Which electric trucks got a surge of new reservations after a big price hike?
Might future electric cars go without friction brakes as we know them?
This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending May 13, 2022.
In a long-anticipated first review of the F-150 Lightning electric truck, we found even more confidence and refinement than expected—plus some hints of good range and efficiency. It doesn’t reinvent the pickup, but it makes it better in nearly every way.
Lordstown Endurance
It was quite a week for twists and turns. The drama of the week award goes to those in Ohio. Things were looking touch and go earlier in the week for Lordstown Motors, as it still couldn’t report a final deal with Taiwan’s Foxconn with terms of their agreement just days short of timing out. But with the completion of the sale of the former GM plant to Hon Hai Technology Group, as it’s otherwise called, the Lordstown Endurance electric pickup is on for production later this year. It also led to a reaffirmation of plans for Foxconn to act as the contract manufacturer for the upcoming $29,900 Fisker Pear EV starting in 2024.
In a rumor-mill item that flipped into reality, Volkswagen confirmed that it’s reviving the Scout name—yes, the former International Harvester SUV—for an entire brand of U.S.-focused electric SUVs. Will Scout help VW provide mass-market EVs, or will it be another upscale niche brand? We’ll soon see.
Teaser for modern Scout electric SUV and pickup
Since Rivian’s clumsy price hike in March, the electric truck brand has seen 10,000 new reservations—double the trucks it’s built since September—at an astonishing average price of $93,000. It’s quite the testament to these trucks’ demand and appeal.
Bollinger Motors announced that Roush Industries will be its manufacturing partner for electric trucks, including platforms and chassis cabs. Bollinger will source the materials, while Roush will assemble them in Michigan. And sorry, the B1 electric SUV and B2 electric pickup remain postponed indefinitely.
BMW has no plans to forfeit the gasoline portion of its sales anytime soon, underscored the company’s CEO Oliver Zipse, in a recent roundtable with Green Car Reports and others—which he argued is why making electric variants of gasoline models, like the new i7 and upcoming i5, makes sense. But Zipse elaborated more recently that the company’s upcoming Neue Klasse will be different, potentially splitting the 3-Series segment with entirely different gas and electric cars.
DS E Tense Performance prototype
In one of this week’s most popular tech pieces, we looked at a prototype from Stellantis’ DS Automobiles that builds on Formula E tech and takes one-pedal driving a step further—essentially asking if the EVs of the future might go without friction brakes entirely.
Three large pilot programs for EV bidirectional charging were announced by the California utility Pacific Gas & Electric. They’ll be testing tech that could help smooth the grid and prevent brownouts, with up to 1,000 residential customers and hundreds of commercial customers.
Electric vehicle charging stations remain a potential target for hackers, cautions a recent report that seems to lean heavily on the cybersecurity industry looking to sell services. Will the security of chargers become an issue for companies with fleets and centralized smart charging?
2022 Tesla Model 3
During Supercharging, the “elevated temperature” of the infotainment screen in some Tesla models can cause the system to slow or restart, making some safety-critical features temporarily unavailable. It’s another item that’s cause for recall paperwork with the federal government but handled with an over-the-air fix.
Tesla is reportedly pushing for accelerated development of the larger 4680 cell format from Panasonic, although the supplier has at several times pointed to technical challenges involving it.
With a range of 230 miles but a combined weight rating of up to 82,000 pounds, the production version of the Freightliner eCascadia electric semi revealed this week is a full Class 8 commercial truck, albeit one intended for short hauls. With more than a million miles and a “holistic ecosystem” of charging and services on the way, it’s in production later this year, as we wait for the Tesla Semi.
2023 Chevrolet Bolt EUV Redline Edition
GM only recently started building 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EV models again, but it’s ready to move forward and just revealed a new Redline Edition for the second year of the Bolt EUV. The rest of the 2023 Chevy Bolt EV lineup carries over with, yes, a new shade of red.
Could hydrogen fuel-cell conversions of older diesel semis help clean up company fleets sooner? Two solutions revealed this week could help put new tech in aging rigs.
1991 Nissan FEV electric car concept
Last weekend we looked at one of the many oddities of EV history. Long before the Tesla Roadster or Nissan Leaf, the Nissan FEV electric car could have rivaled the GM EV1. Never any more than a prototype, it was a harbinger of the EV age with its aero design, heat pump, low-rolling-resistance tires, solar-supplemented accessories, aluminum-intensive construction, and even something akin to fast-charging.
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