Roberto Baldwin | The Verge

Why charge an EV when you can just swap its battery?

2023-07-27T11:51:43-04:00

Ample says it can swap an EV battery in just five minutes. | Image: Filmtwist Productions

We like to talk about range anxiety, but the reality is we’re dealing with charging anxiety when it comes to EVs. It’s great that an electric vehicle can cover 300 miles on a charge, but if the infrastructure is sparse and, in many cases, not working correctly, the ability to cover hundreds of miles on a single charge just means you’re hundreds of miles from home if things go sideways.

Yes, the infrastructure is improving, and a big driver of that is government-funded financial initiatives for charging station companies to improve uptime. Automakers are adopting Tesla’s NACS (North American Charging Standard) after the initial push by Ford — a company that sent employees out into the field to see how well the charging network was working and seems to have determined not well enough and signed a deal with Tesla.

Another group of seven automakers has decided to take the charging infrastructure issues into their own hands. They’ve announced a new charging network that will allegedly rival and overtake Tesla’s Supercharger network — good news until you realize it’ll be a year before their first station goes live.

Swap, man

But there’s another way to keep EVs on the road, and Daimler’s truck and bus division Mitsubishi Fuso is testing out a solution from Ample.

The Northern California startup has had battery swapping stations on the ground in the San Francisco Bay Area for a few years, servicing select drivers with specially modified cars. Partnering with Mitsubishi Fuso to outfit the latest version of the company’s eCanter electric light-duty panel trucks validates Ample’s business model and could keep those delivery trucks on the road far longer during the day.

There’s another way to keep EVs on the road

Like the testing taking place in Northern California, the panel trucks vehicles will pull up to a station and be lifted into the air, and a series of tiny robots would remove and replace proprietary battery modules in a targeted time of five minutes. The batteries that were removed were stored and charged in a side compartment as the station gets ready for another swap.

Earlier this year, Ample unveiled its latest station iteration that cuts the swapping time from 10 minutes to five and reduces some of the complexity to increase robustness. It also showed off the taller swapping station needed to accommodate light-duty trucks like the ones from Mitsubishi Fuso.

It’s a big jump from a company that years ago felt like it would be eclipsed by a growing charging infrastructure that, as of yet, has not materialized in any way it should have.

Smart, better, faster, fleeter

Ample’s focus is currently on fleets. At its new station demonstration event earlier this year, an Uber driver had just completed some trips and was ready to charge their vehicle — but instead opted to quickly swap out the batteries with the Ample station. The goal to reach parity with gas stations is nearly there. Still, it will be tough to beat a system that’s been generations in the making, and its energy delivery system is a liquid you can just pump into a vehicle.

Battery swap stations can be set up in three days

One thing that Ample has over legacy refueling stations is that its battery swap stations can be set up in three days. Give them a flat slab of concrete, and they deliver the parts flat-packed to be assembled. The first stations required two weeks, but like the rest of the setup, it’s been modified to increase efficiency.

For example, in the earlier iteration, the battery swap looked like a dance of robots and battery modules. Now it’s less impressive as most of the action happens out of view of the outside world.

“When we first started, we were excited about robots,” Ample CEO and founder Khaled Hassounah said. An earlier iteration of the swapping station lifted the vehicle above the ground via its tires like a lift at a service station. This happened without a corresponding platform rising up with the vehicle.

With that system, the driver and passenger were essentially trapped in the vehicle after it was hoisted into the air to allow the robots to do their work. Now, the driver and passengers can step out of the vehicle during a swap thanks to a platform that raises up with the vehicle.

Smaller batteries = flexibility

The company has also expanded the vehicles it supports. At its research facility, we noted the Fuso panel truck. When asked, Hassounah said that this updated generation swapping station had a higher canopy than the original swapping station and that the lift now adjusted itself to both the front and back wheels, allowing for multiple-size vehicles to use the same station. According to Ample, it now supports vehicles from small cars to large Class 3 trucks.

“When we first started we were excited about robots”

The need to support a variety of vehicles is also one of the reasons why Ample switches out multiple modules from a vehicle instead of one giant pack. While modularity isn’t as fast as swapping a pack, you can fit modules into any car, and the system is compatible with future vehicles. Plus, as battery technology improves, an EV will have a longer lifecycle because it’s not stuck with one pack that’s slowly degrading. Instead, every time it swaps battery, it has the best Ample has to offer.

Partners

This is all impressive in theory, but it requires automotive partners. EV startup Fisker has announced that it will support the Ample system on the Ocean electric SUV in the first quarter of 2024. Ample states that it has other partners in the works but couldn’t share any additional details.

Fisker is a nice get, but the company doesn’t even have a vehicle for sale, and until there’s a legacy automaker ready to build a vehicle that supports Ample’s battery modules at scale, the company will have to keep asking automakers to add their battery swapping system to a vehicle instead of a standard battery pack during manufacturing.

That’s a tough ask

That’s a tough ask, as many of the automakers are now banding together to build a charging infrastructure for privately owned vehicles. They might be interested in outfitting a system like Ample’s in select vehicles. But to sell one of these to the general public that’s a huge endeavor. It’s like asking an automaker to sell a car that can only get gas at one service station.

Adding energy to an EV might not be as easy as refueling a gas-powered vehicle, but you can get electricity nearly anywhere, including your house. It’s not ideal, but it can be done. That’s not good enough for fleet managers, though.

For the fleets Ample is targeting, the big sell is that they won’t have to set up a charging infrastructure at their vehicle storage facility. If a business has a few vehicles, AC charging stations are doable. But if a company has dozens of EVs in its fleet, setting up a charging infrastructure can be difficult and expensive, and relying on the public infrastructure in its current state means these businesses could be losing money because charging locations are full or those locations are having issues with the charging stations.

It’s a nice closed system where the vehicles don’t venture out of a particular geographic area very often, and part of the business plan is working with a battery-swapping system like Ample’s.

For Ample, Daimler, and fans of battery-swapping technology, the Mitsubishi Fuso partnership is a big deal. The specially built vehicles will be tested on public roads in Japan this winter. With a five-minute battery swap target, the eCanter trucks should be back on the road as quickly as a traditional gas-powered vehicle.

Less power, more swaps

While the stations can be set up alongside one another, they pull less power than some of the charging station solutions out right now. Hassounah said that they could set up stations that pull 200 kW from the grid, but the sweet spot is pulling 100 kW. So it’s less strain on the local power infrastructure because it’s constantly charging batteries between swaps as it gets the modules ready for the next vehicle.

