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Oahu urged to conserve water, prepare for rolling outages tonight Honolulu Star-Advertiser[unable to retrieve full-text content]
CT residents outraged over increase in electricity costs this summer NBC Connecticut[unable to retrieve full-text content]
Electric Cars Help the Climate. But Are They Good Value? The New York Times[unable to retrieve full-text content]
One-fifth of WA households will be eligible for $200 off electricity bills The Seattle Times[unable to retrieve full-text content]
Customers who save on electric bills could be forced to pay utility company for lost profits Louisana Illuminator[unable to retrieve full-text content]
'It's just wrong' | Houston-area residents questioning electric billing in wake of widespread power outages KHOU.com[unable to retrieve full-text content]
'My bill is $782????' Why electricity costs have soared for some NJ customers NorthJersey.com[unable to retrieve full-text content]
CPS Energy crew member killed by electric surge while working to restore power outage KSAT San Antonio[unable to retrieve full-text content]
CPS Energy crew member killed by electric surge while working to restore power outage KSAT San Antonio[unable to retrieve full-text content]
BYD just launched the first electric MPV in this booming EV market for under $25,000 Electrek.co[unable to retrieve full-text content]
American auto industry in midst of electric revolution: 'The EV market has hit an inflection point' The Cool Down[unable to retrieve full-text content]
AI Boom And Soaring Temperatures Trigger Global Electricity Surge, IEA Report Says Forbes[unable to retrieve full-text content]
Engineering company turns heads with 800-mile journey in all-electric 18-wheeler: 'The world's biggest electric road trip' The Cool Down[unable to retrieve full-text content]
The Average Electric Bill in Florida (and How to Lower It) CNET[unable to retrieve full-text content]
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Chinese electric vehicles are more of an opportunity than a threat Financial Times[unable to retrieve full-text content]
Climate body CCC says cut electricity bills to boost heat pumps BBC.com[unable to retrieve full-text content]
Opinion | If Your Electric Meter Is So Smart, Why Is the Power Grid So Dumb? The New York Times
Many frustrated local residents have no choice but to pay costly electric bills as record-breaking temperatures of up to 120 degrees bake Las Vegas.
Jose Alvarez, 35, has epilepsy and said he has no choice but to keep his apartment cold so the heat doesn’t trigger a seizure. The consequence of that is higher electric bills, especially during the summer.
“I have epilepsy, so like that’s sensitive to heat… Just keeping the house cool, is priority number one for me, because that removes one of the factors that goes into my epilepsy,” explained Alvarez.
“When I first moved here, cost of electricity was rather reasonable,” he said. “Then after COVID-19, it started just going up and up and up and up.”
Alvarez lives in a two-bedroom apartment and has been paying around $250 per month on electric bills. In the upcoming month, Alvarez’s electric bill is projected to be $275.
He’s not alone. Customers in Nevada, on average, are seeing an extra $100.05 on top of their existing electric bill, according to a study conducted by Texas Electricity Ratings.
The study found Nevada had the second-highest increase in monthly electric bills.
With the additional $100.05 the total average cost for electricity in the summer season is $681.21 a month, according to the study.
Lowering the thermostat?
Alvarez said some days he sets his thermostat a little higher “just to see how much I could really tolerate … I’m just like, we’ll see how high it can go. But that also runs the risk of, what if the AC fails?”
If the AC fails, he risks triggering a seizure.
Alvarez is also worried about more vulnerable populations.
“For the elderly, I’m thinking they’re on fixed incomes. If they’re paying, they’re paying out of their teeth for electricity,” said Alvarez, “Are you going to allow people to risk a health condition that they might have, or their sensitivity to heat just because you want extra dollars?”
Part of the reason why electric bills are so costly in the summer is because customers simply are using more energy, said Antoine Tilmon, the vice president of customer operations for NV Energy.
“The issue with the summer is that it’s hot outside, and the first thing customers are going to do is they’re going to turn on their air conditioning units… So what’s driving up our customers bills is the weather,” Tilmon said.
NV Energy previously announced that rates would be lowered from July 1 to Sept. 30, but with more energy use, customers are still seeing higher electric bills.
“Our customers are seeing that our rates actually went down. If the temperature had stayed the same and you were able to use same amount of kilowatts per hour, your bill would have actually went down,” said Tilmon.
