Category: General

The 2025 Kia Niro EV receives a few more standard features, but costs the same as the 2024 model.

That means prices still start at $40,975—including a $1,375 destination fee—for the Niro EV Wind base model. For 2025, the Wind receives a larger 10.3-inch digital instrument cluster and switches to a rotary shifter.

2025 Kia Niro EV

The higher-level Wave grade costs $45,975 with destination. For 2025, it adds blind-spot monitors, a 10-way power front-passenger seat, and head-up display as standard equipment. A rear parking-collision avoidance system and Smart Park Assist semi-automated parking are new additions to the option list.

The Niro EV still offers an EPA-rated 253 miles of range from a 64.8-kwh battery pack. An 11-kw onboard charger allows for a full charge in around seven hours from a Level 2 AC source. DC fast charging, with a maximum power rate of 85 kw, can accomplish a 10%-80% charge in around 45 minutes.

2025 Kia Niro EV

A single permanent-magnet motor sends 201 hp and 188 lb-ft of torque to the front wheels. Kia says this will get the Niro EV from 0-62 mph in 7.8 seconds. In a test drive review of the current-generation Niro EV, we found this front-wheel-drive vehicle was a bit traction-limited at freeway merging speeds, but quick and quiet in other conditions.

Kia continues to offer hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of the Niro, which cost $28,365 and $35,865 for the 2025 model year, respectively. All three Niro variants serve as the entry points in the Kia lineup for their respective powertrains, with the Niro EV slotted below the Kia EV6 and EV9 crossovers. But a report earlier this year claimed that the Kia EV3 will be built in Mexico to a hit a $30,000 price point, undercutting the Niro.

Leftover fabric from car airbags is now being used in sneakers, helping to lower the environmental impact of cars and footwear alike.

The Asics Gel-Sonoma 15-50 uses airbag nylon fabric remnants from Toyoda Gosei, one of Toyota’s captive suppliers, in its upper elements. Launched in January 2023, the sneaker won a Good Design Award 2024 from the Japan Institute of Design Promotion.

Toyota Land Cruiser showing off airbags

“Making an upcycled product using waste material as a main material is seen as the kind of action that is needed by society, both from the viewpoint of effective use of materials and in arousing users’ interest in material waste in today’s society,” jurors said in a statement.

Toyoda Goesi has also marketed bags and pen cases made from airbag fabric and scraps from leather steering-wheel wrappers under its own Re-S brand. There have been a great many airbag recalls in recent years, some of which include hundreds of thousands of vehicles, like the Toyota Grand Highlander, so if the material could potentially be recovered, the supplier has shown a way to potentially use it.

2025 Toyota Grand Highlander

Automakers and suppliers are also well on the way to cutting the footprint of vehicles by taking other types of recovered materials—from landfill waste to ripped jeans—and using them for vehicle cabins.

Other odd but useful recovery efforts that may pay off big include recovering magnet material from old hard drives for EV motors. And Kia has ambitious plans, announced in 2021, to phase out leather and up the level of recycled plastics in its cabins and vehicles.

• GM is phasing out Apple CarPlay in its lineup
• New Chevy, Cadillac, GMC, and Buick EVs won’t have Apple CarPlay
• GM’s software boss believes the automaker’s making the right call

General Motors is still committed to phasing out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity in future EVs, software boss Baris Cetinok said in a recent interview with The Verge.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which allow users to “project” features from their smartphones onto in-car displays—plus more for EVs, including route planning—have proven popular with customers. But GM announced last year that it would stop including them in future EVs as it shifts to a new Google-based infotainment system.

2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV

That’s still the best path forward, Cetinok told The Verge, because it allows GM “to create the most deeply integrated experience that you can create with the vehicle,” rather than relying on interfaces ported in from smartphone apps.

“We are not shipping devices with just monitors; we’re not a monitor company,” said Cetinok, who previously worked at Apple in product management and marketing for features like Apple Pay and iCloud. Abandoning deeper smartphone connectivity will create a seamless experience across different features, such as driver aids like GM’s Super Cruise and entertainment features like podcast apps, he claimed.

2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV RS

The 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV was the first GM vehicle to launch without Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and subsequent EV launches like the Chevy Equinox EV and Chevy Silverado EV have also gone without those features. It’s likely more of an adjustment for users who prefer Apple features like Apple Maps. Google-based infotainment systems in newer GM EVs incorporate many of the same features as Android Auto, such as Google Maps and Google Assistant voice recognition.

