Author: EVAI

What kind of vehicle is the 2025 BMW X5? What does it compare to? The 2025 BMW X5 is a midsize luxury SUV with a sporty personality. Compare it to the Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class, the Audi Q7, and the Volvo XC90. Is the 2025 BMW X5 a good SUV? It is an immensely appealing choice that earns a commendable 6.8 out of 10 on the TCC scale. Sure, its basic…

The 2025 Lexus LS sees yet another price increase for the new model year, but no significant updates. Pricing starts at $81,685 for the LS 500 version, including the $1,350 destination fee. That’s a $1,000 increase over the 2024 model year, which in turn saw prices increase by $3,100 over the 2023 model year, to $80,685. LS 500 models are powered…

What kind of vehicle is the 2025 Alfa Romeo Giulia What does it compare to? The Giulia is Alfa Romeo’s smallest car, with a pared-down lineup for 2025. The BMW 3-Series and Audi A4 are close rivals. Is the 2025 Alfa Romeo Giulia a good car? It’s not perfect, but the Alfa Romeo Giulia has competitive pricing, engaging performance, and…

Jeep is developing a modular hardtop system that would allow removable hardtop pieces to be stowed onboard vehicles, which could be big news for the Wrangler. The current Jeep Wrangler requires owners to leave its hardtop behind, an inconvenience not asked of Ford Bronco drivers. But a patent application published by the United States Patent and…

EV policy was one of the top issues for Michigan voters in the 2024 Presidential election. And in a state where the Biden administration’s policies have created some of the most jobs, negative messaging may have helped deliver the key swing state to Donald Trump.

That’s the conclusion of a postmortem report by the American EV Jobs Alliance, which noted that by Election Day, more than $30 million had been spent in Michigan on television ads that mentioned EVs—94% of the $35.5 million spent in total on EV-related political ads nationwide.

Influence of EV policy on Presidential vote – American EV Jobs Alliance

Pro-Trump ads tended to focus on an erroneous narrative that Vice President Kamala Harris would ban internal-combustion cars if elected, devastating Michigan auto-industry jobs in the process, according to the report. But for the most part Democrats did not respond with ads defending the party’s EV policies, with 89% of ads attacking Democrats.

The negativity had an impact, the report found. In a poll two weeks before the election, twice as many Michigan voters believed that a push for more EVs would be bad for Michigan jobs, and 73% of auto-industry households believed this. More than half (61%) believed that pushing for more EV sales would be a bad thing for Michigan, and more than a third believed that it was “probably true” that Democrats planned to ban gasoline vehicles. 

2022 GMC Hummer EV pre-production at Factory Zero plant in Detroit, Michigan

Michigan has gained nearly 20,000 new manufacturing jobs from EV investment, and it’s carved out the space for more with examples like the EV conversion of GM’s Lansing Grand River plant, otherwise in danger of closing, aided by $500 million of federal funds designated by the Biden administration. But the lack of positive ads mentioning this meant those gains and examples were largely unknown to voters in the state, the report concluded.

Uninformed Michigan voters may soon feel the consequences of their actions. The incoming Trump administration is likely to curtail EV investments. During the campaign, Trump reportedly offered to nix EV incentives in exchange for a $1 billion donation for Big Oil, and scrapping the federal EV tax credit is reportedly near the top of the agenda for his transition team. And while China’s CATL is willing to negotiate with Trump on a U.S. battery factory, his own party has drafted legislation to eliminate subsidies for batteries based on Chinese tech.

Porsche 911 Dakar production has ended after a 2,500-car run The final 911 Dakar has three-tone paint applied by hand More rugged 911s are possible in the future The 2,500-car production run for the 911 Dakar has reached its end, with the final example featuring a bespoke livery cooked up by Sonderwunsch, Porsche’s personalization department. The…

A rare 1964 Ferrari 400 Superamerica Cabriolet featuring coachwork by Pininfarina is headed for auction next year. The car, which bears chassis number 5093, is undergoing a restoration by classic car expert Scott Bergan, and all proceeds from its sale will be donated to The Basic Fund, a charity that provides school scholarships for students from…

• Patent enables higher charge rates from lower-voltage DC fast chargers
• Solution adds a series of relay switches and a capacitor
• It’s a smart workaround for Tesla V3 Superchargers, which can’t charge at 800 volts

Stellantis is working on hardware to boost the output of low-power DC fast-chargers for electric vehicles that can handle that extra power, while keeping added weight and complexity to a minimum.