How to keep costs low
For those looking to control their costs, Tilmon advises that “78 (degrees) is the lowest you really want to set your thermostat.” He also recommends “the use of ceiling fans or even desk fans, because what that does is it moves the air around you. It helps you feel cooler.”
Another way to keep costs low is to use larger appliances like dishwashers and washing machines later in the day.
“It’s really important not to use (larger appliances) in the peak of the day, because, again, you’re adding heat to the home” said Tilmon.
For vulnerable populations, Tilmon explained that NV Energy has programs for the elderly or those with medical conditions. The only issue is that they must self-identify to NV Energy so the company can enroll them into a corresponding program.
Contact Annie Vong at avong@reviewjournal.com.
While California and Massachusetts both have aggressive clean-energy mandates, that’s not why their rates jumped so dramatically, the report explained. A 2023 report from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that the cost of complying with clean energy standards in the 29 states that have enacted them equates to about 3.5 percent of average retail electricity bills.
So, what is driving electricity rates to rise in these states? Climate change — and reliance on the price-volatile, planet-warming fossil fuels that contribute to it.
“When we looked at the data, we found the biggest drivers of recent rate increases are things like the cost of fossil fuels and the price volatility associated with fossil fuels, and the cost of climate impacts — like wildfires in California in particular,” Pierpoint said.
In the short term, turbulent fossil gas prices have been a “major driver of higher electricity costs in some states,” the report noted. That relationship was made clear in 2021 and 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent gas prices soaring — and drove up electricity costs as a result.
These price spikes are passed through to utility customers in various ways, and can make up a significant portion of residential utility rates, Pierpoint noted. In states such as Massachusetts, where 64 percent of the state’s electricity was supplied by fossil gas plants in 2023, households face even greater exposure to these costs.
Gas has mostly been a cheap fuel in the U.S. over the past decade, as the fracking revolution has flooded the market. But it’s still prone to market shocks, like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or winter storms that trigger freeze-offs and supply shortfalls. Events such as these can cause gas prices to go through the roof— and their effects often linger well after the crisis has passed, Pierpoint noted. In Texas and Oklahoma, for example, households face decades of bill increases to cover utility losses resulting from the weeklong disruption of the gas supply system during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021.
Other drivers of rate increases have been building over a longer time — including the costs of maintaining the utility infrastructure needed to generate power and deliver it to customers.
Take utilities’ increased spending on transmission and distribution grids. Over the past decade or so, the cost of generating electricity for investor-owned utilities has remained largely flat outside of moments of fuel price volatility. But the price of electricity delivery has risen nearly twice as fast as the rate of inflation, driven by the need to repair aging power grids, expand the system to serve rising electricity demand, and harden infrastructure against extreme weather and wildfires.
These grid investments have been increasing across the country, including in states with low rates of clean energy deployment, undermining claims that wind and solar power are the main cause of grid costs, Pierpoint noted. In fact, a focus on smaller, less cost-effective local upgrades rather than long-range power lines has stymied capacity for new renewable energy development, he said.
One particular task — hardening power grids to forestall their risk of sparking wildfires — has played a key role in pushing California utility rates skyward, the report noted. In the wake of deadly fires in 2017 and 2018 that were started by failed power lines, California utilities have been ordered to invest tens of billions of dollars in clearing trees and vegetation, retrofitting and replacing at-risk power lines, and installing equipment to detect fire risks and prevent grid failures.
Those activities now account for a whopping 16 percent of the total cost to customers of the three major investor-owned utilities in California, which has the highest electricity rates in the continental U.S. It’s not the only state struggling with the issue, however. “Climate change has made wildfires more common and more severe across much of Western U.S., and Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, and Texas have all seen major wildfire events linked to grid infrastructure in recent years,” the report stated.
The problem of aging utility infrastructure isn’t confined to power grids. In some parts of the country, utility rates are climbing because customers are forced to bear the costs of paying off unprofitable coal-fired power plants.
Utilities across much of the Southeast, West, and Midwest operate in states with vertically integrated energy markets that allow them to pass the costs of building and operating these aging coal plants on to customers — even if the power they produce is more expensive than other alternatives.
That burdens customers in two ways, Pierpoint explained. First, many utilities continue to use their coal plants even when cheaper power is available. That tactic has added about $17 billion to utility customers’ bills since 2015, according to analysis from decarbonization think tank RMI. Second, many utilities have continued to invest in aging coal plants despite their declining economics, with the amount of investment actually rising from 2010 to 2020, per RMI data.
