Electric Vehicles – HowBarMotorSports.com – Transportation Specialists

New Mercedes-AMG EQS 53 Priced From £155k In The UK, Nearly £16k More Than 751HP Taycan Turbo S

Two months ago, Mercedes unveiled the AMG EQS 53 at the Munich Motor Show as the first electric vehicle to wear the AMG badge. Now, the German automaker has released pricing for it, and it’s about what you’d expect for a range-topping high-performance EV sedan.

The EQS 53 will start at £154,995 (equal to around $208,000 at current exchange rates) in the UK, or 55% more than the base EQS 450’s starting price of £99,995. It’s also more expensive than the current flagship Porsche Taycan Turbo S that’s rated for 761PS / 751HP and kicks off from £139,280 (about $186,900).

For that money, you get a dual-motor AWD drivetrain producing 649 hp (658 PS / 484 kW) and 701 lb-ft (950 Nm) of instant electric torque. Upgrade to the AMG Performance Package with the Night Edition that pushes the starting price to £163,900 (around $220,000) though, and that same drivetrain produces 751 hp (761 PS / 560 kW) and 752 lb-ft (1020 Nm) of torque.

The former enables a 3.8-second sprint to 62 mph (100 km/h) with a top speed of 137 mph (220 km/h), while the latter allows for 3.4 seconds to 62 mph with a top speed of 155 mph (249 km/h). The range is the same for both, with a WLTP-estimated 358 miles (576 km) on tap from the car’s 107.8 kWh battery.

Standard features on all variants include the 56-inch Hyperscreen, an AR heads-up display, Nappa leather upholstery, a Burmester® surround sound system, a Parking package with Active Parking Assist, and 360° camera, Driving Assistance Package Plus, AMG sound programs, AMG-specific bodywork, and an AMG steering wheel.

Included with the Night Edition are 21-inch AMG alloy wheels, a flat-bottomed sport steering wheel, and sport pedals. Upgrading to the £8,995 AMG Performance Package (which is only available with the Night Edition) gets you carbon-ceramic brakes, AMG Dynamic Plus boost for Race Start, the AMG Sound Experience, the AMG Driver’s Package with increased top speed, AMG TRACK PACE, and AMG carbon-fiber interior trim.

Finally, serving as a counterpart to the bold Night Edition is the more subtle Touring specification, which comes with 22-inch AMG multi-spoke alloy wheels and elegant ambient lighting in the cabin. On top of that, you can opt for the £2,995 Rear Luxury Lounge package (only available with the Touring), which outfits the multi-contour rear seats with black Exclusive Nappa leather upholstery, power reclining, luxury headrests, neck and shoulder heating, comfort armrests, separate climate controls, an MBUX tablet, wireless charging, and additional USB ports.

The 2022 Mercedes-AMG EQS 53 4MATIC+ is currently on sale now, with the first UK deliveries expected to arrive in April 2022.

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Buick Trademarks The Electra Name, Does It Hint At Upcoming Electric Crossover?

Buick’s range in North America comprises exclusively of SUVs including the Envision, Encore and Enclave, but none of them is fully electric. This could change in the near future as the automaker filed a trademark for the Electra name in Canada, a move that could hint at a production version of last years’ fully electric crossover concept bearing the iconic name.

General Motor’s trademark filing from December 20 for the Buick Electra name was posted at the Rivian Owners Forum. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Buick will use the Electra name on a production vehicle, nor that this will be a fully electric crossover, however both of those assumptions sound plausible given the timing.

The pictured Buick Electra concept was unveiled last year in Shangai. The prototype brought back an iconic name used in full-size luxury sedans from 1959 to 1990. Unlike its predecessors, the new Electra adopted a sleek crossover-style silhouette previewing Buick’s future design language.

Like the Cadillac Lyric that was unveiled in production form earlier this year, the Buick Electra concept was based on GM’s Ultium architecture with a fully electric powertrain. In the concept, the dual electric motors produced 583 hp (435 kW / 589 PS), while the Ultium battery allowed a range of more than 410 miles (660 km). The production version could use the Lyriq’s 100 kWh lithium-ion battery pack which is good for a more down-to-earth 300 mile (483 km) electric range.

