Author: EVAI

Genesis is developing an LMDh race car Genesis will power the LMDh with a V-8 formed from two Hyundai World Rally Championship four-cylinder engines Genesis plans an assault on both the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA SportsCar Championship Genesis announced last December plans to enter the top level of endurance racing with a new…

Maserati has canceled a planned all-electric version of its MC20 supercar, citing lack of customer interest.

The news was first reported on Mar. 6 by Evo, which referenced an official statement from the automaker. It’s an indication that Maserati’s commitment to phasing out gasoline cars by the end of the decade is already weakening.

“The project was stopped due to the current forecast for insufficient demand in the super sports car market for a battery electric vehicle,” the statement read.

2023 Maserati MC20 Cielo

Maserati in 2022 said it would offer fully electric versions of every model by 2025, and would aim for an all-electric lineup by 2030. Last year the automaker said it would advance that timeline to 2028, with the phasing-out of gasoline engines only begun with the deletion of V-8 engines.

The electrification plans announced in 2022 had also been proceeding apace up to this point. Maserati has launched promised electric versions of its Grecale compact crossover, GranTurismo coupe, and even the GranCabrio convertible despite the many additional engineering challenges inherent in convertible EVs.

2023 Maserati MC20 Cielo

Maserati had also planned electric versions of its next-generation Quattroporte sedan and Levante SUV, but it hasn’t given an update on those models. The EVs are badged Folgore, the Italian word for lightning.

Other luxury brands have also noted flagged demand for high-end EVs. In a September 2024 interview, Bentley CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser said the luxury market was rejecting electric cars. Bentley still plans to launch its first EV in 2027 and go all-electric by 2035, though. Porsche, which already sells the Taycan sedan and an electric version of its Macan compact crossover, has indicated that the EV transition is taking longer than anticipated.

The 2025 Nissan Z has been announced Changes include new two-tone color options, along with the GT-R’s Bayside Blue signature hue The starting price is unchanged from the previous year at $44,110, including destination With the Nissan GT-R set to bow out of production this summer, Nissan has decided to make its iconic Bayside Blue color available…

Volkswagen and Audi are recalling 60,490 electric vehicles because of a potential software issue that could prevent shift-lever indicators on instrument panels.

The recall includes 2021-2023 VW ID.4 and 2022-2023 Audi Q4 E-Tron and Q4 E-Tron Sportback electric crossovers, which share the VW Group’s MEB platform. These vehicles left the factory with software that might not show the letter “N” for “neutral” in the instrument cluster when the car is shifted into that position, according to the NHTSA.

2023 Volkswagen ID.4

If the vehicle is left in neutral, and the parking brake is not set, it could roll away. Or the vehicle might accidentally be left in Drive when parked—or shifted to Neutral while in motion.

To remedy this, dealers will install updated software for the brake control unit, which has already been implemented on newer-build vehicles, free of charge.

2023 Audi Q4 E-Tron

The two brands plan to mail owner notification letters starting Apr. 25. Owners will likely need to make a service appointment for this; they can also call VW’s customer service department at 800-893-5298 or Audi’s at 800-253-2834, or visit the VW and Audi recall websites, for more information. VW’s reference number for this recall is 97H3, while Audi’s is 454R.

VW just came off a major ID.4 recall. In late 2024, VW recalled 98,800 of the electric crossovers, while stopping both sales and production, because their doors could open unexpectedly due to water leaking onto door-handle-circuit boards. VW said in January that it was resuming sales and production after developing a fix and readying the necessary parts.

Telo Trucks on Thursday unveiled the first pre-production unit of its MT1 compact electric pickup truck.

The next step toward getting the tiny truck into customer hands, California-based Telo said in a press release, is safety and durability testing, followed by regulatory homologation, which Telo hopes to finish next winter.

Telo MT1 electric truck prototype. (Mar. 2025)

Unveiled in 2023 in an early concept form, the MT1 stands in stark contrast versus current electric trucks, with a very compact size and focus on efficiency. It’s just 152 inches long—the same as the outgoing-generation Mini Cooper SE two-door hatchback—yet Telo claims it has room for five adults, with the same legroom as full-size crew cab pickups.

The MT1’s 60-inch bed is longer than that of a Rivian R1T. A midgate allows long objects, including a 9-foot surfboard or a 4×8 sheet of plywood, to fit behind the front seats, Telo claims. An underbed storage nook that Telo calls the Monster Tunnel will offer additional space.

Telo MT1 electric truck prototype (Mar. 2025)

Telo claims to have more than 5,000 pre-orders for the truck at $152 apiece—referencing the truck’s length. The actual base price is $41,250 for a 300-hp single motor rear-wheel drive model with an estimated 260 miles of range. Telo plans to offer a larger battery pack stretching range to an estimated 350 miles for $3,980 extra, and a 500-hp dual-motor powertrain for $4,769 extra.

The company previously said its larger pack would have a 106-kwh capacity, but it hasn’t quoted a capacity for the smaller pack. It has claimed that the MT1 will be the world’s most efficient electric truck, something Telo hopes to achieve with help from another EV startup—Aptera. The fellow California startup plans to supply solar panels to Telo, although it still hasn’t gotten its own solar-assisted EV into production.