“Utilities are pouring more and more capital into these plants to extend their lives, in some cases to address pollution issues when they should be considering retiring these plants,” Pierpoint said. “This goes back to utilities incentives — they have an incentive to increase capital spending, because they earn a guaranteed rate of return.”
That brings up the final point in Energy Innovation’s report — the “cost-of-service” regulatory model under which most U.S. utilities operate. This business model rewards utilities with a set rate of return — i.e. revenue — for every dollar they invest in capital assets like power plants and power grids. By contrast, operational costs — including the money they spend on making those power plants and grids operate more efficiently, or on energy efficiency incentives for their customers — earn them no additional margin of return.
This is one big reason why many U.S. utilities are responding to forecasts of major electricity demand growth by proposing to build new fossil gas-fired power plants rather than pursuing less costly and polluting alternatives, such as renewable energy paired with batteries or helping their customers use less energy when electricity demand reaches its peak. That may be good for utility profits — but it’s not a recipe for reducing rising electricity rates.
If you’ve been wanting to try an electric vehicle, renting can be an affordable option. But finding one may soon become much more difficult.
Electric vehicles have been financially disastrous for rental companies, especially Hertz, which in January scaled back plans to acquire 100,000 Teslas after the cars’ resale values plunged much faster than the company had expected.
Hertz’s experience had a chilling effect on its industry, and many rental car companies are now trying to sell off electric vehicles at deep discounts. And it may be a while before they start buying again.
Last year, more than 4 percent of the cars sold by manufacturers to rental companies were electric, according to S&P Global Mobility. So far this year, that number is just 1.4 percent.
In theory, renting an electric car is a great way for people to try and become comfortable with new types of vehicles like battery-powered cars that produce no tailpipe emissions. “The potential that rental companies can have in reshaping consumer behavior and helping to promote adoption is critical,” said Stephanie Valdez-Streaty, the director of industry insights at Cox Automotive. “But there’s a long way to go.”
Ms. Valdez-Streaty said rental firms had recently been offering good deals on electric vehicles, but those were unlikely to last as the companies thinned their fleets of such cars.
Hertz and other rental car companies found that offering customers electric vehicles at a profit was more difficult than they had expected. Most rental car complexes at airports lacked chargers. Many renters were not prepared for how quickly electric cars accelerated, leading to more accidents and higher insurance premiums. And some companies found they couldn’t get spare parts for such cars as quickly as they could for gasoline cars.
“They thought E.V.s would be more simple and straightforward and cheaper to maintain,” said Karl Brauer, an executive analyst at iSeeCars.com, an online car search site. “They’re finding that’s not true.”
In a statement, Hertz said it would “continue to offer our customers the widest possible choice of vehicle makes and models, including electric vehicles.”
The biggest problem for the rental companies was the rapid depreciation of cars made by Tesla, the leading manufacturer of electric cars. The company, led by Elon Musk, sharply cut prices on new models last year to prop up sales. That pushed down the prices for used Teslas. A study released last month from iSeeCars.com found that used electric vehicles have lost value faster than the average used gas car has this year and, in May, cost less on average than used gasoline cars for the first time.
Resale values are a critical part of the financial calculus for rental companies because they generally sell cars before they accumulate too many miles. Rental car companies record losses when they sell cars for less than they had expected to. In the first three months of the year, the diminished value of Hertz’s electric fleet lowered its profit by $195 million.
Rental companies “are 100 percent dependent on residual values,” said Shay Natarajan, a partner at Mobility Impact Partners, a private equity firm that invests in sustainable transportation. “It’s just a very difficult business model.”
James Iovino, who lives in Baldwin, N.Y., listed about nine electric vehicles on the car sharing website Turo. But he got out of the business a month or so ago after E.V. prices dropped.
“I got burned for the same reason Hertz got hurt — Elon Musk opens his mouth and the industry takes a dive,” he said.
But some rental car companies say they are not dumping battery-powered cars because of the recent drop in prices.
Enterprise Mobility has several thousand electric vehicles available in the United States, Canada and Europe, and will add more depending on market demand, said Mike Wilmering, a spokesman for the company. Enterprise is also working on making more chargers available to its customers.
“We’re looking beyond how many chargers are available and working to identify power needs and access — both in our locations and the communities we serve,” Mr. Wilmering said. “We want customers to have a great experience with E.V.s, and we’re keeping them at the center of our long-term strategy.”
