and a “megawatt-class propulsion system” Airbus is working on, it’s aiming to test the idea in flight by the middle of this decade. 

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