Business
The L.A. Times guide to buying an electric car now

Should you buy an electric car? If so, what kind? Pure electric? Plug-in hybrid? New? Used?
As autos writer for The Times, I’m often asked for advice on electric car buying — most recently on a drive on Interstate 5 from Los Angeles to Berkeley, where I live. I was charging up a new blue Kia EV6 outside the Harris Ranch restaurant when a woman with a young child approached.
What car is that, she wanted to know. She said she was thinking about a new EV. Should she buy one? After telling her what I did for a living, I came back with a question as my standard response: “Why do you want to buy an electric car?” She answered the way almost everyone does: “To help the environment.”
“If doing your part to save the Earth is really your top priority,” I told her, “you should keep driving the gasoline car you already own until it’s ready for the junkyard. Then you should buy an electric car.”
If the Golden State is going to lead the world toward a better, safer future, our political and business leaders — and the rest of us — will have to work harder to rewrite the California narrative. Here’s how we can push the state forward.
Here’s the reason: If your gasoline car is in decent running condition, you’re going to sell it or trade it in. The person who buys it will keep on driving it — spewing all its pollution and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
In the meantime, the processes to mine the materials for and manufacture batteries produce electric motors, sheet metal, tires and other car parts, and assemble them into your new EV, also will churn out climate-harming emissions.
And, although the energy mix is changing fast, you’ll need to charge your EV with electricity that, even in California, with all its wind and solar, will be partly sourced from fossil fuels for many years to come.
Most people, I’ve found, don’t like to hear that. When they ask their questions, it’s clear what they really want is a modern new car.



Don’t get me wrong, I think electric cars are great. I’ve test-driven dozens of them. My family owns one — a 2018 BMW i3, with 120-mile range. We use it as our second car, for trips around town. We love it.
So, let’s say saving the Earth isn’t your absolute top priority, but you do want to make a contribution, however small, and you really do want to buy an electric car. But you have some worries — like unreliable public charging, range shortfalls, availability, sticker price.
Here’s my advice.
If it’s your only car
If you’re in a single-car household and plan to keep it that way, you’ll want an EV with long range. EVs are available with top ranges from about 100 miles to more than 500. The stated range of the Kia EV6 I drove from L.A. to the Bay Area is 240 miles. I was able to get to Harris Ranch, outside Coalinga, and charge up for the rest of the trip with miles to spare. That range is enough for daily needs such as local shopping and commuting plus the occasional long-distance trip.


With a base price of $44,000 before incentives, the Kia EV6 is considered a mid-market car. Generally, the more range, the bigger the battery, and the higher the price of the car. More mining of toxic materials, too. (To get into the 500-plus range, you’re looking at the $140,000 version of the Lucid Air.)
One way to beat range anxiety while reducing, if not eliminating, greenhouse emissions: Buy a plug-in hybrid. Also known as a PHEV, these cars combine a combustion engine with a relatively small battery that powers an electric motor. A plug-in hybrid’s electric range is small — typically 25 to 50 miles. But with a home charger, and a not-too-distant commute, you can take the kids to school, go to work and do some shopping on the way home, all on battery power, no need for the combustion engine — yet it’s there for longer trips.
EVs to consider
‘Budget’ pick
Nissan Leaf
There aren’t many electric cars available in the (relatively) low-price end of the market. General Motors discontinued its Bolt EV, and although it plans to reintroduce the car with new battery technology, right now that leaves the Nissan Leaf with a base price of $30,000 before incentives. The estimated range won’t get you too far out of town — 149 miles — and the creature comforts are about as basic as you’d expect in this price range. But the Leaf was the first true mass market EV on the road when it was introduced in 2010, it’s highly dependable, comes standard with several driver assist features and is quieter than you might expect. A true bargain.
Range: 149 miles
Cargo capacity: 23.6 cubic feet
Seating: 5
Horsepower: 147
Torque: 236 pound feet
I recently test drove Mazda’s brand-new CX-90 crossover plug-in hybrid, base price $40,000, with a 26-mile battery. Car & Driver magazine gave it 9 points on a 10-point scale, and I agree, it’s a fine family car. The 26 miles were plenty for local use, and I was able to travel between L.A. and the Bay Area with a single five-minute stop to fill up on gasoline.
Some environmentalists don’t like PHEVs because they’re not pure electric drive and people don’t always charge up, instead relying more heavily on the gas engine. They have a point. The only way to get the greenhouse-gas savings in a PHEV is by diligently keeping the battery at full charge.
If it’s your second car
If you need a second car, an EV is a no-brainer. As mentioned, my family has a 120-mile range EV that we use all the time around town. My wife has a hybrid car that we use mainly for long journeys.


