we're in the middle of about a five-year period when some 100 new cars with a plug are gonna hit the
market you may never see a flurry like this again in your life so let's run down the 2022 schedule this
might be the most interesting year of them all now it should go without saying that you've noticed the
hottest thing in electric cars is electric trucks started with the ford f-150 lightning now that vehicle is in
pre-orders it'll start delivering in 2022. most notable are the fact that it's got a low base of 40 000
though you'll be hard-pressed to get one at that price of course and it's so normal it looks and feels like
a regular f-150 a key strategy from ford it's got incredible specs for power and performance for towing
and for being gouged at the dealership ford's having to rein in their dealers who know the pre-order list
is long and people are going to be impatient so as they arrive you're going to see some extra markup
which is too bad because that blunts one of its key features which is a very affordable price at least in
terms of its value but it has kicked off the era of the electric pickup now by the time the dealer at the
ford shop calls and says your electric f-150 is in you may already be at the point where you can shop
for an electric silverado even though they don't arrive till mid to late 23. that's gonna have 400 miles of
range and gm's all-new impressive ultium battery and electric system this is completely different from
the chevy bolt that is currently giving the division a black eye you might also notice that the silverado
is going to have pretty advanced super cruise driving automation and what they call ultify cloud
connected services it's going to be an interesting comparison compared to the more derivative electric
f-150 then you ask what about ram much further in the future an electric ram truck's not expected until
2024 so we have no specs or much to talk about right now now let's get to the alternative brands what
about lordstown looking a little wobbly as it has in the past ceo and cfo resigned in 2021 over
overstating allegations about the amount of interest they had in their vehicles and perhaps a little bit of
a cash issue and then there's tesla's cyber truck now delayed to q1 of 23 a vehicle that you thought was
going to be in this video for delivery in 22 and i suspect that q123 is not the last delay we'll see for
the cyber truck it's okay with me the longer it takes for that ugly thing to be on the road next to me the
better can anyone make electric more normal than toyota maybe not but they'd have to have an electric
car first and that will be arriving in the mainstream sense for the first time with something called the
bz4x i don't get it either makes no sense who's going to walk in and remember or ask for that name at
the dealership we'll see what happens i do hope it's available all in one color and not just with those
contrasting fenders i see in most photos which remind me of the cheap black plastic bumpers on the
early bmwx3s.
when the bz4x does arrive though it's going to kick off a vehicle that's going to be aimed at the sweet
spot of the american car buyer the compact crossover this will be toyota's first mainstream battery
electric vehicle they're very familiar with electrification but it's all been on the hybrid side for the most
part the bz4x will have 250 miles of range in a front-wheel drive configuration i believe the all-wheel
drive range is still tbd as of today now the bz4x will have two other versions from stablemates or
partners there will be the subaru sultera which will be as similar as its brz is to the toyota 86
in the sports car world and then there may be a lexus derivative this is still a little murky but they may
pick up the bz4x platform in general and size and turn that into a pure electric compact lexus crossover
then there's the nissan aria probably prettier than anything you ever thought would wear a nissan badge
it looks really good it also costs more than probably anything you thought would wear a nissan badge
starting at 47 or so the aria will like so many others be a 300 mile range vehicle though that does
drop to 265 miles if you get this high-performance all-wheel drive version and it should also have a
new nissan semi-autonomous driving mode that i hear is going to be pretty impressive now bmw is
another one of the standard bearers when it comes to making a truly great benchmark crossover and in
this case the ix-50 is the one to think about this would be roughly an electrified x5 but it's not an x5
they didn't just retrofit another vehicle they built this one from the ground up whole different
platform chassis construction everything styling is a little bit love it or hate it especially around the rear
quarters or around the front with perhaps the largest expression of bmw's new grill design but hey this
is a company that survived the bengal butt era so they can survive anything and you won't see the grill
because you'll be sitting inside looking at the beauty of idrive 8 displayed across this enormous wide
screen and by the way all connected via integrated 5g the hyundai ioniq 5 has been one of our favorites
in anticipation and it's going to be a big hit i'm almost certain look at that thing yeah that's a hyundai
absolutely gorgeous 40 to 55 000 base before tax breaks that'll take a little adjustment for some people
who don't associate that price with a hyundai but again tax breaks 300 miles of range of course overall
we see this as being perhaps the most credible competitor to the tesla model y if we were shopping
with your money and if you want a slightly different take on the ionic 5 go check out the kiaev6 same
basic underpinnings and structure but done with the kia language instead now let's say you want
something a little bigger and a little more conventional to be honest compared to the ionic 5 and the
ev6 then you'd look at the kia sportage the 2023 model which i think carries over some nice design
cues from the very premium and popular kia telluride and when it arrives in late 22 with a potential
plug-in hybrid powertrain now it's kind of perfect now when you pull up alongside the next generation
of the mitsubishi outlander with a plug-in hybrid powertrain you probably won't even know it so normal
and identical does it look to the conventional vehicle but that's okay because that little hidden secret
delivers 54 miles of all electric range at least on the european cycle let's say it's 40 or 45 when it's us
rated still for a pretty big vehicle to get that kind of range and enough range for many owners to drive
all electric most days.
that's pretty impressive the 250 mile range vw id4 is of course not new for 22. however what is new is
they're moving production from germany to chattanooga tennessee in a vast plant that's being retooled
for this kind of vehicle what that may set up in the future is for it to have more availability and volume
and perhaps lets the price come down from its current 40 plus to maybe something in the mid to
upper 30s as a base that is a big psychological difference then there's the volvo c40 recharge not
the xc40 the c40 is a little coupe crossover great looks unless you find them polarizing it's definitely
audacious but this is a vehicle that is pure electric unlike the xc40 which can be had as a recharge
version or not and it's also a long list of firsts for volvo it's the first volvo that can be
had only as an electric and i'm talking volvo here not pole star it's the first one that will only be
available with a sustainable vegan interior and it's the only volvo that will be sold only through an
online portal about 225 miles of range for this one this is the cadillac lyric it'll get a lot of folks asking
that's a cadillac i like to look at the inside first as good as the outside looks because that cabin is
exactly how you're supposed to do a wide screen interior other car makers take notes now the launch
edition is already sold out lyrics supposedly start at 60.
