GreenCars, The Podcast

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Aug 2026

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Welcome to GreenCars The Podcast, where we explore the latest trends and innovations in hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and all-electric vehicles. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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36 recent

August 5, 202653 min

Scott Case on How Recurrent is Unlocking the Real Data on EV Lifespans

Everybody worries about the battery when they think about buying an EV. As it turns out, that worry is mostly misplaced, and the data proves it. Scott Case is the co-founder and CEO of Recurrent, a company that tracks the real-world health of tens of thousands of electric cars to give buyers and sellers a clearer picture than they have ever had. He explains why a used EV is a far safer purchase than most people assume, and why the batteries are holding up better than almost anyone predicted. The conversation also digs into why the range number on the window sticker is misleading in both directions, with some cars quietly overdelivering while others fall short of their promised mileage. Scott also makes the case for a smarter way to think about charging speed than the specs automakers advertise. And, he explains how the data your car is collecting as you drive can be harnessed for eye-opening insights for you and the broader EV-buying public. Join Craig Cole and co-host Sam Abuelsamid as they dive deep with Scott into all this and much more in this episode of GreenCars, The Podcast.Chapters0:00 - Introduction1:03 - Green Cars We're Driving6:07 - What Is Recurrent?13:29 - Should You Worry About a Used EV Battery?14:38 - Why EPA Range Numbers Are Wrong16:12 - What Data Your EV Is Sharing23:19 - Best Used EVs to Buy25:47 - A Smarter Way to Measure Charging Speed32:35 - Does Fast Charging Hurt Your Battery?37:58 - Three for the Road44:46 - ConclusionsCheck out our Buyer’s Guide at https://apps.greencars.com/buyers-guideVisit GreenCars on YouTube for EV and hybrid reviews and much more:https://www.youtube.com/@greencarshq Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 22, 202650 min

Mandi Damman is Shaping GM's EV and Self-Driving Future

Hands-off driving is one thing. Taking your eyes off the road entirely is something else. General Motors will allow you to do exactly that with the next generation of Super Cruise, its autonomous driving technology. Mandi Damman, Executive Chief Engineer at GM, oversees that effort along with the Chevy Bolt, the Cadillac Lyriq and Vistiq, and the company's entire battery electric truck lineup. She started as a co-op student working on body structures, a modest foundation that turned out to matter enormously for electric vehicles. The conversation gets into what actually changes in the next Super Cruise, how quickly the system will spread across GM's lineup, and what it feels like to ride in one of the development vehicles already on the road. Mandi is also strikingly candid about Chinese automakers. She spent time in China last December and came back with a clear picture of how they iterate so quickly. Join Craig Cole and co-host Sam Abuelsamid as they dive deep with Mandi to find out how close self-driving really is and what GM’s strategy is to keep pace with international rivals in this episode of GreenCars, The Podcast.Chapters0:00 - Introduction4:04 - Meet Mandi Damman & Her Path at GM8:38 - GM's EV Strategy & the Hybrid Question10:49 - Next-Gen Super Cruise Goes Eyes-Off16:57 - New Hardware, LiDAR & Rollout Plans28:11 - Chinese Automakers, Speed & EV Structures34:05 - Three for the Road38:30 - ConclusionsCheck out our Buyer’s Guide at https://apps.greencars.com/buyers-guideVisit GreenCars on YouTube for EV and hybrid reviews and much more:https://www.youtube.com/@greencarshq Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

July 8, 202643 min

How Magna's Diba Ilunga Perfects New Powertrain Technology Before it's Built

Magna is one of the most important automotive companies most drivers have never heard of. Supplying transfer cases, transmissions, e-drives, and hybrid systems to nearly every major automaker on the road, Diba Ilunga is the President of Magna Powertrain. He discusses the surprising shift toward software inside a division that started by building gears. That includes how digital twins let Magna perfect a part's design before it's ever physically built, and a clever software breakthrough that eliminates unwanted EV motor noise without changing the hardware. Diba also gets candid about how Western automakers are finally starting to adopt the off-the-shelf sourcing habits that have long given Chinese OEMs a cost advantage, and answers the question everyone wants to ask: with all the parts to build a complete vehicle, will Magna ever put its own badge on one? Join Craig Cole and co-host Sam Abuelsamid as they dive deep with Diba to find out what's changed at the company over his 21 years there, and where it's headed next in this episode of GreenCars, The Podcast.Chapters0:00 - Introduction4:02 - Magna's Powertrain Empire & the Software Shift11:22 - Digital Twins & Solving EV Noise with Software15:39 - Off-the-Shelf Parts: Learning from China19:46 - The Future of ICE, Hybrids & EV Batteries26:34 - Could Magna Build Its Own Car?34:15 - Three for the Road36:56 - ConclusionsCheck out our Buyer’s Guide at https://apps.greencars.com/buyers-guideVisit GreenCars on YouTube for EV and hybrid reviews and much more:https://www.youtube.com/@greencarshq Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