The best second-car value, I tell people, is a secondhand EV. The range on older EVs tends to be fairly low, but for local use with a gas car in the garage, long range doesn’t matter.
And smaller-range used EVs are a great deal. They’re priced low partly because people think the battery might be on its last legs. But batteries are lasting far longer than anyone expected. Most manufacturers offer an eight- or 10-year warranty on an EV’s battery, or 100,000 miles. Battery failures are proving rare, even on older vehicles, although a dropoff in range may occur on out-of-warranty vehicles as the odometer ticks higher.
EVs to consider
Midrange pick
Hyundai Ioniq 5
A sister car to the Kia EV6, built on the same platform, but with starkly different designs. Reviewers at all the car mags love the Ioniq, and so do I. Other cars in the category include the Tesla Model Y, the Ford Mach E, and the Volkswagen ID.4. All deserve consideration. The all-wheel drive version of the Ioniq 5, with a range of 256 miles, is an excellent all-around car that balances jaunty acceleration, a quiet ride and driver comfort. It looks cool, too, in a retro kind of way. The streamlined Ioniq 6 is fresh on sale and landed Car & Driver’s EV of the year. Base price is $49,000 before incentives.
Range: 303 miles
Cargo capacity: 27.2 cubic feet
Seating: 5
Horsepower: 320
Torque: 446 pound feet
For example, a 2020 Chevy Bolt EV with 20,000 miles can be had for $24,000; a 2020 Nissan Leaf with 24,000 miles for $19,000. Those are basic cars, but they’re fun to drive, and there’s nothing wrong with either of them.
Another plus: Supply chain problems have put would-be EV buyers on waitlists for many models, with months-long delays. You can buy a used EV right off the lot.
What to know about charging
I’m not at the point where I can recommend a pure electric car for those without a home charger. That’s bad news for people who live in apartment buildings or condo complexes. That also means that socioeconomic status largely determines whether you can buy an electric car, at any price point.


The state of California is making a big effort to subsidize chargers in apartment buildings, with an emphasis on historically disadvantaged communities. But the management of charger installations, involving property owners, landlords and tenant committees, is complicated. And you can imagine the social issues involved: Who gets to use what charger, and for how long? What happens to charger hogs? Will a charger installation mean a higher rent?
While these problems are being worked out, I advise apartment dwellers to think long and hard before they decide to go EV.
Ultra-luxury pick
Porsche Taycan Turbo S
If budget is no obstacle, never mind Lucid, Mercedes, Audi, BMW or Rivian. My pick is the Porsche Taycan Turbo S — the high end of the thoroughly expensive Taycan line, this one starts at $189,000. Sure, at 323 miles as gauged by Edmunds, it falls far short of, say, Lucid’s 400 to 500 mile range. And the software was buggy and the user interface a work in progress. But what a drive!
Range: 323 miles
Cargo capacity: Irrelevant
Seating: 4, sort of
Horsepower: 750
Torque: 774 pound feet
As for public charging — it remains a mess. Charger locations can be inconvenient. It takes a long time to charge a car — depending on the vehicle and the charger, it can take from half an hour to several hours for a full charge. (Prices vary, but on this trip Electrify America was charging 48 cents per kilowatt hour. That’s much higher than what you’d pay with a home charger, but the $50 I paid for the trip was about half what I would have paid to fill up a gas tank.) Different charger brands have different apps and different ways of operating. You need to keep that all straight.
There are signs of improvement: The federal government is spending $5 billion through 2026 to subsidize about 500,000 chargers around the country. The state of California is spending nearly $3 billion of its own. Reliability standards are being drafted by the federal government and the California Energy Commission.
Last year, I took a trip to L.A. and back in a Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck. I was impressed by the truck itself. The charging experience, not so much. It was a horror show. A trip that should take six hours took 10 on a miserable search for chargers that worked.