Probably has never been one sold at that price yet but as they flood more into the market down the road
this should be a pretty interesting value play based on the quality that i'm seeing in the overall interior
and exterior execution this vehicle has 300 miles of range and of course will feature the latest version
of gm's excellent super cruise semi self-driving autonomy now over at mercedes eq means electric car
maybe kind of spilled funny in this case the eq b is one to look for in 22. if you like your crossovers to
have kind of a kind of a high-top sneaker look kind of a big utilitarian rear with a squared offset of
shoulders it's a handsome chunky look when you get inside i'm not quite as impressed by the way
they've done the widescreen cabin but they've been doing that look for a while it looks a little tacked on
to be honest certainly compared to that cadillac we just saw and i never got used to the weird pinwheel
air vents there will be an eqb with a 300 or a 350 variant and obviously that doesn't refer to liters of
engine anymore the 350 is a higher performance but they're both dual motor all-wheel drive it's just a
matter of how much performance you want to light up audi's q4 e-tron should combine entry-level
luxury the option of a coupe roof line version available augmented reality on the head up display and
about a forty five thousand dollar base price though huge amounts of options mean you'll never really
pay that now jeep's not a name you often associate with electrification but it's getting there the new
jeep grand cherokee 4xe coming out in 22 is going to be a plug-in hybrid version of the next generation
grand cherokee looks really good to ri and it's available in some trim levels that you normally had
to go chase via a wagoneer miles of range on a charge before you have to kick over into combustion
mode and i think 470 pound-feet of total torque could make this one a very interesting powerful
articulated off-roader the polestar 3 will certainly be the most mainstream model from this sibling
brand of volvo we've ever seen and its ceo says that once you get a look at it you'll see a vehicle that
defines the look of suvs in the electric era to my eye it mostly confirms that everyone's doing the same
look on suvs in the electric era but no matter it looks good you can look for a highest 370 or so miles
from a charge partly because when you've got a 70 thousand dollar base msrp you can build that in
inside expect the usual elegant volvo modernity and probably some of the most impressive semi-
autonomy on the market the genesis gv60 one that a lot of folks probably don't know about know that
it's coming even know about genesis but it is coming it's a perhaps a polarizing look at a crossover in
the electric space you either love or hate the fact that it's got some real quirky design cues look up
around the face and the curvaceousness there or look at the horizontal split headlights and tail lights
those have become a genesis sort of a hallmark although they remind me of some buick from the 90s
inside i think they've done a less excellent job of integrating the now deregur widescreen single dash
display but don't miss the rotating crystal orb that is the shifter if i had not seen this i would never have
believed it the alfa romeo tanale is sort of a rav4 with an italian accent as alpha continues to try and
figure out who they are and who they're for it'll be offered with a plug-in hybrid variant as we
understand it don't look for a full battery electric on this one and that plug-in variant may also cross the
hallway over to dodge and become their plug-in compact crossover since they're all under the same
roof at stalantis the company that sounds like mylanta if you never ever want to see a car like
yours at the valet stand you probably have to get a fiskar ocean the latestinterpretation of the fisker
name in the auto industry this one as you can tell by the name is all about a sustainability message
aside from beinga electric vehicle it's got a large solar panel on the sunroof that could add you know a
couple thousand miles of range all year through trickle charging to the big batteries vegan interior as
you might imagine recycled plastics inside as well that's good they end up in the car instead of in the
ocean and this has the only rotating infotainment screen i think we've ever spotted inside of a car that's
interesting 250 to 300 miles of range like so many others now the next generation honda hrv does not
arrive in the us in 22 not until 23 but i bring it up in this piece because a full battery electric version has
just launched in china for 22 and we expect that we'll at least get a plug-in version of the 23 if
not the battery version as well so we're kind of seeing the debut of a full electric hrv just not here yet
and finally there's rivien's suv the r1s not the truck they're better known for this is a more or less
full-size suv good-sized vehicle i'd say it's gone into production just now because they did deliver two
in 2021 but two and one was for the ceo one was for the cfo so production does begin this year to join
the truck that is already in limited production but when you see one it tends to be an event on the street
now nobody buys sedans or coupes anymore right well tell a couple of smart companies that that are
doing them as electrics the bmw i4 for example this would be basically a four series as an electric
sedan you can see it hasn't varied too far from the bmw exterior styling formula again see the big grille
but this is a critical car for a company that made its name on performance sedans yeah i know the
crossovers and suvs are all the rage now but bmw has to always have a strong performance sedan brand
as well and this vehicle is now going to carry that into the future so the i4 is one to watch mercedes eqe
will be just a tad bigger than the current conventional e-class but it's a clean sheet new car to go
with its pure ev underpinnings a slippery teardrop of a thing with a long arching four-door roofline this
optional hyper-screen dashboard that it shares with the top drawer eqs will set a new high water mark
for visual displays the genesis g80 was already one of our favorite sleeper luxury sedans with
conventional power the full electric version has been launched in china which indicates we might get it
here fairly.
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