Battery costs have been falling for years, but the rising cost of raw materials is pushing them upward now. At least one CEO doesn’t see how EVs’ cost premium can be passed along to consumers. A big, 2-door Maybach electric concept goes rugged-posh. Toyota taking it slow with EVs, we look at what it plans to do with its Prime plug-in hybrids. This and more, here at Green Car Reports.

How many miles of range will upcoming Toyota Prime plug-in hybrids offer, and will they lead in performance like the RAV4 Prime? We recently asked a top U.S. executive, who answered that as part of a top-level look of where it might be going with future Toyota Prime models

Mercedes-Benz has revealed a very different kind of EV concept for its Maybach ultra-luxury sub-brand. The Project Maybach off-road coupe concept mashes up heritage long-hood roadster proportions and a plush interior with a rugged post-apocalyptic aesthetic. Bond meets Mad Max, perhaps?

The CEO of Stellantis, the parent company of Ram, Jeep, Dodge, and other brands that now have big plans for electrified vehicles, said in a Reuters interview that the 50% higher cost for EVs is “beyond the limits” for what the industry can sustain, and it can’t be fully passed along to consumers.

Meanwhile, adding to this price pressure, average EV battery prices fell from 2020 to 2021, an annual battery price survey released earlier this week reported that higher raw material prices are already pushing battery prices back up—and suggested that they’ll rise to 2022 for the first time they’ve been tracked. That would delay the $100/kwh milestone (on a pack basis) that’s widely seen as a threshold for EV affordability versus gasoline models. Will it push back EV adoption too?

And over at Motor Authority: Jaguar Land Rover plans a full reboot for the Jaguar brand—and that means new model lines, not just redesigns of current models with a shift to electric. That helps explain why plans for the fully electric XJ flagship, which executives had said was almost ready, were scrapped last year.

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