“We’re delivering energy at 600 to 1000 kW, but we’re charging at 100 kW,” Hassounah said. Each station stores, on average, about 10 cars’ worth of batteries and about six large trucks. Each module that’s swapped out has 5 kWh of battery capacity.

The complexity of swapping

While Ample’s system makes sense for fleets and Fisker seems to be excited about swaps, there’s a reason why this type of system hasn’t caught on in the US as it has in China. It’s all about the packs.

“The economics of swapping don’t really work”

“The Chinese EV market is far larger than the US, but battery swapping so far has mainly been a Nio phenomenon. They’ve designed all of their models around a common battery pack format,” Sam Abuelsamid, principal research analyst for Guidehouse Insights, told The Verge.

Nio has also offered free swaps to customers, similar to the way Tesla used to offer free charging. Tesla famously tried but then abandoned the idea of battery swapping half a decade ago.

“Here in North America — aside from Tesla — everyone has had far fewer sales, and the economics of swapping don’t really work if you have to support a lot of different pack formats. Without battery standardization, the market just isn’t there for swapping. Standardization isn’t going to happen while battery technology is still evolving,” Abuelsamid said.

Cheaper cars (sort of)

If this does make its way to passenger cars, the vehicles that would potentially be sold sans batteries or already fitted with Ample batteries. The owners would subscribe to Ample’s service and pay a cost per kWh. Ample’s target is to be 20 percent cheaper than gas. How that stacks up against just charging at night or hitting a DC fast charger during the day is tough to determine at this point. But for fleet managers, if it means the cars stay on the road longer and they don’t have to set up their own charging stations, it’s likely worth it.

Ample’s still a fleet-focused company. Think Ubers, delivery services, municipal vehicles, and the like. It doesn’t see charging station companies as competitors. Instead, both types of charging solutions are the means to an end. Replacing gas-powered vehicles with something cleaner, quieter, and more efficient. Just some of these EVs will get a fun little 3-to 4-foot lift into the sky every time they get near zero charge.

Meanwhile, the rest of us will still be charging at home overnight and, hopefully soon, have access to more robust, more accessible, and more operational charging infrastructure. There are many paths to reducing our carbon footprint in the world. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Battery swaps sound perfect for fleets but are too complex for passenger vehicles. At least for now.

Nissan Ariya first drive: an EV pioneer regains its credibility

2023-03-20T14:31:48-04:00

Before the Tesla Model 3 dominated the EV landscape, there was the Nissan Leaf: a small hatchback with a tiny battery and tiny range that was the best-selling EV in the world for years. Those years stretched on and on as the vehicle — introduced way back in 2010 — was Nissan’s only real EV in the United States for over a decade. Nissan was going through a rough patch at the time, but now it’s back with a brand new EV: the Ariya.

With a starting price of $43,190 for front-wheel drive and $51,190 for all-wheel drive, the electric crossover takes what Nissan (and other automakers) have learned about what people want from their electron-powered vehicles and produced an EV that stands up shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the market.

Sure, it feels late for an automaker that was at the forefront of the EV revolution, and there are some questionable decisions Nissan has made (particularly about regenerative braking) while bringing it to market. But it’s here now, and we had a chance to drive it around Northern California in the automaker’s all-wheel-drive version of the Ariya.

Funny name good feature

Automakers have fun little names for their features. Nissan is calling its electric all-wheel-drive system e-4ORCE, which feels like the title of a cool late ’80s cartoon you’d watch after school while eating a Pop-Tart. As an actual feature, it’s essentially the same sort of dual-motor all-wheel-drive system we’ve seen on other EVs but better. It’s not impressive in that it gives you more traction for shorter 0–60 times. It’s impressive in how it makes driving safer.

As part of the day’s drive with the Ariya, Nissan took us to Sonoma Raceway and set up a small autocross course outlined with orange cones. While behind the wheel of the Ariya, on wet asphalt, we were instructed to enable full acceleration directly into a turn.

It feels late for an automaker that was at the forefront of the EV revolution

This is a surefire recipe for creating understeer, a phenomenon where a driver turns the wheel and the vehicle continues traveling straight. It’s extremely common on wet and icy roads. It can be terrifying because you’re suddenly no longer in control of the vehicle — you’re a passenger in a multi-ton hunk of metal and glass headed for… something.

The Ariya, to its credit, drove through the corner without issue as I planted my foot into the floor. A second demonstration that had us run a short slalom course also highlighted the vehicle’s sure-footedness.

At work is the vehicle’s torque vectoring system. The e-4ORCE (I feel ridiculous typing that) system adds and reduces power to each motor and enables the brakes to the attached wheels as the vehicle detects where it’s losing grip. This is not new. Automakers have been using torque vectoring for years, and as they move to EV architectures, the instant-on aspect of electric motors makes the systems quicker to respond.

The Ariya system stands out in its ability to reduce understeer and the front-end diving that occurs while coming to a stop by moving the stopping power to the rear wheels instead of relying heavily on the front.

Out in the real world on actual roads that were drenched with what seemed like a nonstop torrent of rain in a region that only months ago was concerned about drought, I found e-4ORCE to be an excellent system for keeping me on my path around corners and while coming to a stop.

Storm driving

Automakers typically want their vehicles to be driven on dry roads on a sunny day. Northern California would not oblige. Outside of the latest version of the advanced driver-assistance feature reducing its abilities while being pummeled with water, the Ariya performed admirably.

With help from the all-wheel drive drivetrain, even when plowing through puddles, the crossover felt firmly planted to the asphalt both on the highway and two-lane roads bookmarked by grapevines. Cornering was solid, with very little body roll at normal speeds. The weather reduced any chances of high-speed cornering on public roads. Yet, the demos we completed earlier in the day at the raceway gave a good indication that while the Ariya is not a sports car, it can produce a comfortable, stable ride that’s on par with the rest of the EVs in this market segment.

Nissan is calling its electric all-wheel-drive system e-4ORCE, which feels like the title of a cool late ’80s cartoon you’d watch after school while eating a Pop-Tart

As with most other EVs, acceleration off the line was quick. The Ariya does continue to deliver power up through 60 miles an hour, but it’s appropriate. Nissan isn’t going up against the EV6 GT with this vehicle. The dual motors deliver 389 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque. The result is a 0–60 time of 4.8 seconds.

