Daimler is shopping around for its battery cells but being very particular about what goes into them. Mazda is readying its first electric car for multiple markets. And Honda is greening its manufacturing in the U.S. This and more today at Green Car Reports.

Mazda has announced that it will reveal its first mass-produced electric vehicle this October, at the Tokyo auto show. A range-extended version of that is also due, as well as a different plug-in hybrid model about a year after that. 

Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler is opting for a strategy of keeping battery development entirely in-house but shopping around for its battery cells—and with a new partnership with Farasis Energy, some of them will be carbon-neutral. 

And it’s likely the cheapest “real” electric car in the world. The Renault City K-ZE is going on sale in China for just $8,700, after government incentives. Could its on-a-budget, city-savvy template transfer in any way to the U.S.?

Honda in America plans to buy more renewable energy than any other automaker—energy that will lower its U.S. manufacturing footprint by 60 percent. 

An engineer at Fiat Chrysler has been charged in connection with the company’s own potential diesel-emissions scandal, relating to its EcoDiesel Ram trucks and Jeep SUVs—a move that could escalate the investigation of multiple automakers in the U.S.

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