June 17, 202651 min

Kurt Kelty Reveals GM's Future Battery Strategies for EVs and Infrastructure

What happens to your EV's battery when it's no longer powerful enough to drive? Is there more life left in it than you'd expect? Those are just two of the questions Craig Cole and co-host Sam Abuelsamid put to Kurt Kelty, VP of Battery and Sustainability at General Motors, who spent over a decade leading battery engineering at Tesla before bringing that expertise to GM. The conversation covers second-life battery programs already operating at scale, GM's decision to leapfrog lithium iron phosphate and pursue sodium-ion chemistry for stationary energy storage, next-generation battery architectures designed to slash cost and complexity, and a candid take on where solid-state batteries actually stand today.Chapters0:00 - Introduction6:13 - Kurt Kelty's Career & GM's Battery Strategy14:46 - Sodium-Ion: The Chemistry GM Is Betting On19:23 - Vehicle-to-Grid & China's EV Market25:43 - Next-Gen Battery Architecture35:01 - LMR, Silicon & Solid-State Batteries39:12 - Three for the Road43:05 - ConclusionsCheck out our Buyer’s Guide at https://apps.greencars.com/buyers-guideVisit GreenCars on YouTube for EV and hybrid reviews and much more:https://www.youtube.com/@greencarshq Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

June 3, 202647 min

Rivian's Vidya Rajagopalan on the Move to Custom Chips, Combating Tech Fatigue, and More

What does it actually take to build a software-defined vehicle, one that gets smarter over time and may eventually drive itself? Rivian has a specific answer to that question, and Craig Cole and co-host Sam Abuelsamid put it to Vidya Rajagopalan, Senior VP of Electrical Hardware at Rivian, to find out what it actually looks like in practice. The conversation covers the company’s zonal architecture strategy that stripped 44 pounds of copper from Rivian's vehicles, why the company is designing its own chips the way Apple does, and whether UHF, Rivian's hands-free driving feature, is a genuine step beyond geo-fenced systems like GM's Super Cruise or Ford's BlueCruise. Plus: is a car that can do all of this actually too smart for its own good?Chapters0:00 - Introduction4:32 - Software-Defined Vehicles & Zonal Architecture12:40 - How Much Tech Is Too Much Tech?18:23 - Why Rivian Is Building Its Own Chip25:57 - Autonomy Plus & Universal Hands-Free (UHF)33:05 - Serviceability & Licensing Rivian's Tech38:10 - Three for the Road41:21 - ConclusionsCheck out our Buyer’s Guide at https://apps.greencars.com/buyers-guideVisit GreenCars on YouTube for EV and hybrid reviews and much more:https://www.youtube.com/@greencarshq Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 20, 202651 min

Scout Motors' Ryan Decker on the Brand's Plan to use Legacy to Redefine the Future

Scout Motors is building something genuinely unusual: an all-American electric truck brand, owned by Volkswagen Group but completely independent from it, with no dealerships, no franchise agreements, and a gas engine hiding in the back of the truck bed. Craig Cole and co-host Sam Abuelsamid sit down with Ryan Decker, VP of Strategy and Brand at Scout, to get into the details behind the Traveler SUV and Terra pickup truck. The big questions are all here — will the rear-mounted Harvester range extender compromise towing capability? Where do you go when something breaks if there are no dealers? And how exactly do you buy a Scout? Ryan addresses the skeptics directly, and the answers are more interesting than you might expect.Chapters0:00 Introduction3:02 What Is Scout Motors?6:26 Scout's Status Update15:30 Servicing Scouts Without a Dealership19:00 Scout & Volkswagen: What's the Relationship?28:19 How to Buy: Direct Sales & Delivery34:09 Reservations, Factory Capacity & Future Models43:47 ConclusionsCheck out our Buyer’s Guide at https://apps.greencars.com/buyers-guideVisit GreenCars on YouTube for EV and hybrid reviews and much more:https://www.youtube.com/@greencarshq Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 6, 202646 min

How Rising Gas Prices will Affect Green Car Sales with Erin Keating, Cox Automotive

