Electric Cars

Car reviewer Edmunds says its “the first automotive testing authority in the US” to put a Chinese electrified vehicle, in this case the Geely Galaxy M9, through its rigorous review process. The verdict is as you would expect: a hybrid with superior electric range (101 miles!), world-class metrics, a premium interior, and serious value. “The Geely Galaxy M9 is a wake-up call for the automotive industry,” said Alistair Weaver, Edmunds editor-in-chief.

“We’re bringing Maps’ AI-powered EV charging features to over 350 car models with Android Auto,” the company writes. It should predict where, when, and how long you’ll need to charge — after you punch in charge level manually. Google doesn’t mention battery preconditioning, though both Apple and Google are pursuing that vehicle-by-vehicle.

The Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies joint venture brought one of its new software-defined test vehicles to Sweden and Germany to see how it handles the cold. They stress-tested the all-wheel drive system and validated over-the-air software functionality, amid other tests. Most importantly, the completion of these tests bring Rivian a step closer to receiving the next tranche of investment from VW, which will be crucial as the automaker ramps up its R2 production.

A prototype Tesla Cybercab was spotted out and about in Los Angeles recently, complete with a steering wheel and a human driver. The panel gaps, of course, were in full display. But the cab’s apparent misalignment was the thing that really caught this TikTok user’s attention. Also his observation that it looks like “a Pixar Model 3” is going to live rent-free in my brain for the rest of time.

Elon Musk says he’s planning to open a “Terafab” chip plant in Austin, Texas, jointly run by Tesla and SpaceX, as we approach dire risk levels of “tera” ceasing to have all meaning.

That’s according to BMW SVP Bernd Körber, speaking to Motor1.com. BMW announced the new i3 EV on Wednesday, but it appears that the i4 won’t be around much longer.

Raffi Krikorian, who now serves as Mozilla’s CTO, writes in The Atlantic that he’s rethinking the relationship between humans and machines after a near-death experience in his Tesla.

Cosmos and Earth. Paging Carl Sagan! The EV company announced the names at its Investor Day in New York City today. Both are expected to be mid-sized crossover SUVs, with an estimated starting price of $50,000. That makes the Lucid Earth and Cosmos incredibly important to the company’s long-term future — sort of similar to the Rivian R2. If Lucid wants to break into the mainstream, it needs to sell more affordable vehicles.

The EV maker has been granted a license to supply electricity to British households and businesses, mirroring its similar business in Texas. The approval doesn’t include dual gas/electric fuel contracts, however, and local supplier Octopus Energy already allows Powerwall battery owners to sell energy back to the grid.

The companies aim to launch a pilot program in Tokyo by late 2026, allowing Uber riders to book robotaxis based on the Nissan Leaf EV, powered by Wayve’s autonomous driving tech. In its press release, Uber said:

The EV company started rolling out the functionality for its luxury SUV via an over-the-air software update on Wednesday. After the update, the Gravity will support phone mirroring wirelessly or through an USB hookup.

They joined a new initiative called Utilize that aims to use strategies like battery storage and virtual power plants to make more use of the electrons already available to the grid. It’s a plan that’s supposed to make electricity more affordable as opposition grows to data centers blamed for higher utility bills.

The new Cayenne S Electric slots between the entry level Cayenne Electric and the high performance Turbo Electric, both of which were released late last year. The dual-motor S Electric will have an output of 536 horsepower, which jumps to 657 hp when using Launch Control. And it will start at $126,300 when it goes on sale this summer, as compared to $165,350 for the Turbo Electric. Giddyup.

That is, the fastest EV product launch in US history. TechCrunch’s Sean O’Kane (who’s also a Verge alum) outlines how Rivian is staking its future on the launch of the more affordable R2 mid-sized SUV, predicting it will sell 20,000-25,000 by the end of this year.

Glenn Mercer of Car Charts has a new chart that shows EV sales ticking up slightly in the US, after all the chaos around the expiration of the tax credit has settled. We’re basically back to where we were around 2022-2023, with EVs capturing around 5-6 percent of total sales. So where are things headed? According to Mercer:

That’s Ford CEO Jim Farley to Car and Driver about the F-150 Lightning. The automaker recently discontinued the electric truck, after announcing a massive $19.5 billion write-down on its EV operations. “I mean, look, we didn’t know what we didn’t know,” Farley adds, admitting that Ford’s gas-engine “prejudice was so high that we hadn’t designed the [electric] cars right.” Now the company is betting that it can right-size its business with smaller, more aerodynamic EVs.