Audi SQ8 E-Tron review, Wrangler 4xe recall, Tesla Supercharger surcharge: The Week in Reverse

Which legendary sports car brand might be making in-wheel motors?

Which automaker cut a hybrid from its consumer lineup to make more police-duty hybrids?

This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at EV kind of cars—for the week ending November 25, 2023.

In a 2024 Audi SQ8 E-Tron review, we found this big, performance-oriented luxury SUV to flex the advantages of its tri-motor layout with perhaps the best handling of any SUV, gasoline or not—without sacrificing its class-leading comfort and quiet. 

GM’s Cadillac luxury brand confirmed that its 2025 Optiq electric SUV will be the entry point among its American-market EVs, slotting below the Lyriq. Today’s lowest-priced Cadillac is the $35,000 CT4 sedan, so don’t expect it to undercut internal combustion quite yet, even as the brand pushes toward all EVs by 2030. 

Perhaps in preparation for all the EVs from other brands starting to use Tesla’s top-rated charging network next year, Tesla Superchargers might cost an extra $1 a minute when charging above 90% during what Tesla determines to be congestion. 

The Jeep Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid is being recalled for a battery-related issue. In the meantime owners are being advised not to charge their vehicles or even park near structures or other vehicles. 

There won’t be a 2024 Ford Explorer Hybrid, the automaker confirmed last week, and the Lincoln Aviator Grand Touring plug-in hybrid has also been nixed from the lineup. That frees up room for the thriving police-duty Police Interceptor, based on the Explorer Hybrid—and, likely, focuses toward the fully electric seven-passenger SUV due in 2025. 

Honda has provided a few more details regarding its next-generation fuel-cell modules set for the U.S.-made CR-V Fuel Cell starting next year—and indicated that fuel-cell products for Europe may be a bigger part of the company’s hydrogen plans this time around. 

Recent patent filings suggest that Ferrari in-wheel motors may be in the works. Although not the axial-flux design the automakers has been working on, these radial-flux motors, packaged together with brake components, could be a possibility for future performance EVs. 

LFP batteries have been touted as the way toward more affordable EVs, and in Europe Stellantis and CATL are partnering up for potential supply on the Continent. 

Even as the market for electric vehicles grows, EV buyers have top-tier credit, confirmed a study released this week by the credit giant TransUnion with S&P Global Mobility.

Last weekend we looked at how the EV age has revived an aerodynamic obsession in the auto industry. One such example, Audi, recently pointed out that its predecessor companies back in the 1930s worked on wild aero-focused combustion-engine cars. Now that EVs are made more viable with every bit of efficiency and range, it appears that aero is definitely back in vogue.

And how will that old Prius help build new EVs? Redwood Materials has on-the-ground plans for making sure a high rate of hybrid and EV battery packs get recycled into materials that can build new EVs. And a portal with U.S. automotive dismantlers is the start of an effort to truly ramp up the recovery effort nationwide. 

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