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The EPA has announced that the Rivian R1T, the first model from the California-based startup, will have a 314-mile range in the Launch Edition trim with the 135.0-kWh battery.The EPA also provided numbers for the R1S SUV, which is due at some point in 2022 and will be able to travel an extra two miles with the same battery and motor setup.The Rivian R1T will go up against the Ford F-150 Lightning and GMC Hummer EV, both expected to go on sale within the next several months.The launch of the eagerly awaited electric Rivian R1T pickup truck slowly edges closer. The California-based startup originally announced the intention to deliver the R1T to customers in July, but that date was pushed to September as the company ironed out the final kinks. Well, September is here, and now one of the most important prerequisites to customer sales has been fulfilled for the Rivian R1T. The EPA has officially released range estimates for both the truck and its SUV counterpart, the R1S, which is due out in 2022.

While multiple battery sizes are expected to be available down the line, the EPA’s official estimates are only for the Launch Edition models, which come with a 135.0-kWh battery pack delivering electricity to four motors. This setup, according to the EPA, will be good for a 314-mile range, and the $73,000 Launch Edition R1T returns an estimated 74 MPGe in the city, 66 MPGe on the highway, and 70 MPGe combined. The R1S, which uses the same battery and motor setup, can travel slightly further on a charge at 316 miles. However, it’s a smidge less efficient, returning one MPGe less on the city, highway, and combined ratings from the EPA. Rivian has said that a larger battery pack with an approximately 400-mile range will arrive later.

Fueleconomy.gov

If Rivian R1T deliveries actually get underway this month, it will become the first electric pickup truck available to the public. It’ll soon face steep competition in the Ford F-150 Lightning, GMC Hummer EV, and, maybe eventually, the Tesla Cybertruck. Currently these rivals don’t have official EPA figures and only have range estimates from the manufacturers themselves. The Lightning, which will be significantly cheaper than the Rivian in its base trim but can easily be priced to a similar amount, is supposed to go 300 miles with the biggest battery pack. The GMC meanwhile, which will start above the Rivian and go well into the $100,000 zone, is expected to achieve a 350-mile range from its colossal 200.0-kWh battery. Tesla claims that the top-spec Tri Motor version of the Cybertruck, which will cost around the same as the Rivian, will go 500 miles on a charge, but the truck also appears to have been delayed until late 2022 at the earliest. With the Ford not arriving until spring 2022 and the GMC expected by the end of 2021, the Rivian should beat all of its competitors to market if the nascent EV maker can get cars in the hands of customers this month.
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While the actual production and release of new Broncos may be delayed significantly by issues like the molded-in-color hardtop drama, the cars themselves have been a sales hit. The overwhelming number of reservations converted into actual sales have already made the rugged Ford one of the biggest enthusiast-car hits of the decade, so it is fitting that an unusually high number of those Broncos are coming with the best option of all. Yes, even though it is currently only offered on four-cylinder models without the off-road-focused Sasquatch package, Ford Authority reports that 25 percent of all first-year Bronco buyers are opting for the manual transmission.

The take rate is even more impressive when you consider just how few of the Broncos slated for 2021 production were actually eligible for the car’s novel seven-speed manual. Over half of the Broncos in that group are equipped with the Sasquatch package, which will not get a manual option until next year. Sixty percent of the group are powered by the V-6, which is not currently scheduled to get a manual at all. That means the cars without either make up less than half of the total Bronco production allocation for 2021, seemingly making a manual transmission more common than not on all other Broncos produced for the model year.

Of course, the higher number is due in part to the group of buyers currently taking delivery of Broncos. All buyers getting a 2021 car are those who reserved the car early, so the group is disproportionately made up of hard-core car enthusiasts who are more likely to be interested in a manual transmission anyway. That number is likely to go down as Bronco production ramps up and cars start going out to lots in specs designed for generic buyers. Until that happens, it is worth celebrating. The manual transmission may be fading, but it is not dead yet.

