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Friday, January 7, 2022
NASCAR vs. 'Let's Go, Brandon'
The Chevy Silverado EV—and everything else from CES
| If you have trouble reading this message, view it in a browser.  Sony brings an electric SUV to CES, the Chrysler Airflow concept aims for the Mustang Mach-E, and Mercedes shows how to stretch EV range to over 600 miles. But first:  This year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was surprisingly generous when it came to EV news, even though the show itself was taking place on a shortened schedule due to a resurgent pandemic. And that EV news was also surprisingly generous when it came to seeing near-production versions of upcoming electric vehicles, in contrast to plenty of pie-in-the-sky concepts of prior years.  Chevrolet intends for the Silverado EV to be an affordable working truck for those who need one. Slated to be offered solely in crew cab form, the Silverado EV will certainly remind some of the Avalanche of years past, or more recently the GMC Hummer EV that recently entered production. The pricing of the Silverado EV will stretch almost all the way up to the Hummer in top trim, but Chevrolet intends to make the base model very accessible to repeat truck buyers. So a vast price range will accompany the truck, itself offered with an up to 400 miles of range with a massive 200-kWh battery as an option.  Sony certainly seems to want to become an EV maker, and it's taking more steps in that direction. Speaking of new competition, two years after the surprise debut of an electric sedan, Sony returned to CES with an electric SUV concept dubbed the Vision-S 02. Based on the same platform as the sedan we saw in 2020, which was developed with suppliers like Magna Steyr, Nvidia, Qualcomm, ZF, Continental, and Bosch, this year's SUV concept showcased a number of technologies, including an advanced driver-assistance system with LiDAR, in addition to all the interior infotainment tech. That's not quite a confirmation of Sony planning to offer its own vehicles directly to consumers, but at the same time it's not lost on industry observers that this is already the second concept car Sony is showing at CES, and it looks remarkably complete inside and out. So the consumer electronics legend has already done more when it comes to showing and testing actual EV prototypes than several other electric car start-ups have in recent years.    Debuting at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the Chrysler Airflow Concept hits all of the expected notes for an upcoming electric vehicle. Chrysler says that the Airflow has an expected range of 350 to 400 miles, all-wheel drive, and plenty of futuristic consumer tech. Chrysler says that the all-wheel drive comes from a pair of 150-kW electric motors feeding the front and rear axles respectively. That translates to about 201 hp per motor, which means this Airflow would be relatively powerful if it hit the streets today.
 BMW used this year's Consumer Electrics Show as the launch point for its electric flagship SUV, headed on sale stateside later this year. The BMW iX M60 will be the performance version of the iX sport utility, bringing 610 hp and 811 lb-ft of torque to the field in Sport Mode, while still offering a generous 532 hp and 749 lb-ft of torque along with dual-motor, all-wheel-drive performance the rest of the time.   Spread the word: If you know someone interested in staying on top of the rapidly growing EV segment, feel free to pass this newsletter along.
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