The braking system does an excellent job of bringing that power to a stop. Traditional brakes include rotors or drums at the tires that employ pads to slow down a vehicle. Thanks to regenerative braking, where the electric motors help slow a vehicle down, the Ariya is great at coming to a stop. It’s also nice that because of e-4ORCE, it does this without the front end diving as much as on a traditional vehicle.

The biggest head-scratcher is the lack of one-pedal driving. The Nissan Leaf helped popularize the ability to lift off the accelerator and have the EV come to a full stop. The Ariya lacks that capability. Nissan says it’s not what customers want. Fans of the feature may differ, and it would have made sense to at least add the feature and let drivers decide on their own.

Nissan may have preferred a sunny day to test the vehicle’s on-road abilities, but the rain added additional confidence to the Ariya’s capabilities.

Hands-free driving (except in moderate rain)

Like GM’s Super Cruise and Ford’s Blue Cruise, Nissan has its own hands-free / eyes-on driver assistance suite. ProPilot 2 is a geofenced system that works in certain circumstances. The vehicles use high-definition maps along with cameras and radar to center a vehicle within its lane on a highway. The vehicle is also limited to how quickly the wipers are moving. Medium and above, and you’re back to hands-on driver assistance with lane-keep assistance and adaptive cruise control. It’s a safety issue, and good on Nissan for not sacrificing the lives of those in and out of the vehicle in order to crow about their technology working anywhere and in any conditions.

During my limited testing time (because of the rain), I found ProPilot to slot right between Ford and GM’s hands-free systems. It does a better job centering the vehicle and tracking corners than Ford while as smooth as GM’s Super Cruise.

The dash cluster changes colors to indicate the mode the driver assistance is in. It’s a good way to reduce mode confusion, but I wish that in addition to the cluster and HUD, the steering wheel also had a light to indicate assistance modes the way GM, BMW, and Mercedes have in their vehicles.

The biggest head-scratcher is the lack of one-pedal driving

I find these systems to be great in dense traffic at slow speeds. Gridlock is horrible, and letting the vehicle assist in some aspects is nice. That said, I’m here to remind you that you are still in control of the vehicle and need to pay attention to the road. Nissan has an in-car monitor on the steering column to make sure the driver does exactly that.

Sure, you can take your hands off, but they need to be ready to take over at any moment. I typically end up resting my hands on the wheel. They may work great 99 percent of the time, but it’s good to be ready for that 1 percent error.

It’s inside that counts

The interior of the Ariya is something you’d expect to find on a much more expensive vehicle. Nissan is using Kumiko patterns throughout the interior to recreate the feeling of lanterns both in the doors and below the dash. It’s a bold move that pays off spectacularly. It also helps that the climate controls below the 12.3-inch infotainment display are haptic buttons integrated into wood. It looks cool and works well.

The center console gets the same wood treatment. It’s classy and more commonly found on high-end BMWs and not something you would expect from a Nissan. The whole interior design is more mid-level luxury than a crossover. Kudos to Nissan for creating an inviting space as it returns to form in the EV space.

If you’re dragging more than people around, the vehicle has 22.8 cubic feet of space behind the rear seats. With the seats down, that jumps up to 59.7 cubic feet of space. That’s right up there with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 (27.2 and 59.3 cubic feet of space, respectively) and just a bit below the Volkswagen ID.4 (30.3 and 64.2 cubic feet, respectively).

I found ProPilot to slot right between Ford and GM’s hands-free systems

The seats are more in line with what you expect at this price point. They’re comfortable but lack much definition, and after a few hours, you start to feel it. They’ll be great for around town and commuting, but road trips will require some stretching while charging up the vehicle.

The infotainment system is also nothing that exciting. It’s the usual tablet layout with a few design flourishes within the widgets on the homescreen. I encountered very little latency while tapping and swiping, but mostly you’ll be using CarPlay and Android Auto with the Ariya.

The cluster is bright and easy to read and doesn’t overwhelm you with data. That is unless you surface the vehicle’s trip and efficiency information. Then it’s a bit much.

This brings us to the voice assistant. It’s not great. I got it to set the temperature once, and after that, it was just confused by my voice. After testing, I got fed up with it and just forgot it existed.

Battery choices

While the Ariya does have a front-wheel-drive variant that can travel up to 304 miles between charges, according to the EPA, the all-wheel-drive e-4ORCE has a range of 272 miles with the larger 91 kWh capacity battery pack (of which 87 kWh is available). A 32-mile difference in day-to-day use really shouldn’t be an issue. This is especially true if you live in an area with inclement weather where having all four wheels tackling the ground at once helps.

But the Ariya comes with two battery choices. There’s the smaller 66 kWh pack (63 kWh usable) that’s available on front-wheel-drive vehicles with 216 miles of range, according to the EPA. Opting for the 87kWh pack on the front-wheel-drive variant can push that range up to 304 miles. Doing so pushes the starting price for the front-wheel-drive Ariya up to $47,190. The all-wheel-drive e-4ORCE starts at $51,190 and is only available with the larger pack.

At first glance, it might seem confusing, but it’s a nice range of choices for potential customers looking at an EV that fits their life and circumstances.

This brings us to the voice assistant. It’s not great

For all these variants that need on-the-go charging, the Ariya supports DC fast charging at compatible stations at up to 130kW. Not great, but also fine if you’re doing road trips on a weekly basis. Nissan says it’ll charge from 10 to 80 percent in 40 minutes.

For at-home level 2 charging, the Ariya has a 7.2 kWh onboard charger. Overnight charging shouldn’t be a problem. We were unable to test the vehicle’s charging but hope to do so in the future.

Nissan is back

The Leaf was a big deal, but it languished and was eclipsed by the Model 3. It’s still in the Nissan lineup, and while it’s a good EV, the Ariya is a better indication of where Nissan is going with its EV transition. Unfortunately, Nissan is running into some of the same production issues other automakers have been struggling against. In addition to supply chain hurdles, the company’s new “intelligent factory” is reportedly experiencing some growing pains as they ramp up production.

But if you can find one, for those on the hunt for an EV crossover, the Ariya offers an impressive interior, more than adequate range, and with its weirdly named e-4ORCE drivetrain, a safer way to get around town on slick roads. Just don’t ask too many questions while driving around.