Deep integration of software features can be important for route planning, as access to the vehicle’s state of charge and other data is needed to determine charging stops and precondition battery packs for the quickest possible charge. But as other automakers have demonstrated, that doesn’t mean taking functionality away. For instance, Ford EVs offer a choice, with these abilities integrated with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, as well as via its own built-in navigation systems.

Mazda on Thursday provided an update on its powertrain development efforts, which will emphasize bringing more development work on all-electric and hybrid powertrains in-house going forward.

After launching the low-range MX-30 crossover, which has already been discontinued in the U.S., with all-electric and range-extended powertrains, Mazda has leaned on partners for electrification. A hybrid version of the CX-50 crossover SUV arrives for the 2025 model year with a Toyota-sourced hybrid system, while the EZ-6 electric sedan was developed in partnership with China’s Changan Automobile.

Mazda electrification plans for current decade

Now Mazda is trying to stand on its own. In Thursday’s presentation, the automaker said it was developing its own hybrid system to be used in the next-generation CX-5 crossover SUV launching sometime between 2025 and 2027. After the CX-5, the hybrid system could then be applied to larger models, Mazda said.

Closer to the end of that time frame, around 2027, Mazda also plans to launch an electric SUV based on its own dedicated EV platform, with a plug-in hybrid variant also possible. This will be sold alongside an electric SUV co-developed with Changan.

2025 Mazda EZ-6

Mazda also confirmed that it had inked battery supply deals with AESC and Panasonic to secure needed battery volumes up to 2030. A new factory in Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture will assemble cells from Panasonic, with which Mazda has been in talks since at least 2023, into modules.

Development of internal-combustion engines will continue as well. In the same presentation, Mazda announced a new Skyactiv-Z family of 4-cylinder engines due to launch in 2027, and said that it reinstated a rotary-engine development team in February. The MX-30 currently uses a small rotary engine as a range extender, but this hints at broader use of the piston-less engines that are a big part of Mazda lore. The automaker in May also allied with Subaru and Toyota to find ways to further reduce emissions from combustion engines.

• The next Tesla to become a cop car is the Model S Plaid
• UP.FIT, a division of Unplugged Performance created the police package for the Model S
• UP.FIT has also made a police-spec Cybertruck

Unplugged Performance is displaying a new Tesla police car from its UP.FIT division at the 2024 SEMA show in Las Vegas. This time, it’s the Model S Plaid that’s reporting for duty.

Set to be delivered to a community outreach program of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Plaid received a new wiring harness to integrate police lights, which are mounted behind the windshield and rear window, as well as along the side skirts, to eliminate the aerodynamic drag created by a conventional light bar, according to Unplugged Performance.

Other police equipment includes a push bar, high- and low-frequency sirens, and a public address system. All of this equipment adds weight, but Unplugged Performance estimates a relatively small drop in range to 345 miles, compared to 359 miles for the standard Plaid.

Tesla Model S Plaid police car by Unplugged Performance

The police-spec Plaid retains the stock tri-motor all-wheel-drive powertrain, which generates 1,020 hp and allows for 0-60 mph acceleration in 1.9 seconds, according to Tesla. Unplugged Performance upgraded the brakes and installed lighter wheels, though.

Unplugged Performance has also built a police Tesla Cybertruck, which was delivered to the Irvine Police Department in California earlier this year. As with civilian EVs, California leads the way in electric police cars. One California police department already has an all-electric fleet, consisting of 10 Tesla Model 3 sedans and 10 Model Y crossovers.

Tesla Model S Plaid police car by Unplugged Performance

But a recent report found that some California police departments are having trouble with Tesla Model 3 and Model Y police cars—included ones upfitted by Unplugged Performance—citing issues insufficient interior space and difficulty getting maintenance and repair support for the bespoke vehicles. Issues like this stem partly from the fact that Tesla doesn’t offer a factory police package.

That police departments are willing to purchase Tesla police cars modified by aftermarket companies demonstrates the lack of options currently available. Ford—a mainstay of the cop-car business—offers a police version of the F-150 Lightning and has supplied Mustang Mach-E police cars to the New York Police Department. Stellantis has also hinted that it’s preparing the Dodge Charger Daytona for police duty as a replacement for the outgoing-generation gasoline Charger.

