Philippa Kaur

That charge-port door on the nose is a lot more noticeable than before. Beauty mark or mole?
Hyundai
Hyundai revealed the new look of its 2022 Kona Electric on Tuesday, and the subcompact crossover SUV is getting an aerodynamic new face and updated cabin tech to go along with its 258 miles of range.The Korean automaker removed the vestigial grille pattern from the Kona Electric’s nose, giving it a smoother and somehow slightly more sinister look. That attitude is bolstered by even slimmer slash-like daytime running lamps at the leading edge of the hood and restyled, low-mounted main-beam headlamps that bleed into the fenders. Unfortunately, the Kona’s shark-like new nose also means that the charge-receptacle door doesn’t disappear into the front end as cleanly as before, resulting in an oddly asymmetric look that not everyone will love. Revised aero-pattern wheels grace the model’s profile, while out back you’ll find a redesigned bumper cap and new taillamps. Based on the specs Hyundai is quoting, it doesn’t sound like the new Kona has much in the way of under-the-skin changes. The aforementioned 258 miles of range is unchanged, as is the 201-horsepower electric motor that also delivers 291 pound-feet of torque.
2022 Hyundai Kona Electric gets more aero-forward look and new tech
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Using a Level 3 charger, Hyundai is quoting a 10%-to-80% charge time of 47 minutes. Level 2 chargers (as are more typically found both in home garages and using today’s public charger network) take 9 hours and 15 minutes to go from 10% to a full pack. Then as now, that synchronous electric motor is powered by a 64-kWh lithium-ion pack. Hyundai says the 2022 Kona EV’s MPGe numbers are 132 city, 108 highway and 120 combined.The Kona Electric’s bigger functional changes seem mostly confined to the interior, including a redesigned center stack and new center display. Both the digital gauge cluster and infotainment screens are 10.25 inches, the latter of which sits quite high on the dashboard. A retooled center console storage area now includes wireless charging. Similarly, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are also available sans cord.Other tech enhancements for 2022 center on an updated Blue Link telematics system, which includes remote profile management and the ability to send navigation instructions to the car with up to three waypoints. Most importantly for the EV, charge times can now be scheduled via app to take advantage of lower off-peak electricity costs. A redesigned center stack and larger 10.25-inch screens for both the cluster and infotainment headline this EV’s tech update.
Hyundai
Hyundai says that second-row legroom and cargo space have also been enhanced for the Kona’s midcycle refresh (presumably through resculpted seatbacks), but it isn’t immediately clear if those benefits also port over to this updated EV model. There’s no pricing news yet, but the new model isn’t expected to stray too far from today’s starting MSRP of $38,565 (including $1,175 delivery) before any applicable federal and state incentives. The Ulsan, Korea-built 2022 Hyundai Kona Electric is slated to arrive in the US this spring.

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Truck No. 2,277 is the first EV to cross the finish line at a King of the Hammers event.
Nicole Dreon
Last week marked the first time an electric vehicle ran in the King of the Hammers off-road event in Johnson Valley, California. Racer Kyle Seggelin and his team finished the Every Man Challenge in truck No. 2,277, a Toyota 4Runner with the powertrain from a Nissan Leaf EV.The 4Runner/Leaf rig was built by Seggelin and his team. It started the race with two 20-kilowatt-hour batteries, enough to get it to the first pit stop some 17.5 miles away. There, the team swapped out those batteries for the 62-kWh pack found in the Leaf Plus — a process that took a mere seven minutes.The key to quickly swapping batteries? Custom-built sliders. The team divided the battery packs into sections, each weighing roughly 200 pounds. They fit securely into the sliders and connected to the electric motor with a large, high-voltage connection, and one or two smaller Molex connectors, depending on the pack size. All the team had to do was disconnect, slide the packs out and then reverse the process. Easy peasy.While Seggelin and his co-driver, his sister Dahlia Seggelin, were out on the next 55 miles with the larger 62-kWh battery, the team charged the original, smaller batteries with a 12,000-watt generator. It was on this 55-mile section of the race course that the camaraderie of off-road racing really shined. Another team’s crew asked Seggelin to carry some parts out to their rig, which was stopped about five miles outside of pits. The KOH rules state that there is no pitting outside of designated areas, but competitors can help each other. But before Seggelin got to his fallen foe, his power steering went south. Seggelin noticed that the other team’s tool bag had the part he needed: a simple bolt. Not knowing what was wrong with the competitor’s rig, he took a risk and used the other team’s part anyway.Celebratory champagne at the finish line. 
Nicole Dreon
Displaying true sportsmanship, the other driver was ready to give up his race in favor of his competitor finishing, until Seggelin noticed that the other rig just needed a heim joint to get going. Once again, the tool bag provided the solution, and both trucks were able to make repairs on the trail.The 4Runner, however, was also running on three-wheel drive thanks to a broken front axle, and Seggelin said his truck lost power a few times. The team made the second battery swap in under 10 minutes, but in all, it took him 7 hours, 42 minutes, 9 seconds to finish the 91-mile lap. Preliminary data analysis shows that the truck got more range than the anticipated 1 mile for each kWh of juice, but the team won’t know the exact figures until they really dig into the computers.Seggelin was in a class of one in the Every Man Challenge, only needing to finish the first desert-focused lap of the race to take the podium. Next year he and his team would like to go back in a tube chassis EV with dual motors, solid axles and gear reductions to really get the most out of the power plant. He’d like to see other competitors bring electric competitors, as well, including major car manufacturers.”If a couple of guys in a garage with a junkyard Leaf and a 30-year-old hand-me-down truck can do it,” Seggelin said, “what’s stopping the auto industry from giving us some competition?”