Hyundai wants to help you put solar and batteries in your home

2022-11-21T09:55:19-05:00

Hyundai Home aims to be a one-stop shop for sustainable energy products. | Image: Hyundai

A sustainable future requires a multipronged approach. It’s more than just replacing a gas car with one that runs on electrons or sitting back and hoping that your local utility moves as quickly as possible to renewables.

For those with the means, solar panels paired with a home battery can add an additional layer of eco-consciousness and power stability to their lives. Yet navigating the myriad solar panel and home battery options is a daunting process fraught with confusion as more and more players enter the market and reviews of each system are nonexistent.

Enter Hyundai Home, a marketplace launched last week during the Los Angeles Auto Show with the goal of alleviating the perplexity of picking solar panels, a home battery storage solution, and an EV charging system that’s right for an individual home. Unlike offerings from Tesla and GM, Hyundai isn’t building or selling its own hardware. Instead, it partnered with established players in the industry.

Unlike offerings from Tesla and GM, Hyundai isn’t building or selling its own hardware

“A big piece was speed to market,” Hyundai’s senior group manager of strategic environmental partnerships Ian Tupper told The Verge. “We recognize that there’s a need for this market and that there are companies that provide great products out there already.”

Tupper pointed to Hyundai’s current partnership with Electrify America, a subsidiary of Volkswagen, as evidence of how well the company works with others in the space. Currently, new Hyundai EV owners are presented with limited complimentary charging at Electrify America stations.

For launch, Hyundai is working with ChargePoint for at-home charging stations, Enphase Energy for home batteries, Solaria for solar panels, and most importantly, Electrum to facilitate helping customers choose their home energy setup and guide them through the process with personal “energy advisors” that can answer questions, walk through the process, and help customers deal with issues even after everything has been installed.

One of the more important aspects of this marketplace is that Electrum can help make sure that all relevant federal, state, and local incentives are applied to the purchase price of the setup. This has become especially important as federal incentives toward solar panels have increased under the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law earlier this year.

The system pairs potential customers with a concierge that walks them through the system and makes sure that any incentives are applied. In addition to hardware partners, the advisor will send the potential customer three quotes from local electricians for the installation. This level of hand-holding is Hyundai’s way of hoping that it can differentiate itself from others with robust customer support.

“This whole thing is about accessibility. If we can’t make it super easy from the off, we’ll have customers wavering,” Tupper said.

Income-based incentives in some areas can be added to federal rebates, making adding solar panels to a home less expensive for those interested in renewable energy but who can’t afford the price tag. Hyundai hopes that being a one-stop shop for everyone interested in solar panels and EVs will help democratize the technology.

The automaker is also using its network of dealership partners to inform customers about Hyundai Home. Salespeople can share a link with those looking at EVs that are also asking questions about transitioning to solar panels and batteries as well as installing a charging station. There is a financial incentive for the dealership as they receive a commission when a customer signs up.

“If we can’t make it super easy from the off, we’ll have customers wavering.”

The dealership incentive is not only a nice way to make a few bucks but also answers questions they’re already being asked. Tupper said that dealerships were already fielding inquiries from people shopping for EVs about home energy solutions.

That shouldn’t be surprising. Home solar panel installations increased by 23 percent in 2021 versus 2020 based on the number of gigawatts installed nationally, according to the US Energy Information Administration. There will likely be another increase in installations in 2022 thanks in part to the tax rebate increasing from 26 percent to 30 percent because of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Yet, even ahead of the increased federal rebate, a Pew Research Center survey found that 39 percent of homeowners have considered installing solar panels to their homes in the past 12 months.

So there is a growing demand, and Hyundai continues to grow its EV portfolio with the recent unveiling of the Ioniq 6 as well as other offerings from other automakers under the Hyundai Motor umbrella, including the Kia EV6 and Genesis GV60. If you’re putting electric vehicles out into the world, it’s a good idea to make sure that the at-home charging experience is seamless, especially if customers are already asking you about the next steps.

At launch, Hyundai Home only works in 16 states. But Tupper says that they are working on adding additional states for the future but couldn’t commit to a timeline.

At launch, Hyundai Home only works in 16 states

“As we kind of meet our customer experience objectives and make sure that everything’s working, we will push it out as quickly as possible to the other states,” Tupper said. There are also more partners coming to the marketplace, including a potential charging station that supports vehicle-to-load capabilities since Hyundai’s vehicle supports the technology.

While Hyundai isn’t deploying its own hardware, it is filling an important role. In the transition to a more sustainable grid and transportation system, home energy production will likely play an important part. Right now, it’s a confusing mess trying to figure out which hardware solutions work best while also navigating federal, state, and local incentives. Even without its own gear being attached to homes, Hyundai might have just helped supercharge the transition.

Mercedes-Benz won’t follow Tesla into the robotaxi game

2022-11-03T07:00:00-04:00

Mercedes-Benz CTO Markus Schäfer is energized by his visit to Silicon Valley. The executive is at the automaker’s Sunnyvale, California, research and development center to meet with his team and local tech companies.

“Very, very interesting discussions were had about potential partnerships in the future,” Schäfer tells The Verge as we sit down for a chat about the future of Mercedes-Benz. The company is in the midst of a supercharged transformation into an EV platform while working to become the first automaker to have a passenger vehicle for sale in the United States with Level 3 driver-assistance technology. The system allows the driver to not pay attention to the road or control the vehicle under very select circumstances — typically on the highway.

The company is in the midst of a supercharged transformation into an EV platform

It was another reason for Schäfer to make the trip to California. Mercedes wants to be able to launch its Drive Pilot feature in California, but making that a reality requires regulatory approval. The executive met with officials in Sacramento. The automaker’s goal is transparency with regulators and has gotten feedback from the DMV, California Highway Patrol, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the system.

Mercedes-Benz CTO Markus Schäfer is meeting with regulators about the company’s Level 3 automation feature. | Image: Mercedes-Benz AG" data-portal-copyright="Image: Mercedes-Benz AG" />

“They understand technology, the sense of redundancy [in computing], our safety philosophy, and even how we educate customers on this Level 3 system. So a very important milestone here, meeting with the regulators, explaining the system, and preparing the application,” the CTO said.

Mercedes’ Drive Pilot system’s Level 3 features would allow drivers under certain circumstances (on the highway under a certain speed) to remove their hands from the steering wheel and stop paying attention to the road. Nothing else on the market allows drivers to essentially check out from the driving experience. The closest thing we have in the United States right now are hands-free systems from BMW, Ford, and GM. All of them require the driver to continue to pay attention.

