Author: EVAI

The 2025 Frankencar is electric It’s a steal at $67,685 in make-believe land You’ll never find anything like it on the market The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N bested the competition to be named Motor Authority Best Car To Buy 2025. Each of the strong, and mostly electric, competitors posed its own argument for winning, but the Ioniq 5’s…

Diesel trucks prefer to work, at least that’s what the latest Ford recall suggests. Ford Super Duty diesel pickup trucks that sat idle during the pandemic may have a fuel pump that failed due to aged biodiesel fuel deposits. A failed fuel pump could lead to a loss of engine power, making the work trucks idle in an even worse way than economically…

Starting in February, Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles will be able to charge at 20,000 Tesla Supercharger stations in the U.S., the automaker announced Thursday.

Supercharger access will be enabled via a software update installed by dealerships—not over-the-air. Customers will be contacted by Mercedes to schedule this. The update will preserve the plug-and-charge capability offered in current Mercedes EVs, allowing drivers to charge simply by plugging in, and allow Superchargers to show up on the Mercedes app and infotainment systems.

Mercedes-Benz opens Tesla Supercharger access

Adapters cost $185 and will also be distributed through dealerships. They’ll be available in the U.S. this quarter, Mercedes said, but Canadian drivers will have to wait until Q2. Pricing for that market will be confirmed at a later date. Between the U.S. and Canada, Mercedes expects drivers to have access to about 20,000 Supercharger stations.

Mercedes plans to build Tesla NACS ports into new vehicles for North American markets starting this year. So far the refreshed 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 is the only non-Tesla EV on sale with a NACS port—and it charges slower with it. That’s because most Tesla Superchargers can’t currently charge at 800-volt peak rates, which doesn’t apply to 400-volt Mercedes EVs on the road today.

Mercedes-Benz opens Tesla Supercharger access

Mercedes joined the list of brands switching to NACS in July 2023, even as it was working on its own fast-charging network. The first location, featuring 400-kw DC fast chargers provided by ChargePoint, opened in Georgia in November 2023.

And it’s part of the Ionna charging network joint venture, along with seven other automakers. Ionna aims for 30,000 chargers across North America, with the first site scheduled to open later this year.

Volkswagen will rollout Tesla Supercharger access for its EV customers this summer, when adapters will be ready for current CCS-equipped vehicles.

“We get access to the network in June/July, when we have an official VW adapter,” VW spokesperson Mark Gillies told PCMag at CES 2025 this week, adding that the automaker is still lining up suppliers to manufacture it. Note that this timeline only applies to the VW brand itself; Gillies could not speak to launch timing for other brands of the larger VW Group.

2025 Volkswagen ID.4

The three brands in the VW Group currently selling EVs in the U.S.—VW, Audi, and Porsche—announced Supercharger access and the eventual adoption of the Tesla NACS port in December 2023, alongside the new Scout brand. Scout isn’t planning to deliver its first vehicles until 2027.

This made the VW Group brands among the last to confirm a switch to the NACS port, as nearly all major EV brands in the U.S. market have now confirmed. But it’s also one of the few non-Tesla brands that’s already operating a sizable public charging network in the U.S.—in the form of Electrify America.

2025 Volkswagen ID.7

Electrify America was created as part of VW’s diesel-emissions cheating settlement, committing the automaker to spend $2 billion on charging infrastructure. VW has said that Electrify America will work to add NACS connectors at its charging stations this year, while continuing to use CCS connectors.

When it first announced Supercharger access, VW said it would also begin selling vehicles with NACS ports in 2025. So far the only automaker to do that is Hyundai, with the refreshed 2025 Ioniq 5. But it charges slower at most NACS ports compared to CCS ports because such vehicles can accept higher charge voltages than what’s allowed by Superchargers.

The NHTSA on Tuesday said it is opening an investigation into 2.6 million Tesla electric vehicles in the U.S. over reports of crashes involving the automaker’s Actually Smart Summon remote-driving feature.

Launched in September, Actually Smart Summon is the current version of the Smart Summon remote valet feature Tesla introduced in 2019. It’s designed to move cars short distances in and out of parking spaces, with drivers controlling vehicles remotely via the Tesla smartphone app while keeping them within line of sight. Releasing an app button stops the car.

Reuters reports that the NHTSA is opening a preliminary evaluation into the feature after four crashes. The regulator will then decide whether to upgrade the evaluation into an engineering analysis, and then potentially compel Tesla to issue a recall.

2024 Tesla Model 3 Performance

The NHTSA said it will assess Actually Smart Summon’s maximum speed, its use on public roads, and line-of-sight requirements, as well as potential connectivity delays related to using a smartphone for remote control. The investigation includes 2016-2025 Tesla Model S and Model X, 2017-2025 Model 3, and 2020-2025 Model Y vehicles.

