Suvrat Kothari
Suvrat Kothari tracks how electric vehicles are changing faster than the headlines, with a particular focus on batteries, charging, and the business decisions that make or break new EV programs. His coverage follows the technical and financial details behind EV adoption rather than just the metal, showing how chemistry, infrastructure, and corporate strategy shape what drivers will actually get.
Battery technology and EV range
Kothari is a reporter at InsideEVs, where he is described as being on the battery beat and regularly covers advances in EV energy storage and their real-world impact on drivers and automakers. Much of his recent work explains specific battery breakthroughs or experiments in concrete, consumer-focused terms. In a piece on a Dodge Charger Daytona EV test program, he reports on semi-solid-state cells from Factorial Energy being used in a development vehicle, spelling out how Stellantis plans to fine-tune and validate the pack’s safety, performance, and reliability in real driving and charging conditions. In another article on modern EVs and degradation, he reports on data showing that most late-model electric cars barely lose driving range after several years of use, detailing how automakers use software buffers and improved cell design to keep range retention high and to manage owner expectations about battery health.
He often links lab or prototype advances back to whether they matter for ordinary owners. His coverage of battery-focused stories tends to quantify benefits like cycle life, charging speed, and usable range instead of treating them as abstract milestones. Across these pieces, he situates individual models and technologies within the broader race to make EV batteries cheaper, more durable, and easier to live with, reinforcing his role as a specialist on how battery choices translate into everyday usability.
Fast charging, infrastructure, and cost of ownership
Charging speed and infrastructure reliability are recurring themes in Kothari’s reporting. He writes about upgrades to models like the Volvo EX60 and EX90 that center on improved fast-charging performance, treating charging curves and peak power as central product features rather than technical footnotes. In the Critical Materials newsletter, he breaks down new trends in high-speed charging hardware, including Italian firm Alpitronic’s next-generation chargers capable of delivering up to 1,000 kW for trucks and 600 kW for passenger EVs, and explains when and where such equipment will begin rolling out. His work also highlights policy and market developments around charging, such as a planned $18 million Tesla Supercharger hub in New York City that aims to build out a dense fast-charging network and make EV ownership more practical in a large urban environment.
He ties these infrastructure developments to the economics of owning and operating an EV. In a feature on taking a Hyundai Ioniq 5 on a road trip, he details how much money he saved on fuel compared with driving a gas car, using real cost data to show how public charging and home charging stack up against gasoline expenses over long distances. That cost-of-ownership focus surfaces again when he reports on incentives and public investments that lower the barrier to EV adoption and support dense networks of chargers in multiple cities. The through-line in this body of work is a consistent interest in how charging speed, station availability, and charging costs influence whether EVs are practical beyond a spec sheet.
EV demand, automaker strategy, and the business of electrification
Kothari’s beat extends into the corporate and financial side of the EV transition. In Critical Materials editions, he analyzes topics such as General Motors’ push into energy services and Stellantis’ turnaround plan, framing them as strategic responses to changing EV demand, charging expectations, and competitive pressure from China. He examines Tesla’s hiring freeze and layoffs as part of a “series of dire developments,” using job postings and staffing moves as indicators of how the world’s largest all-electric carmaker is recalibrating its ambitions and cost structure. His work also surfaces in outside discussions of the Tesla Cybertruck, where he has been cited for arguing that demand is not the truck’s core problem, given the enormous reservation backlog.
On the consumer side, he covers survey data showing that a majority of American car shoppers still consider EVs despite concerns about tax credits and tariffs, underscoring the gap between interest and actual purchases. He also contributes to coverage of Chinese EV makers finally turning consistent profits and the broader profitability of new energy vehicle manufacturers, connecting financial results to product strategy and global competition. Across these stories, he approaches the EV market as an evolving business landscape, tracking how automakers navigate layoffs, new ventures, and regional strategies while still trying to meet consumer expectations for price, range, and charging.
Newsletters, shows, and format range
Beyond standard news articles, Kothari writes and co-writes editions of Critical Materials, the daily InsideEVs newsletter that distills the biggest EV stories in a more analytical, narrative format. In that medium he often strings together developments in batteries, charging, and corporate strategy to show how they intersect, such as linking ultrafast chargers, new EV models, and changes in consumer sentiment. His name also appears in multi-author editions that combine his beat with colleagues’ driving impressions and model reviews.
He extends his work into audio and video formats as well. On InsideEVs’ video programming, he joins colleagues to discuss new models like Subaru’s upcoming three-row EV, the Kia EV3, and Nissan’s latest hybrid systems, sharing context from on-the-ground reporting at major auto shows and clarifying how new drivetrains work in practice. Across formats, his contribution remains consistent: he explains the technical and market implications of new EV developments in clear, concrete language, providing the battery and charging context around the broader product and industry story.
4 more automobile journalists.
Aarian Marshall
Aarian Marshall is a staff writer at WIRED who stands out for covering how cars, software, and policy collide. She writes on transportation systems and cities, from the auto industry to broader mobility systems. Before WIRED, she reported on cities and urban policy for The Atlantic’s CityLab. Her beat runs from electric vehicles, fuel prices, tariffs, and car-buying decisions to autonomous vehicles, robotaxis, and software-defined cars. She reports with a systems view, linking policy shifts, technical failures, and urban life to what happens on streets, in repair shops, and at the pump.
Adrian Leung
Adrian Leung writes engineering-led coverage of Chinese electric vehicles and performance cars for CarNewsChina. He focuses on new energy vehicles, battery systems, powertrains, electric platforms, high-end domestic brands, and track-ready models, and he explains technical details in plain language for non-specialist readers. His reporting treats new models as hardware and systems stories, with precise figures on range, battery capacity, chassis layout, motor outputs, weight, and acceleration. He also covers the Chinese auto industry’s finances and technology roadmap, including sector profits, vehicle volumes, and solid-state battery timelines. His background in Electrical and Computer Engineering shows in the way he writes about vehicle electronics and battery management.
Al Pefley
Al Pefley is a television news reporter for CBS12 News whose work centers on how laws, law enforcement and local decisions shape everyday life for drivers and other residents. He reports in a general assignment role but returns often to transportation, public safety and pocketbook issues, treating driving as a point where policy, disability and policing intersect. His coverage includes driver-focused laws, fuel and tax policy, crime, policing and internal affairs findings, with a consistent focus on accountability and concrete consequences for people’s wallets, safety and trust in institutions. He explains county gas tax debates, campaign positions on teacher pay, property crime and retail theft in short, clear segments. Pefley works primarily on the scene, using live or recorded field reporting and interview-driven pieces to show what happened, why it matters and what comes next.
Aliza Savira
Aliza Savira focuses on the hidden financial costs of owning modern cars, especially how insurance can undermine expected savings. She writes about automobiles for MSN, looking at new technology and electric vehicles through everyday ownership rather than showroom appeal. Her work highlights the gap between promises of cheaper running costs and the full financial picture of owning a vehicle. In electric vehicle coverage, she treats insurance premiums as a key ownership problem that can erode long-term value. She stays close to practical questions drivers face, such as which recurring costs matter most after purchase. She reports on how insurance structures and premium levels interact with new automotive technology. Her beat is consumer-focused automobile reporting, with a clear, utilitarian lens on ownership experience, recurring expenses, and risk, rather than lifestyle or performance.