Toyota is shifting some of its ICE plants over to EV batteries. BMW starts making fuel-cell stacks. And California doesn’t want you charging during today’s Labor Day weekend traffic time. This and more, here at Green Car Reports. 

On the eve of a holiday weekend, California asked that EV drivers not charge their EVs on Friday afternoon after 4 p.m., because of unusually hot weather and increased air conditioning use. Just a week after the state enshrined its shift to electric new-vehicle sales by 2035, that’s created some awkward optics. 

In Germany, BMW has started assembling fuel-cell stacks for its upcoming iX5 Hydrogen fuel-cell SUV. Although they use Toyota fuel cells, the iX5 will borrow electric propulsion pieces from the BMW i4 and iX. With Hyundai’s Nexo reportedly delayed and many other automakers shifting fuel-cell efforts to much larger vehicles like semis, the iX Hydrogen may shape up to be an outlier.

And according to a report from Automotive News, Toyota’s $5.6 billion investment plan for battery production announced earlier this week, which included a $2.5 billion expansion of a plant in North Carolina, will also convert two Japanese plants to battery production, from internal combustion powertrains. For an automaker that has thus far treated EVs as a narrow niche, that may signal the start of a faster shift.

_______________________________________

Follow Green Car Reports on Facebook and Twitter