Author: EVAI

Williams has revealed the FW47 as its contender for the 2025 Formula 1 season The FW47 will be piloted by Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon in the new season Williams also has a new title sponsor, Atlassian Williams provided a sneak peek of its 2025 Formula 1 car, the FW47, on Friday following an initial shakedown test at the Silverstone Circuit in the…

The all-new small crossover costs $36,350 with destination The $36,350 starting price is only $2,000 more than the Integra hatchback in Acura’s lineup All-wheel drive costs $2,000 extra Acura on Friday confirmed pricing for the 2025 ADX, its smallest crossover SUV yet. At $36,350 with the mandatory $1,350 destination charge, the ADX is also the…

Hyundai and Kia are looking to combine battery-pack cases with vehicle structural components for greater packaging efficiency.

In a patent filing published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Nov. 14, 2024, and first submitted by the automakers to that agency Oct. 26, 2023, Hyundai and Kia discuss having a vehicle’s floor double as the upper panel of a battery pack case. This would make better use of available space, allowing more modules to be fitted, the automakers argue.

Hyundai and Kia battery case floor patent image

This would more closely integrate the battery pack with the vehicle’s structure, several major components of which would attach to the floor panel that also serves as the upper battery case panel. These include side sills and cross members, with some of the latter potentially blended with the floor panel by using an extrusion fabrication method.

Battery modules would be placed underneath the floor, potentially in voids not occupied by crossmembers, with front and rear barriers protecting the pack and integrated with the side sills, the automakers say in the filing.

Hyundai and Kia battery case floor patent image

Other companies have also explored structural battery packs. Tesla outlined its own design at its 2020 Battery Day, claiming at the time that a structural battery would offer a 10% mass reduction, a potential 14% range increase, and 370 fewer parts with battery cells essentially incorporated as part of a honeycomb against the underside of the vehicle floor. Startup Canoo made structural batteries part of its unique skateboard platform, but retained modules while still claiming a 90-pound weight reduction.

Last year, Chinese startup Neta Auto said it was working with battery supplier CATL to ditch battery packs and integrates cells directly with a vehicle’s chassis, taking CATL’s cell-to-pack tech one step further. Beyond that, researchers have also looked at using body panels as batteries, although the various structural battery pack concepts are likely closer to production.

TDF has an upcoming documentary that details how it turns retired Formula 1 cars into track toys The company uses original chassis but swaps in its own power unit and gearbox The company only uses chassis that have competed in actual F1 races Forget the Aston Martin Valkyrie and Mercedes-Benz AMG One—if you’re after the closest thing…

Acura, which hasn’t sold a hybrid vehicle since the NSX supercar ended production in 2022, may be reconsidering its strategy. The automaker previously announced in 2021 that it planned to bypass hybrids entirely, and would instead focus on electric vehicles when it comes to electrification, with a goal of 60% EV sales by 2030. However, recent…

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Electric vehicles improved in the 2025 J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study but plug-in hybrids got worse.

Released Thursday, the annual study focuses on the rate of problems with new vehicles, as reported by owners, with scores assigned based on problems per 100 vehicles. The new results are based on problems experienced by the original owners of vehicles going back to the 2022 model year. The sample included 34,175 responses from owners gathered from August through November of 2024.

EVs improved by 33 problems per 100 vehicles compared to the previous year’s study, while plug-in hybrids saw an increase of 26 problems per 100 vehicles compared to last year, when EVs were found to be the most trouble-prone vehicles.

2024 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid

The gap between EVs and gasoline vehicles also narrowed significantly, J.D. Power noted, now standing at 223 problems per 100 vehicles and 200 problems per 100 vehicles, respectively. Plug-in hybrids were the most problematic, at 242 reported issues per 100 vehicles. Hybrids fared the best; such models without a plug experienced the fewest problems, at 199 per 100 vehicles.

In a previous study, J.D. Power underscored that the powertrains aren’t to blame for all these issues; rather it’s been all the other tech that debuts in EVs. The 2025 Vehicle Dependability Study indicates that tech-related issues are becoming more prevalent across the auto industry, with software connectivity issues among the most frequent owner complaints, and just 30% of owners saying that they saw improvements after over-the-air updates.

2022 Audi Q5 55 TFSI e plug-in hybrid

That contributed to a worse performance, as averaged across the entire industry, in this year’s study. The industry as a whole saw problems per 100 vehicles increase by 6%, averaging 202 problems per 100 vehicles.

But EVs continue to perform more poorly than other vehicles in these studies. J.D. Power also noted a higher rate of owner-reported problems for EVs, compared to the industry average, in its 2024 Initial Quality Study. Consumer Reports’ annual reliability survey in late 2023 found that vehicles that plug in, overall, are more trouble-prone—and it noted that especially applies to plug-in hybrids.

• Modern EVs don’t suffer the extreme-temp range loss—or degradation—that earlier models did
• Heat pumps and battery heaters have made a difference, as have new battery chemistries
• Automaker testing is part of it, as Nissan points to in Ariya EV

Electric vehicle batteries perform best and last longest in a specific temperature window, but modern EVs are still equipped to deal with temperatures much hotter or colder than that ideal.