• The Invictus is a limited-edition performance version of the Karma Revero PHEV
• Only 30 units of the Invictus will be built at a later, unannounced, date
• Karma hasn’t said how much the Invictus costs

Karma Automotive this week unveiled yet another update of the long-lived Revero plug-in hybrid.

The Karma Invictus is a more performance-focused version of the Revero that will be limited to just 30 units. Pricing and a delivery timeline will be announced at a later date.

Karma mentioned a 3.9-second 0-60 mph time that’s just over half a second quicker than the Revero, but not any increased output from the carryover powertrain consisting of a BMW-sourced 1.5-liter turbo-3, two electric motors, and a 28-kwh battery pack. In the Revero, this setup is good for 536 hp and 550 lb-ft of torque, as well as a claimed 80 miles of electric range. The 0-60 mph and electric range figures are the same as what Karma was claiming in 2021, when this car was called the GS-6.

Karma Invictus

It’s possible that the quicker acceleration is helped by decreased weight, as the Invictus has a carbon fiber hood, roof, trunk, and front fenders, the latter with vents that Karma claims help relieve air pressure from the wheel wells. The rear spoiler and rocker panels are also made from carbon fiber, while the interior has an Art Deco motif inspired by New York City’s Chrysler Building.

The Invictus also features a sport suspension system, with dampers from Swedish specialist Öhlins and Swift springs, that “delivers more direct and precise steering, and improved grip and predictability at the cornering limit and over uneven road surfaces,” according to Karma. Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires, mounted to 21-inch wheels, should enhance grip as well.

Karma Invictus

Karma started 10 years ago with the purchase by Chinese auto parts supplier Wanxiang Group of the remains of Fisker Automotive, the previous company started by Henrik Fisker, before the now-bankrupt Fisker Inc. concern behind the all-electric Ocean SUV. Since then, it’s evolved in fits and starts, with proposed products ranging from luxury cars to commercial trucks, some of which simply haven’t shown up.

Karma’s sole consistent product has been the Revero, which has its roots in the design of the Fisker Karma that pre-dated the Tesla Model S as a sexy green car. The car’s evolution has included the aforementioned name change from Revero to GS-6 and then back to Revero. The company has shown multiple concepts recently, including the Ivara SUV, but they’re still a few years out from production.

Honda on Tuesday unveiled a performance electric motorcycle concept as part of what the company says will be an ongoing emphasis on two-wheeled electrification.

Previewing a production model scheduled to go on sale in 2025, the Honda EV Fun concept aims to “provide a new emotional experience that is very different to ICE motorcycles,” according to a press release.

Honda EV Fun concept

A battery pack of indeterminate size provides up to 62 miles of range (likely as measured on Japan’s testing cycle) and can be recharged with a Combined Charging Standard (CCS) port. With partner companies representing half of the global motorcycle market, Honda has agreed to set a standard for swappable batteries—so users might be able to skip home charging or the wait at fast-chargers completely. 

Up until now Honda has suggested that it will electrify mopeds, scooters, and the worker bees of the motorcycle market first. But the EV Fun concept especially emphasizes that it might not waste any time getting to the top of the sport bike market.

Honda EV Fun concept

Earlier efforts to cast electric motorcycles as sport bikes didn’t land so soundly on the market; Brammo and Lightning, for instance, didn’t succeed. But the general success of the Harley-Davidson LiveWire as a top-of-the-line electric bike indicates there’s room for them in the market.

Honda said in the release that it’s now beginning its entry into the global electric motorcycle market, a process that will continue through 2026, with greater expansion after that. This lines up with a 2022 statement from the company that it would launch 10 new electric bikes by 2025—including one for kids. Considering that Honda started out making gasoline engines for bicycles, then complete motorcycles, before becoming an automaker, it’s only fitting that motorcycles will play a big role in its electrification plans. Now, how will its future electric motorcycles sound?

• Batteries bound for U.S. Rivian R2 models will come from Arizona
• LG will supply Rivian with 67 gigawatt-hours over five years
• 4695 format is set to be shared with R3, R3X

Next-generation cylindrical battery cells for the Rivian R2 SUV will come from LG Energy Solution and its Arizona plant, the battery supplier and U.S. EV maker confirmed Thursday. 

