Fisker charges with Tesla, Rivian tackles Rubicon, EV battery bloat: Today’s Car News

Even with more charging, EV batteries are growing faster than range, and that’s not a good thing. The Rivian R1S tackles the American off-road trail often seen as Jeep’s stomping ground. And Fisker commits to Supercharger access. This and more, here at EV kind of cars. 

Led by the prospects of big electric pickups and electric SUVs, the average EV battery pack size is growing at an alarming rate, even versus rated EV range, Bloomberg recently found. That’s because simultaneously the EVs themselves are getting larger—accelerating a “battery bloat” that will press resources and the supply chain harder than anticipated. Will reliable, widely available charging—or tech like solid-state batteries or energy density gains—reverse the trend? 

The Rivian R1S has achieved an off-road bragging right on what can seem at times to be Jeep’s exclusive domain—as the first electric SUV to tackle the Rubicon, in stock production form. With only “some cosmetic bumps and scrapes,” it’s a testament to the traction finesse that the brand’s Quad Motor layout affords. Jeep has no fully electric SUV as of yet. 

And Fisker announced on Tuesday that it’s joining a growing group of automakers in offering Tesla Supercharger access starting in 2025—as well as the Tesla NACS charge port on its vehicles in the future. Given CEO Henrik Fisker’s adversarial relationship with Tesla at times in the past, this could be a great example of letting bygones be bygones for the sake of progress.

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