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Honda announced today that it will be launching the TrailSport subbrand, which give Honda’s SUVs and trucks an extra degree of off-road prowess.Honda says that the first TrailSport-badged vehicles, due by the end of 2021, will add tougher styling, extra cladding, and interior design changes.More intense TrailSport models with special suspension, tires, and extra ride height will follow in the next couple of years, and we certainly expect the Ridgeline and Passport to add the TrailSport trim.As the number of sedans and coupes on the American car market shrinks and automakers’ SUV lineups balloon, it has become trendy to create off-road-focused subbrands to give the new influx of crossovers a tougher appearance, and in some cases, some actual trail-ready ability. Now Honda is joining the party, announcing today the introduction of the TrailSport badge, which Honda says is the “next chapter in its rugged-light-truck direction.” We expect the Ridgeline pickup truck and Passport crossover to be the first Hondas to receive the TrailSport treatment, and the badge could potentially expand to the Pilot and CR-V as well.They will compete against Ford’s recently released Timberline trim for the Explorer and Hyundai’s XRT package added to the Santa Fe, with both trims expected to migrate across the automakers’ rosters.

Honda says that the TrailSport moniker will add “a more rugged design and off-road capability, applied step-by-step, to certain models within the brand’s light-truck lineup.” The initial TrailSport vehicles, Honda says, will gain brawnier front and rear fascias, extra body cladding, and unique interior details such as orange stitching and all-weather floor mats. They will also come with Honda’s i-VTM4 torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system. The next few model years will bring even more focused TrailSport vehicles, with some models adding beefier tires, full-size spare tires, and underbody protection. These more dedicated all-terrain Hondas will also include specialized suspension tuning, higher ride heights, and more capable all-wheel-drive systems. Honda says that the first TrailSport variants will arrive by the end of this year before the more specialized models roll out in the near future.
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Starting in September 2021, all new vehicles sold in Canada need to have headlights, taillights, and side lights that automatically turn on in the dark. Also, the dashboard won’t light up until the headlights are turned on.It’s a safety issue, says Transport Canada, which announced the rules changes were coming two years ago. With more lights on, cars won’t look like “phantom vehicles.”The new rules apply not just to cars, trucks, and SUVs but also motorcycles and heavy trucks.The first time I was ever pulled over was when I was in high school and forgot to turn my headlights on after leaving the movie theater. I can’t recall which movie we went to see, but I do remember thinking that my lights were on because I could see the roads just fine. The police officer could tell otherwise, and my friend didn’t let me forget about it for weeks. This is the kind of story that Canada will soon no longer allow its teenage drivers to tell, now that new regulations went into effect this month to make sure cars don’t drive around in the dark without headlights, what Transport Canada called “phantom vehicles” and a serious safety risk.

Transport Canada’s new law, known as the Canadian Vehicle Lighting Regulation, requires changes to the way car headlights operate in the Great White North. First, any vehicle with daytime running lights will have to also turn on the taillights when the DRLs come on. Second, headlights, taillights, and side marker lights will have to turn on automatically when it’s dark out. Third, and this is the part that would have helped me, the dashboard has to stay dark until headlights are turned on, to make sure the driver realizes that their lights are off. All new vehicles—including cars, trucks, SUVs, three-wheeled vehicles, motorcycles, and heavy trucks—sold in Canada will be subject to this new regulation.Automakers have had time to get their vehicles to comply with the new regulations, because they’ve been in the works since 2019, when Transport Canada announced the changes. No similar change has been announced for the U.S. Transport Canada helpfully created a chart to show drivers what lights they’re supposed to be using and when.

Transport Canada

In 2008, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that DRLs had no statistically significant overall effects” on three types of crashes: when two passenger vehicles crash (but excluding rear-end crashes), when a passenger vehicle crashes into pedestrians or cyclists, and when a passenger vehicle hits a motorcycle. “When combining these three target crashes into one target crash, the DRL effects were also not statistically significant,” NHTSA’s report said. “When examined separately for passenger cars and light trucks/vans (LTVs), DRLs in LTVs significantly reduced LTVs’ involvements in the target two-vehicle crashes by 5.7 percent.”Automatic-headlight technology is not exactly new. In the early 1950s, General Motors developed a system that GM called its “Autronic Eye” light-sensing phototube. When the eye was flooded with light—from an oncoming vehicle, for example—it automatically dimmed the car’s headlights on the Cadillacs, Buicks, Oldsmobiles, and Pontiacs that Hagerty said used this technology. GM also developed a similar system with its “Twilight Sentinel” that could turn the headlights on or off in the 1960s. Ford also developed its “Autolamp” system in the 1950s.
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The Mission R is similar in size to the 718 Cayman, although it’s quite a bit wider, and it puts out 671 horsepower in “race mode” and cranks that up to 1073 horses in “qualifying mode.”Porsche claims a zero-to-62-mph time of less than 2.5 seconds and a top speed of over 186 mph, while the Mission R can also recharge from 5 to 80 percent in 15 minutes thanks to its 900-volt electrical architecture.The Mission R is currently a running prototype not scheduled for production, but its development will continue, with a fully realized version expected by 2025 or 2026.Porsche has an extensive history in customer racing. The automaker’s motorsports arm has churned out more 4400 Cup cars over the past three decades, and Porsche Cup cars currently compete in 30 one-make series around the world. Today, at the IAA auto show in Munich, Porsche revealed the Mission R, a concept that hints at the all-electric direction of Porsche’s future customer racing vehicles.
The Mission R, which is similar in size to the 718 Cayman but sits considerably lower and wider, features two electric motors, with a 429-hp unit on the front axle and a 644-hp motor powering the rear. In Race mode, the Mission R delivers a consistent 671 horsepower, but in Qualifying mode, the motors churn out a whopping 1073 horsepower. The juice needed for all that power is delivered via an approximately 80.0-kWh battery that Porsche says can supply 30 to 45 minutes of on-track action.Porsche claims the Mission R rockets from zero to 62 mph in less than 2.5 seconds, reaches a top speed of more than 186 mph, and can match the lap times of a current 911 GT3 Cup. While the Porsche Taycan’s 800-volt electrical system makes it among the fastest-charging EVs currently for sale, Porsche has taken the Mission R a step further, installing a 900-volt system so it can recharge from 5 to 80 percent in just 15 minutes (with the right charging equipment, of course).

Typically, Porsche’s motorsport gurus take an existing road car and modify it for the track, but with the Mission R, Porsche’s designers and racing engineers worked side by side from the get-go. Instead of sticking in a roll cage as an afterthought, the Mission R’s carbon-fiber composite cage is integrated into the structure of the car itself, becoming visible within the roof in what Porsche describes as an exoskeleton. The designer of the Mission R was also heavily involved in unseen design studies, especially the Vision Spyder, and that influence can be seen in the recessed headlights, the roll-bar exoskeleton, and overall styling philosophy.
Typically, EVs don’t tend to require as much cooling as gas-powered cars, but Porsche says that the cooling requirements of the Mission R actually ended up similar to those of a gas-powered GT3 Cup race car. That’s because its track focus necessitated a lot more air to maintain relatively stable battery temperatures. For this reason, active aerodynamics are abundant. Louvers in the front air intakes can open and close depending on cooling needs, and they also work in conjunction with an adjustable rear wing, reducing front downforce when the drag-reduction system on the rear wing is open (while going flat out down a straight) for more top-end speed.
The EV powertrain isn’t the only area where Porsche focused on sustainability. Most of the Mission R’s body is built from natural-fiber-reinforced plastic, and the material features heavily in the interior along with 3D-printed foam elements. The interior is geared toward maximizing on-track performance, with a screen on the steering wheel providing important data while a display perched atop the steering column shows the side and rear mirror camera views. There are also cameras throughout the interior that can have their angle remotely adjusted, and Porsche envisions fans choosing the camera angles while the race is livestreamed.The Mission R is currently a running prototype—with Porsche lapping it around their test track—but the company says more development is needed and suggests that a fully realized version could come in 2025 or 2026. Porsche hasn’t officially said if the Mission R is bound for production, but the concept could preview the next-generation Cayman and Boxster, which are expected to be electric and could spawn a one-make electric racing series of its own.
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Volkswagen unveiled the ID.Life concept, a mini-SUV with an electric powertrain, at the 2021 Munich auto show. The ID.Life previews a future production model that will slot in under the ID.3 hatchback and ID.4 compact crossover in VW’s global lineup starting in 2025; it may even make its way to North America.A 231-hp electric motor drives the front wheels, while a 57.0-kWh battery pack is said to deliver up to 249 miles of driving per charge on the European WLTP cycle.UPDATE 9/6/2021, 9 a.m.: We have added comments from Scott Keogh, President and CEO of Volkswagen of America, in which he leaves open the possibility that a production version of the ID.Life SUV could someday be part of VW’s U.S. lineup.Volkswagen’s plans for its next generation of small EVs is coming into focus with the premiere of the ID.Life concept at this year’s Munich auto show. The concept previews a new model that VW plans to launch in Europe by 2025 and could make its way stateside as an entry-level model in VW’s range of ID electric SUVs.

Volkswagen

Looking like a mashup between a city car and a subcompact SUV, the ID.Life is powered by a 231-hp electric motor that drives the front wheels; a 57.0-kWh battery pack is estimated to deliver up to 249 miles of driving per charge on the European WLTP cycle.

The ID.Life concept’s roof, which is constructed of air-filled pockets of a textile/plastic material, can be removed to provide an open-top driving experience. The roof and other parts inside the ID.Life are made from recycled plastic bottles. Other eco-friendly materials used throughout include natural rubber, rice husks, and wood chips.The interior itself is highly configurable, with settings that will allow the front and second-row bench seats to transform into a bed as well as a mode that maximizes cargo space. VW also says the ID.Life’s cabin can be turned into a comfortable place to watch a movie or play video games, but only when the concept is parked.

Volkswagen

A hexagonal-shaped steering wheel has an inset digital display screen and in lieu of a more traditional infotainment display mounted to the dashboard, the driver can dock his or her smartphone. Instead of interior and exterior mirrors, the ID.Life concept uses cameras and small displays, but this is one futuristic feature we expect won’t make it to the production model. The production vehicle that is previewed by the ID.Life concept car is critical for VW’s goal to increase its share of EV sales to 70 percent in Europe by 2030. The starting price for this entry-level model should be the equivalent of about $24,000 in Europe, and VW is hoping it will attract a new class of buyers to the EV market.

Volkswagen

As for whether or not the production version of the concept will come stateside, Volkswagen of America president Scott Keogh said, “I think a car like that, strategically, it’s got some SUV-esque proportions and the packaging, [it] is something certainly we want to do. You can’t get to all these dreams of [up to] 70 percent [of new cars being EVs] . . . if you can’t hit a price point that’s lower. So I wouldn’t say no. I would say take a look at it. “I think the biggest message that’s being missed with electrification right now is, your average car in the United States has a transaction price around $32,000,” Keogh said. “If you look at most EV announcements, most of them are $70,000 or $80,000.”Volkswagen is aiming for at least half of all new VWs sold in both North America and China to be electric by the same 2030 target date, so while there’s no current plan to sell the production version of the ID.Life in the United States, a lot more electric models using a similar architecture are are expected to launch here soon, including the ID.Buzz minivan and a three-row ID.8 crossover.
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At a press conference preceding the 2021 Munich auto show, Volkswagen Group chairman Herbert Diess and Argo AI founder Bryan Salesky shared more details of the joint effort to bring automated driving to scale. The electric ID.Buzz, a retro-futuristic minivan that shares styling cues with the original VW Microbus, will help launch the self-driving tech.[image id=’01c3a95b-d02f-41c7-b18d-4263fd80115f’ mediaId=’5c78369a-8ed0-45d7-9672-162a64fbe6b3′ align=’center’ size=’medium’ share=’false’ caption=” expand=” crop=’16×9′][/image][editoriallinks id=’1c34face-d865-41d1-b405-e0f155aac6ed’ align=’left’][/editoriallinks]This first look at the autonomous ID.Buzz prototype is the clearest view yet of the much-anticipated Microbus successor. If you can see past the bulbous sensors and the rooftop lidar system, this is a good indication of the production ID.Buzz van’s sharp lines, upright windshield, and simplistic interior. More information is expected to be revealed closer to the van’s on-sale date in the next few years.In terms of the autonomous tech itself, the company will focus on urban areas first, where vehicles like the ID.Buzz can be used as autonomous shuttles and for delivery services. The system developed by Argo AI uses lidar modules, cameras, radar sensors, and an onboard computer to look up to 400 meters ahead to watch for obstacles. It aims to provide a smooth and human-like driving style. Specialists from 33 different countries are currently working on the software, which uses machine learning to provide constant improvements. [image id=’45cb6cba-f9e3-41ff-876d-98cddc00e762′ mediaId=’29b2986a-a8c6-4c40-8ae1-319207133de7′ align=’center’ size=’medium’ share=’false’ caption=” expand=” crop=’16×9′][/image]Salesky explained that automating the task of driving is incredibly difficult, for a number of reasons, not least of which is that the computer must be able to predict the behavior of pedestrians, cyclists, and other vehicles on the road. He explained that every time they put the prototypes out into the real world for data collection, they uncover new things that the system has to learn to recognize. But, in a recent test on the streets of Miami, a pedestrian in costume was accurately identified as a pedestrian, which illustrates how the technology has matured.[image id=’13b3e5bd-e921-41af-a458-da167f5acee1′ mediaId=’00e14129-e193-4ee3-8457-bdd9e04a006d’ align=’right’ size=’large’ share=’false’ caption=” expand=” crop=’1×1′][/image]The software can allow the vehicle to navigate itself without GPS if needed, and Salesky explained that the system will not require any changes or upgrades to the current infrastructure. However, Argo AI says the system is able to adapt to new infrastructure features that could be added down the road.Argo AI’s approach to partnering with multiple automakers could give the company a leg-up in the automated driving arms race against rivals such as Cruise AV, MobilEye, and Tesla. Salesky explained that large scale adoption of automated driving systems will be necessary both from a business and a data perspective. The more miles the vehicles accumulate, the more data can be processed, and therefore the more the system can learn.Volkswagen plans to roll out a test fleet in Munich within the next few months and has made a goal of launching automated vehicles in urban areas in 2025, starting in Hamburg, Germany. Ride sharing will be key to the company’s strategy, and VW says it’s working on a customer experience that will allow users to adjust climate control and other settings ahead of time so that the interior is suited to their needs before the vehicle arrives.[poll id=’48c5dbd8-578e-401e-917b-c7b3d62164d0_a0e571385ab02′ type=’text’ question=’Are you ready for automated ride-sharing vans in your city?’ answer1=’Yes, chatty Uber drivers bug me.’ answer2=’No, i’m not ready to trust the machines.’][/poll]

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Mercedes-AMG has revealed this upcoming performance version of the Mercedes flagship EQS electric sedan.The AMG EQS increases power by 133 hp over the new 2022 EQS580 4Matic, for a total of 649 horsepower. Adding the AMG Dynamic Plus package can bring that up to 751 horsepower.U.S. buyers will be able to see the 2022 AMG EQS in dealerships early in 2022, Mercedes said. Mercedes-Benz’s high-performance affiliate AMG has made a lot of different cars, from high-powered four-bangers to ultra-luxurious V-12 engines. At one point, they even made a super-efficient diesel. But a full EV was missing—until now. Here is the Mercedes-AMG EQS53 AMG+, a derivative of Mercedes’s EQS electric flagship.

The AMG EQS may be similar in name to the standard Mercedes-Benz EQS, but AMG has tweaked the car significantly. In traditional AMG fashion, it excels in lateral dynamics: Power rises to 649 horsepower, and torque is rated at 700 pound-feet. Thus powered, the EQS AMG is claimed to reach 62 mph in 3.8 seconds, with top speed governed at 137 mph.The miracles of motor management, available for purchase as the AMG Dynamic Plus package, can unlock a whopping 751 horsepower, another 50 or so pound-feet, cut the claimed zero-to-62-mph time by 0.4 second, and allow the EQS to reach 155 mph before it hits the governor. The power comes thanks to AMG-specific motors. They can recuperate energy with up to 300 kW, an experience sure to send the passengers into their seatbelts as the portly sedan decelerates sharply.No matter which output level you choose, the AMG EQS has the same battery pack as the standard EQS, with 107.8 kWh of usable capacity. Mercedes isn’t yet talking range for the U.S. market, and in fact we are still waiting on EPA range numbers for the non-AMG EQS, but we expect the AMG version to go a bit less far on a charge due to its higher power output and presumably lower efficiency.AMG has upgraded the cooling system and the driving modes, which put special emphasis on performance—understandably, since governments continue to stipulate that emissions equal “zero,” no matter how much energy is used in an EV.

Mercedes-AMG EQS53 AMG+ interior, with Hyperscreen.
Mercedes-AMG

Torque distribution is more rear-biased than on the regular EQS, and the chassis is significantly tweaked, including stabilizers, bearings, and rear axle components. The AMG-specific damper control is quicker and more performance-oriented, and customers can opt for a rear-wheel-steering system that allows for up to 9 degrees of steering angle, helping maneuverability. Carbon-ceramic brakes are optional.A plethora of software-based elements encourage the driver of this new AMG to hit the racetrack; the most playful one is the Track Pace feature, which lets the driver compare track performance with previous laps. And “when temperature and charging state allow,” there is a “race start” function that adds multifarious visual and sound effects.Outside, the status of the Mercedes-AMG EQS as the current top model is underscored by specific wheels (up to 22 inches), a front splitter, a bigger rear wing, and a diffuser. Inside, there are specific fabrics and decor as well as an AMG-specific interpretation of the content on the huge “Hyperscreen.”We can’t help but wonder whether this model is AMG’s last word on the EQS. But we are pleased to see it nonetheless, as a harbinger of even better things to come.
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