The agreement, LG says, will span five years and total 67 gigawatt-hours in total energy capacity and power R2 models for the North American market. Although LG didn’t note a starting date for supply, the R2 is due to go on sale in 2026.

The Rivian R2-bound cells, at 46 mm in diameter and 95 mm in length, mirror the size that BMW has also committed to. They stand dimensionally different versus Tesla’s 4680 cell format (46 mm x 80 mm), which reportedly carries with it some additional production challenges, the 2170 format (21 mm x 70 mm) used in the Rivian R1 lineup and the Tesla Model Y and Model 3, among others, or Tesla’s original 18650 format (18 mm x 65 mm).

LG noted that the new size enables higher energy density, improved space efficiency, and enhanced safety. 

BMW cylindrical battery cells

Rivian confirmed to Green Car Reports that the agreement is specifically for high-nickel cells, which generally refers to NCA or NCM lithium-ion chemistries and not the lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) cells that are becoming more popular in cost-conscious base EV models—like versions of the Ford Mustang Mach-E, and in the upcoming next-generation Chevy Bolt EV. 

The $45,000 Rivian R2 will be the first true mass-market EV from the U.S. electric vehicle maker, and it could be the model that makes the fledgling company financially sustainable. It’s initially set to be built in Normal, Illinois, alongside the R1T pickup, R1S SUV, and EDV (van) models. 

Once production is underway, some R2 production may be shifted to a future Georgia plant that would start making vehicles in 2027—eventually including the compact Rivian R3 family, with its hot-hatch, rally-tinged R3X counterpart. 

Rivian R3X

Cells a structural core for Rivian’s future EVs

As Rivian confirmed earlier this year with their reveal, the R2, R3, and R3X are all set to be built around the same next-generation architecture, focused around a structural battery pack with these 4695-format cylindrical cells. 

Rivian confirmed to GCR that LG does not have explicit exclusivity as the cell supplier for the R2 lineup. The 67 gigawatt-hours calculates out to about 700,000 vehicles split over five years, assuming nearly 100 kwh per vehicle. So it’s unclear from this initial plan whether R3 and R3X might see some of these cells, too, in the interest of flexibility, or to what degree those somewhat-more-affordable LFP cells might enter the mix.

Rivian R2

LG noted that “within the first year of production” batteries for the R2 will be made at the standalone plant in Arizona. 

“This large-scale order from Rivian for 4695 batteries marks a key milestone for LG Energy Solution in expanding its client base within the cylindrical battery segment,” David Kim, the battery firm’s CEO, said in its release on the agreement. 

Rivian and LG noting IRA impact

Made just two days after the U.S. Presidential election, the LG announcement mentioned the positive impact of Biden administration EV policy and its Inflation Reduction Act in leading to the Arizona manufacturing push.

“The supply agreement with Rivian is expected to further strengthen LG Energy Solution’s presence in the U.S. market and its plans to actively respond to the IRA by developing and supplying competitive battery cells in a timely manner while expanding into new markets,” stated the battery supplier.

Rivian R3X

The EV maker further pointed to the U.S. sourcing as “aligning with Rivian’s focus on U.S. domestic manufacturing and IRA compliance.”

Rivian reported some additional good news on Thursday. It produced 13,157 vehicles and delivered 10,018 in the third quarter of 2024. Although production has been held back by a component for its Enduro motor unit shared between its R1 models and its van platform, it confirmed that it’s on track for its 2024 delivery outlook of 50,500 to 52,000 vehicles. 

• Bentley’s pushed its timeline to go all electric back five years to 2035
• The automaker’s first EV will arrive in 2027 and be an SUV
• Bentley will keep PHEVs in its lineup until 2035, and BEVs will remain separate products

Bentley is once again reshuffling its electrification plans, but it still expects to have an all-electric lineup by 2035, the automaker announced Thursday.

In January 2022, Bentley announced plans to introduce five electric vehicles over five years starting in 2025, leading to an all-EV lineup by 2030. The launch of that first EV was later pushed back to 2026, a timeline that’s still in effect, Bentley CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser said in a media briefing, with a market launch in 2027 and prototypes currently undergoing testing.

