Tesla price hike; Toyota Compact Cruiser EV; Blazer EV, Ioniq 6, Celestiq teased: The Week in Reverse

For how long will Tesla be the world’s top EV maker?

How does a tech supplier propose dropping the onboard charger from electric vehicles?

This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending June 17, 2022.

Remember when the Tesla Model Y was supposed to start around $40,000? Tesla raised prices again, this time up to $6,000, bringing the base U.S.-market price of a Model Y to $67,190.

Tesla wasn’t the only one. GM on Friday announced a price hike for its 2023 GMC Hummer EV, citing supply chain, technology, and logistics costs. Existing reservation-holders who are opting for the EV 3X version will be able to save the $6,250 that the price jumps on June 18. 

But you can still find deals. There’s no need to wait for the lower-priced 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV to arrive at dealerships. GM is applying an equivalent discount to 2022 Chevy Bolt EV and EUV models.

GM CEO Mary Barra also this week released a first photo of the 2024 Chevy Blazer EV, and confirmed a July 18 reveal for the model, which will be priced from about $40,000 and set to arrive in fall 2023. 

Spurred by a recent design award, Toyota revealed more about its Compact Cruiser EV concept. Although it didn’t include any confirmation it’s production-bound, it could be a refreshing counterpoint to big electric SUVs like the GMC Hummer EV. 

Hyundai teased the silhouette of its Ioniq 6 electric sedan this week. Calling it an Electrified Streamliner—with trendsetting interior space and aerodynamics—it might end up being the closest rival yet to the Tesla Model 3.

China’s Nio revealed the ES7 electric SUV. As the debut model for a new generation of SUVs from the brand, amid an expansion into Europe, it gets a new cabin look, a 0.26 coefficient of drag, bidirectional charging, and range figures that span past 500 miles by Chinese standards. A solid-state battery pack is on the way too. 

The Cadillac Celestiq electric sedan will serve as a very exclusive, hand-built flagship for GM’s luxury brand, which the automaker revealed will be built at the automaker’s Warren, Michigan tech center. GM hasn’t provided an updated look at the concept, and the timeline remains TBA. 

Ford halted deliveries of the Mustang Mach-E due to a potential issue with the battery contactors that might lead to a loss of power. It issued a recall for the potential problem and will have a software remedy ready next month—delivered, conveniently, over the air. 

Toyota, Ford, GM, and Stellantis sent a letter to Senate and House of Representatives leadership asking for a renewed effort to reform the EV tax credit. This time around there was no mention of union labor requirements, and they seek a sunset date that’s the same for all automakers regardless of cumulative sales. 

Two upcoming performance electric vehicles were confirmed earlier this week for a 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed debut. The aluminum-intensive Polestar 5 flagship will bow at the UK event, even though it’s not expected to go on sale until 2024. And the 576-hp Kia EV6 GT—the most powerful car ever from the brand—is due for deliveries by the end of the year and will make a dynamic debut at Goodwood, with a rally driver behind the wheel. 

A Sony-Honda electric vehicle joint venture took official form this week. Meanwhile, as a new report suggested, the vehicles could become a money making content platform for Sony. 

Stellantis, in a pilot project, is testing a specially equipped Fiat 500 electric car that can cover highway speeds without using battery charge—if it’s on a special test track with wireless dynamic charging tech. It a;sp plans to test the tech with a Maserati EV and an electric bus from Iveco. 

Canada’s Hillcrest Energy Technologies is aiming to drop the onboard charger from EVs with a new set of components that retasks the inverter to do its AC-DC conversion. Although it sounds relatively straightforward in theory, the concept still needs to be proven in real-world use. 

Michigan startup Our Next Energy claims that it can make a 600-mile BMW iX by installing its Gemini battery tech—mixing chemistries, one for power delivery, the other for energy storage. 

Could EV charging networks and public agencies use a little help in locating where to build charging stations? Researchers at North Carolina State University have come up with a mathematical model to help find the ideal charger placement based on a number of factors. 

With registration data from Experian Automotive, rounded up for the first quarter of 2022, we see that nearly a third of U.S. EV buyers are getting a Tesla Model Y. That’s before the ramp-up of Tesla’s Texas factory, which is focusing on the model early on.

And according to a Bloomberg Intelligence report, looking at global automakers’ success in the EV market over the next several years, Tesla will be the world’s top EV maker for at least the next 18 months. Then VW, together with Audi and its other brands, will take over the top spot. 

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