Category: General

• Chevy and GMC’s multi-focus approach

• Ram 1500, Jeep Wagoneer investigation

• GM adjusts route to all-EV lineup

• American Honda’s 2024 outlook

• Stellantis pays $190 million in penalties

• The enthusiast-oriented Rivian R3X will launch before the mainstream R3
• No timeline has been given for when the R3X or R3 will arrive
• The Rivian R2 will go into production in 2026 and serve as the basis for the R3

The Rivian R3X electric hatchback will arrive before the base R3, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said in an interview with The Verge this week.

Scaringe did not provide an exact date, but said the R3 will launch “as soon as we possibly can” after the launch of the Rivian R2, which is scheduled to start production at the automaker’s Illinois plant in 2026, adding that the R3X performance variant will be the first to arrive.

Rivian R3

“I will say this: The first R3 that we’re launching, it’s going to start with R3X,” Scaringe said. 

Rivian unveiled the R3 and R3X at the R2 debut event in March. The hatchbacks will be smaller than the R2, measuring about 15 inches shorter in overall length than that SUV, which in turn is smaller than the current Rivian R1S SUV and R1T pickup truck. Rivian is also targeting a starting price below the $45,000 cost of the R2 for the base R3, although the R3X will likely be pricier.

Rivian R3

The R3 lineup will share major components with the R2, including single-, dual-, and tri-motor powertrains, battery packs, and structural elements. But based on the excitement the R3 models generated at their unveiling, their more compact packaging could help revive a stagnant small-car segment in the U.S.—especially with respect to EVs.

The Volkswagen Group will invest up to $5 billion in Rivian in a deal that will give VW access to the U.S. automaker’s electrical architecture and software, while giving Rivian funding that could help get the R2 and R3 models across the line and into production.

• Stellantis patented a deployable diffuser that doubles as a bed step
• The diffuser would aid efficiency while also enabling easier bed access
• Active aero and bed steps aren’t new, but combining the two would be a first

Ram may be looking to turn the humble bed step into an active aerodynamic feature that could help boost range of its future electric pickup trucks.

Ram’s parent company, Stellantis, has filed a patent application for a deployable rear step that doubles as an active diffuser. The application, which was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office last December and published on July 4, describes the feature as a “vehicle rear step and diffuser system.”

Drawing from Stellantis patent for vehicle rear step and diffuser system

The idea of an active diffuser isn’t new. Ram showed one on its 1500 Revolution BEV concept unveiled during 2023 CES. Mercedes-Benz also had one on 2022’s Vision EQXX concept. However, an active diffuser that doubles as a step hasn’t reached production just yet.

According to the patent, the bottom surface of the step would be shaped to act as a diffuser, while the top would be a flat surface that serves as a step. Unlike a conventional diffuser, it would be stowed when not needed, like at lower speeds, so vehicles wouldn’t have appendages sticking out past their rear bumpers.

Ram 1500 Revolution BEV concept

Rear diffusers are typically used on performance vehicles as a way to generate more downforce and as a result more grip, but there’s also an efficiency gain as drag from turbulent air flow is reduced—something that could help boost an EV’s range.

The patent describes the feature as being used on vehicles with body-on-frame construction, like Ram’s pickups, including the 2025 Ram 1500 REV. The patent also includes drawings that show a pickup truck’s rear tailgate.

Ram 1500 REV

The design is reminiscent of the tailgate on Ram’s 1500 Revolution BEV concept. While that concept isn’t bound for production, it serves as a preview of potential design ideas for future Ram electric trucks, meaning we may see something like the active diffuser and step combination in production one day.

Donald Trump hates electric cars—particularly Chinese electric cars—but his administration’s sanctions against China’s Xiaomi in early 2021 sparked the company’s decision to build an EV, CEO Lei Jun told Reuters at a company event Friday.

Best known for its smartphones, Xiaomi launched its first EV earlier this year. It’s the product of a move Lei said only happened after he learned that the Trump administration had placed the company on a U.S. sanction list.

“I received a phone call from a friend saying that we had been sanctioned,” Lei said, adding that Xiaomi convened an emergency board meeting that day that kicked off its EV efforts.

2024 Xiaomi SU7

“If it weren’t for the huge impact of the unexpected U.S. sanctions, we would not have rashly entered the complex automotive industry,” Lei said. Xiaomi challenged the 2021 sanctions in federal court and that May won a reversal of the sanctions, which would have restricted U.S. investment, Reuters noted. But by then development of the Xiaomi SU7 electric sedan was already underway.

Unveiled at the end of 2023, the SU7 is a rival sized like the Tesla Model S but offered at a Model 3 price—around $30,000 in China, the only market where sales are planned. It amounts to competition to Tesla as well as other Western brands. Multiple powertrain and battery-pack options will be available, including a 664-hp dual-motor powertrain and up to 600 miles of range on China’s very generous CLTC testing cycle.