The state of California is making a big effort to subsidize chargers in apartment buildings, with an emphasis on historically disadvantaged communities.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
My recent Kia trip, I’m happy to say, was a comparative delight. I spotted maintenance workers at both Electrify America charger stations I stopped at. The chargers were working and performed without a hitch. Once that kind of trip becomes routine, more people will be interested in buying EVs.
What to know about incentives
The average price right now for an electric vehicle is more than $60,000. That’s before incentives — rebates and tax credits from state, federal and local government that can add up to a $10,000 savings per car, depending on the vehicle and in many cases, a buyer’s income.


But the savings come at a high cost in time, energy and frustration. The tax rebates offered are so complicated, it makes shopping for a cellphone plan seem like a joy ride.
To figure out the rebate level, automakers and dealers must calculate the U.S. content of battery materials and the source of the batteries themselves. (Most are now supplied from China.) Part of any rebate depends on whether a car is manufactured in the U.S. While exceptions have been made for some overseas-assembled cars that allow rebates through leases, none currently exist for car purchases, as with the Korean-made Kia I drove up Interstate 5. If your income level is too high, or the car you want is too high-end, it might make you ineligible for a rebate.
No one has yet created a comprehensive and reliable online incentives calculator. A tool from Forbes provides a general idea of what federal money might be available, with a state and local search tool by the California Air Resources Board.
My advice on the incentive front: Get ready for some time-consuming research. And good luck.
Ask a Reporter: Inside the project
What: Times reporters Rosanna Xia and Sammy Roth will discuss “Our Climate Change Challenge” during a live streaming conversation. City Editor Maria L. LaGanga moderates.
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Where: This free event will be live streaming. Sign up on Eventbrite for watch links and to share your questions and comments.