Yet potentially being the first to sell a passenger vehicle that can drive itself (again, in certain circumstances on the highway) does equate to a jump into the ride-hailing mobility space. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that self-driving Teslas could earn money for their owners and, at one point, announced that there would be a million self-driving Tesla taxis on the road in 2020.

Mercedes wants to be able to launch its Drive Pilot feature in California

That hasn’t happened yet, and for Mercedes, that’s not even a goal — at least not anymore. “We thought in 2016 or 2017, we could solve the robotaxi problem quite quickly,” Schäfer said. But committing to both a ride-hailing solution and a passenger driver-assistance solution was expensive. Something had to be scrapped, and it was the taxis driven by robots.

As Mercedes works toward Level 3 and beyond, other OEMs and their subsidiaries are going through a shake-up that seems to have landed them along the same path. The Ford and Volkswagen-backed Argo AI shuttered last week. Employees were reportedly told that some would be offered jobs by either Ford or Volkswagen, while others would receive a severance package. The technology would also be split between the two companies, although it’s not known which automaker will get what. During a third quarter earnings call, Ford announced that it would be focusing on Level 2 and Level 3 driver-assistance systems instead of vehicles that could be used as robotaxis.

Ironically, Mercedes has been providing vehicles to human-driven taxis for decades in Europe. It will continue to take part in that lucrative market, but it’s definitely not the automaker’s priority to get into the robotaxi world, according to Schäfer. The CTO doesn’t see the benefit of a self-driving taxi with a Mercedes star. “Would you wait five minutes longer for a Mercedes robotaxi? I don’t think so,” Schäfer said.

Tesla might not have to worry about battling the German automaker in the robotaxi game (whenever that happens), but it should be concerned about Mercedes’ recent rollout of EVS.

The EQS, EQE, EQS SUV, and EQB EVs from Mercedes are either already in US showrooms or will be soon. The automaker has been aggressive in its introduction of EVs with more on the way, including the EQE SUV. This current crop of EVs is based on a 400-volt architecture, which means they top off at 200kW while hooked up to compatible DC fast charging stations.

Tesla might not have to worry about battling the German automaker in the robotaxi game

According to Schäfer, more energy-efficient vehicles are on the way and will be based on the 900-volt EQXX concept vehicle.

Schäfer says that the automaker’s 2024 platform will feature a new battery chemistry with a silicone anode, a different type of cells, improved packaging density, and new cooling concepts. Meanwhile, the Mercedes-Benz-built motor in the EQXX is more or less the series motor we’ll see in future vehicles.

There may be one EQXX, but it’s the new baseline for the automaker’s future lineup. The result, according to Schäfer, is that “you will see a dramatic reduction in electric consumption to what’s out there today.” When pressed about what this efficiency means, the CTO said that the company is targeting a 20–30 percent range improvement.

For those still concerned about the range of electric vehicles, that’s a big boost on the luxury side. Yet Schäfer believes that, as the infrastructure becomes more mature and EVs become more prevalent, there will be customers that opt for a smaller battery pack that actually fits their driving lifestyle to save money.

That’s an important look into the future as the dream of price parity between EVs and gas-powered vehicles starts to slip away.

“Honestly, all our calculations and intelligence showed it would take a really, really long time to reach parity,” Schäfer said. The CTO noted that it wasn’t there before the supply chain issues, and it’s definitely something that’s not going to happen anytime soon now. That is, unless there’s a breakthrough in chemistry.

Mercedes plans to go fully electric by 2030. That’s five years ahead of California’s plan to no longer allow the sale of gas-powered vehicles. As the company that invented the modern automobile, Mercedes seems ready for the next step in the evolution of automobiles: a future with more efficient vehicles and actual autonomous functions (in certain conditions). But no robotaxis; it’ll leave that to the anonymous ride-hailing boxes.

BMW i4 review: better than expected

2022-06-03T08:00:00-04:00

On the road, the 2022 BMW i4 eDrive40 looks like any other 4 Series. There’s a reason the four-door sedan with its gigantic kidney grilles and sleek roofline commands is one of the automaker’s best-selling vehicles. It looks the part of a German sedan, and the EV version of the vehicle is the fruit of the automaker’s desire to build a platform that can accept any powertrain. Except, this is the best 4 Series.

While the push for electric SUVs continues, not every driver wants to sit above cars and haul all that extra weight around. There are real competitors for the BMW sedan — namely, the Tesla Model 3, Mercedes EQE, and Polestar 2. All of these vehicles are courting the midlevel luxury buyer who’s likely looking for either something a bit more sporty than an SUV or at least something different.

Unlike its competitors, the i4 doesn’t telegraph its electric underpinnings on the road

Unlike its competitors, the i4 doesn’t telegraph its electric underpinnings on the road. Without close-up inspection of the badging, it’s just another 4 Series. Yes, the superfluous kidney grille nearly swallows the front of the sedan. But, once you get past that (both physically and mentally), the i4 is a sleek sedan with a coupe roofline that looks magnificent and defies its own specs.

Evolving platforms

The i4 — along with the more futuristic iX electric SUV — is part of the second generation of BMW EVs. After years of promising to deliver an architecture that would accept multiple powertrains, BMW has handily pulled it off. While there’s the tendency to think that this means the i4 is a compromised EV, the German automaker did something slightly amazing. The i4 drives like a proper BMW sport sedan while delivering impressive efficiency. They did all this in a package that, at the factory, could have easily been outfitted with a gas engine.

The automaker is already planning for the next stage in its EV evolution. The third phase is called the Neue Klasse. The first vehicle of the dedicated EV platform should arrive in 2025. Ahead of that, the automaker plans to have a dozen fully electric vehicles on the road globally by 2023, including EV versions of the 5 Series and X1 compact SUV.

Specs be damned touring EV

On the road, the i4 presents itself as a grand tourer. Fortunately, it has the range for most road trips. On 18-inch wheels, the EPA reports that the sedan will cover 301 miles before depleting its battery. The review vehicle offered by the automaker was sporting the larger 19-inch wheels, which the EPA states bring the range down to 282 miles. Larger wheels typically reduce a vehicle’s range.

The i4 delivered a range of 303 miles

In my real-world range test that included 50 miles of highway driving at 70 miles per hour and 50 miles of backroad and suburban driving, the i4 delivered a range of 303 miles. That’s a 21-mile increase over the EPA’s estimated range.

The battery pack itself has 83.9kWh of capacity gross and 81.5kWh of capacity that the vehicle can tap into on a daily basis.

While the vehicle is sitting on a 400-volt platform, it still manages to accept up to 200kW of power via DC fast charging, according to BMW. In our test, the i4 bested that number, charging at 210kW — again defying expectations.

It’s not as quick at replenishing its battery as the Tesla Model 3, which tops off at 250kW. But it is speedier than the Polestar 2 and Mercedes EQE, with 155kW and 170kW charge rates, respectively. Sitting solidly in the center of the pack, the i4 doesn’t wow with charging rates like the Tesla and offerings from Kia and Hyundai; however, it does combine better than anticipated range and charge rates that should squelch any road trip anxieties.

At home, the onboard charger supports level 2 AC charging at up to 11kW. BMW states that charging time from zero to 100 percent will take about 8.25 hours — more than enough time for the i4 to be ready to go in the morning.

Smart sports sedan

BMW prides itself on building the “ultimate driving machine” — a luxury German brand that puts the experience of drivers front and center. It takes the “sports” portion of sports sedan seriously, and the i4 is proof that, even as an EV, BMW wants you to be engaged. Available in two flavors, I called in the i4 eDrive40 over the more performance-driven i4 M50, the second being the first M-branded EV from the automaker.

I’ve driven the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive M50, and it definitely lives up to the M pedigree with 536 horsepower and a zero to 60 time of 3.7 seconds. But for most, the eDrive40 delivers a great driving experience without the extra oomph of a second motor.

The eDrive40 delivers a great driving experience without the extra oomph of a second motor

The rear-wheel-drive i4 has 335 horsepower and can get up to 60 miles per hour in 5.5 seconds — not record-breaking but enough to handle around 95 percent of driving scenarios. The eDrive40 starts at $55,400 while the M50 variant starts at $65,900.

On the road, the i4 eDrive40 might have the raw power of the M50, but it’s a blast on backroads in Sport mode. The rear-wheel-drive setup does offer up oversteer, especially if the traction control has been turned off. Steering is tight and focused while the suspension diminishes most road imperfections. The weight of the battery pack is notable while really pushing the vehicle into corners, but BMW engineers have done a stellar job reducing its effect on handling.

On the highway and in the city in normal mode, the ride is more composed and suitable for day-to-day driving. It’s not as smooth as what’s available on the Mercedes EQE, but it does remind the driver that this is a midlevel luxury sports sedan.

I’m a fan of the Hans Zimmer-created acceleration noises. It’s a mix of a spaceship with bassy V8 undertones, like if ET was picked up by his parents in a BMW M8. If you’d rather not be blasted with fake motor noises, drivers can turn it off and enjoy the quiet that you can only get from an EV.

Braking is mostly a hit. In regular recuperative braking mode, the i4 never suffered from brake fade, even after multiple high-speed stops. Brake feel is solid without some of the feedback weirdness I’ve encountered on the Mercedes EQS. It’s solid feedback the entire time you have your foot on the pedal. The system will even recoup up to 116kW back to the battery while slowing down, which helps with that over 300-mile range.

Where things get weird is the “Adaptive Energy Recuperation”

Where things get weird is the “Adaptive Energy Recuperation.” In addition to the regular levels of recuperative braking, BMW has introduced a new system. It works essentially like adaptive cruise control in that it determines the level of recuperative braking based on what’s happening on the road.

If you’re driving alone on a stretch of road, the recuperative braking is set to one of its light to medium settings. If you happen to be behind another vehicle, the recuperation increases. The system also uses navigation data to adjust braking so that tighter turns result in more recuperation. In theory, it seems like a smart way to have on-the-fly regenerative braking adjustments that make sense for myriad scenarios. In reality, I found it to be unpredictable.

While it always increased the braking power behind vehicles, sometimes it would do so while turning a corner in a tight residential area where a vehicle was parked alongside the road. It was also tough to determine how much braking would be applied while driving on winding roads. After a few days, I switched to regular regenerative braking.

This might be a great system in the future as the software matures, but for now, it just created a sense of uncertainty behind the wheel that never felt dangerous but mostly was annoying.

On the highway, though, BMW’s driver assistance suite continues to impress. The lane-keeping assistant kept the vehicle centered and handled right-lane driving next to off-ramps without veering off the highway. Adaptive cruise control kept the i4 on pace with vehicles ahead of it. When another car would cut into the lane, the BMW slowed down without any panic braking, and if the tracked vehicle pulled into the next lane, the i4 slowly sped up to set speed in relation to the traffic around it. In other words, it didn’t stomp on the accelerator trying to get back up to the speed limit.

The hands-free Traffic Jam Assistant function comes close to what GM is offering with Super Cruise

For gridlock, the hands-free Traffic Jam Assistant function comes close to what GM is offering with Super Cruise. The BMW system is geofenced to divided highways and allows hands-free driving up to speeds of 40mph. The driver still needs to maintain control and responsibility, and an in-car monitoring system tracks the person behind the wheel’s head and eyes to make sure they’re looking at the road. That camera is no joke, and if you think you can take this time to play around with the infotainment system, get ready to be scolded by the vehicle.

Same on the inside

Like the exterior, inside the i4, there’s very little in the way that indicates that the vehicle is electric. Again, this has to do with BMW’s modular architecture. This could have been a gas-powered car. In fact, there are indications of that platform with the center tunnel still present. That would typically be where the transmission and driveshaft would reside. In an EV, it’s not really needed, but it’s still there.

That weirdness aside, the lack of any real special EV design flourishes means BMW didn’t try to integrate technology for the sake of technology. It’s best when features work as expected without a new and fascinating way to accomplish a trivial task. I’m thinking of the extra button on the Volkswagen ID 4 that has to be pushed to control the rear windows.

Front and center is the 14.9-inch touchscreen that houses iDrive 8, BMW’s latest infotainment system. Interface-wise, there have been some tweaks, with more panels available on the homescreen. Swiping left and right and launching features were met with little to no latency. Everything launched quickly without any fuss.

For those who would rather keep their hands on the wheel, BMW has also upgraded its voice assistant. Queries were, for the most part, met with the correct information. Directions, launching features, adjusting the climate controls, and navigating to radio stations were all taken care of with fewer errors than some other systems on the market. For fun, you can also change the wake word to something of your choosing in case you’re not in the mood to say “BMW” every time you want to plug in an address with your voice.