That first all-electric model will be a “luxury urban SUV” that won’t replace any of Bentley’s existing models, Walliser said, adding that it will be “compact for a Bentley” at about 196 inches long. That’s 5.8 inches shorter than the current Bentley Bentayga SUV. Future Bentley EVs also won’t share platforms with its all-combustion or plug-in hybrid models due to packaging disadvantages, Matthias Rabe, head of research and development at Bentley, said.

2024 Bentley Bentayga Apex Edition

“Charging speeds will be incredibly good, and range will be sufficient,” Walliser said, explaining that total travel time is what Bentley is focused on, and that this can be kept reasonable through a combination of fast charging and range. Those comments were echoed by Rabbe, who added that engineers are looking for a replacement for the exhaust noises of internal-combustion Bentleys.

“We don’t just want to copy something, and we don’t just want to make something which is only synthetic,” Rabbe said, promising a new approach to sound that isn’t currently used by any other EV maker.

Along with its first EV, Bentley plans to introduce a new plug-in hybrid or all-electric model every year before switching to selling only electric cars in 2035. Walliser confirmed that plug-in hybrids will stay in the lineup until that point, helping to reconcile what he sees as weak demand in the luxury market for EVs with the emissions regulations anticipated to require more of them.

Bentley Continental GT Speed in Tourmaline Green

“Legislation is driving electrification,” along with competition from other automakers, Walliser said, but added that on the other hand “there’s not a lot of demand” for EVs among current Bentley customers. But the Bentley CEO sees demand on new customers looking for a “more modern interpretation of a Bentley” and believes existing customers can be won over once they drive an EV.

Bentley currently offers plug-in hybrid versions of every model, but it’s unclear if the automaker will stick with a plan announced in 2020 to eliminate standalone combustion powertrains. There is at least one more non-hybrid version of the Bentayga planned, Rabbe said. Bentley will also continue to produce plug-in hybrids as long as there is demand, he said, meaning the 2035 deadline for their elimination could be flexible.

Walliser said in a recent interview that anticipated battery-technology developments and growth of charging infrastructure will create better conditions for EVs around 2035. Given that this aligns with Bentley’s current EV plans, there’s perhaps a better chance that those plans will actually come to fruition—giving Bentley the all-electric lineup it’s been discussing, on and off, for a decade.

• A three-row electric AMG-badged Mercedes-Benz SUV is in the works
• The EV will ride on a new AMG.EA dedicated EV platform
• Prototypes are expected to start road testing this winter

Mercedes-Benz’s AMG performance division is working on an all-electric full-size SUV that will be distinct from anything sold by the main Mercedes brand.

AMG has produced a sportier version of the Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV, but on Thursday it announced a larger standalone model based on its own AMG.EA dedicated EV platform. A teaser sketch released as part of the announcement shows a fairly sleek silhouette by big SUV standards, with a steeply raked rear roof pillar and low roof line.

AMG has launched standalone models before, including the current GT coupe (in both two- and four-door forms), the SL roadster, and the SLS AMG sports car prior to that. But this will be the first SUV designed as an AMG model from the ground up, a response to the currently popularity of SUVs, AMG boss Michael Schiebe said.

2025 Mercedes-Benz AMG E 53 Hybrid

Technical details are yet to be confirmed, but the SUV could make use of axial-flux motors from British firm Yasa, which Mercedes acquired in 2021. The automaker also has a stake in U.S. solid-state battery developer Factorial, which in September said it was working on battery cells for Mercedes that could boost range by 80%. That could be helpful in a large, powerful SUV like this, where efficiency gains will otherwise be difficult to achieve.

AMG’s electric SUV will compete against a similar-sized three-row electric SUV from Porsche expected to arrive in 2027. It also won’t be the first bespoke SUV from a performance sub-brand. The BMW XM plug-in hybrid arrived in 2022 as the first dedicated model from BMW M since the M1 supercar of the 1970s. Reports indicate it may depart by 2028, however.

Prototype for first EV fully developed by Mercedes-Benz AMG

The first prototypes of the AMG electric SUV are scheduled to start testing on public roads this winter. Mercedes did not mention launch timing, but the SUV will be the second model based on the AMG.EA platform, following a fastback sedan due next year that may replace the current AMG GT 4-Door Coupe.

A report earlier this year suggested AMG was also mulling an electric supercar based on the Vision One-Eleven concept unveiled in 2023. And it will continue developing performance versions of models from the main Mercedes brand, including the upcoming CLA-Class compact sedan.