Which eagerly anticipated electric crossover might be arriving many months early?
What company teased its first mass production electric car?
This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending October 25, 2019.
At the end of the week, we brought you eight of the automakers vying for a foothold in the China market, while also eyeing the U.S. Although support from the government is tapering off, some of these will boom and others will bust as the EV market gathers momentum.
2018 Xpeng G3
Bollinger Motors announced a starting price for its B1 and B2 electric trucks: $125,000. The trucks will likely have a range of about 200 miles from their entry-level 120-kwh battery pack.
Volkswagen just released the next-generation version of its Golf hatchback family, and while it’s not surprising that the plug-in hybrid possibilities expanded, the model line also pushes on with at least two diesel versions. As Volkswagen’s fully electric ID models (like the ID 3) start to arrive, there will be no e-Golf.
Tesla on its Wednesday afternoon Q3 financial results call confirmed one important product point: that its Model Y electric crossover will arrive early. The Model Y is now slated for a summer 2020 arrival, versus the Q4 the automaker had previously anticipated.
Tesla Model Y
Much of the week, though, was occupied by announcements at the Tokyo Motor Show:
- Mazda showed a concept preview of its first mass production electric car, the MX-30, which is shaping up to look focused toward Europe.
- Mitsubishi hinted of plans to move its plug-in hybrid powertrain into more vehicles—potentially like the Mi-Tech plug-in hybrid off-road concept.
- Nissan gave a first look at its long-anticipated electric crossover, in concept form. Called the Ariya, it’s about the same size as the Nissan Rogue, or the Tesla Model Y.
Nissan Ariya Concept
- Toyota also made some big announcements at Tokyo this past week. Lexus’ first electric car will be introduced in November, it said, and it also laid out its vision for an electric car in the year 2030—sized much like the Tesla Model X crossover.
- We all love the little Honda E urban electric car—and perhaps felt a little more disappointment when a top executive with the project revealed at the show that it was originally supposed to come to the U.S.
Prior to the show, Toyota announced that the Prius C will soon be replaced in many markets of the world as the completely new Yaris Hybrid—but not in the U.S. anytime soon.
Toyota Yaris Hybrid
Another city-sized electric car, the BMW i3, isn’t dead yet. It has at least one more battery upgrade due before BMW retires the i3 in favor of an EV lineup that blends in with its gasoline vehicles.
With a new 800-volt inverter, Hitachi is making a bet on 800V charging and power systems becoming widespread for the mass market sometime soon.
Earlier in the week, we reported on a respected fleet study pointing out what a few other number-crunchers already have: that fully electric long-haul semis might not be there yet for overall cost of ownership, over diesel. Short- and medium-haul trucks are ready and waiting for the revolution, though.
Deutsche Post StreetScooter electric van prototype
And while Nissan and Ford both considered and abandoned electric light vans, DHL is likely looking at those short-trip economics in bringing its StreetScooter EV lineup to the U.S. market.
Volkswagen’s CEO says that it still expects to make the same margins on its fully electric vehicles as on its gasoline ones—and the key to making the numbers might be China.
Arnold Schwarzenegger introduces the Kreisel Hummer H1 electric conversion
The idea of Hummer coming back all-electric just won’t go away. A new report suggested that GM is seriously considering the revival, as part of a set of new full-size electric SUVs and trucks arriving from 2021 to 2024.
And while we’re deep into fall, last Sunday’s story clearly got many of you thinking about next summer—or summers of the future. With Winnebago’s recent investments in a commercial-truck electrifier, you can bet an electric line of travel RVs is somewhere in the product pipeline.
