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Saudi Arabia is already tightly involved with Lucid Motors, but rumors late last week that the government’s Public Investment Fund wants to buy even more of Lucid’s stock sent the price up 43 percent. It then backtracked a bit over the weekend.The PIF owns over 60 percent of Lucid already and has promised to buy up to 100,000 EVs from the automaker over the next 10 years. Lucid has also announced it will build a plant in Saudi Arabia.Also, last week, Lucid announced that it is providing a 469-hp electric drive unit for all Formula E race cars this season. The EDU includes a motor, inverter, differential, and transmission and will be used to capture braking energy.Even with its vast oil reserves, Saudi Arabia is interested in electric vehicles. Whether it’s a deal with Canoo for fleet vehicles or the Saudi Ceer, an upcoming, home-grown mass-market EV scheduled to arrive in 2025 with help from FoxConn, Saudi Arabia is in the EV game. The country’s relationship with Lucid is well established, and rumors that the Saudi government might increase its investment in the luxury automaker sent the stock price up 43 percent Friday, ending at $12.87.All the Specs and DetailsNothing has been officially announced regarding any such deal, but Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is considering buying out the rest of Lucid’s stock. Lucid’s stock price dropped 4.5 percent over the weekend from the Friday high.Last year, Lucid sold almost 86 million shares to a PIF affiliate for around $915 million. Lucid sold other shares to other groups, but the deal kept the PIF’s overall investment in Lucid steady, at around 62 percent, according to CNBC. Last spring, Saudi Arabia’s government announced it would buy between 50,000 and 100,000 Lucid EVs over the next decade. Lucid also announced it would build its second plant in Saudi Arabia. Last year, Lucid built a total of 7180 vehicles at its only plant in Arizona.Lucid made news of another sort in the all-electric Formula E race series. The company announced that its in-house electric drive unit (EDU), which includes a motor, inverter, differential and transmission and produces up to 469 horsepower, will be used in every Gen3 Formula E race car. Lucid said the EDU would provide regenerative energy recovery from the front wheels. The EDU will not be able to send all 469 horses to power the front wheels due to Formula E regulations, but Lucid has plans for the EDU’s technology beyond Formula E.Actually, in its announcement, Lucid technically didn’t say anything about Formula E. Instead, it said the EDU could be found in the cone of every car in the “world’s leading single-seater electric racing series,” so, well, it’s Formula E. Lucid has a history with the race series, having developed a battery pack that was used in previous Formula E seasons.Lucid is highlighting the high power density of the EDU (6.7 hp per pound) in a unit that weighs just over 70 pounds and can spin up to 19,500 rpm. While not the same unit found in the Lucid Air electric sedan, some technologies, like the proprietary microjet cooling system, are found in both vehicles. “I’m excited by the prospect that some of the technical advancements introduced may, in turn, make their way to future Lucid road cars,” Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said in a statement. “For Lucid, the transfer of technology between motorsports and road cars is a two-way symbiosis.”Lucid builds each of the Formula E EDUs at its California headquarters. More

Unlike in decades past, there aren’t a ton of cars for sale outside the U.S. that we pine for. The Suzuki Jimny is a notable exception. While we can’t imagine many American buyers would go for such a small off-roader, we can’t help but want one. Unlike compact crossovers like the Ford Bronco Sport and Jeep Renegade, the Jimny is a true, old-school off-roader with a ladder chassis and an honest four-wheel drive system.The Jimny EV teaser is seen at the top right.SuzukiThe latest Jimny was a huge hit in Europe, Japan, and elsewhere, and its successor will be electrified. Suzuki announced its roadmap to 2030 on Thursday, and naturally, it includes a lot of hybrids and EVs. The presentation made no specific reference to the new Jimny, but a slide teasing future models for Europe teased what is almost certainly a Jimny EV. Currently, the Jimny uses a 101-hp 1.5-liter four-cylinder, though it’s offered with a 660-cc turbo three-cylinder in Japan to comply with kei-car regulations. Suzuki recently launched a five-door version of the Jimny, which will be built by the company’s Indian subsidiary, Maruti Suzuki. While a five-door, electric Jimny has a much broader appeal than an underpowered three-door, don’t expect to see it come to America. Suzuki says it will focus on Europe, Japan, India, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Notably, the slides from its presentation indicate that Suzuki will only sell the Jimny EV in Europe. Instead, they’ll get an electric version of the Hustler, a Jimny-inspired crossover. This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

BMW and battery developer Solid Power expand plans to collaborate on solid-state battery technology, with plans to begin testing vehicles will these cells in 2023. The automaker is preparing to build a prototype line in its Cell Manufacturing Competence Center (CMCC) in Germany to test solid-state battery production.BMW says a working prototype with solid-state batteries will be presented before 2025, but market launch timing remains fluid for now.Several automakers and tech startups have been working on solid-state battery technology, with the promise of lighter weight and longer range in EVs being just two of the benefits. The race to offer solid-state batteries in production vehicles is arguably the single most important one when it comes to EV technology in this decade, with a number of developers pursuing different battery compositions, and working to scale them up from the lab to the production line.Battery developer Solid Power, backed by Ford and BMW, is working on using a sulfide-based solid electrolyte in place of the traditional liquid electrolyte in its battery design, with the same aim of offering a lighter battery and a higher energy density, compared to traditional lithium-ion designs.BMW revealed this week that Solid Power plans to deliver full-scale automotive cells for testing this year. The two companies have also expanded their joint development agreement, allowing BMW to build a prototype line in its Cell Manufacturing Competence Center (CMCC) located in Parsdorf, Germany, near Munich. This expanded agreement will allow BMW and Solid Power to perform cell development and manufacturing activities at locations owned by both companies.Before the prototype manufacturing line gets rolling, BMW Group staff will work with the startup’s engineers to fine tune cell manufacturing processes. The automaker says a demonstrator vehicle with a solid-state battery on board will appear before 2025.”Expanding our relationship with BMW is further evidence that both companies believe in Solid Power’s technology development and the value of solid-state batteries,” said David Jansen, interim CEO, president, and chair of Solid Power.Other German automakers are also in the race, with Mercedes-Benz backing solid-state startup Factorial Energy, based in Boston and also backed by Stellantis and Hyundai, as well as solid-state developer ProLogium. Battery ProgressSolid Power has been developing sulfide-based solid electrolytes at a pilot scale, but they will soon be ready for testing in actual cars.Solid PowerBut BMW’s Neue Klasse EVs, due in 2025, won’t immediately benefit from solid-state tech. The automaker plans to introduce the next generation of cylindrical lithium-ion cells, dubbed Gen6, in Neue Klasse models, promising a 30 percent improvement in range in the WLTP cycle. So solid-state batteries aren’t quite around the corner by BMW’s estimates, even though the automaker will begin testing them in prototypes later this year.”The new BMW round cells come with a diameter of 46 millimeters and two different heights of 95 mm and 120 mm,” the automaker said in regard to its next-gen lithium-ion cells. “Compared to the prismatic cells of the fifth BMW battery cell generation, the cell’s volumetric energy density will improve by more than 20 percent.”However, BMW has refrained from predicting just when we’ll see solid-state batteries in its production cars, including the Neue Klasse models. BMW expects that before 2030, 50 percent of its sales will come from battery-electric models, but whether most of these will be its next-gen lithium-ion designs or solid-state compositions remains to be seen. BMW certainly knows other automakers also want to be the first to offer this technology in their cars.But Solid Power has a more definitive estimate, indicating it expects to scale its electrolyte production by 2028 to power 800,000 vehicles annually.”BMW remains committed to the pursuit of all-solid-state batteries, a technology which we believe has significant potential for the future,” said Frank Weber, member of the Board of Management for BMW, Development. More