The car market is shifting fast and few people have a better view of it than Erin Keating, Executive Analyst at Cox Automotive. You may not know the name Cox, but you've almost certainly used their products: Kelley Blue Book, AutoTrader, and Manheim Auctions are all under their roof, along with a treasure trove of data that spans everything from dealer inventory to EV battery remanufacturing. Craig Cole and co-host Sam Abuelsamid dig into what that data is actually showing right now. New EV sales are plateauing while used EVs are quietly surging. Roughly 30% of buyers who used to shop for new cars have disappeared from the market since 2018. And with the average transaction price hovering near $50,000, affordability is reshaping who buys what. Plus: do rising gas prices actually push hesitant buyers toward EVs, or is that assumption too simple?Chapters0:00 Introduction3:08 What Is Cox Automotive?6:15 Inside EV Battery Remanufacturing12:30 The Affordability Crisis in New Car Sales14:43 New EVs vs. Used EVs: A Split Market17:05 Which Automakers Are Winning & Losing21:01 Do Gas Prices Actually Drive EV Sales?25:20 Will Chinese Automakers Crack the US Market?32:35 Will Americans Give Up Full-Size Trucks?39:09 ConclusionsCheck out our Buyer’s Guide at https://apps.greencars.com/buyers-guideVisit GreenCars on YouTube for EV and hybrid reviews and much more:https://www.youtube.com/@greencarshq Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

April 22, 202641 min

Volvo's Vanessa Butani on Mastering Sustainability Beyond EVs

What does it actually mean to build a sustainable car? Not just one that sips electricity — but one whose steel, aluminum, and plastics are tracked from mine to scrapyard and back again. Craig Cole and co-host Sam Abuelsamid sit down with Vanessa Butani, Head of Global Sustainability at Volvo Cars, to explore the work happening long before a car reaches the showroom. Topics include Volvo's first-of-its-kind battery passport, closed-loop steel recycling, mega-casting, ocean plastics, and the surprisingly murky math around biofuels. Plus: with EVs approaching price parity with combustion vehicles, what's really holding buyers back?Chapters0:00 Introduction3:23 Volvo's Approach to Sustainability6:55 The Battery Passport Explained12:57 Climate-Neutral Manufacturing16:43 Recycled Materials & Mega-Casting21:42 EVs, PHEVs & the Case Against Biofuels29:04 Interior Materials & Ocean Plastics37:01 ConclusionsCheck out our Buyer’s Guide at https://apps.greencars.com/buyers-guideVisit GreenCars on YouTube for EV and hybrid reviews and much more:https://www.youtube.com/@greencarshq Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

December 27, 202437 min

2024 EV Insights & Predictions for 2025 | GreenCars Podcast Ep. 23

Ready to close out the year with EV insights and bold predictions for 2025? Join Trish and Dave as they sit down with Kevin Jennings, Senior Brand Marketing Manager for GreenCars, to discuss the evolution of electric and hybrid vehicles. From how cold weather impacts EV performance to game-changing trends like NACS compatibility and the surge of used EVs, this episode is packed with actionable insights. Plus, a look back at the podcast’s top moments of 2024 and what’s next for GreenCars!Key Topics:How cold weather affects EV range and performance (with practical tips!) The evolution of GreenCars: From concept to leading educational platformLeasing vs. buying EVs: Why 70% of sales in 2024 were leasesPredictions for 2025: Used EV surge, leasing trends, and infrastructure updatesThe Tesla NACS plug revolution and what it means for the future of charging0:00 - Introduction: Looking Back at 2024 & EV Trends2:15 - EVs in Cold Weather: Tips & Myths8:40 - Meet Kevin Jennings: The Evolution of GreenCars11:25 - 2024 EV Highlights: Incentives, Used EV Market Growth15:45 - Tesla NACS Plug and Charging Network Expansion23:30 - Predictions for 2025: Leasing Trends & Used EV Surge31:50 - GreenCars at Electrify Expo: Expanding Impact35:15 - Year-End Reflections: Podcast Highlights of 2024 Have Questions? Email us: ThePodcast@GreenCars.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

December 14, 202422 min

EV Milestones, Charging Insights & Election Impacts | GreenCars Podcast Ep. 22

Join Trish and Dave as they look back on 2024's biggest EV milestones and welcome special guest Matt Teske, founder of ChargeWay.From a groundbreaking U.S. milestone of 200,000 public charging ports to what the recent presidential election could mean for electric vehicles, this episode covers it all. Explore top EV trends, charging solutions, and predictions for the future of clean transportation. Stay informed and stay charged with GreenCars! #EVs #ElectricVehicles #GreenCarsPodcast #Sustainability #EVTaxCredits #EVCharging #ChargeWay #FutureOfEVsKey Moments:00:00 - Welcome to GreenCars Podcast01:30 - Reflecting on 2024's EV milestones03:20 - The Range Wall: Top EVs with the most range07:15 - Guest Matt Teske joins the conversation09:00 - U.S. hits 200,000 public charging ports12:00 - EV tax credits: What could change post-election?17:00 - Audience comments: EVs vs. broccoli analogy20:15 - Wrapping up with predictions for 2025👉 Follow us at @GreenCarsHQ and visit GreenCars.com for more. Have Questions? Email us: ThePodcast@GreenCars.com Connect with Us:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreenCarsHQLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/greencarshqInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/GreenCarsHQX: https://twitter.com/GreenCarsHQ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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