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One of the new EVs will probably be a compact crossover.
Toyota
Toyota is making a push for electrification, aiming for 40% of its new vehicle sales to be electrified by 2025 (and 70% by 2030). To help achieve that goal Toyota is finally jumping into the mainstream electric car game in the US, announcing today that it will debut two new fully electric vehicles this year.This news comes a few months after Toyota teased a new electric compact SUV being built as part of a joint venture with Subaru. That model was slated to launch in Europe first, but it seems likely that it will be one of the two models that we’ll get in the US this year. The crossover is said to be totally new, and it will use Toyota’s dedicated e-TNGA platform for EVs. Beyond that we don’t know much, but e-TNGA allows for a variety of battery packs and motor configurations, so expect all-wheel drive at least as an option.

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We don’t know anything about what the second EV could be, but it’s probably a safe bet that it will have a sedan or hatchback body style to better compete against existing electric cars like the Hyundai Ioniq and Chevrolet Bolt. It should ride on the e-TNGA platform as well.The existing RAV4 Prime will be joined by another plug-in-hybrid model.
Craig Cole/Roadshow
Toyota also says it will reveal a new plug-in-hybrid model this year as well, but gives no details as to what that will be. Our best guess is a PHEV version of the Sienna minivan, Venza crossover or Highlander SUV, any of which would gain a Prime moniker to align with the Prius and RAV4 plug-in models.No reveal timeline was given for any of the three new vehicles, but given that Toyota says they will all “debut in the US market this year,” we could see the first unveil happen as soon as later this month. Expect each of the new Toyotas to go on sale by the end of the year as a 2022 model.

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This South Korean automaker is hard at work on a broad range of electrified vehicles.
Kia
On Tuesday, South Korean automaker Kia announced important updates to its “Plan S” business strategy. The news was part of its 2021 CEO investor day, which was hosted digitally.This is shaping up to be a big year for the company. It already introduced a new logo and slogan and it’s announced that a range of electrified vehicles is in the works, with 11 new models including seven dedicated EVs scheduled to hit the market by 2026. Today, we get a few more numbers.

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By 2030, Kia wants its latest crop of eco-friendly vehicles to account for 40% of global sales, or deliveries of around 1.6 million units. This includes hybrids, plug-in hybrids and pure-electric vehicles. It also wants to increase its dedicated EV sales to 880,000 by the same year, becoming the world leader in the process.Seven of the fresh models Kia is launching will ride atop the new Electric-Global Modular Platform, or E-GMP for short. The remainder will be based on existing architectures. E-GMP aims to set new benchmarks in driving range, interior space and performance, though GM *with its new Ultium battery system) and Tesla aren’t standing still. Vehicles based on this platform will also support over-the-air updates and feature-on-demand services. The first purpose-built EV that’s leading the charge in Kia’s product offensive is codenamed “CV” and will feature Level 2 highway driving assist. More details about this enigmatic electric vehicle will be released next month.Kia is also aiming to expand its purpose-built vehicle offerings, PBVs for short, which ride atop specialized skateboard-style platforms. These are models designed to meet the needs of specific global markets, a strategy that should help it sell more vehicles by appealing to as many drivers as possible. Kia wants PBVs to rack up annual sales of 1 million units by 2030.On the mobility services front, Kia will expand its existing car-sharing and car-usership offerings in countries like Spain and Russia. The automaker will also launch EV-based subscription and car-sharing services for businesses. Operating profit margin was something else announced at Kia’s investor day. The company expects this figure to rise to 5.4% in 2021 and grow to 7.9% in 2025. Delivering this increase, Kia aims to grow its sales to 3.8 million units in 2025, with eco-friendly vehicles accounting for around 22% of those deliveries. A better product mix and more profitable EVs should add to the company’s bottom line.

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A few months ago, I drove the yet-to-be-released Rivian R1T electric pickup truck in the Rebelle Rally, an absolutely grueling, seven-day off-road adventure. The Rebelle is not won with speed, but rather with navigational accuracy, smart time management and excellent teamwork. It’s a race I know quite well.When my teammate Rebecca Donaghe and I had the idea to use Rivian’s new truck, we had no idea how it would go. We didn’t know how long the batteries would last, how long the truck would take to charge or even how we were going to charge it out in the middle of nowhere. We didn’t know what the all-wheel-drive system could handle or if it could climb up rocky hills without locking differentials or solid axles. The whole thing was a giant experiment.In the end, Rebecca and I ended up in sixth place in the 4×4 class, but we are hoping to return in 2021 and reclaim our place on the top of the podium, which we earned in 2018 in the 4×4 class in the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon and again in the crossover class in 2019 in the Rolls-Royce Cullinan. You can read my full review of the Rivian R1T here with all the juicy details about our range and how we charged the truck. But to really get a feel for the rally, check out the video above. The R1T is available this June, with the Rivian R1S SUV following in August. 
Here’s the Rivian R1T electric pickup truck in action off-road
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This 4Runner is electrified and almost ready to race.
Emme Hall/Roadshow
King of the Hammers is one of the most brutal off-road motorsports events in the world, taking place over the course of a week in the desert of Johnson Valley, California. It’s a place where 40-inch tires meet massive amounts of horsepower and torque to climb over obstacles in a way that defies physics. This is not a place where you’d expect to find an EV. Until now.Kyle Seggelin and his team took the gas powertrain out of a 1986 Toyota 4Runner and replaced it with the battery and electric motor from a Nissan Leaf. Their plan: Race it in the Every Man Challenge at this year’s King of the Hammers. Seggelin’s 4Runner uses the first-gen Leaf’s 80-kilowatt motor, which produces 107 horsepower and 187 pound-feet of torque. That’s not a lot of power considering the team has added 1,000 pounds of batteries to the already heavy SUV. Because the Leaf’s motor has an output shaft, it can be driven with the 4Runner’s existing five-speed manual transmission. I can’t wrap my head around the logic behind this one, and Seggelin says the team wants to collect more data before swapping it out for something that’s more EV-traditional, like a single reduction gear. Battery packs store the go-go juice, but they add about 1,000 pounds to the 4Runner.
Emme Hall/Roadshow
The team has two sets of batteries that can power this electric motor. One is from a second-gen Leaf that can store 40 kilowatt-hours of energy and one 62-kWh pack from a Leaf Plus. The team expects to get one mile out of every kilowatt hour, but they haven’t had time for testing, so that’s just an educated guess. The team plans to start with the smaller batteries, which should easily get the truck to the first pit stop at race mile 17.5. At that point, the team will swap out for the larger batteries to get the truck through the next 55-mile loop. While Seggelin and his co-driver (his sister Dahlia) are out there doing their thing, the support team will charge the smaller batteries with a 12,000-watt generator. The team will then do another battery swap to make the final 18.5 miles to the finish line. The 4Runner is rolling on Raceline wheels and 35-inch Falken tires. Pro Eagle supplied the team with some jacks and Bend-Tech gave the team tube bending software. The long-travel suspension uses King shocks and it’s got ARB lockers front and rear.Swapping out the gas engine for the Nissan Leaf motor leaves a lot of extra space in the 4Runner’s engine bay.
Emme Hall/Roadshow
Seggelin isn’t some kind of EV expert, by the way, he just thinks electrification is the next wave in racing and he wants to be ahead of the curve. He’s using this project as a self-education opportunity. “I’m tech for sure, but my weakest thing is wiring,” Seggelin told me. “I don’t really understand electricity very well.”When asked what he thinks the failure point might be, Seggelin told me he’s worried about the multiple connections. “The vehicle control unit needs to monitor voltage from each of the 192 cells,” Seggelin said. “If it sees a cell going too high or too low it will shut the car down. But even if the cells are OK, if a connection breaks, it will stop the car. So there are 192 connections, never mind the myriad other connections that were all made by a wiring expert.” (That last part was written in a sarcasm font, obviously.) Just a few members of the team that converted the 4Runner to run on electric power.
Kyle Seggelin
It’s not just Seggelin who’s put in countless hours in the garage on this crazy idea. The team has been working overtime since October to get the truck ready for this race, so big props to Will Barrameda, Charlie Pangelinan, Jeff Webb, Jaymes Massa, Mike Torrano, Rick Slagle, Danny Tran, Rob Gurski and Diego Ortiz.You can follow along with Seggelin and his team (No. 2277) in the Every Man Challenge on Friday, Feb. 4, at 8:00 a.m. PT, at www.ultra4racing.com.

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