2024 Xiaomi SU7

President Joe Biden has placed bigger tariffs on Chinese EVs while supporting policies to grow U.S. EV sales, including charging infrastructure investments and a revamped EV tax credit. While its a little uncertain where Vice President Kamala Harris—now the likely Democratic nominee following Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 presidential election—stands on Chinese EV imports, the policies of a future Harris administration are likely to be similar.

Trump, meanwhile, has promised a 100% tariff on vehicles made in Mexico—EV or not—targeting vehicles from Chinese companies manufactured there. He’s made clear that Chinese companies wouldn’t be blocked from making EVs in the U.S., with U.S. labor and U.S. materials, but Trump’s overall EV policy is essentially looking like one that, from some perspectives, subsidizes gasoline vehicles.

• 2024 Future Product Pipeline

• Pennsylvania dealership employees sue CDK

• Trump renews pledge to prod Chinese automakers

• Volvo EX90 delivered without key features

• Auto repos surge 23%

• EPA range numbers span from 261 to 318 miles with larger Performance Battery Plus
• Those with standard Performance Battery return an EPA 252 to 274 miles of range
  
• All 2025 Taycan models can do 10-80% DC fast-charge in as little as 18 minutes

The revamped Porsche Taycan earns EPA range numbers of up to 318 miles, the automaker confirmed Monday to Green Car Reports. 

The 2025 Porsche Taycan is now being delivered to U.S. dealerships, and official EPA ranges, as calculated by Porsche and set to be displayed on those window stickers, show that the big improvements in range and efficiency that it’s been touting for this engineering-focused refresh do indeed translate to U.S. ratings. 

With the larger battery pack, termed Performance Battery Plus, ratings top the range at 318 miles. The ratings drop to 295 EPA-rated miles with the Taycan 4S and 292 miles with the Taycan Turbo due to its higher-power propulsion system and more aggressive wheels and tires. Perhaps most impressive in taking in these ratings is that the lineup of Taycans doesn’t get any lower than 266 miles with the larger pack (for the Turbo S), and even the edgy Turbo GT with Weissach package gets 269 miles. 2025 Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo models, with their completely different roofline, range from 261 to 277 miles. 

2025 Porsche Taycan

The additional range wasn’t simply a game of boosting the size of the battery pack. Porsche did that, but it’s only part of the story. The Performance Battery Plus has gone from 93.4 kwh gross and 83.4 kwh usable in the 2024 Taycan up to 105 kwh gross and 97 kwh usable in the 2025 model—roughly a 15% increase in battery capacity. 

Last year’s Taycan returned up to 246 miles of range, so the 2025 model goes nearly 30% farther. As Porsche pointed out, it’s made big improvements in drivetrain efficiency, tweaked brake regen and overall recuperation, and optimized the whole package with improvements to aero and rolling resistance. 

2025 Porsche Taycan

With the Taycan’s smaller “Performance” battery, it has a range of up to 274 miles—longer than with the larger pack last year. That standard pack in the Taycan now has 83.6 kwh usable (89 kwh gross). Yes, that’s a couple ticks more than usable in the larger pack for 2024.

Throughout the lineup, the 2025 Taycan is also likely to return higher range numbers more of the time. Porsche redid the Taycan’s thermal management with a higher-power 800-volt climate compressor plus a heat pump that’s used 100% of the time for interior heating. 

2025 Porsche Taycan

When the Porsche Taycan launched for the 2020 model year, it had some of the lowest EV efficiency ratings, (not counting electric trucks, obviously). But it made a series of incremental gains along the way—including updated motor behavior for 2023 and thermal improvements for 2022. 

As Green Car Reports found in a first drive of the 2025 Porsche Taycan back in April, the refresh at last makes good on the mission of not just one-upping Tesla on technology and driving attributes, but at last being being comparable in terms of how much range you can gain in a short time on a road trip.

Porsche quotes an impressive 10-80% charge time of just 18 minutes for the 2025 Taycan, which has a charge curve that’s been lifted and broadened, with its peak of 320 kw (or 270 kw for the base battery) now taking better advantage of 350-kw CCS connectors. Now we know that in EPA-range terms, 70% of its range can equate to 223 miles—an astounding number that now makes the Taycan a more serious fast-charging rival to the efficiency-leading Lucid Air and Tesla Model S, even if you put the priority on minimizing energy use as much as maximizing performance.

• Cadillac’s latest EV concept previews a potential convertible flagship
• The Sollei concept seems like a convertible riff off the Celestiq
• The Sollei features a 2+2 layout

Might an electric convertible be in Cadillac’s future?

The reveal of the Sollei concept on Monday hints that Cadillac is at least considering it.

The big drop-top has been inspired by Cadillac convertibles of the 1950s, though instead of tail fins the body adopts a sleek design that shares many of its lines with the current Celestiq flagship hatch.

