Which automaker wouldn’t build a 600 mile EV?
Is megawatt charging a threat to hydrogen fuel cell technology?
Here’s our flashback in Week In Reverse—here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending May 26, 2023.
The biggest EV news of the week came Thursday, when Ford and Tesla made an announcement that may change the EV charging landscape forever: Ford is adopting Tesla charging ports for future EVs, as well as providing Supercharger access with adapters for existing EVs starting next year. Now, will other small automakers jump to the Tesla standard too?
Ford Mustang Mach-E in Tesla Supercharger
That follows two Ford EV news from earlier this week. No need to bother waiting for the electric Ford Expedition Lightning to complement the F-150 Lightning. Ford claimed Monday that its upcoming three-row electric SUV in 2025 will be an innovative “personal bullet train”—with a comprehensive focus on efficiency that delivers 350 miles of range from a 100-kwh battery pack and 150 miles from 10 minutes. charge. And as Ford CEO Jim Farley explains, as part of its efforts to control costs and build better EVs, automakers are simply trying to use the smallest batteries for competitive range. That means Ford won’t go 600 miles in its EV.
2025 Ford 3-row SUV –
On an entirely different track, Cadillac announced plans to build a fully electric version of its large and power-hungry SUV Escalade. Luxury brand GM claims the model, badged Escalade IQ and due to be announced later this year, will be “a different kind of EV”.
The 2024 BMW i5 revealed on Wednesday is essentially an all-electric BMW 5 Series. With a starting price of $67,795 and range for the entry model of 295 miles on the EPA cycle, it claims to offer the same passenger space as other petrol-fueled 5-Series models.
The upcoming EX30 will have Volvo’s lowest carbon footprint in a production model from the brand, he said. The Volvo EX30 will represent a 25% reduction in life cycle carbon emissions over the upgraded XC40 Recharge and C40 Recharge, he says, with lots of recycled materials and “100% climate neutral electricity.”
2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV
More information about the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV (WT) Work Truck has leaked ahead of deliveries that will begin soon. Among the new details: The WT and its base battery will be available to retail customers, but not other WT versions. Knowing this, we took a look at the Silverado EV WT vs. F-150 Lightning Pro in price and range.
While overseeing the launch of a $7.5 billion national EV charger network, the federal government is addressing the reliability of EV chargers in the US. That means collaborating with companies on hardware and software, and opening data portals to report uptime and error codes.
Toyota Sinena 2023
Toyota announced last week that it plans to increase US hybrid production to meet strong demand for hybrid models. The same manufacturing complex in Kentucky is scheduled to start manufacturing fuel cell modules this year.
BMW and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) California have built on their previous smart charging partnership with pilot programs (and later, field trials) looking at how EVs can complement home energy and the grid. With the BMW i4, this can help put twice the amount that the typical home uses each day back to the grid—at peak times when it can help increase renewable energy use.
2022 BMW i4 eDrive40
While enthusiasm for hydrogen fuel cell passenger vehicles has waned, it seems poised for a new push in semi trucks and other heavy duty trucks. Will megawatt charging effectively dissipate hydrogen and its main advantage which until now has been refueling time?
The rental prices for the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 are now lower than Tesla’s, according to a report that dug up the numbers. Again, help goes into the Clean Commercial Vehicle Credit loophole that applies to EV rentals—even if they’re imported.
2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5
Going head-to-head, Hyundai and LG this morning confirmed final details for a joint venture battery plant in Georgia that will supply Hyundai’s Georgia Metaplant EV with US-made batteries. The plant will have the ability to build 300,000 EVs annually, although the company has yet to confirm which Hyundai, Kia or Genesis models this will be.
A future Stellantis EV in this decade — from a Jeep, Ram, or Chrysler, for example — could take advantage of lithium-sulfur battery technology, which has the potential to increase range and reduce weight. Through Stellantis Ventures, it is invested in Lyten California, which claims “a pathway to achieve the lowest emission EV battery in the global market,” in the type of cells that can be made globally. But there is still progress to be made on lifecycle and degradation.
Electric vehicles cost 47% more than internal combustion vehicles, but they are driven 29% less. That’s one of the findings from the recent data crunch based on used vehicles listed for sale — and it confirms earlier findings from academics showing that Tesla leads other EVs in miles. But perhaps policy needs to focus more on those “gasoline superusers.”
Despite all the talk about the longevity of EV batteries, and how their drivers don’t travel miles, EVs aren’t staying in the fleet as long as petrol models, and as we look to see more EV adoption, that’s a potential problem. What’s to blame?
And what’s all the fuss about AM radio in EVs? Some automakers say it’s an electrical fault; some say no one listens to AM; others pointed to the lack of AM radio in Europe. Either way, Ford yesterday decided it wasn’t a fight worth fighting and agreed to bring back AM radios in its EVs.
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