During this week’s reveal of its ES90 electric vehicle, Volvo also briefly teased what will likely be its next EV.

The reveal, which was streamed on Volvo’s YouTube channel Wednesday, includes a brief behind the scenes moment with the EX60, the electric counterpart to the Volvo XC60 crossover SUV that’s expected to arrive in 2026. At roughly the 24-minute mark, the back of a clay model of the EX60—with a license plate identifying it as such—is briefly shown.

Updated Volvo XC60

This quick glimpse shows a split-taillight arrangement similar to the Volvo EX30 and EX90, which the EX60 will slot between. Using the person standing alongside the clay model for scale, it appears that, as expected, the EX60 is sized somewhere between the compact EX30 and the three-row EX90 flagship.

While it’s only just now rolling out its SPA2 platform with the EX90 and ES90, the EX60 is tipped to use yet another new platform, called SPA3, which Volvo announced last September. SPA3 will reportedly aim for greater scalability through the use of mega castings, or large single castings that form parts of the body shell normally made up of smaller individual components. Volvo said in 2022 that it plans to implement mega casting manufacturing at the Torslanda, Sweden, plant that builds the XC60.

Volvo ES90

However, SPA3 is expected to share an electrical architecture and software-defined-vehicle approach with SPA2. Volvo is betting heavily on what it calls the Superset technology stack, which the automaker hopes to use to offer more software-based features. More powerful chips for this stack will debut with the ES90, and will be retrofitted to the EX90.

In addition to computing upgrades, the ES90 wraps the SPA2 hard points in a more aerodynamic high-riding hatchback shape, while adding 800-volt charging. Volvo is taking orders in Europe, but it hasn’t discussed U.S. launch timing.

• Allows long-range EV9 to provide up to 100 kwh—for days of home backup
• Only offered in a few states now, nationwide rollout yet to come
• Capable of vehicle-to-grid functions, but that depends on local utility

Kia on Tuesday announced pre-orders for the Wallbox Quasar 2 home charger and accompanying hardware that will unlock the bidirectional charging capability of the automaker’s EV9 electric SUV.

Kia confirmed in late 2023 that the Quasar 2 would be the first EV charger enabling bidirectional charging with the EV9, and that it would serve up home-backup and vehicle-to-grid functionality.  That requires both the 12-kw Quasar 2 charger itself and a power recovery unit grid disconnect switch, which Wallbox bundles for $6,440.

The charger and power recovery unit will only be available in limited quantities, Kia noted in a press release, with EV9 owners who pre-order now receiving priority once the hardware is ready to ship. So far, those pre-orders are limited to residents of California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Washington, with a nationwide rollout to follow, according to Kia. Green Car Reports has reached out to Wallbox and Kia for clarity about availability, as both companies had previously confirmed an earlier timeline for deliveries.

Wallbox Quasar 2 with Kia EV9

Thanks to a CCS interface, as opposed to the CHAdeMO interface of the original Quasar charger, the Quasar 2 lets owners take advantage of the bidirectional charging capability built into the EV9’s E-GMP platform.

That it includes a Power Recovery Mode for home backup power which, Wallbox told Green Car Reports in 2023, lets owners tap into 76 kwh or 100 kwh of energy from the EV9’s battery pack—more than five times the amount of a 13.5-kwh Tesla Powerwall and enough to power the typical American home for up to four days.

The Quasar 2 can also be tied into a home’s electric panel, allowing the EV9 to supplement home electricity and be charged during off-peak times, as well as feed power back into the grid. The latter functionality depends on local utilities, though.

Wallbox Quasar 2 with Kia EV9

The quoted price for the complete kit comes close to the roughly $6,000 Ford has quoted for the home backup power system available for the F-150 Lightning—although based on anecdotal reports, some installations cost significantly more. General Motors in late 2024 announced complete home energy kits, with external battery packs plus chargers and the necessary hardware for home backup power. Those kits start at $12,700 with a battery pack, but GM has also priced its charger and home-power enablement hardware individually at $1,699 and $5,600, respectively.

Putting home-backup power functionality aside, there’s one other solution enabling EV owners to supply energy back to the grid: Fermata’s FE-20 system available for the Nissan Leaf.

Volvo will launch the EX60 electric compact crossover in 2026 A launch video for the ES90 electric hatchback provides a sneak peek at the EX60 The EX60 will be the first model on Volvo’s next-generation SPA3 platform Volvo has provided a sneak peek at its upcoming EX60 electric compact crossover during a video released on March 5 for the reveal of…

The refreshed 2026 Genesis GV70 arrives in dealerships in the coming weeks A $2,385 price hike means the 2026 Genesis GV70 costs $49,435 Every Genesis GV70 comes standard with all-wheel drive The updated 2026 Genesis GV70 luxury SUV sees a $2,385 price hike to go with its revised styling and interior layout. Genesis on Wednesday confirmed a…

Maserati has abandoned plans for an electric version of its MC20 supercar, citing concerns over insufficient buyer demand. The news was first reported on March 6 by Evo, which referenced an official statement from the automaker. And it comes just a week after Maserati’s parent company, Stellantis, announced 1.5 billion euros (approximately…