Author: EVAI

Mazda taps Toyota’s hybrid system for its CX-50 crossover 219 hp, up to 38 mpg combined Prices start from $35,390 Mazda has confirmed it will add a hybrid edition of its popular CX-50 crossover SUV to the lineup for 2025. Hybrids get a revised front end, an available red leather interior, and new wheels. Mazda confirms it’s adopted Toyota’s hybrid…

• Lucid’s Air has been recalled, twice, in two weeks
• Over-the-air software updates have been sent to cars for both issues
• Lucid will replace any high-voltage coolant heaters that fail on affected cars

Lucid has issued two recalls applying to its Air electric sedan.

The two independent recalls include a software error that could cause a loss of power and a coolant heater that might fail.

Posted by the NHTSA on June 28, the high-voltage coolant heater issue stems from a potential failure that could lead to a failure in the climate system’s windshield defrosting. This recall, NHTSA campaign number 24V-495, affects 7,506 vehicles that range from the 2022 to the 2024 model year. Lucid estimates 1% of the vehicles recalled have the defect.

Lucid already released an over-the-air software update that will identify and alert owners of a high-voltage coolant heater failure. Lucid said should one of these components fail it will be replaced for free. Notification letters to owners will be mailed Aug. 9.

A separate recall has been issued for 5,251 2022 to 20223 Airs. Only 1% of vehicles within the campaign are estimated to have this defect. Lucid said when a hardware communication fault is detected the high-voltage interlock software might disconnect the high-voltage contractors while the vehicle is in motion. The result would be a loss of drive power, which could result in the risk of a crash.

2023 Lucid Air Touring

To date, 10 known occurrences have been reported.

Lucid released an over-the-air software update for the issue on June 24. Letters to owners alerting them of the issue will be mailed Aug. 15. The recall is filed under NHTSA campaign 24V-497.

Anyone looking for more information can contact Lucid at 1-888-995-8243 or the NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236.

NASCAR surprised attendees at its Chicago Street Race on Saturday with the debut of a fully electric SUV prototype. 

It’s so surprising, perhaps, because the race series hasn’t even gone hybrid yet. NASCAR remains a race of thirsty, loud V-8 engines and rear-wheel-drive cars with rear-mounted manual transmissions. 

And while the organization is making no suggestion of going all-electric next year, or even this decade, the prototype is surely an indication it’s thinking of the day when NASCAR will. 

The NASCAR EV Prototype has all-wheel drive and is powered by three six-phase motors—one in front, two in back—potentially producing more than 1,300 hp and rolling on four Goodyear Racing Eagle tires. A 78-kwh battery pack powers the vehicle, and it emphasizes regenerative braking that NASCAR says makes the car “ideal for road courses and short oval tracks.”

NASCAR electric race car prototype

Its body is made of “sustainable flax-based composite, with its steering, suspension, brakes, and wheels all derived from the current race cars. 

The prototype was developed with the charging and automation supplier ABB, which is now the car-racing league’s official partner for greening and very much involved in Formula E and F1. 

The road to electrify the “stock car”

While the “S” and the “C” in NASCAR stand for stock car, the league’s race cars have not had much to do with production cars. 

It started to change that in 2022, with its so-called Next Gen car that updated the racers’ components, aiming to better match those of production cars on a component basis, even if not as a whole. For instance, it finally dropped the old solid-rear-axle layout for an independent rear suspension. 

NASCAR appears in a bind, as the organization has pledged to green the race series while its fan base appears not to value that shift. When it introduced its NextGen car, NASCAR said that a hybrid powertrain might arrive by 2024. But with that shift nowhere in sight, the soonest that’s estimated to arrive now is around 2027—despite current competition cars emulating the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Toyota bZ4X, and Chevrolet Blazer EV.

Zero-emissions pace cars happened long ago. The Ford Focus Electric became the first NASCAR EV pace vehicle in 2012, and the Toyota Mirai paced NASCAR in 2015. And some NASCAR drivers stood behind EVs even before then. 

In April 2023, NASCAR committed to its first long-term carbon emissions goal and “the beginning of a new era in sustainability for America’s top motorsport.” That included a goal to cut its carbon footprint to zero across its core operations by 2035. 

2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse NASCAR Cup Series race car

Still an arena of 5-mpg guzzlers

NASCAR racers’ fuel consumption hasn’t changed much in decades and remains around 5 mpg during races. Over a season NASCAR’s fuel load has been estimated at around 2 million gallons—the same amount of gasoline that’s used by about 5,000 vehicles (30 mpg, 12,000 miles) in a year. 

Formula E cars, on the other hand, complete their entire race on a full charge of less than 47 kwh—or the energy equivalent of about 1.4 gallons of gas. NASCAR race cars might use around 80 gallons in a race, admittedly much longer. 

2024 Nissan GT-R Skyline Edition

Could EVs bring the “stock” back?

As Nissan recently argued, too, Formula E is providing more of a testbed for production vehicle technologies—like its e-4orce all-wheel drive system for EVs, and future performance applications for it. 

The more appropriate question in NASCAR’s mission to green itself may be whether or not its target audience is ready to say farewell to the era of gas-guzzling V-8s. 

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona

There’s a market test on the way. The EV potentially set to charge the NASCAR crowd up the most may be the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV, which harks back to the heritage Daytona, the first vehicle to break 200 mph on a NASCAR track in 1970. The Dodge EV obviously won’t have the same level of gasoline fumes as the original, but it will include a “bone shaking” Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust system that relies on an amplifier and tuning chamber—perhaps striking the right mix of old and new that will eventually be necessary to sell the NASCAR crowd on EVs. 

The CX-50 hybrid comes in three trims and returns an EPA-estimated 38 mpg.

• 72 Bolt EV and EUV models missed software to signal a bad battery
• Those models need to return to dealerships for the software
• Affected owners should park outside, not charge above 90%

A small subset of Chevrolet Bolt EVs previously recalled for potential battery fires have once again been recalled for the same. 

While this isn’t a new issue, GM’s proactive tally of service records indicated that some vehicles didn’t complete the installation of diagnostic software as part of their recall remedy. 

That means a new round of recall paperwork (and dealer service) for 66 different 2020-2022 Bolt EV hatchbacks and 6 different 2022 Bolt EUVs. In those specific cars, GM says, “advanced diagnostic software may have been incorrectly installed and fail to detect defective battery modules, possibly resulting in a battery fire.”

Although GM isn’t aware of any incidents connected to this software issue, the automaker internally identified that its service software system would, in some cases, allow a technician to process a vehicle’s warranty claim without complete installation of the software, it explained in recall paperwork. 

2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV

Advice for what drivers of affected vehicles are instructed to do sounds much like when GM was rolling out such software to the Bolt EV when it was first affected by that battery recall: Set the target charge level to 90%; avoid depleting the battery below 70 miles of range remaining; park outside after charging; and do not charge the vehicle indoors overnight. 

Lucky owners who get to bring their vehicle in yet again for recall service will be notified starting around August 5, 2024. Bolt EV owners may in the meantime contact 833-382-4389 with questions. 

This is a very, very small subset of GM’s massive 2021 battery recall effort, which eventually spanned all 140,000 Bolt EV and Bolt EUV models in North America. Although this recall relates to the later model years, many owners of earlier 2017-2019 Bolt EVs ended up with new battery packs, resulting in more driving range than they originally had. 

2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV

As part of a class-action Bolt EV settlement vs. GM and LG Energy Solution, owners are also likely eligible for $700 to $1,400. 

The Bolt EV went out of production in December 2023, but as GM reported last week it remained Chevy’s top-selling EV for the first half of 2024, with the Blazer EV failing to overtake it for the period. GM CEO Mary Barra confirmed earlier this year that when it returns later in 2025 the 2026 Chevy Bolt EV will be the most affordable U.S. EV.

How fast was this Cybertruck going when it crashed to suffer this much damage, and what did it crash into?