Some people who have never driven an electric vehicle face a steep learning curve when they are given a battery-powered car. Rental companies typically do not have the staff to give customers a tutorial. Hertz, for example, offers information online for electric vehicle renters and sends them instructions by email.
Tom Moore and his wife rented a Tesla from a Hertz location in Portland, Ore., last year as a test run for buying an electric car.
His wife, who did the bulk of the driving, asked a Tesla-owning neighbor back home in Mountain View, Calif., for a lesson before their trip. It was a good idea — the Hertz employees did not offer any instructions before handing over the key fob.
“They just said, ‘This is your parking place,’” Mr. Moore said.
Hertz said it “learned a lot as a first mover in the E.V. rental market, and, as we align our fleet with consumer demand, we’re focused on continuously enhancing the rental experience, which includes making it easy and rewarding for all customers.”
Refueling has been another issue. Many rental companies expect customers to recharge electric vehicles to around 70 percent before returning them. That means customers must plan to stop at a charger near the end of their trips, which is not always easy to do when people are trying to catch flights and there aren’t enough fast chargers near the rental car center.
Rental companies don’t want to be responsible for charging because they like to get cars back on the road quickly. It can also be difficult for rental companies to install chargers at airports.
“Airports are notorious for being unfriendly for electric infrastructure development,” said Raghu Iyengar, an executive at Volkswagen of American whose duties include sales to rental companies. Demand from rental companies for Volkswagen’s ID.4 electric sport utility vehicle has been close to zero, he said.
People who rent Teslas have access to its Supercharger network, the largest fast-charging system in the United States. But most Superchargers work only with Tesla cars. People who rent cars made by automakers like Kia, General Motors or Polestar must use chargers offered by other operators, each with its own mobile phone app for payment. Renters also need to be aware that there are few or no fast chargers in many parts of the country, especially in rural areas.
But even in the heart of the technology industry, driving a rented electric car can be difficult.
Kerry Dietz, a retired architect who lives in Springfield, Mass., reserved the “manager’s special” last year at Thrifty Car Rental, which belongs to Hertz, during a trip to Berkeley, Calif. She owned a Tesla at the time and was no stranger to electric driving. But Thrifty gave her a Polestar, a car designed in Sweden and manufactured in China that was not able to use Tesla’s charging network.
“I spent the entire time we were there trying to find a place to charge — a place to charge where stuff worked,” Ms. Dietz said. “It was a really frustrating experience.”
As electric vehicles become more popular, rental companies will have to figure out how to offer them, Mr. Iyengar of Volkswagen said. “There’s going to be an electric tide that lifts all boats,” he said, “and rental is going to follow that.”
We’ve driven a lot of cool new EVs at InsideEVs this year — everything from sporty cars like the new Lotus Emeya to the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N to family crossovers like the Kia EV9. But the most intriguing car is often the one we haven’t met yet. A profusion of new EVs will be debuting over the next couple of years. Here are some of the ones we are most excited about.
2026 Alfa Romeo Giulia Rendering
Alfa Romeo revived its brand in the U.S. with the Giulia sedan and its legendary (and legendarily mercurial) Quadrifoglio version. Nearly a decade later, we’re finally getting a new version. It will be all-electric and may be heavily related to the Dodge Charger Daytona EV.
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The Q6 E-Tron is Audi’s first vehicle on the new Premium Performance Electric Platform shared with the Porsche Macan EV. It’s an all-electric dual-motor crossover that can deliver up to 456 horsepower with launch control. Audi is planning a full lineup with SQ6, RS Q6 and Sportback versions.
Aud A6 E-Tron rendering
The next phase of Audi’s EV revolution is having typical Audis go electric. It may not get more typical Audi than the A6 sedan, which is going electric as the A6 E-Tron. It may not end up looking too different than Audi’s current crop of conservatively styled EVs. However, it could pack dramatically more range on Audi’s new PPE platform.
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The Escalade nameplate has been perhaps the mainstay in the often-evolving Cadillac lineup this century. And Cadillac is taking it into the electric era with the Escalade IQ. It doesn’t look as boxy as the gas model. But it should bring the same combination of luxury and space into the EV world (for a premium). And with up to 750 horsepower in Velocity Max mode, buyers won’t miss the V8.
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Cadillac is adding an entry-level “iq” car to the lineup, the Optiq. It’s an all-electric compact crossover built on the Ultium Platform. It’s not that much cheaper than the Lyriq, with Cadillac estimating a $54,000 starting price. But it will come well-equipped with dual-motor AWD, around 300 miles of range and three years of Super Cruise standard.
