The Volkswagen bus returns to the US market after 20 years

California startup Rivian has attracted disillusioned Tesla owners

Some electric vehicle buyers frustrated by Elon Musk's antics have been won over by the adventure-focused company, which has received a $5B investment from the Volkswagen Group to develop crossover and hatchback models with solid-state batteries.

As of 2025, most EV batteries retain 95% or more of their range after three years

Data from over 30,000 electric vehicles shows that their batteries are lasting much longer than initially projected, which researchers suggest is due to improved battery management systems and real-world use often being less rigorous than high-performance testing. Cars with 150,000 miles or more that have not had a battery replacement retain at least 83% of their original range.

Nearly 40% of American cars were electric in 1899

They were most common in cities, where battery swap stations allowed drivers to "refuel" their vehicles reliably. Innovations in combustion engines caused electric cars to lose ground until environmental policies and advances in battery technology revitalized interest.

School buses are the safest vehicles on the road

Even without seat belts or airbags, the big yellow school bus transporting millions of students to school each day remains the safest vehicle on the road. A long history of tragic lessons led to today's highly tested school bus design, including the padded compartments created by school bus seats, multiple emergency exits, cross-view mirrors, and more.

Imagining the nostalgia we'll feel one day for gas stations

Car drivers everywhere are accustomed to an endless array of gas stations along the road, with their high, flat roofs, convenience stores of varying quality, and bathroom availability. Current trends in electric vehicle development point to such stations' inevitable obsolescence, and one photographer has begun documenting neglected filling stations in transit-oriented Germany. See the images for yourself and begin the journey toward so-called petronostalgia.

Take a drone tour of a Tesla factory

The first of Tesla's large-scale European manufacturing plants for its electric vehicles was opened in Berlin in 2022. It—along with other facilities in Nevada, New York, Texas, and Shanghai—collectively manufactures solar panels, batteries, and other energy collection and storage products.

The Airstream surged in a postwar road trip boom

Wally Byam invented the Airstream in the late 1920s, but it took off following World War II, when more affordable automobiles allowed families to venture out into an expanding network of state and national parks. Airstream enthusiasts sometimes traveled in caravans, camping in front of famous scenery, like the Pyramids at Giza.

Learn about how General Motors dismantled America's streetcars

This documentary argues that GM systematically bought up and destroyed streetcar networks across the US in the 1930s, replacing them with buses and helping put the automobile at the center of American culture.

Voyager spacecraft defied expectations and only powered down after 47 years in space

Originally built for a four-year mission, Voyagers 1 and 2 used a rare planetary alignment and gravity assists to reach interstellar space. With limited power and aging systems, they will continue to send data until the mid-2030s. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Which cars retain the most value after five years?

Aside from two different models of Porsches, the cars with the lowest rates of depreciation after five years aren't luxury vehicles. For instance, Honda Civics and Toyota Corollas both made the top 10 list. To see the ranking, which is based on data from over 1.1 million used cars from model year 2018 and sold between November 2022 and October 2023, click here.

Airbus is a rare European industrial success story that overtook a rival American firm

After World War II, the US dominated aviation, particularly Boeing. To compete, Europe's major industrial nations pooled resources to form Airbus, a customer-centric airplane manufacturer. Its A320 family of planes became the most popular in airliner history, leading to profitability in the 1990s. Amid Boeing's major hurdles in recent years, Airbus remains the industry leader.

NASCAR's latest car design brings back its 'stock' roots

In 2022, NASCAR unveiled its Next Gen car, and the changes were some of the most significant in decades. Teams no longer design each car part, but purchase them from a single source, bringing greater parity.

German printer Richard Sellmer revived Advent calendars after World War II

Advent calendar production resumed in 1946, when German printer Richard Sellmer began issuing nostalgic winter-town designs that became classics, later exporting them to the United States. His company still operates today, producing more than 140 varieties.

Car touchscreen debuted on 1986 Buick Riviera, but flopped

Preceding car infotainment centers by decades, the technology that was unveiled in the Buick elicited praise from auto journalists, but consumers did not make investments in the cars.

There is no clear national standard of laws for autonomous vehicle

Some US states allow self-driving vehicles to operate without a human driver present, while others require a licensed driver to be behind the wheel. As of January 2023, a total of 21 states have legalized autonomous vehicles in public, with six focused solely on semi-trucks.

Scroll through a Budweiser historical timeline

From Eberhard Anheuser’s purchase of the Bavarian Brewery in 1860 to the Anheuser-Busch and InBev merger that created what became the world’s largest brewer, this historical timeline highlights the most significant moments in Budweiser’s more than 150-year story.

A nightmarish vision for airplane seating

Airplane seat designer Alejandro Núñez Vicente reckons his double-decker airplane seat could revolutionize budget air travel. CNN went to the 2022 Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg to try it out.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a 1955-56 mass protest against bus segregation

Organized in 1955, the Montgomery Bus Boycott mobilized tens of thousands of Black bus riders to boycott city buses for 381 days, crippling the system and ultimately leading to desegregation through a Supreme Court ruling. A 26-year-old Martin Luther King Jr. was an organizer.

Twenty of the coolest products from CES 2025

This roundup from Cybernews showcases standout CES 2025 innovations—from flying cars and robot dogs to VR headsets and AI-powered gadgets—showing the event’s most talked-about tech.

Roughly 350,000 billboards advertise across the US

The world's oldest form of advertising can feel antiquated in a digital age, but the place-specific signs are the basis of a $9B business. Learn the history of these ads and how they remain relevant in a digital age.

A McDonald's Happy Meal for adults

McDonald’s announced it is teaming up with Cactus Plant Flea Market for the introduction of the new Cactus Plant Flea Market Box for adults, starting on October 3, 2022.

The New York MTA is North America's largest transit system

The MTA's FY2026 budget is $21.3B, and the system carried 1.6 billion riders on buses and subways in 2024, making it by far the largest transit network in the country.

Rare chance for US states to see Northern Lights

A solar storm in July 2023 offered people in 17 American states, as well as Canada, an unusual chance to witness the Northern Lights, or aurora borealis. The 11-year solar cycle, reaching its peak in 2024, made the lights visible in places further south than usual. Read up on the announcement from the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks here.

President Trump ordered an end to US production of the penny in 2025

The US will stop producing pennies after more than 233 years in 2026, though they will still be considered legal tender. It takes roughly three cents to produce a single penny, with an annual price tag of nearly $100M.

The most popular drum sound of the 1980s was discovered by accident

You know it when you hear it: the distinct snare drum of songs like Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" or Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA." It's called "gated reverb," and it's something most people associate, for better or worse, with the sound of the '80s. This Vox explainer breaks down how it was discovered by accident, thanks to a microphone typically used for communication that picked up additional sounds.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

This real-time tracking of the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak in May 2026 offers a unique glimpse into the global reach of the outbreak and whether the virus sickened passengers and their communities around the world.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

Quincy Jones' 'Big Band Bossa Nova' helped introduce bossa nova—a jazz-influenced Brazilian genre—to the US

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight