MyOpinion

The Nissan LEAF is now a crossover with some pretty major upgrades. Nissan unveiled the third-gen EV, dropping the iconic hatch design for a stylish crossover. It now has significantly more range, and it even has an NACS port for charging at Tesla Superchargers. Here’s our first look at the new Nissan LEAF EV.

Underpinned by its new CMF-EV platform, the same one underpinning the Ariya SUV, Nissan promises the new LEAF will have “significant range improvements” over the outgoing model. It will also be available with 19″ alloy wheels and a panoramic moonroof for the first time.

One of the most exciting upgrades is that the new LEAF will be Nissan’s first EV with an integrated NACS port so you can charge up at Tesla Superchargers. This alone will make it more competitive in the US.

Nissan said more details will be shared mid-year. However, Nissan vehicle programs chief, Francois Bailly, told TopGear.com the new LEAF is expected to have 373 miles (600 km) driving range (WLTP). It will draw power from Nissan’s new 3-in-1 EV powertrain.

The new LEAF will arrive in the US and Canada later this year, joining the Ariya electric SUV. It will be one of ten new and refreshed vehicles under the Nissan and Infiniti brands.

Despite being small, the truck is still rather hefty with a 4,400lb curb weight, regardless of battery option (the larger option uses newer, denser cells to pack more energy in a similar weight). This is still thousands of pounds less than other electric trucks (~6-7k lbs), but (understandably) quite a bit more than the Mini SE (~3,200lbs), and even not far off from the Toyota Tacoma (~4,500lb) to which TELO compares itself. Speaking of that comparison – the TELO truck is a full five feet shorter than the “compact” Toyota Tacoma or four feet shorter than the Maverick, to say nothing of other enormous vehicles in the US. TELO gave us a live demo of what the truck looks like next to both a Mini Cooper SE and a full size RAM 2500 pickup.

And TELO’s $41k base price and 260 miles of range compare favorably to the most popular commercial EV: Ford’s E-Transit, with an 89kWh battery, 159 mile range and $51k base price (which is now the same as the gas version). That’s a much larger vehicle, but for a company that doesn’t need that much space but still wants to do intra-city deliveries, tradesman work, etc., this could be a great option All in all, despite TELO not being all that old of a company (or that large – it only has 11 employees to date, with one cofounder being Forrest North, an early Tesla employee, and the board including Marc Tarpenning, a Tesla founder), it has produced a pretty neat vehicle which seemed pretty well put together – at least for the few minutes we got to ride in it.

Rivian posted total fourth-quarter revenue of $1.73 billion, easily topping Wall St expectations of $1.4 billion. Total automotive revenue was $1.52 billion, primarily from the 14,183 vehicles Rivian sold in the quarter. Rivian also generated $299 million from the sale of regulatory credits and $484 million from software and services. Rivian Q4 2024 Revenue: $1.73 billion vs $1.4 billion expected Rivian Q4 EPS loss: 0.46 loss per share vs 0.68 loss per share expected CEO RJ Scaringe said, “This quarter, we achieved positive gross profit and removed $31,000 in automotive cost of goods sold per vehicle delivered in Q4 2024 relative to Q4 2023.” Rivian generated $110 million in automotive gross profit in the quarter compared to a loss of $611 million in Q4 2023. For the full year, Rivian generated a negative automotive gross profit of $7 million, an improvement from the $12 million loss in 2023.

This is very good news!

When a silver Rivian R3 prototype rolled on stage during the automaker’s R2 reveal event on March 7, the audience’s eyes sparkled and jaws dropped, followed by cheerful whistling and whooping. Few other EVs have triggered such enthusiastic reactions in recent memory.

For car nerds, the pint-sized, angular hatchback was an ode to legendary rally names like the Lancia Delta Integrale. For regular people, the message was clear: An affordable yet highly desirable Rivian is on its way.

The R2 will start at $45,000, so the R3 is estimated to fall in the $30,000-40,000 price range. At that price, the R3 would compete with the next-gen Chevrolet Bolt EV, the Kia EV3, and potentially an affordable Tesla, among others.

Three things are no secret: 1) Elon Musk benefits more than any other individual from Tesla’s success, 2) Elon Musk has gotten extremely involved in political matters (emphasis on “extremely”), and 3) many people won’t buy Tesla products because of those first two facts.

New research from JW Surety Bonds finds that 1 out of 4 Americans “avoid Tesla’s technology due to their opinions on Elon Musk.” That’s a full quarter of the US public that won’t consider great electric vehicles, including the best selling vehicle in the world, because of Musk’s highly abnormal involvement in US politics.

Before we get to more of the research, it should also be noted that Musk has been getting more and more involved, including in highly abnormal and extremely right-wing ways, in European politics — in the UK, Italy, Germany, and other major auto markets. Without a doubt, this is starting to impact consumer behavior in Europe as well.

I can’t think of anything else as significant in consumer product sales. Yes, there are some other highly politically engaged business people, but they aren’t so directly involved or tied to significant mass-market products. (I’m not counting the MyPillow guy, for example.) There are founders and CEOs of major corporations who are known political actors, but not so openly and loudly that they draw widely significant scrutiny or tarnish the brand they represent.

The EX30 was the 3rd best selling electric vehicle in Europe in January–November 2024, only behind the Tesla Model Y and Model 3, previous CleanTechnica Car of the Year winners in their debut seasons. In November, the Skoda Enyaq and Volkswagen ID.4 were also higher than the EX30, while right behind the EX30 was the Volkswagen ID.7 in 6th place. As you can see, the ID.7 came in second in the CleanTechnica Car of the Year voting in Europe. That said, it wasn’t close, as the #2 ID.7 and #3 BYD Seal combined had the same vote share as the EX30.

Who is Andy Palmer and why is he saying “Hybrids are a road to hell?” Admittedly, Palmer is not a household name, but he is well known in the auto industry. He went to work for Nissan in 2002 and rose quickly to become the chief operating officer and head of global planning for the company. In 2014, he became CEO of Aston Martin, a position he held for six years.

Some call him “the godfather of the electric car” because during his time at Nissan he pushed for the development of the LEAF, the world’s first mass market electric car. He told Business Insider recently, “I wish I could say that it was driven by a motivation to better the world. But actually, it was driven by the Toyota Prius kicking our ass.” Rather than just copying Toyota’s success with its hybrid drivetrain, Palmer said he pushed Nissan to build a fully electric vehicle, a plan that resulted in the LEAF after CEO Carlos Ghosn added his support for the idea.

Palmer told Business Insider that delaying transitioning to EVs in favor of selling hybrids was a “fool’s errand” and warned that automakers doing so risked falling even further behind Chinese EV companies. “Hybrids are a road to hell. They are a transition strategy, and the longer you stay on that transition, the less quickly you ramp up into the new world. If you just delay transitioning to EVs by diluting it with hybrids then you are more uncompetitive for longer, and you allow the Chinese to continue to develop their market and their leadership. I honestly think it’s a fool’s errand.”

My brother owns a home in Boston’s north shore and a Vermont vacation home. My guy and I have been gently prodding my brother to buy an EV. There’s a great FLO charger in White River Junction at Hampton Inn, halfway between his two homes, which offers a nice boost on a typical 300 mile EV range. He’d be able to recharge at both his homes with a Level 1 exterior plug (we know: we’ve charged at both his homes while visiting with our Chevy Bolt).

And, with the doom-and-gloom Trump team of Merry Pranksters ready to swoop down on all things electric, there’s never been a better time to take advantage of federal tax incentives. Reports are widespread that the Trump transition team is planning to terminate the $7,500 consumer EV credit, an action publicly supported by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

If you find yourself imagining what it would be like to drive sustainably, now is the time to buy an EV. Go for it, bro.

There are many reasons for consumers like my brother to buy an EV right now. Buyers will save a bundle on fuel — home charging makes owning an EV reliable and affordable, and road trips in an EV are becoming easier. Electric vehicles have no tailpipe emissions — nearly three quarters of the GHG emissions from a gasoline vehicle come from the tailpipe during vehicle operation, and the planet really can’t take much more internal combustion engines if it is to thrive. Then again, if financial considerations are your main focus, the EV tax credit that is fleetingly available will have real meaning for you.

Tesla still dominates US EV sales. It may represent less than 50% of the market finally, but it’s still nearly as much as every other automaker combined, which is stunning and not at all the sign of a mature market. One has to expect its share will continue to decline as other automakers continue to offer new models, offer better specs and value for money, and scale up production more and more. Well, I guess some people expect that Tesla will bounce back, see a surge in sales, and shoot above 50% market share again. I don’t see that happening, at least not for long. The long term trend is down from about 80% of the US market to less than 50% of the US EV market, and I expect that trend will continue for years to come.

Rivian leads the industry in owner satisfaction, with Tesla coming in third — making it two all-electric automakers in the top three.

Consumer Reports has released its latest owner satisfaction survey results. Rivian is taking the top spot for the second year in a row, an impressive feat for a relatively new automaker.

Charging a non-Tesla electric car isn't as straightforward as it should be. There are half a dozen charging apps on my phone to authenticate and initiate charging at different stations. Even then, I have to often contort to awkward angles at charging stations, over dangling cables, to glance at poorly lit screens on the dispensers to check the charging status. If you drive an EV you've likely had a similar experience. It's a real pain sometimes.

But the charging experience could soon improve with a new nationwide framework in the U.S. that aims to establish a simple "plug and charge" method for all electric cars, regardless of the brand. If it goes into effect, charging could be as simple as pumping gas; just pull up and plug-in.

Currently, automakers and charging companies using their own authentication systems. Principally, it's all the same: when you plug in an EV, there's a "handshake" between the car and the charger; a process where the two communicate to ensure a safe connection before charging begins.

Over the past decade, Chinese automakers have staged a stunning rise in the auto industry, establishing a clear lead over the U.S. and Europe in democratizing electric vehicles. Now the latest sales data suggests that the country is so far ahead in electrification that a miracle would be needed for others to catch up or come even remotely close.

Data from the China Passenger Car Association, posted on the Chinese social media platform WeChat, indicates that China's EV market accounted for a whopping 76% of global EV sales in October. That figure represents new energy vehicles (NEVs), as they're called in China, which include both fully electric models and plug-in hybrids.

Of the 14.1 million NEVs sold globally between January and October, 69% were in China, as per the CPCA. The U.S. accounted for less than 10% of this, with about 1.28 million EVs and PHEVs sold during the same period. Automakers in Europe sold about 2.32 million units in the first eight months of the year, but that growth is now slowing down as legacy brands in the continent struggle to sell EVs.

When you break down 'NEVs' into EVs and PHEVs, things also look good. From January to October, China's share of fully electric global sales stood at 63.2%. The share of PHEVs reached 78%. Simply put, much of the EV mass adoption is driven by China and Norway, with the former having a far greater statistical significance.