Honda Prologue particulars, Kia EV9 worth, Ford LFP pause, EVs adopting Tesla NACS: The Week in Reverse

Which automaker accelerated efforts to go all-electric in Europe and the U.Okay.?

Which EV’s tech will value $2,500 a 12 months so drivers can take eyes off the street and arms off the wheel—beneath 40 mph?

That is our look again on the Week In Reverse—proper right here at Inexperienced Automotive Studies—for the week ending September 29, 2023.

In a primary take a look at the 2024 Honda Prologue, Inexperienced Automotive Studies sees it to be proper on the cash when it comes to what it must be as each a step up from the CR-V Hybrid and a gateway mannequin to Honda’s personal upcoming devoted EVs. The Prologue is ready to be priced within the higher $40,000 vary earlier than any EV tax credit score, so that they’ll probably don’t have any difficulty delivering as many as GM can construct. And in preparation for the Prologue, together with the Acura ZDX, Honda has inked new offers with EVgo and Electrify America that may give EV drivers “single-app entry” to charging with the stations on each networks. That can all be along with Honda’s pending Supercharger entry beginning in 2024 plus its personal fast-charging community with six different automakers. 

2024 Kia EV9

The 2024 Kia EV9 will begin round $56,000, Kia confirmed on Wednesday. That’s for the EV9 Gentle, within the single-motor rear-wheel-drive configuration with the smaller 76.1-kwh battery pack. That ought to nonetheless be good for a 225-mile vary, Kia estimates, and all EV9s include three rows of seating. Deliveries will begin late this 12 months, with U.S. manufacturing beginning in 2024, and Inexperienced Automotive Studies not too long ago supplied up a first-drive evaluation of the Kia EV9.

The 2024 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid will get a brand new Nightshade Version this mannequin 12 months, and with no mechanical modifications it’s more likely to stick to its engaging mixture of all-wheel drive, an EPA mixed 42 mpg, and a price ticket beginning underneath $30,000. 

2024 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid

Mercedes-Benz will quickly begin delivering a choose variety of U.S. EQS electrical hatchbacks with Drive Pilot, the corporate’s help system that lets drivers take their eyes off the street and arms off the wheel, albeit in a really restricted set of eventualities together with mapped divided highways, in daylight, at a velocity of underneath 40 mph. Solely enabled in California and Nevada, it is going to value $2,500 a 12 months to make use of.

On Monday, Nissan made an enormous assertion. It revealed a completely electrical sporty hot-hatch idea that previews an upcoming all-electric Micra hatchback, designed in and impressed by London. Regardless of U.Okay. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s transfer to push a ban of non-plug-in autos to 2035, from the present 2030, Nissan’s CEO stated there’s “no going again now” on EVs, accelerating plans to make EVs 100% of Nissan gross sales in Europe by 2030—U.Okay. included. 

Nissan Idea 20-23

Previous to the announcement that the U.Okay. would search to delay coverage shifting solely to plug-in autos to 2035 fairly than 2030, the Shell-owned charging community Ubitricity introduced the set up of 1,050 streetside public EV chargers. These 5-kw Degree 2 sockets will all be a part of the agency’s lamppost charging mission. 

A Honda electrical sports activities automotive is because of bow on the Tokyo auto present, now known as the Japan Mobility Present, later in October. It additionally plans to indicate a compact automotive made from acrylic resin that may be simply reused, in addition to an electrical bike with swappable batteries.

2024 Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid

There at the moment are three plug-in hybrid Porsche Cayenne SUVs (or Coupes), all with a bigger 25.9-kwh battery pack that ought to ship plug-in electrical vary approaching 30 miles. The 2024 Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid lands in the course of that lineup, permitting faster efficiency with out the thirsty V-8. 

One of many head-scratchers of the week got here on Monday, when Ford formally pressed pause on the development of its LFP EV battery plant in Michigan, which simply earlier this 12 months it pointed to as a key step towards EV profitability and affordability. Whereas Ford hasn’t made fully clear why it’s doing so now, it’s exhausting to think about this isn’t linked to President Biden’s go to to a UAW rally this morning. 

Ford LFP product introductions

Whereas the long run hangs unknown for Ford battery-making, the Swedish battery provider Northvolt introduced Thursday that it selected Canada for a $5.2 billion EV battery plant—its first outdoors Europe. The situation in Quebec was allegedly chosen for its uncooked supplies, renewable vitality, and for the stipulations of the Biden administration’s Inflation Discount Act (IRA).

A strategic collaboration with the battery agency StoreDot might allow Volvo to ship not simply EVs that cost a lot faster, however to downsize EV battery packs and its autos’ carbon footprint. StoreDot says that it is going to be delivering the primary samples for testing by the Swedish automaker subsequent 12 months. 

A rising portion of buyers are involved concerning the carbon footprint of EVs, past merely that they don’t have any tailpipe emissions, in response to a survey from Ipsos—with battery manufacturing seemingly on the core of these issues. The outcomes emphasize that automakers have to give attention to schooling in addition to making a sustainable EV provide chain. 

Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE sedan at Tesla Supercharger station

And which upcoming EV manufacturers are switching to the Tesla NACS cost port? Inexperienced Automotive Studies rounded all of them up—and famous that there stay some holdouts, in addition to some puzzling early commitments. However maybe it is going to all make sense with the rollout of the Cybertruck and the yet-unnamed charging community from seven automakers.

_______________________________________

Comply with Inexperienced Automotive Studies on Facebook and Twitter