Business
Avelo Airlines Faces Backlash for Aiding Trump’s Deportation Campaign

In the four years since its first flight, Avelo Airlines has gained loyal customers by serving smaller cities like New Haven, Conn., and Burbank, Calif.
Now, it has a new, very different line of business. It is running deportation flights for the Trump administration.
Despite weeks of protests from customers and elected officials, Avelo’s first flight for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement appears to have departed on Monday morning from Mesa, Ariz., according to data from the flight-tracking services FlightAware and Flightradar24.
According to FlightAware, the plane is expected to arrive in the early afternoon at Alexandria International Airport in Louisiana, one of five locations where ICE conducts regular flights. Avelo declined to comment on the flight and ICE did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The airline’s decision to support President Trump’s effort to accelerate deportations of immigrants is unusual and risky. ICE outsources many flights, but they are usually operated by little-known charter airlines. Commercial carriers typically avoid this kind of work so as not to wade into politics and upset customers or employees.
The risks for Avelo are perhaps even greater because a large proportion of its flights either land or take off from cities where most people are progressives or centrists who are much less likely to support Mr. Trump’s hard-line immigration policies. More than 90 percent of the airline’s flights arrived or departed from coastal states last year, according to Cirium, an aviation data firm. Nearly one in four flew to or from New Haven.
“This is really fraught, really risky,” said Alison Taylor, a professor at the New York University Stern School of Business who focuses on corporate ethics and responsibility. “The headlines and the general human aspect of this is not playing very well.”
But Avelo, which is backed by private investors and run by executives who came from larger airlines, is struggling financially.
The money the company stands to make from ICE flights is too good to pass up, the airline’s founder and chief executive, Andrew Levy, said last month in an internal email, a copy of which was reviewed by The New York Times. The flights, he said, would help to stabilize Avelo’s finances as the airline faced more competition, particularly in and near New Haven, which is home to Yale and where the airline operates more than a dozen flights a day.
“After extensive deliberations with our board of directors and our senior leaders, we concluded this new opportunity was too valuable not to pursue,” Mr. Levy wrote in the email on April 3, a day after Avelo signed the agreement with ICE.
While the military carries out some deportation flights, ICE relies heavily on private airlines. There is little public information about those flights, which ICE primarily arranges through a broker, CSI Aviation, said Tom Cartwright, a retired banking executive who has tracked the flights for years as a volunteer with Witness at the Border, an immigrants rights group. Most are operated by two small charter airlines, GlobalX Air and Eastern Air Express, he said.
GlobalX started operations in 2021 and conducts flights for the federal government, college basketball teams, casinos, tour operators and others. It has grown rapidly and brought in $220 million in revenue last year but is not yet profitable. This year, it has operated deportation flights to Brazil and El Salvador. Eastern Air Express is part of Eastern Airlines, a privately held company.
GlobalX and Eastern Airlines did not respond to requests for comment.
Contracts for such flights provide airlines consistent revenue, and the business is much less vulnerable to changes in economic conditions than conventional passenger flights. By Mr. Cartwright’s count, which is based on a variety of sources, ICE operated nearly 8,000 flights over the year that ended in April, most of them within the United States. CSI Aviation alone was awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in ICE contracts in recent years, according to federal data.
Avelo’s decision last month to join in on those flights was met with a swift backlash.
Within days of Mr. Levy’s internal announcement, the New Haven Immigrants Coalition, a collection of groups that support immigrants’ rights, started a campaign to pressure Avelo to drop the flights. An online petition started by the coalition has gained more than 37,000 signatures. Protests also sprouted up near airports in Connecticut, Delaware, California and Florida served by Avelo.
The Democratic governors of Connecticut and Delaware denounced Avelo, while lawmakers in Connecticut and New York released proposals to withdraw state support, including a tax break on jet fuel purchases, from companies that work with ICE.
William Tong, the Democratic attorney general of Connecticut, demanded answers of Mr. Levy, who deferred to the federal government. In a statement last month, Mr. Tong called Mr. Levy’s response “insulting and condescending.”
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, a union that represents flight attendants at 20 airlines, including Avelo, raised concerns. The union noted that immigrants being deported by the Trump administration had been placed in restraints, which can make flight attendants’ jobs much more difficult.
“Having an entire flight of people handcuffed and shackled would hinder any evacuation and risk injury or death,” the union said in a statement. “It also impedes our ability to respond to a medical emergency, fire on board, decompression, etc. We cannot do our jobs in these conditions.”
Avelo said that under its deal with ICE, it would operate flights within the United States and abroad, using three Boeing 737-800 jets. To handle those flights, the airline opened a base at Mesa Gateway Airport and started hiring pilots, flight attendants and other staff.
In a statement, Mr. Levy, a former top executive at United Airlines and Allegiant Air, said the airline had not entered into the contract lightly.
“We realize this is a sensitive and complicated topic,” he said. “After significant deliberations, we determined this charter flying will provide us with the stability to continue expanding our core scheduled passenger service and keep our more than 1,100 crew members employed for years to come.”
The airline, which is based in Houston, said it had operated similar flights for the Biden administration. “When our country calls, our practice is to say yes,” it said in a separate statement.
In the email last month, Mr. Levy celebrated the fact that Avelo had nearly broken even in 2024, losing just $500,000 on $310 million in revenue. But the airline needs to raise more money from investors, he said. Performance this year has suffered as national consumer confidence has waned, and the airline is facing rising competition.
Avelo was seeking revenue that would be “immune from these issues,” Mr. Levy said in the email, and pursued charter flights, including for the federal government. To accommodate the ICE flights, the airline also scaled back its presence at an airport in Santa Rosa, Calif.
Avelo has raised more than $190 million, most of it in 2020 and 2022, according to PitchBook. Mr. Levy’s email said the airline hoped to secure new funding this summer.
Business
Sam Altman's eye-scanning orbs have arrived, sparking curiosity and fear

