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FRANKFURT, Germany — Automaker Volkswagen is accelerating its move into battery-powered cars, saying it will reach its goal of 1 million electric cars per year two years earlier than planned.

The day Youngstown’s steel mills began shutting down 40 years ago remains fresh in the minds of those who live in the blue-collar corner of Ohio. Community leaders don’t want the recent closing of General Motors’ massive assembly plant to leave that same lingering gloom.

Germany has pulled ahead of Norway for sales of all-electric cars since the start of the year, putting Europe’s biggest auto market in position to become the regional leader on an annual basis for the first time.

General Motors Co. and its battery partner, South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd., will jointly invest $2.3 billion in a new electric vehicle battery plant to be built in Lordstown, Ohio, the same city where the automaker controversially idled and then sold a 53-year-old compact-car factory.

California’s rebate program to coax more drivers to buy electric vehicles just got less generous, especially for those looking to spend on a luxury model.

It’s turning out to be one of the worst years ever for auto workers across the globe amid shrinking demand and a tectonic shift in vehicle technology.

Yamato Transport Co. unveiled on Nov. 19 what it says is a greener, compact, driver-friendly electric truck that may offer hope for coping with the acute labor shortage in Japan’s door-to-door parcel delivery industry.

California sued the Trump administration for rescinding an Obama-era waiver that allows the state to require sales of electric vehicles and set stricter auto-emissions standards than the federal government.

WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is proposing a $462 billion trade-in program to get millions of Americans out of climate-damaging gas vehicles and into electric or hybrid cars over the next decade.

Transit officials in San Diego are rolling out a new $12.5 million pilot program to test the region’s first electric buses.