The debut took place at Cadillac’s personalization center in Warren, Michigan, known as Cadillac House at Vanderbilt. The site is close to the specialized production line for the Celestiq.

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The Sollei, whose name references Sol, the Roman god of the sun, also likely shares the Celestiq’s Ultium EV platform and battery technology set. Cadillac hasn’t revealed any specifications for the concept.

The exterior design isn’t the only part of the concept’s design that borrows liberally from the Celestiq. The dash also features the same 55-inch curved display found in the Celestiq, as well as the Escalade IQ.

There are some new elements in the cabin, though. One of these is the use of a sustainable material made from mycelium, which is the underground structure of mushrooms and other fungi. Cadillac used the leather-like material for the Sollei’s mobile phone charging pad and on some other areas of the dash.

Cadillac Sollei concept

Cadillac Sollei concept

Cadillac Sollei concept

Actual leather lines the 2+2 seats with seat backs that feature wood paneling meant to represent the rays of the sun. The color of the leather matches the exterior paint, known as Manila Cream, which Cadillac last used in the late 1950s.

Cadillac hasn’t indicated whether the Sollei will enter production, though the brand dropped some hints by describing the concept as an exploration of the “possibilities of custom commissioned vehicle design,” as well as the brand’s “vision to offer modern design” in an “open-air format.”

Should the Sollei enter production, it will likely be priced over $340,000, just like the Celestiq. There wouldn’t be any direct competitors for the Sollei at that price point, though Rolls-Royce offers an electric coupe alternative in the form of the Spectre.

The chief business development officer and founder of FirstElement Fuel details what it takes to build hydrogen fueling infrastructure and the overall state of its nascent ecosystem in California and beyond.

• Tesla still hasn’t solves its issues with the large-format 4680 battery cells
• Elon Musk reportedly told the team the issues better be fixed by the end of the year
• If they can’t be resolved the project will reportedly be abandoned

Tesla is experiencing problems with its large-format 4680 battery cells, and CEO Elon Musk has set a deadline for fixing them, according to a new report.

Anonymous sources familiar with the matter told The Information (via InsideEVs) that in May Musk demanded that the team responsible for the cells address issues preventing production from being scaled up before the end of the year, or else the project will be abandoned.

Future Tesla cell will make energy, power gains

Specifically, engineers must solve a problem that can cause the cells—which are longer and wider than Tesla’s previous 2170 cells while retaining a cylindrical form factor—to collapse in on themselves while in use, according to the report.

Announced in 2020, the 4680 cells have been championed by Musk as the key to unlocking cheaper electric cars, as well as more power-intensive applications like the Tesla Semi and Cybertruck. But while Tesla reached a cumulative million 4680 cells made at its pilot facility in 2022, it’s now reportedly only producing enough cells for around 1,000 Cybertrucks every week. That will require a big leap to supplying Model 3 and Model Y production, which is the automaker’s interim goal.

Cross-section of future Tesla cell

Battery supplier Panasonic has cautioned multiple times that technical problems with the larger cells could hinder mass production, saying in 2021 that making them “requires new techniques.” And while multiple battery suppliers have shown interest in these large-format cells, none has been able to scale them up faster than Tesla and Panasonic.

CATL is going a different route entirely with its cell-to-pack tech, which directly integrates cells into a battery pack without the modules used in most current pack designs. In 2022 the company claimed a then-current iteration of the tech could deliver 13% more power than Tesla’s 4680-format cells given the same volume. But cell-to-pack has also been slow to commercialize, in the U.S. market, at least.

• Rivian is turning an old gas station into a charging hub
• Yosemite Outpost will also serve as a charging education point
• Station will have solar and be net zero, Rivian says

Rivian has set up a so-called Yosemite Outpost for EV charging that will serve not only as a logistical stop for adventurers headed into or out of the national park but also as a place for EV education. 

The location is a new life for a building and location that had been a blacksmith shop, then a repair shop, and eventually a gas station, last called Vern’s Groveland Gas, that closed many years ago. Now Rivian has converted it to a hub for EV charging—at one of our most-visited national parks.

Rivian says the site, which hasn’t opened yet, will offer up education on EV charging as well as amenities. And it will become a collection point for recyclables. 

Rivian Yosemite Outpost EV charging station (rendering)

And with contributions from US Solar, the site will be net zero according to Rivian, meaning it generates as much as it will consume—a feat for any charging station. 

Rivian earlier this year announced that its in-vehicle route planner will plan routes around the reliability grades of DC fast chargers, favoring chargers that have a better record of reliably charging its vehicles. its Adventure Network chargers have shown an uptime of more than 98%, it says.

Rivian started billing for Adventure Network chargers last year and intends to soon make them open to other EVs accommodating the CCS charge port. It’s also confirmed that it will be adopting the Tesla-based NACS charge port in future EVs including the upcoming $45,000 Rivian R2.