SAN FRANCISCO — Earlier this month, a mysterious store selling a vision of the future opened its doors in downtown San Francisco’s Union Square district.
A cryptic message appeared on the storefront window: “World is the real human network. Anonymous proof of human and universally inclusive finance for the age of AI. Millions of humans in over 160 countries. Now available in the USA.”
The store attracted a small crowd and curious onlookers. People took turns scanning their eyes by peering into white devices known as orbs — to prove they are human. Then they received, free of charge, a verified World ID they could use to log into online services and apps. As an extra bonus, participants were given some Worldcoin cryptocurrency tokens.
Some just observed from a distance.
“I’m afraid to walk inside,” said Brian Klein, 66, as he peered into the window on his way to the theater. “I don’t want that thing taking any of my data and biometric scanning me.”
The futuristic technology is the creation of a startup called Tools for Humanity, which is based in San Francisco and Munich, Germany. Founded in 2019 by Alex Blania and Sam Altman — the entrepreneur known for OpenAI’s ChatGPT — the tech company says it’s “building for humans in the age of AI.”
In theory, these iris scans offer a safe and convenient way for consumers to verify their human identity at a time when AI-powered tools can easily create fake audio and images of people.
“We wanted a way to make sure that humans stayed special and essential in a world where the internet was going to have lots of AI-driven content,” said Altman, the chairman for Tools for Humanity, at a glitzy event in San Francisco last month.
Like the early stages of Facebook and PayPal, World is still in a growth phase, trying to lure enough customers to its network to eventually build a viable service.
A chief draw, World says, is that people can verify their humanness at an orb without providing personal information, such as, their names, emails, phone numbers and social media profiles.
But some are skeptical, contending that handing over biometric data is too risky. They cite instances where companies have reported data breaches or filed for bankruptcy, such as DNA research firm 23andMe.
“You can’t get new eyeballs. I don’t care what this company says. Biometric data like these retinal scans will get out. Hacks and leaks happen all the time,” said Justin Kloczko, a tech and privacy advocate at Consumer Watchdog. “Your eyeballs are going to be like gold to these thieves.”
1. An orb. 2. Frankie Reina, of West Hollywood, gets an eye scan. 3. A woman is reflected in an orb while getting an eye scan. 4. Frankie Reina waits to be verified after getting an eye scan. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
World has been making waves in Asia, Europe, South America and Central America. More than 12 million people have verified themselves through the orbs and roughly 26 million have downloaded the World app, where people store their World ID, digital assets and access other tools, the company says.
Now, World is setting its sights on the United States. The World app says people can claim up to 39 Worldcoin tokens, worth up to $45.49 if a user verifies they’re human with an orb.
World plans to deploy 7,500 orbs throughout the U.S. this year. It’s opening up spaces where people can scan their eyes in six cities — Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Austin, Miami and Nashville. The L.A. space opened on Melrose Avenue last week.
Backed by well-known venture capital firms including Bain Capital, Menlo Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, Tools for Humanity has raised $240 million, as of March, according to Pitchbook.
The crypto eye-scanning project has stirred up plenty of buzz, but also controversy.
In places outside the United States, including Hong Kong, Spain, Portugal, Indonesia, South Korea, and Kenya, regulators have scrutinized the effort because of data privacy concerns.
Whistleblower Edward Snowden, who leaked classified details of the U.S. government’s mass surveillance program, responded to Altman’s post about the project in 2021 by saying “the human body is not a ticket-punch.”
Ashkan Soltani, the former executive director of the California Privacy Protection Agency, said that privacy risks can outweigh the benefits of handing over biometric data.
“Even if companies don’t store raw biometric data, like retina scans, the derived identifiers are immutable … and permanently linked to the individuals they were captured from,” he said in an email.
World executives counter that the orb captures photos of a person’s face and eyes, but doesn’t store any of that data. To receive a verified World ID, people can choose to send their iris image to their phone and that data are encrypted, meaning that the company can’t view or access the information.