Between the lines, although the patent makes no mention of Tesla, it could make a serious real-world charging difference. The idea might allow 800-volt EVs—large EVs like the upcoming Ram 1500 REV—to charge at a higher rate when plugged into sub-800-volt fast-charge connectors, such as the vast majority of those on the Tesla Supercharger network.

Stellantis confirmed plans to adopt the Tesla-based charge port, otherwise called NACS and now part of a standard called SAE J3400, in February.

Rivian NACS adapter

This proposed boost system is described by the automaker in a patent filing published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Oct. 31, 2024, but originally filed Apr. 25, 2023. In it, Stellantis says the system is designed to take full advantage of the charging capabilities of 800-volt vehicle electrical architectures even when charging at 400-volt DC fast-charging stations.

Stellantis DC fast-charging boost system patent image

While dedicated DC boost modules exist, these add significant cost and weight, and can be difficult to package, Stellantis says in the document. As an alternative, the automaker proposes using a series of relay switches to boost voltage. These switches, along with a small DC capacitor, would be the only additional components needed, according to Stellantis, which added that such hardware could be applied to plug-in hybrids as well as EVs.

When charging at a lower-power station, the relay switches would allow current to flow through a vehicle’s inverter and an electric motor during charging, with those components generating two AC phase currents that could be converted into a third, higher-power DC current that would then be fed into the battery.

Stellantis DC fast-charging boost system patent image

The feature might not immediately be relevant for all that many models. Stellantis is sticking with a 400-volt architecture for most of the near-term EVs built on its STLA platform strategy set to underpin the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona and 2024 Jeep Wagoneer S. But it has confirmed those big Ram EVs will charge at 800 volts.

Streamlining charging hardware has been a major focus for Stellantis. In 2023 the automaker discussed plans to drop onboard chargers and inverters altogether in a bid to simplify future EVs.

• Insurance claims suggest EVs are in different types of lower-speed crashes
• EVs are more likely to be rear-ended, less likely to have front-end damage
• Combustion vehicles and EVs are full-loss totaled at about the same rate

EVs are more often involved in different kinds of collisions than internal-combustion cars, data from Mitchell International show, with one-pedal driving systems potentially contributing to this.

Mitchell, which provides tech for the auto insurance and collision repair industries, has previously reported that EV collision repair costs are higher than those for gasoline vehicles. Now the company is delving into the types of fender-benders EVs tend to be involved in versus internal-combustion cars.

In a press release published Wednesday, the company said its data shows that EVs are more likely to sustain rear-end damage than internal-combustion vehicles, with those collisions accounting for 35.9% of EV collisions and 27.5% of internal-combustion vehicle collisions, respectively. Combustion cars have a higher frequency of front-end collisions, at 31.5%, compared to 25.8% for EVs.

2025 Kia Niro EV

Mitchell believes this is likely down to two main factors. One is that EVs tend to be newer, meaning they’re more likely to have the latest front-collision avoidance tech. The company also cited the “different braking dynamics” of EVs in one-pedal mode, which could cause more rapid deceleration that drivers in following cars aren’t prepared for.

While collisions involving a front-end impact are 40% costlier on average than those involving a rear-end impact, EVs still remain costlier to repair overall, according to Mitchell. The company’s data shows that in Q3, insurance claims for repairable vehicles in the U.S. averaged $5,560 for EVs, $5,229 for plug-in hybrids, $4,426 for mild hybrids, and $4,741 for non-hybrid combustion vehicles.

That continues a trend from Q2, when Mitchell found that EV collision-repair costs were 20% higher than those for other vehicles. High repair costs were also among the reasons cited by Hertz for slowing its EV plans.

2025 BMW i4

The latest report from Mitchell did provide a hint about why this may be the case. While about the same percentage of parts are repaired, BEV vs ICE, BEV repairs require 90% original-equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts, while ICE models require 64% OEM parts. The rest come from the aftermarket, likely at a lower cost than OEM parts.

EVs and combustion vehicles are written off as a total loss at about the same rate—9.9% of all claims. The average market value of EVs declared a total loss is $32,718, fairly close to the $31,070 average for 2021-or-newer combustion vehicles, which Mitchell judged to be most similar to EVs in complexity and cost to repair.

High EV repair costs are well-documented, but we’re now also seeing hints that the different driving dynamics of EVs may play a role in the frequency of collisions. In addition to Mitchell’s citing of one-pedal driving as a factor in rear-end collisions, a report published last month found that EV drivers are more likely to be at fault in crashes, and noted that drivers’ behavior changed when switching to an EV.

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