Which California EV startup abruptly changed its business plan?
Which automaker created a separate plug-in hybrid system for high-performance cars?
This is our retrospective of the week in reverse – right here in Green car reports—For the week ending April 2, 2021.
This week, we saw – remotely, of course – several significant electric car debuts. On Monday, Kia unveiled its first dedicated electric vehicle – one unrelated to any gasoline vehicle. The EV6 electric crossover has a 0-60 mph time of less than 3.5 seconds, a fast charging time of 18 minutes and a range of around 300 miles, so it could be the closest rival to the Tesla Model Y Performance. On Tuesday, Lexus withdrew its LF-Z Electrified concept, which suggests an electric future for the brand, and an “electrified” version of each Lexus model in 2025 – although the brand was confused about what electrified means. And then, on Wednesday, Hyundai unveiled the latest in a series of 2-door electric concepts. The concept of Genesis X makes us think that this is the first to be produced.
2022 Kia EV6
Hyundai has also quietly unveiled a new model for fast charging stations, called the E-Pit, which would be capable of 800 volts and appears to be inspired by both racing pits and modern gas stations.
The Ford Mustang Mach-E is being sold in lots of dealerships, with the automaker on its way to sell 25,000 to 30,000 of them annually. Will Ford scale up? And Ford has paused sales of its branded home connected wallbox for the Mustang Mach-E, due to a problem that is the wallbox, not the car. There are many other charger options.
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E First Edition
A quarterly update from Tesla brought great sales news, with more than twice as many deliveries in the same quarter last year. But he revealed that he is still not delivering the updated Model S – or even doing it.
No, Lucid Air is not yet in production; but this week Lucid released a video showing how quality will be a priority when it increases.
Rivian has published more about the warranty on its electric trucks, and it is very good – reaching 175,000 miles and outperforming all other EV manufacturers in the US market in battery coverage and powertrain.
Rivian R1T
Daimler launched a significantly larger range number for the next 2022 Mercedes EQS that can make you more competitive with the Model S. And on Friday, we brought you 12 things to know about the EQS, which strangely enough, is the first car in nine years to fit the mold of the Tesla Model S.
The current BMW CEO says that models built on dedicated EV platforms “all look alike”, as he follows a strategy defined by previous executives in which their EVs share the same toolkit as the gasoline models. That said, it is planning its own dedicated EV platform for the mid-decade.
Mercedes-AMG, with its high-performance versions of the Mercedes-Benz models, unveiled its own high-performance plug-in hybrid system that uses F1-based battery technology and a 2-speed rear gearbox very similar to that of the Porsche Taycan to make you want the electric boost both on track time and on the way.
Canoe renderings for potential lineup
Things have definitely changed the course for the California Canoo EV startup. With a financial phone call earlier this week, the company ambushed investors with a shift in focus to commercial fleet sales and away from a subscription-based model. The deal with Hyundai also appears to be canceled.
Static and dynamic wireless charging are being combined for a bus loop in Israel – both to show the feasibility of such charging and to show that it can allow for smaller batteries and less downtime.
Libertine IntelliGen free piston range extender
Free piston engines have been around – in the design stage – for decades; but several companies and groups are now focusing on their potential as compact reach extenders that can be packaged in a similar way to a battery.
Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha together represent half of the global motorcycle market and, last month, reached an agreement on exchanging batteries for electric motorcycles. This is going to be great.
Electrify America Jeep 4xe Charging Network
Electrify America will help establish a network for charging off-road jeeps, with the first level 2 charging sites – some of which are solar powered – arriving later this year in California and Utah.
Would you buy an electric VW with the “Voltswagen” emblem? We would like it, and we think it is much better than the ID sub-brand. Too bad VW only intended to be a April Fool’s Day prank.
And we juggled dozens of policy statements and information leaflets on Wednesday, as the Biden administration unveiled a comprehensive $ 2 trillion infrastructure plan that includes electric car chargers, point-of-sale EV discounts, more E&D and utility-scale energy storage, all part of a future cleaning product.
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