Frankie Reina, of West Hollywood, left, gets an eye scan with the help of Myra Vides, center.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
The idea for World began five years ago. Before the popularity of ChatGPT ignited an AI frenzy, Altman was on a walk with Blania in San Francisco talking about how trust would work in the age where AI systems are smarter than humans.
“The initial ideas were very crazy, then we came down to one that was just a little bit crazy, which became World,” Altman said onstage at an event about World’s U.S. debut at Fort Mason, a former U.S. Army post in San Francisco.
At the event, tech workers, influencers and even California Gov. Gavin Newsom and San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie wandered in and out of a large building filled with orbs, refreshments and entertainment.
Tools for Humanity Chief Executive Blania highlighted three ways people could use their verified World ID: gaming, dating and social media.
Currently, online services use a variety of ways to confirm people’s identities including video selfies, phone numbers, government-issued IDs and two-factor authentication.
World recently teamed up with gaming company Razer, based in Irvine and Singapore, to verify customers are human through a single-sign on, and is placing orbs in Razer stores.
Blania also touted a partnership with Match Group, where people can used World to verify themselves and their ages on apps such as Tinder , an effort that will be tested in Japan.
“We think the internet as a whole will need a proof of human and one space that I’m personally most excited about will be social,” Blania said at the San Francisco event.
Alex Blania, the chief executive of Tools for Humanity, speaks onstage during an event for the U.S. launch of World at Fort Mason Center on April 30 in San Francisco.
(Kimberly White / Getty Images for World)
Back at the World store in San Francisco, Zachary Sussman was eager to check out the orbs with his two friends, both in their 20s.
“For me, the more ‘Black Mirror’ the technology is, the more likely I am to use it,” Sussman said, referring to the popular Netflix sci-fi series. “I like the dystopian aesthetic.”
Doug Colaizzo, 35, checked out the store with his daughter and parents. Colaizzo, a developer, described himself as an “early adopter” of technology. He already uses his fingerprint to unlock his front door and his smartphone to pay for items.
“We need a better way of identifying humans,” he said. “I support this idea, even if this is not gonna be the one that wins.”
Andras Cser, vice president and principal analyst of Security and Risk Management at Forrester Research, said the fact that people have to go to a store to scan their eyes could limit adoption.
World is building a gadget called the “mini Orb” that’s the size of a smartphone, but convincing people to carry a separate device around will also be an uphill battle, he said.
“There’s big time hype with a ton of customer friction and privacy problems,” he said.
The company will have to convince skeptics like Klein to hand over their biometric data. The San Francisco resident is more cautious, especially after he had to delete his DNA data from 23andMe because the biotech company filed for bankruptcy.
“I’m not going to go off and live in the wilderness by myself,” he said. “Eventually, I might have to, but I’m going to resist as much as I can.”
Business
130,000 Igloo Coolers Recalled After Fingertip Amputations From Handle

About 130,000 Igloo coolers were recalled on Thursday after consumers reported 78 fingertip injuries from the cooler’s tow handle, 26 of which led to fingertip amputations, bone fractures or cuts, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
This warning expands an initial recall issued in February of more than one million 90-quart Igloo Flip & Tow Rolling Coolers because the tow handle was crushing and seriously injuring people’s fingertips.
“The tow handle can pinch consumers’ fingertips against the cooler, posing fingertip amputation and crushing hazard,” the recall said.
In the February recall, the safety commission said that Igloo had received 12 reports of fingertip injuries from the coolers. Since then there have been an additional 78 reports, according to the commission.
The recalled coolers, all of which have the word “IGLOO” on the side of them, were manufactured before January 2024 and come in different colors. The manufacture date can be found on the bottom of the cooler.
The commission said the latest recall also affected about 20,000 coolers in Canada and 5,900 in Mexico, which is in addition to the tens of thousands recalled from each country in February.
Igloo said that owners who bought the coolers between January 2019 and January 2025 should stop using them and contact the company for a free replacement handle.
The company said in a statement that it stood behind the quality of its products and that consumer “safety and satisfaction” were its top priorities.
The coolers were sold at Academy, Costco, Dick’s, Target and other retailers and online stores and were usually priced between $80 and $140.
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