The investigation was triggered by reports that vehicles failed to detect obstacles like posts and parked cars while being remotely operated, and that drivers had too little time to react before a crash.

2024 Tesla Model Y. – Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

This new investigation comes after the NHTSA in October opened an investigation into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with the misleadingly-named Full-Self Driving system after reports of four crashes—including one in which a pedestrian was killed after being struck by a Model Y.

In addition to two investigations, Tesla has had to deal with the troubled launch of its Cybertruck—which has now been recalled seven times—and saw sales fall in 2024. But Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close relationship with president-elect Donald Trump creates the possibility that the incoming administration won’t pursue these investigations further.

Mazda on Monday announced a new Japanese battery plant that will assemble cylindrical cells into modules and battery packs for use in a planned electric vehicle based on a dedicated platform.

Located in Iwakuni City, in Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture, the plant targets 10 GWh of annual production, Mazda said. Cells will be supplied by Panasonic under an agreement between the two companies announced in June 2023 and approved by Japanese regulators in September 2024.

2023 Mazda MX-30 EV

Mazda previously launched the low-range MX-30 in both all-electric and range-extended form, and is partnering with China’s Changan Automobile on the EZ-6 electric sedan. But Mazda said modules and packs assembled at this new plant are destined for “Mazda’s first battery EV that uses a dedicated EV platform,” which will also be assembled in Japan. This likely refers to the electric SUV scheduled to launch in 2027 that Mazda confirmed in November 2024.

The original announcement of the cell supply deal with Panasonic also mentioned North American production of cells, likely from a new factory in De Soto, Kansas. Mazda hasn’t offered an all-electric model since the withdrawal of the MX-30 from this market, but has said that it will adopt the Tesla NACS charging connector for any future EVs it might sell here.

Mazda electrification plans for current decade

Mazda has indicated that longer-range EVs aren’t the future, but the use of cylindrical cells could yield efficiency gains. It’s the chosen cell of Lucid and Tesla—the two range-leading EV brands—with Panasonic supplying both.

Other automakers are also looking at cylindrical cells. BMW is expecting major efficiency improvements from them in its upcoming Neue Klasse EVs, and General Motors has hinted at them as part of an overall strategy of cell flexibility.

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Rolls-Royce is making its biggest investment in its plant since the site’s opening in 2003 The investment is to support personalization services as well as EV production Rolls-Royce plans to unveil its second EV in 2025 Rolls-Royce is about to make the biggest investment in its plant since the site’s opening in 2003, but the investment isn’t aimed…

What kind of vehicle is the 2025 Toyota Prius? What does it compare to? The Prius is a fuel-sipping hatchback with sleek styling. Compare it to the Toyota Corolla Hybrid and the Hyundai Elantra Hybrid, plus myriad EVs with similar dimensions like the Nissan Leaf and Ariya. Is the 2025 Toyota Prius a good car? It is, especially now that it looks…

Donut Lab, a subsidiary of Finland-based Verge Motorcycles, claims to have a motor with the highest power density of any such unit in the world.

At CES 2025, Donut Lab announced it had achieved this feat with donut-shaped motors designed to be integrated with a vehicle’s wheels and tires. This adds unsprung mass, which can make tuning for ride and handling difficult, but Donut claims this is minimized by the light weight of its motors.

The company plans to offer a family of five motors for different designs, including a 21-inch-diameter automotive version that produces 844 hp and 3,171 pound-feet. However, it also weighs 88 pounds—still a lot of unsprung mass. For the same weight, Donut Lab also has a 21-inch motor designed for semi trucks that produces 268 hp and 2,212 lb-ft.

Donut Lab electric motors

Moving down in size, a 17-inch motorcycle motor that weighs 46 pounds produces a claimed 201 hp and 885 lb-ft. There’s also a 12-inch, 17-pound scooter motor rated at 20 hp and 221 lb-ft. Donut Lab even has a 4.7-inch motor designed for drones that generates 4 hp and 14 lb-ft.

By extracting more power from a smaller package, Donut Lab believes it can lower the cost of manufacturing electric vehicles by using less material. To make that easier, it’s offering these motors as part of a complete platform including battery packs, control units, and software—although it hasn’t confirmed how these motors stand with respect to efficiency.

In-wheel motors are not new. Porsche recently reminded us that it’s been working on them for a long time—over a century, in fact. Even Ferrari has considered a type of in-wheel motors.

Donut Lab electric motors

But attempts to commercialize in-wheel motors have been mixed. They’re currently used in at least one Chinese-market sedan, but startups Lightyear and Lordstown Motors stalled before getting them into U.S.-market production vehicles. That leaves Aptera, which had initially seen in-wheel motors as an efficiency play for its electric 3-wheeler.

When it comes to conventional motors, Lucid has the lightest in a production EV, at about 68 pounds each. That automaker’s core propulsion technology is set to be used in future Aston Martin EVs.