A Buick Electra SUV could be a competitor for the rumored Chrysler Airflow and the Ford Mustang Mach-E, or move upmarket to rival more premium electric SUV proposals from BMW (iX), Audi (e-tron), and Mercedes-Benz (EQE). In any case, the design of the concept would have to be toned down for production, including a more conventional design for the greenhouse and the doors while retaining elements like the overall crossover shape, the Matrix LED lighting units, and the large-diameter wheels.

Buick hasn’t made any announcements for the future product strategy so we don’t know if and when they are planning to introduce their first fully electric SUV. Outside North America, the automaker is steadily increasing its sales in China, where it is also offering a wide range of sedans, SUVs, and luxury MPVs.

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Subaru Previews Fully Electric STI E-RA And Three More STI Performance Concepts For Tokyo Auto Salon

Subaru will join the Tokyo Auto Salon 2022 with a bunch of interesting concept cars that were previewed today in a press release. The most important launch will be the STI E-RA Concept signalling the electric era of the performance brand, but we are also going to see “STI Performance” variants of the WRX S4, Levorg, and BRZ in concept form.

The STI E-RA Concept is described as a “study model of motorsport vehicles for the carbon-neutral era,” so don’t get your hopes up for a production vehicle anytime soon since this is probably a racing car prototype. However, as suggested by the teaser, the model will introduce new design elements that could be used in future Subaru vehicles like the C-shaped LED headlights mounted on the fenders, the double vented bonnet, the red illuminated STI badge on the low nose, and the front bumper with a prominent splitter. Subaru didn’t give us details on the powertrain, other than it will be fully electric.

Besides the motorsport concept for the new era, Subaru will also showcase three “STI Performance” concepts of the WRX S4, the Levorg, and the BRZ. The first one was previewed in an official picture showing additional aero components, which will likely be the case with the other two as well.

Compared to the WRX S4 STI Sport R that is already on sale in Japan and served as a base for the concept, the new aero includes a splitter, side sills and rear bumper extensions painted in pink, matching mirror caps and STI emblem, plus a large carbon-fiber rear spoiler. The bumpers seem to be slightly redesigned for a sportier look while there is a new set of black rims shod in performance tires. We are not sure if there will be any mechanical upgrades over the production model but Subaru also mentioned a performance muffler.

Similarly, the Levorg STI Performance concept will be based on the recently announced Levorg STI Sport R trim. It will feature cherry red accents on the additional aero components, a performance muffler, plus items “that will improve the usability” of the performance-oriented wagon. As for the BRZ STI Performance concept, it will add performance parts to the BRZ S grade painted in the same cherry red shade.

Lastly, the BRZ GT300 2021 racing car that won the class victory this year will be also exhibited at the Subaru booth, where the automaker will make announcements for the 2022 motorsport team. A lucky visitor of the Tokyo Auto Salon 2022 will drive away in a brand new WRX STI Sport R EX that will be this years’ questionnaire prize.

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Latest Lucid Air Dream Edition Review Proves That It’s Something Very Special

The all-electric Lucid Air may come from an automaker with no prior experience building cars but it has proven itself to be one of the finest electric vehicles on the market.

A bunch of journalists have had the opportunity to drive the Lucid Air over the past couple of months and most recently, the guys from Throttle House in Canada headed to California to put the Lucid Air Dream Edition Performance variant through its paces. They walked away from the review seriously impressed.

Powering this flagship variant of the Lucid Air are two electric motors that combine to produce 1,111 hp. It is the most performance-focused variant of the Air but it still offers a range of 471 miles (758 km). Those who don’t need all 1,111 hp can also purchase the Air Dream Edition in Range guise with 933 hp and 520 miles (837 km) of range.

While testing the electric sedan, Throttle House notes that it feels like a luxury car first which is quite a bold statement considering the phenomenal performance that it offers. The Lucid Air also weighs several hundred pounds more than a Tesla Model S Plaid but despite that, it controls its mass incredibly well and offers up loads of grip and gives the driver heaps of confidence. Unlike the Model S Plaid, it also has a set of brakes that match the insane straight-line performance.

The Lucid Air has received a lot of praise recently and was even named as Motor Trend’s Car of the Year. Unlike some other electric vehicles, it has also started to reach the hands of customers and proves that while Tesla continues to dominate the EV market, it now has some serious rivals to worry about.

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Ford Dealer Is Allowing F-150 Lightning Reservation Holders To Skip The Queue With $5,000 Markup

A Ford dealership in Foxborough, Massachusetts has come under fire for allegedly asking F-150 Lightning reservation holders to cough up an extra $5,000 to have their reservation prioritized.

A member of the F-150 Gen 14 forum recently received an email from the Rodman Ford dealership. In this email, the dealership claims that it has secured more than 200 reservations for the F-150 Lightning but says its initial allocation of vehicles will only account for 10 per cent of these reservations.

Should customers want to place an order when sales commence in January, they will be slapped with a $5,000 markup on top of the MSRP, the dealer states. The email adds that the first 10 per cent of reservation holders that respond to the message and agree to the markup will be placed as a priority to secure an order and take delivery during the initial allocation.

It is no secret that the Ford F-150 Lightning has proven to be much more popular that the company had expected. In fact, the automaker recently halted reservations after receiving nearly 200,000 of them. Ford had initially only planned to build 15,000 units through 2022, 55,000 in 2023, and 80,000 in 2024. The carmaker will respond by ramping up production to 80,000 units in 2023 but even still, many reservation holders will apparently be waiting years to take delivery.

Prices for the 2022 F-150 Lightning start at $39,974 before a $7,500 federal EV tax credit. Adding an extra $5,000 to that price tag is a lot of money and the forum member who published this email claims to have already moved his reservation to another dealer to avoid the markup.

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Volvo To Open Battery R&D Center In Gothenburg With Partner Northvolt

Volvo and Northvolt will open a joint research and development center in Gothenburg, Sweden. The center will be tasked with developing new batteries for EVs that deliver on range and charging time expectations while reducing the carbon footprint of the batteries themselves.

The R&D center will become operational in 2022 and the location has been chosen to keep it close to Volvo’s own R&D center as well as Northvolt‘s existing innovation campus in Västerås, Sweden, to ease cooperation.

“Our partnership with Northvolt secures the supply of high-quality, sustainably-produced batteries for the next generation of pure electric Volvos,” said Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive for Volvo Cars. “It will strengthen our core competencies and our position in the transformation to a fully electric car company.”

Volvo says that the partnership will focus on developing “tailor-made” batteries that give buyers long ranges and quick charging times. The automaker wants to collaborate with Northvolt to create an end-to-end system for battery manufacturing to allow it to develop its own batteries. Since batteries are the single largest component of an electric vehicle and the single biggest contributor to their carbon footprint, the development of new technology will be an important area of focus.

The center is being created as part of a SEK30 billion ($3.3 billion) investment in battery development. Batteries developed there will also power Polestar vehicles, which announced this year that it intends to build climate-neutral cars by 2030.

Following the completion of the R&D center, Volvo and Northvolt will build a battery manufacturing plant in Europe. Although the exact location of the site is not yet known, Volvo says it will be announced in early 2022.

The plant will have a potential annual capacity of 50 GWh, enough to supply about 500,000 vehicles, the automaker says. Construction is expected to commence in 2023 and large-scale production should kick off in 2026. Part of Volvo’s commitment to sell only electric vehicles by 2030, the plant and the R&D center are quite important when it comes to the automaker’s plans for the future.

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What Does Jay Leno Think Of An Electric 1968 Porsche 912 With 536 HP?

Jay Leno is a huge fan of classic sports cars, and in the most recent episode of Jay Leno’s Garage he had the opportunity to check out a 1968 Porsche 912 that has been transformed into an EV by a company named Zelectric.

Porsche first introduced the 912 back in the 1960s as a more affordable alternative to the 911 but Zelectric have removed its standard 90 hp engine and replaced it with the rear drive unit of a Tesla Model S. This motor pumps out 536 hp and is coupled to a 32 kWh battery pack. The car also features a brake regeneration system just like most EVs on the market and also allows for one-pedal driving.

Watch Also: Porsche Doesn’t Want To Build An Electric 911, So What’s This Electromodded 964 From Everrati Like?

As you would imagine, the Tesla drive unit and battery pack aren’t light and weight around 620 lbs. By comparison, the 912’s standard engine, transmission, and exhaust combine to weigh around 375 lbs so this electric-converted car is much heavier than when it left the Porsche factory. However, with nearly 540 hp, that extra weight is not an issue.

The compact 32 kWh battery pack allows the car to travel up to 140 miles (225 km) when the car is driven gingerly or 120 miles (193 km) when it is driven the way that a Porsche should. During this review, Zelectric mentions that it is working on a 45 kWh variant that will offer more range.

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Watch The BMW iX Park Itself And Get A Wash In A Special Parking Lot

Attendees at the recent Munich Motor Show had access to an automated valet parking area and BMW has just released a video that shows the all-electric iX making the most of this innovative facility.

The video shows the driver dropping off the iX at a designated area of the parking lot. A smartphone application is then used to initiate the self-parking feature.

Using a combination of the sensors and cameras found in the iX, as well as those located throughout the parking lot, the SUV is able to navigate its way to a spot where it reverses in. A robotic arm then extends from the parking bay and plugs in the iX so it can charge its battery. The clip even shows the iX approaching an automated car wash within the parking lot, although it doesn’t actually show the SUV driving through the car wash.

When the driver of the iX returns, all they have to do is open up the app and order the BMW back to the space where it was dropped off.

Bosch is behind the automated valet parking system and has been working with automakers, including Daimler, on the system since as early as 2015. In mid-2017, an automated valet parking system was launched at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany that functioned in the same way as the one used at the Munich Motor Show.

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U Spy The Hyundai Ioniq 5 Robotaxi Being Tested At The Las Vegas Airport

Just a few days after Motional unveiled its Hyundai Ioniq 5-based robotaxi at the Munich Motor Show, a prototype has been spied by a CarScoops reader several thousand miles across the Atlantic on American shores.

This heavily-camouflaged prototype was spied testing at an airport in Las Vegas and certainly appears to have turned quite a few heads. It is equipped with an array of sensors previewed through renderings released by Motional last month.

The Ioniq 5 robotaxi has no less than 30 sensors that includes a host of cameras, radar, and LiDAR. Sensors can be seen on the roof of the car, as well as its front fascia, front quarter panels, and rear-end. A driver was pictured behind the wheel controlling the car but when development of it is complete, Motional hopes to remove the driver completely and use a remote vehicle assistance as a safety redundancy, allowing a remote operator to control the robotaxi in the event of something unexpected happening.

“For the Ioniq 5-based robotaxi, we have applied various redundancy systems, in addition to a suite of essential technologies to ensure safety and convenience of the passengers,” head of the Autonomous Driving Center at Hyundai Motor Group, Woongjun Jang recently said in a statement. “By successfully integrating the Group’s Ioniq 5 Robotaxi with Motional’s autonomous driving technology, we are proud to announce that we have achieved another important milestone on the road to the commercialization of our robotaxi.”

The vehicle will begin to transport passengers in 2023 through a partnership with ride-hailing giant Lyft, meaning Motional and Hyundai still have plenty of time to get the autonomous EV ready for launch.

Thanks to Aditya Gaur for the photos!

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This Is How Much Quicker The Tesla Model S Plaid Is Than The Porsche Taycan Turbo S

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For years, the Tesla Model S was the king of electric sedans but then the Porsche Taycan came along and the Turbo S quickly established itself as the quickest-acceleration electric sedan on the market. Fast forward to mid-2021 and the Tesla has reclaimed its crown.

The facelifted Model S range is now topped out by the tri-motor Plaid and Brooks from the DragTimes channel on YouTube recently took delivery of one. He has wasted no time in testing out its performance and recently headed to the drag strip to see how it compares to a Taycan Turbo S.

The Model S Plaid has a significant advantage over the Taycan Turbo S as it features three electric motors, whereas the Porsche has to make do with two. In addition, the Model S Plaid pumps out a combined 1,020 hp while the Taycan Turbo S tops out at 750 hp.

Watch Also: 1,100 HP Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Shows Tesla Model S Plaid It’s Not Invincible

During the first race, the driver of the Tesla forgot to enable drag strip mode but even sο, it easily out-accelerated the Porsche and sprinted down the quarter-mile in just 9.67 seconds at 150.93 mph (242.9 km/h). The Porsche crossed the quarter-mile in 10.422 seconds, a very respectable time in its own right.

In the final race, the driver of the Model S Plaid correctly enables drag strip model and completes the standing quarter-mile in 9.344 seconds at 151.34 mph (243.6 km/h). Αs for the Porsche, it was over a second slower.

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