Kia will make EVs in the U.S. Honda wants to bring excitement back to its Accord—including the hybrid, of course. Toyota is tapping BYD batteries for its BZ3, but only in China. The Lucid Air can charge really fast at home. And we talk to Mercedes’ CEO about EVs. This and more, here at Green Car Reports.
In an interview with GCR, Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius talked about the company’s broad pivot to EVs, including the efficiency of its next-gen architectures, the electric G-Wagen, and its software remake; and he hinted that the brand plans to do more in the charging space.
Kia confirmed that it too will have upcoming electric vehicles made in Georgia—at Hyundai’s upcoming “Metaplant,” which broke ground Tuesday. Production at the Georgia plant for the brand will start in early 2025.
Honda promises to “bring excitement back” for the redesigned 11th-generation Accord that will be revealed next month. That includes a bigger touchscreen and better hybrid performance, it said—and we’d bet on the brand’s latest, reconfigured hybrid system from the CR-V to accomplish the latter.
Toyota is tapping BYD’s LFP battery tech for its Tesla Model 3–sized BZ3 sedan. But the model is the result of several China-only partnerships for the company and simply not going to be sold in the U.S. (or Europe) in its present form.
The connected charging station that Lucid is selling for its Air enables a whopping 80 miles of range per hour of charging—at home, given an ideal installation and the peak charging rate. The Air's phenomenal efficiency helps; and it helps take advantage of the Air’s 19.2-kw onboard charger. The unit is ready for bidirectional charging capability yet to be enabled.
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