BMW now supports Android Auto in addition to Apple CarPlay

For those who would rather use their smartphones, there’s good news out of Germany. BMW now supports Android Auto in addition to Apple CarPlay. Android Auto support has long been left out of the automaker’s infotainment system, but now, it’s ready to accept your Android living ways. Wireless connections are supported on both smartphone platforms.

Coming this year, Apple Maps will surface charging stations if the destination is beyond the capacity of the battery’s state of charge. For Android owners, Google Maps directions will show up in the vehicle’s displays as if they were the native navigation system’s turn-by-turn directions.

As for the rest of the interior, the materials are exactly what you would expect from BMW: top-notch but not overly garish. The seats were comfortable both in the front and the back. The front seats have the appropriate amount of side bolster to keep you in your chair during aggressive driving without squeezing your sides too tightly. Head and legroom shouldn’t be an issue for anyone sitting up front. In the back, it’s going to be a bit tougher for taller passengers to get comfortable.

When you need to haul stuff, the coupe design resulted in a hatchback for the trunk. This is always an upgrade because the larger hatch means it’s easier to get large items into the vehicle. The trunk has 10 cubic feet of space. That’s less than the available cargo area in the Tesla Model 3 and Polestar 2. Still, it’s more than enough for a long weekend for two to three people or a weekly trip to a grocery store. But those looking for more space are likely also looking at an SUV.

Better than expected

Everyone loves a surprise. Well, most people love a surprise. The i3 was a fun little vehicle that was more about getting a proof of concept on the road than delivering the ultimate driving machine promise. I loved it, but others absolutely despised it.

For its next act, I expected BMW to improve upon its tiny urban EV. It did so in a way that immediately impressed and blew past my expectations as a sports sedan. The i4 only continued to beat expectations by exceeding its range estimates and charging quicker than advertised.

The German automaker built the midlevel sports sedan EV version of the ultimate driving machine that also beats the regular gas-powered 4 Series. If you can look past the enormous kidney grille and turn off the adaptive regenerative braking, the i4 is a great peek into the future of BMW.

Photography by Roberto Baldwin for The Verge

Kia EV6 review: a gold star electric vehicle

2022-03-10T08:00:00-05:00

The Kia EV6 is the South Korean automaker’s first long-range EV.

The Kia EV6 is designed to be seen. Fortunately, it was also engineered to be enjoyed while behind the wheel.

The crossover (which is really more of a wagon) is an impressive combination of what the South Korean automaker has learned over the past few years from its EVs and gas-powered vehicles. The result is a smart, exciting, and downright outstanding entry into an increasingly crowded market that includes the Volkswagen ID 4, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Tesla Model Y, and Chevy Bolt and Bolt EUV.

The issue with driving the EV6 is the danger that follows it

The issue with driving the EV6 is the danger that follows it. Don’t get me wrong, the vehicle itself is plenty safe. It’s the drivers in the adjacent vehicles on the highway and in town trying to shoot photos and videos of the vehicle as you drive by. It looks unlike anything else on the road. An aggressive front end gives way to a longer-than-expected profile and is wrapped up with a rear end that’s equal parts futuristic and eye-catching. It includes the lightbar that’s one part signal, one part spoiler, and starts its journey at the wheel wells.

Hopefully, the general public grows at least a bit wary of the avant-garde looks to stop putting their lives and the lives of their passengers in mortal peril because the EV6 is a joy to drive. Looky-loos be damned.

A New EV Platform

At the core of the vehicle is Hyundai Motor Group’s E-GMP (Electric Global Modular Platform) architecture. It’s the basis for the EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5, and Genesis GV60. Introduced in December of 2020, the automaker plans on introducing 23 global EVs by 2025. There are already two on the road, and the Genesis GV60 is expected in the spring of this year.

The group also made sure to future-proof its underlying system. E-GMP vehicles use an 800-volt architecture, while most every other automaker is using a 400-volt system. The biggest benefit to an 800-volt system is that it allows the EV6 and Ioniq 5 to charge at a rate of up to 350 kW at a DC fast charging station. That’s quicker BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Ford… practically every other EV on the road.

We talk a lot about range anxiety. As the infrastructure continues to grow, that may be replaced by charge anxiety, and Hyundai is making sure its drivers won’t feel left behind as quick charging stations appear on the landscape. You can take most modern EVs hundreds of miles on a single charge, but it still takes longer to charge a vehicle than fill it with gasoline.

Kia says the EV6 will charge from 10 percent to 80 percent in 18 minutes. I wasn’t able to test this since the 350 kW charging station I encountered topped out at 260 kW. But even at that speed, I was back on the road quicker than I anticipated while charging from 25 percent to 90 percent. I had enough time to snap a few photos, get a drink from Starbucks, and that’s about it.

For at-home charging, the EV6 has an 11 kW onboard charger. It’s quick enough for level 2 overnight charging, which is how a majority of these vehicles will be charged.

A unique feature is the vehicle-to-load (V2L) capability. Kia says you can power other devices, another EV, and even your house. The higher trim levels have a 120-volt outlet at the bottom and in the middle of the rear seats. If you happen to be outside and don’t want wires running out of your car, there’s an adapter that plugs directly into the charge port with an outlet. It’s great for tailgating, camping, and potentially keeping the fans going in your house during a heat-wave-induced blackout.

A Hot EV Hatch

America doesn’t like wagons. With that in mind, the EV6 is marketed as a crossover or CUV. Sure, it looks a bit like a wagon in real life, but it’s important for marketing that it’s known as a crossover. It even has the requisite high sitting position in the vehicle. But, really, it’s a wagon. A great wagon that quickens the pulse and handles far better than it should.

Kia offered up the RWD (rear-wheel drive) GT version of the EV6 for testing, the second quickest trim level available. The fastest distinction belongs to the eAWD (electric all-wheel drive) version. Still, while rolling with one motor instead of two, I wasn’t wanting for power.

I wasn’t wanting for power

Accelerations off the line at a standstill are fine with a 0–60 of 7.2 seconds. Once you get going, though, it’s blast-off every time you hit that pedal. The single rear-mounted motor in the vehicle affords it 225 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. During my week with the EV6, while entering the highway or when I needed to pass a semi that seemed to have issues staying in its lane, there was always enough get up and go at the ready.

