Which other automaker is co-developing Lincoln’s first EV?
Will the next Toyota Prius look like anything like the new Mirai?
This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending January 31, 2020.
We finished off the week looking at some of the electric-vehicle-focused Super Bowl commercials that are cued up for Sunday’s big game. With Audi’s “Frozen” declaration about gasoline and Hummer’s promise of GMC electric brawn—plus an ad on the way from Porsche—EVs are at last in the advertising spotlight.
GMC Hummer EV
Tesla had several product surprises with its release of quarterly financial information Wednesday. One of them is that the production ramp of its Model Y crossover is indeed ahead of schedule, the Model Y’s range has been boosted to 315 miles in AWD form, and deliveries were promised by the end of March. Secondly, its Model S and Model X are again capable of returning a higher EPA rating than their current numbers suggest—and 400 miles for the Model S is within reach.
GM president Mark Reuss gave us a few more details about the company’s electric future—including the future of the Chevy Bolt EV. It followed an announcement earlier in the week naming GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant the production location for the Cruise Origin self-driving vehicle, as well as its electric pickups and a number of other future EVs. It will be the first all-EV plant for GM.
Rivian R1S
The future electric vehicle that was announced last year as being co-developed between Ford and Rivian was confirmed this past week as a Lincoln. It will be the first EV for Ford’s luxury brand.
Will the next-generation Toyota Prius expected by next year again follow the direction of the fuel-cell Mirai—especially now that it’s a sporty sedan? And earlier in the week we ran through more details about the upcoming hydrogen fuel-cell model.
2021 Volvo XC40 Recharge
It was quite a week for automakers solidifying arrivals for upcoming electric vehicles. Volvo has opened up orders for the XC40 Recharge electric crossover, due later this year in the U.S.; and Lucid opened up its order banks for its Air electric sedan in Europe, where deliveries are expected to start in late 2021, nearly a year after it arrives in the U.S.
BYD has built and delivered hundreds of electric buses in the U.S., and it hasn’t written off plans to get into the passenger market.
Karma Automotive is working on its own fully electric pickup truck project—and that’s in addition to a potential pickup that uses its EREV (range-extender) technology.
Presidential candidate Andrew Yang with Tesla Model X
In Iowa (and perhaps other states), an ad from Presidential candidate Andrew Yang uses Tesla as a backdrop for talking about automation and jobs in the economy.
A highway range test from the UK site Carwow was particularly useful in showing not just how six EVs fare in real-world range in chilly temperatures, but how they actually run out of energy—no surprises, lots of advance warning. And yes, owning an electric vehicle will cure your concerns about range anxiety and other common worries. While this roughly echoes what we’ve been saying for years, this time it’s the result of a AAA survey.
Lyft car picking up a rider
Something to think about as you head out this weekend: Ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft are adding to pollution, emphasizes new data that homes in on effects in California. Blame the “deadheads.”
And we started the week by wading into a controversy that we’ve been following in the sidelines for months—that of Lexus’ campaign for the UK, Norway, and Europe that pitches its hybrids as “self-charging.” Norway’s consumer agency recently intervened in at least one of the ads, but the ones that many see as the most misleading remain up.
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