Cadillac also has another “iq” SUV joining the lineup, the Vistiq. It will be a three-row electric SUV. Cadillac hasn’t revealed a lot of the details yet; a tailgate badge suggests it is getting the Lyriq’s 500 hp powertrain. But expect it to be the electric equivalent of the XT6 slotting below the Escalade IQ for price and performance.
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Dodge is ditching its HEMI V8s for the “eMuscle” era with the Charger Daytona, promising “kilowatts and Power Shots.” Dodge is launching two 400V dual-motor AWD versions offering up to 670 horsepower (Scat Pack) and 317 miles of EV range (R/T). For those not quite ready to go EV, Dodge is also building inline-six powered Chargers.
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GMC is launching its second electric truck after the Hummer EV SUT: the Sierra EV. It will be sold initially in the Sierra Denali EV Edition 1 version, and its specs are impressive. The truck will offer up to 754 horsepower and 440 miles of range (enough to still tow while experiencing substantial losses) with 350kW fast charging to refill on the go.
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Kia’s three-row EV9 electric SUV has been a massive hit, taking home almost every award it has been up for. But nearly four years after Hyundai unveiled the concept car, we’re still waiting for its version, likely called the Ioniq 9. It won’t be as out there as the concept, which had rear-hinged coach doors, lounge seating and a glass tailgate. But it should, like the EV9, offer a compelling electric option for families.
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Jeep’s first EV is the Wagoneer S. It’s launching to rival the Tesla Model Y on Stellantis’s STLA Large platform with 600 horsepower and an estimated 300-plus miles of range. For anyone missing the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, the Wagoneer S will actually be quicker, with a 0-60 mph time of 3.4 seconds.
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Jeep
Jeep is waiting until 2028 to build a full-bore electric Wrangler. But the brand will offer the next best thing in the interim, the Recon. The Recon is a boxy SUV “inspired by the Wrangler” built on the STLA Large platform. It should have removable doors and off-road-ready versions that earn Jeep’s Trail Rated badge. Jeep may also offer a combustion option.
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The Gravity is a full-size SUV competing with the Rivian R1S, Tesla Model X or the new Kia EV9. It is expected to start at around $80,000 and offer similar power to the Air sedan, so there will probably be a 1,000+ horsepower variant that utilizes the tri-motor setup from the Air Sapphire.
It has a projected EPA range of up to 440 miles, and thanks to its 900-volt architecture, it will be among the quickest-charging electric SUVs on the market. Practicality should also be high, with three rows of seats or a maximum load volume of 112 cubic feet and a 6,000-pound towing capacity.
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Mini is following up the Mini Cooper SE with the Mini Countryman SE, an electric version of its subcompact crossover. It comes with a peppy 313 hp and 363 lb-ft of torque. And a Mini-estimated 245 miles of range would more than double the Cooper SE’s 114 miles.
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Porsche’s most popular car is the Macan, and it’s going electric for the next generation (though Porsche will still sell the combustion version alongside it). It has been delayed a bit due to VW software issues. But it should be worth the wait with a Turbo version packing more than 630 hp and a (by Porsche standards) reasonable starting price. Though the options will bite.
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Porsche is reportedly killing off the combustion 718 Cayman and Boxster for 2025. The replacement will be an all-electric sports car. We don’t have the full details yet. But it should ride on the same platform as the electric Macan. And the performance numbers, potentially exceeding 600 horsepower in top spec, could be eye-popping.
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Ram is the last of the Big Three coming to the full-size electric pickup truck party. But the truck won’t be least in the specs department. Ram is promising that the truck will deliver up to 500 miles of EV range with its massive 229 kWh battery pack. It can also tow up to 14,000 pounds and accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds.
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Land Rover’s first EV will be the Range Rover Electric. JLR has not given us the full info dump yet. But we know it will have an 800V architecture, have a wading depth of 33.46 inches (about on par with a Defender on coil springs or a Ford Bronco Sasquatch and, importantly, look very much like the combustion Range Rover.
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It was only a matter of time before VW’s EV blitz leaned into the brand’s nostalgia. And the brand is finally bringing the ID. Buzz, a modern all-electric nod to the Type 2 Microbus, to America. The U.S. is getting the pricier long-wheelbase version with three available trims, both RWD and AWD and up to seven seats with the RWD model.