Previously, I’ve driven the eAWD GT version with its dual motors, 320 horsepower, 446 pound-feet of torque and 0–60 time of 5.2 seconds. It’s outstanding, but for day-to-day driving, the RWD GT is more than adequate.

Tackling corners, the EV6 handles wonderfully for a vehicle its size. Excessive body roll and tire squeal were only encountered when really pushing the vehicle. On the twisty back-roads of Northern California, the EV6 felt far more planted than other crossovers on the market, both powered by gas and electrons. For driving purists, the RWD version has enough oversteer to keep them happy, and you can turn off the traction control if you’re into doing donuts in abandoned parking lots.

Around town, the EV6 was comfortable, agile, and at ease in traffic, dense urban areas, and on long highway drives. The steering is tight without feeling twitchy in all driving situations.

Kia offers up four driving modes: Eco, Normal, Sport, and Snow. Around town, Normal and even Eco never felt underpowered. Sport unveiled enough of a power difference that, when enabled, you knew it without looking down at the dash cluster. On back roads, the power was always there while linking corners.

The steering is tight without feeling twitchy in all driving situations

On the braking front, there are four regen modes. Well, the first Level 0 is coasting. Level 1–3 increased regenerative braking in gradual steps, while I-Pedal turned on the vehicle’s one-pedal driving feature. You need a long runway for the vehicle to come to a complete stop. Mastering one-pedal driving in the EV6 without touching the brakes was tough because you really had to lift up on the accelerator much sooner than expected. As the days progressed, I ended up just using the brakes at stoplights and signs.

As for its range, Kia says the RWD GT has a range of 310 miles via a 77.4 kWh capacity battery pack. The company hasn’t revealed whether that 77.4 number is the gross capacity or usable capacity. During a range test of mixed driving environments of highway driving with the cruise control set at 70 miles per hour, driving around residential and suburban streets, and hitting the back roads of the region, I was able to get 310 miles of range. Eerily on the dot with what Kia promises and good news for those looking for a long-range vehicle that isn’t a Tesla.

In any environment, the EV6 shines and feels like a vehicle far more expensive than its sticker price lets on. But the price can vary wildly depending on your trim level.

The automaker offers six variants of the EV6. The top of the line GT starts at $51,200 for the RWD version I was driving and climbs to $55,900 for the AWD version. Below GT are the Wind trim levels. The RWD Wind will set you back $47,000, while the AWD version starts at $50,900. There’s also the Wind with a Tech package that costs $52,400. For all of these vehicles, the RWD versions have a range of 310 miles, while the AWD versions have a range of 274 miles.

Then there’s the $40,900 Light RWD trim. The entry-level EV6 has a smaller 58 kWh capacity battery pack, which translates into a range of 232 miles. All the vehicles have an efficiency rating of four miles per kilowatt which is up there with Tesla.

Smart Interior

Like its exterior, the interior of the EV6 is a design triumph. More importantly, it’s comfortable for both the driver and all passengers. Leg and headroom are more than adequate even for those over six feet tall. At 6 feet, 3 inches tall, I typically have to move the driver’s seat forward when sitting in the back. In the EV6, no adjustments were needed, and I still had a few inches of space for my knees.

This has to do with the size of the EV6, which is the same length as a BMW 3 Series. It might not seem that large in photos, but that’s a trick of the eye caused by the wheels being pushed towards the edge of the vehicle. When you get inside, it’s spacious and airy, with room for five if the folks in the back are on the thin side. Four adults will fit comfortably without any problems.

It might not seem that large in photos, but that’s a trick of the eye

Kia and Hyundai both have a history of delivering interiors that feel more upmarket than their price would suggest. That carries over here to the EV6. The vegan leather and recycled materials in the vehicle felt like the offerings you’d find in a much more expensive vehicle.

The available tech is also what I’m used to seeing in more expensive vehicles. In the bright 12.3 TFT (thin-film-transistor) dash cluster, when the blinkers are turned on, an external camera feeds a view of the vehicle’s blind spot in the cluster. This is something we’ve seen on other Hyundai Motor Group vehicles, and it’s nice to see it here.

There’s also something that I’ve seen in the Mercedes S-Class and EQS, augment turn-by-turn arrows in the HUD (head-up display). With navigation enabled, arrows will appear in the HUD to help you find your upcoming exit or next turn. It’s not quite as polished as the offering from Mercedes, but it’s a nice touch, and I found it helpful when I happened upon a series of roundabouts while driving.

Sadly, it doesn’t work with Google or Apple Maps. The vehicle does support both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay (although oddly, not wirelessly) — just don’t expect floating arrows to help you as you drive.

The 12.3 TFT touchscreen houses the typical Kia infotainment system. Outside of the beautiful home screen that shares range data, media information, and the weather, the rest of the setup is essentially a tablet layout of features aligned along a rigid grid. In my experience, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as I was able to quickly find features without having to learn a new interface.

Where things fall flat is the voice assistant

Where things fall flat is the voice assistant. It feels two generations behind other offerings on the market and is essentially a series of set commands and corresponding defaults. For example, if you say you want the vehicle to be cooler, the system will set the temperature to 64 degrees. Say you’d like it warmer — it’ll be set to 80 degrees. Anything beyond that is all the down or all the way up.

The driver assistance system does get marks for offering vehicle-follow in stop-and-go traffic without having to press the accelerator or resume button. While navigating highway traffic, the EV6 reacted safely without too much acceleration or braking when vehicles cut in front of it or when they moved out of the way. I never felt the need to step on the brake or accelerator because the system was being too aggressive.

No More Compromises

This was my second time driving the EV6. The first was for the day, which is fine for a first impression, but you need a few days behind the wheel to really see how well it would integrate into the lives of potential buyers.

As they picked up the vehicle, though, I started to miss it. For someone that drives over a hundred cars a year, that’s saying a lot. For years, we’ve had two classes of vehicles: good cars and good electric cars. The EV6 is a good car, plain and simple. There’s no longer a list of caveats that need to be explained to potential owners.

The EV6 is a good car, plain and simple

The Hyundai Motor Group made the decision to spend the extra money to invest in a robust 800-volt architecture. That bet is paying off with a series of vehicles that are coming to market with features found on more expensive vehicles.

For Kia, the EV6 sets a bar not only for its own future vehicles but for every other automaker as they enter the space. It’s not enough to just build an EV — they have to build a great EV.

That’s what Kia built: a great EV.

Photography by Roberto Baldwin / The Verge