As Nissan explained in a recent press release, that’s largely down to equipping vehicles with thermal-management hardware—and validating that hardware with thorough testing.

The Nissan Ariya crossover uses liquid cooling to keep its battery pack at the optimal temperature during hot weather, and a battery heater in colder temperatures. The Ariya also has a heat pump to minimize cold-weather range loss—something the popular Tesla Model Y and Model 3 also have.

Nissan Ariya cold temperature testing

Like most other major automakers, Nissan tests new vehicles in climate-controlled chambers to monitor extreme temperatures. Such a chamber at Nissan’s Detroit-area technical center is capable of temperatures ranging from -40 degrees Fahrenheit to 176 degrees Fahrenheit, the automaker claims.

In a 24-hour “cold soak” test conducted in 2024, an Ariya was parked in the chamber with a 17% charge at -4 degrees Fahrenheit. After a full day had passed at that temperature, without the car being plugged in or using its battery heater, Nissan claims the charge level was unchanged.

Owners might want to leave a car plugged in, of course, both to charge and to pre-heat the cabin without drawing down the pack. Since they’re not waiting for the waste heat from a combustion engine, EVs inherently warm their interiors faster, too, Nissan notes.

Nissan Ariya security patrol vehicle used at automaker’s Arizona proving ground

Very high temps are a consideration nearly every automaker has allowed for in modern EV development, too. Nissan also uses Ariya SUVs for the security patrols at its proving ground near Phoenix, Arizona, to keep prying eyes away from new models circling test tracks out in the desert. In 2023, Nissan replaced gasoline Armada and Frontier patrol vehicles with a pair of Ariya EVs, which have since covered more than 30,000 miles at the site, where summer temperatures can exceed 115 degrees Fahrenheit. They’re part of a fleet of 10 Ariyas at the facility.

This more thorough testing in extreme temperatures—and wider use of heat pumps and other related hardware—appears to be paying off. Recurrent, which gathers EV driving data to compile battery health reports for used vehicles, found that 20 popular models are now averaging 80% of peak range in freezing temperatures, compared to ideal conditions. That’s based on data from over 18,000 vehicles in the U.S., according to Recurrent. 

As with previous studies, Recurrent found that each model performs differently, but that all models surveyed can deliver over 100 miles of range when the thermometer needle drops below freezing. Yes, that even includes the base 149-mile Nissan Leaf. The heat pump-equipped Tesla Model X and Model S performed best, and heat pumps overall averaged a 10% improvement in cold-weather range.

Nissan itself is a good example here for how far EVs have come in adding thermal systems and accommodating for extremes. The original Nissan Leaf EV lacked active thermal management, and its first cells suffered from excessive range reduction in the cold and accelerated degradation from the heat. That was partly solved in 2015 with a new cell chemistry, but as it’s shown here all the advantages built into the Ariya may be worth their added complexity. 

It’s also important to remember that whatever range loss owners encounter in cold weather is temporary. Long-term battery degradation is accelerated in hot weather, although research done last year by Geotab suggests that for most new EVs, battery degradation shouldn’t really be a concern—even if you follow habits that had been frowned upon with earlier EVs, like frequent fast-charging.

Honda and Nissan on Thursday terminated a memorandum of understanding under which the two automakers had been discussing a merger, but plan to continue collaborating.

The memorandum was signed by the two automakers in December as the first step toward a merger targeted for 2026. The decision to terminate it comes after discussions by each automaker’s management team and various stakeholders that “considered the surrounding market environment, the objectives of the business integration, and the management strategies and structures post-integration,” a joint statement said.

2024 Nissan Ariya

When talks started, both automakers had discussed transferring their shares to a joint holding company, in which Honda would appoint the majority of directors and a CEO. But Honda later proposed making Nissan a subsidiary. A report earlier this month indicated that this was jeopardizing the planned merger. Such a structure would diminish Nissan’s decision-making authority, and had reportedly caused the automaker to withdraw from negotiations.

Both companies agreed to cease merger talks in order to “prioritize speed of decision making and execution of management measures in an increasingly volatile market environment heading into the era of electrification,” the statement said. But the two automakers will continue working together.

Honda 0 Saloon prototype

“Nissan and Honda will collaborate within the framework of a strategic partnership aimed at the era of intelligence and electrified vehicles,” the statement said. The automakers signed a memorandum of understanding for a strategic partnership covering EVs, hybrids, and software in March 2024 that will continue to move forward, Nissan indicated.

The merger would’ve been a lifeline for Nissan, which has been struggling with declining sales globally, particularly in the U.S. and China. Nissan also owns 34% of Mitsubishi, and the two automakers collaborate as part of an alliance with Renault, but Mitsubishi was reportedly planning to stay out of the proposed merger with Honda.

Mercedes-Benz is testing prototypes for a second-generation GLB-Class based on the MMA platform The new GLB-Class is expected to debut in 2026 Both electric and hybrid powertrains are in the pipeline A redesigned GLB-Class compact crossover is shaping up to be the second member of Mercedes-Benz’s next-generation compact family, following the…