Biggest price hike applies to base front-wheel-drive Sportage Hybrid 2025 Sportage Hybrid remains cheaper than rivals if AWD isn’t a priority Sportage PHEV carries over at 34 miles of range, includes AWD Kia has carried over its Sportage Hybrid and Plug-In Hybrid lineups for the 2025 model year. And while there are few changes to these…

Production of the gas-powered Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman ends in 2025, Macan in 2026 The electric Porsche Macan costs $80,450 and is on sale now An electric 718 Boxster and Cayman replacement debuts this year with production starting in 2025 Two years, That’s how long the stay of execution will be before some of the most popular gas-powered…

NASCAR on Saturday revealed a prototype electric race car with a crossover-like body, meant to demonstrate the series’ commitment to reducing emissions. Unveiled ahead of the NASCAR Chicago street race, the EV prototype was developed by the same in-house engineers that worked on the Next Gen car now used in the Cup Series as well as the Garage 56…

• The 2025 Ram 1500 REV is Ram’s electric truck launching near the end of 2024
• Ram said the 1500 REV will have up to 500 miles of range, but standard battery trucks will have 350 miles of range
• A range-extended Ram 1500 Ramcharger arrives after the electric Ram 1500 REV

Ram is looking to go the distance with its electric truck when it arrives later this year.

The 2025 Ram 1500 REV electric truck aims to upstage the Ford F-150 Lightning, Chevrolet Silverado EV, Rivian R1T, and Tesla Cybertruck with up to 500 miles of range. The key ingredient? A massive battery pack.

2025 Ram 1500 REV at the 2023 New York auto show

Ram hasn’t release full specs, yet. We know the Ram 1500 REV will ride on Stellantis STLA Frame chassis, which is its dedicated electric family of platforms, in this case made for a body-on-frame vehicle, like a full-size pickup truck. The standard battery fitted within the frame will be a 168-kwh pack that Ram said will probably deliver up to 350 miles of range. But a 229-kwh battery pack will be available, and Ram estimates that will give the Ram 1500 REV up to 500 miles of range.

The Ram 1500 REV will be capable of DC fast-charging of up to 350 kw, which Ram said will add 110 miles of range in about 10 minutes regardless of battery pack. The truck will be capable of bidirectional charging, but Ram hasn’t outlined this feature, yet. A panel of plugs in the bed can output up to 7.2 kw of power while a plug in the front trunk provides up to 3.6 kw.

Ram said the 1500 REV electric truck will be capable of towing up to 14,000 pounds, the most of any electric pickup, and have a payload capacity of up to 2,700 pounds.

Only a dual-motor powertrain delivering all-wheel drive has been announced so far with up to 654 hp and 620 lb-ft of torque. The motors are integrated with inverters in a module, and the front can be disconnected from the axle to boost efficiency. Ram said that regenerative braking will be strong enough for one-pedal driving. An electronic locking rear differential will be available. Ram said the 1500 REV will be capable of 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds and fording up to 24 inches of water.

2025 Ram 1500 REV

First shown in February during the Super Bowl, the electric Ram pickup won’t look dramatically different from its gas-powered siblings. The front grille’s blocked off for aerodynamic and frunk purposes, the LED daytime running lights bleed into the center of the front end, and the rear taillights extend into the tailgate. Much beyond that it’ll be wheels and small trim bits that visually differentiate the electric-powered truck from the gas-powered model. It’s going to take a keen eye to know which truck is which on the road. Ram fitted the entire underbody of the 1500 REV with smooth panels to clean up the aero. Ram said the 1500 REV has a 0.34 coefficient of drag.

2025 Ram 1500 REV

Inside the story is the same. Cabin appointments are the same as those for the gas-powered model aside from some visuals on the screens to show the electric truck’s status for charging, battery, and powertrain. The dashboard controls also carry over from the gas-powered model. That’s not a bad thing since the Ram 1500 has the nicest interior money can buy in a pickup truck. From an available 14.0-inch touchscreen and 12.3-inch digital gauge caster to a 10.3-inch front passenger screen, the leather-lined cabin can be outfitted like a luxury vehicle.

Ram hasn’t said how long the bed will be or what sizes will be offered, but the front trunk has 15 cubic feet of space.

The 2025 Ram 1500 REV will launch ahead of its range-extended sibling, the 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger.