Taycan review, Equinox EV deal, R1T top safety, 70-mile PHEVs: The Week in Reverse

Which electric truck detailed this week got a lower price and more range than originally announced?

Is CEO Elon Musk costing Tesla sales?

This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at EV kind of cars—for the week ending April 6, 2024.

In a first drive of the 2025 Porsche Taycan, we found that with improvements to performance, efficiency, and charging, this grand-touring electric sports car lives up to its original mission—and much more.  

Drivers of the Chevy Bolt EV may qualify for a $3,000 discount on the Chevy Equinox EV. It’s part of a limited-time offer good only through the end of April and arrives at a time when first Equinox EVs are reportedly in transit to dealerships. And the Chevrolet Silverado EV RST electric truck got a lower price than anticipated, as well as more miles of EPA range than it was originally supposed to get. But with first deliveries not expected until mid-year, it’s nearly a year late—so GM has sweetened the deal for reservation-holders who’ve stuck it out with a complementary bidirectional-compatible charger. 

More energy-dense batteries coming in the near future aren’t just destined for fully electric vehicles. As several executives suggested this past week at the New York Auto Show, they’re also a key to enable the next generation of 70-mile plug-in hybrids, as incentivized by California, without compromise.

Within last week’s 2030 plan presented by Nissan, emphasizing more affordable EVs, the automaker said that it will pair with Mitsubishi for the joint development of a Nissan Frontier pickup replacement in EV and PHEV forms. Between the lines, Nissan reportedly plans to use Mitsubishi’s plug-in hybrid system in its own PHEVs, while Mitsubishi will use Nissan’s EV tech—and the upcoming pickup could potentially use both. And with a recent interview with Nissan’s chief planning officer for North America, EV kind of cars got a clearer overarching vision of how Nissan might electrify trucks and SUVs for the U.S. 

Could the safest pickup be fully electric? The Rivian R1T makes a strong argument for that; it just landed atop the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ list for 2024, and it’s the only electric truck to get the top nod so far. The elevating factor was an updated moderate overlap test that showed this truck offers great protection to those in the back seat as well as the front. 

Last year General Motors was highly critical of a deal struck between Ford and CATL, enabling Ford to build and run a Michigan battery plant that will make LFP cells under license from the Chinese company for improved EV affordability. Now, GM reportedly seeks a similar deal with CATL. 

Ford on Thursday announced delays for two key EVs—its next-generation T3 electric truck and its three-row electric SUV. For those keeping tabs, these are the models termed by CEO Jim Farley as the “Millennium Falcon of trucks” and a “your own personal bullet train,” respectively. And instead it’s planning more hybrids.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg argued, in a recent Fox News interview, that EV skeptics risk being left behind by technological progress. He went so far as likening EV rejectors to landline-phone Liddutes.

Quebec is planning to wind down its EV incentives over the next several years. Combined with the expected expiration of Canada’s federal program in March 2025, it could prove a market test, as to whether more Canadians will keep buying EVs without thousands of dollars in incentives.

A combined 1,648 Audi E-Tron GT and Porsche Taycan models spanning several model years have been recalled due to “production issues” in the battery modules that “increase the risk of short circuits.” Over an abundance of caution over battery fires just after charging, it will replace defective battery modules and in the meantime advises only charging to 80% if your vehicle is affected. 

The EPA last week announced tighter federal emissions rules for big trucks that complement smog- and soot-forming emissions rules previously finalized. The rules don’t mandate EVs and give truck makers multiple pathways to meet targets, although some environmental groups were concerned they left too much flexibility and may only result in certain kinds of commercial EVs and not others. 

A sharp drop in Tesla deliveries for Q1 makes it the company’s worst quarter since pandemic shutdowns in 2020. The drop in deliveries is more severe than what analysts had expected, even in recent days, and Tesla is tempering the results with the ramp of the refreshed Model 3 in California, shipping issues in the Red Sea, and arson at Giga Berlin. Then on Friday, Reuters, citing several sources familiar with the matter, reported that the $25,000 Tesla Model 2 project has been canceled while Tesla’s robotaxi project continues. Tesla CEO Elon Musk called Reuters a liar but offered no clarification about what had been wrong in the original report. Later in the day Musk announced an August 8 reveal date for the Tesla Robotaxi. 

With those results in the foreground, a survey recently suggested Tesla CEO Elon Musk is contributing to the “reputational downfall” of Tesla. With other automakers expected to gain ground somewhat on Tesla’s massive EV market lead this year, is Musk costing Tesla sales?

And before last weekend, Tesla announced that it has hit a cumulative 6 million vehicles, every one an EV. But even putting the EV milestone aside, in sheer number of cars relative to market size it’s the highest-volume startup automaker since the 1920s. It’s an occasion to look at what Tesla has accomplished—and what it hasn’t.

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