electric vehicle

Cobalt prices were surging so much last year that thieves were carrying out elaborate heists at warehouses in Europe’s busiest port. Now, prices are in free fall, and mining companies are taking the financial hit.

Volkswagen AG plans to save 1 million tons of carbon-dioxide emissions a year by making production of its first electric model carbon neutral, part of an effort to clean up its image in the aftermath of the diesel-cheating scandal.

The vehicles that will secure the next decade for General Motors Co. aren’t covered in self-driving sensors or loaded with batteries. No, the future depends on hulking pickup trucks that often run on diesel and cost more than the average BMW.

The Connecticut state Department of Motor Vehicles says less than a third of 1% of the state’s 2.9 million registered vehicles are electric, and lawmakers, clean energy advocates and labor and business groups say that ratio must drastically change for the state to hit its aggressive targets for pollution cuts.