Which car will be the first to incorporate Apple Music streaming?
What Tesla products were allegedly linked to fires?
This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending August 23, 2019.
Forget the August doldrums. This week brought lots of news on new electric cars, significant improvements, and better (and worse) integration of the electric-car ecosystem.
2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV
General Motors announced that it will increase the range of the Chevrolet Bolt EV for 2020 to 259 miles.
Porsche gave a detailed look at the interior of its upcoming Taycan electric sedan, which is scheduled to officially bow on September 4, from its five-screen, vegan interior that will make the first use of the new Apple Music streaming service integrated into a car, to a record high-speed distance run that demonstrated the car's charging speed.
Porsche Taycan dashboard
Tesla made news, too, but less in a good way. Walmart sued the company over solar panel installations on its stores that allegedly caught fire—this on the same week that Tesla announced a new solar-panel rental program for homeowners.
Rivian revealed that its new R1S electric sport-utility will come with four roof options—none of them a glass moonroof that opens at the touch of a button.
Rivian R1S
Other automakers announced, or hinted at, new electric models and concepts on the way. Insiders noted that Ford is working on two more mid-size electric SUVs, one for Ford and one for Lincoln, for 2023.
Some hinted at new concepts, or even production cars headed to upcoming auto shows this fall. Mercedes-Benz revealed the second model in its new electric EQ lineup, the EQV electric van, scheduled to debut in Frankfurt next month. Hyundai also showed off pieces of a new design language the company plans for electric cars.
VW ID family
Volkswagen insiders tipped us that the company is working on a sixth model in its new ID series of electric cars to debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November. The car could be the entry-level ID 2 for the North American market.
Even amid all its electric car planning, VW still got stung by another revelation about its diesel emissions scandal. A German court found that even after a software update, the cars still don't fully meet German emissions standards.
In the U.S., an in-depth report in The New York Times showed that a deal California is offering to automakers is sowing chaos at the EPA and NHTSA in the Trump administration's efforts to roll back fuel-economy regulations.
Electrify America 350 kw chargers at Home Depot in Chicopee, Mass.
A new roaming deal between EVgo and Electrify America is bringing the network of chargers available non-Tesla EV drivers much closer to parity with Tesla's Superchargers. But our analysis shows that for those drivers, old-fashioned CHAdeMO chargers are still much more convenient than those that use the newer CCS standard.
Two new consumer studies that landed this week show why so many car shoppers say they want an EV, but are too nervous to pull the trigger. A survey by Autolist blames the same factors that have held back EV adoption for years: price, range, and charging access. And Volkswagen suggested focus groups have noted many of the same obstacles, but with greater optimism that automakers and society are about to overcome many of them.
Here's hoping that's the case.
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