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Volvo perked up some ears when it announced the EX30. It’s a pint-sized electric crossover. In AWD spec, it’s the quickest Volvo ever made with a 3.4-second 0 to 60 mph time. Fitted with RWD, Volvo has said it will be the cheapest Volvo on the road with a price tag starting under $35,000. Tariffs on Chinese-built cars, however, have moved EX30 production and put the American release date and eventual price tag in doubt.
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Volvo’s flagship vehicle is the XC90, a stately, practical three-row SUV. Volvo is quite sensibly recreating that in the EV space with the EX90. It seats up to seven, can pack nearly 500 horsepower and delivers around 300 miles of range. Having entered production in America, the EX90 should arrive soon, though it may be missing a few features when it arrives.
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The 3 Series arguably defined the modern BMW brand in the late 20th century. It should help redefine it in the 21st century by going all-electric on the new Neue Klasse dedicated EV platform. And BMW appears to have been testing a quad-motor setup for a full-fat M version.
GM killed off the Bolt just as it was becoming popular. But the nameplate should be making a swift return at a similar price point. We don’t have the precise specs yet, but switching to GM’s newer Ultium battery tech should make the new Bolt EUV faster to charge and cheaper to produce.
Ford was the first of the big three to the EV truck market with the F-150 Lightning. But that truck, a modified version of the combustion F-150, is effectively dated tech. GM and Ram have new, more capable trucks arriving on dedicated EV platforms. Ford has confirmed it is designing a new EV pickup, codenamed Project T3 for “Trust the Truck,” to match them, though that truck has been delayed.
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Genesis is developing its own flagship, three-row version of the Kia EV9, likely called the GV90. Earlier this year, Genesis offered a preview of it with the Neolun concept. Judging from previous Genesis EVs, we can expect a power upgrade over the EV9 and some fancier interior finishes.
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Rivian has proved it can make a compelling, luxurious, capable electric SUV that consumers love. Its next task is more significant: Build one that most people can afford. That's where the Rivian R2 comes in. The R2 is a compact electric SUV, similar in size to the Tesla Model Y, with a target price of around $45,000 before incentives. Rivian says the R2 will enter production in the first half of 2026. They will initially be built at Rivian's existing production facility in Normal, Illinois.
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Rivian debuted its long-awaited R2 platform. But the car that arguably stole the show was the surprise debut of the smaller R3. It resembles a retro-futuristic rally car with Lada Niva and Lancia Delta Integrale vibes. And it may bring Rivian EV tech to the masses with a price tag starting below $40,000.
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The Rivian R3X is a slightly more rugged, adventure-focused variant of Rivian’s upcoming R3 hatchback. Rivian describes the R3X as “a performance variant of R3 offering even more dynamic abilities both on and off-road.”
The base R3 will be the smallest, most affordable vehicle in the lineup and is estimated to have a starting MSRP under $40,000.
The R3X pricing is expected to be a step above that, with unofficial numbers pegging it around $45,000. If this turns out to be accurate, it would put the top trim R3X in the same price bracket as an entry-level R2.
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Polestar fleshed out its lineup this year with the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 crossovers. Next up should be the Polestar 5, a flagship all-electric sedan. It has climbed the hill at Goodwood in prototype form, with more than 800 horsepower. It should be a compelling competitor to the Tesla Model S and Porsche Taycan.
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Polestar stunned just about everyone with the 02 convertible concept. And it’s going to be a production car, the Polestar 6. It should pack nearly 900 horsepower and accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds. It will have a fancy bonded aluminum unibody construction. An L.A. Special Edition will come with that fancy sky blue paint.
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Porsche is launching its first three-row, seven-seater production vehicle, codenamed “K1.” It will be a new flagship SUV that slots above the Cayenne. It will be all-electric with a low-slung body style described as part-sedan and part-crossover. It should seat up to seven passengers. Expect it to be Porsche’s most expensive car.
Toyota has confirmed it has a new three-row electric crossover — think Highlander but electric — coming to rival the Kia EV9. Toyota may have previewed it with its bZ Large SUV concept. We don’t know its name yet. We know it will be built in Indiana (alongside a Lexus version) and have a good shot at being eligible for the $7,500 tax credit.
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Volvo plans to go all-electric by 2030. That will require getting a lot more EVs on the road. One of them should be a sedan, likely called the ES90, that will replace the current S90 sedan. Leaked documents suggest it should share substantial componentry with the three-row EX90 crossover.
