If you've been wanting an electric car but everything seems too expensive, there's some good news on the horizon. A whole lot of EV leases are due to expire in 2026, which should lead to something of a glut, according to data analyzed by JD Power.

We have the revised IRS clean vehicle tax credit to thank. This was revamped under the Inflation Reduction Act, and while tough new battery sourcing rules and a requirement for final assembly in North America have meant many fewer EVs are eligible for the tax credit when bought new, a loophole that considers a leased vehicle to be a commercial sale means any leased EV is eligible for the $7,500 incentive, which can now be subtracted from the price of the EV at the time of sale or leasing.

Since there's also no price cap on the EV or income cap on the buyer, leasing is often a better idea than purchasing outright when it comes to new EVs, particularly for people who are worried about long-term battery degradation. (In fact, this is an overblown fear that is not backed up by data from older EVs, other than the early Nissan Leaf, which does not have active battery cooling.)

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Mercedes-Benz is hard at work putting the finishing touches on the next generation of its sleek CLA sedan. Due to be officially introduced next year, it will feature the latest and greatest in Mercedes' powertrain technology and software, and ahead of that formal reveal, the automaker sent out some images of a camouflaged CLA being driven around its test track in southern Germany by company CEO Ola Källenius.

The next CLA will be the first Mercedes to use the new MB.OS as its underlying operating system, a Linux-based system that also runs QNX in a hypervisor for the safety-critical stuff like the dashboard display. CEO Källenius gave Ars a run-through of MB.UX in 2023, explaining that while it will still work with third parties, it remains in charge.

"We are the full architects of the stack. That doesn't mean we need to program every line of code. It doesn’t make technological sense, and it doesn’t make economic sense," he told Ars.

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Yesterday, Donald Trump won a second presidential term from American voters. His first term was marked, among other things, by attempts to water down environmental laws and regulations aimed at the auto industry. And as a candidate in 2024, Trump has promised plenty of disruption to the sector through both trade policy and an abrogation of the government's commitment to fight climate change. Here are some of the more significant changes we think are coming.

Electric vehicle adoption

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 was one of President Joe Biden's signature policy achievements, part of a $450 billion climate package. One of its many sections revised the way we incentivize consumers to buy electric vehicles, with an update to the clean vehicle tax credit that requires final assembly in North America, as well as ever-increasing amounts of US-sourced battery components and minerals to be eligible.

But such policies are not loved by the Republican Party. During his first term, Trump repeatedly criticized EVs, saying that "all-electric is not going to work," and he vociferously attacked EVs during his campaign, telling supporters at his party's national convention in July that "I will end the electric vehicle mandate on day one," referring to a current White House goal to reach 50 percent EV adoption by 2030, and calling the most significant climate legislation ever "the new green scam."

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Whenever we write about electric vans, the comments reveal a growing but pent-up demand for a camper version. Well, it seems that those vibes are being felt at Kia. It has created a pair of concepts for the  Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) automotive trade show, which got underway in Las Vegas today.

One of the two concepts will look more familiar—the EV9 ADVNTR is based on the popular electric three-row SUV. But the other is the PV5 WKNDR, a rugged off-road camper based on a forthcoming Kia electric van platform.

The EV9 ADVNTR makes good use of the existing EV9's angular design, with new sections filled in with protective cladding. There's a suspension lift and all-terrain tires, plus a roof rack, to distinguish it from lesser EV9s, but otherwise it's relatively stock.

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GMC's Hummers have always been divisive. After getting hold of the rights to a civilian version of the US military vehicle in 1999, the company set about designing new, smaller vehicles to create an entire range. The ungainly H2 and H3 followed, both SUVs playing to the sensibilities of a country grappling with its warlike nature. By 2010, the Hummer brand was dead and laid dormant until someone had the bright idea to revive it for the electric vehicle generation. We drove the pickup version of that new Hummer in 2022, now it's time for the $104,650 Hummer EV SUV.

I'll admit I was worried that the Hummer EV wasn't going to fit in my parking space. This is an extremely large vehicle, one that's classified as a class 3 medium-duty truck—hence the yellow lights atop the roof. In fact, at 196.8 inches (5,000 mm) long, it's actually slightly shorter than the pickup version, although that length doesn't count the big spare tire hanging off the back.

Its 86.5-inch (2,196 mm) width just about fit between the lines, although it was a tight squeeze to try to open a door and climb up into the Hummer if my neighbor was parked as well. And climb up you do—there's 10.2 inches (259 mm) of ground clearance even in the suspension's normal setting, and the overall height is a towering 77.8 inches (1,976 mm). There is an entry mode that drops the car on its air springs by a couple of inches, but only if you remember to engage the feature when you park.

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Google revealed today how it plans to use generative AI to enhance its mapping activities. It's the latest application of Gemini, the company's in-house rival to GPT-4, which the company wants to use to improve the experience when searching for something. Google Maps, Google Earth, and Waze will all get feature upgrades thanks to Gemini, although in some cases only with Google's "trusted testers" at first.

Google Maps

More than 2 billion people use Google Maps every month, according to the company, and in fact, AI is nothing new to Google Maps. "A lot of those features that we've introduced over the years have been thanks to AI," said Chris Phillips,VP and general manager of Geo at Google. "Think of features like Lens and maps. When you're on a street corner, you can lift up your phone and look, and through your camera view, you can actually see we laid places on top of your view. So you can see a business. Is it open? What are the ratings for it? Is it busy? You can even see businesses that are out of your line of sight," he explained.

At some point this week, if you use the Android or iOS Google Maps app here in the US, you should start seeing more detailed and contextual search results. Maps will now respond to conversational requests—during a demo, Google asked it what to do on a night out with friends in Boston, with the app returning a set of results curated by Gemini. These included categories of places—speakeasies, for example—with review summaries and answers from users.

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In November, Hyundai will formally unveil its next electric vehicle. It's the new Ioniq 9, a three-row SUV that uses Hyundai Motor Group's highly competent E-GMP platform seen in the Ioniq 5 and 6. Ahead of that reveal, the automaker shared some teaser images.

Regular readers will know that Hyundai's various design directions always have interesting names, and like the two smaller Ioniqs, the Ioniq 9 will feature "parametric pixels" in its headlamps—the blocky 8-bit look has been used to good effect on the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6.

E-GMP has already given rise to a big electric three-row SUV. Kia's EV9 has been on sale for a while now and has just about matched the cheaper EV6 in terms of sales for the last nine months, despite a $54,900 starting price that's more than $12,000 greater than the EV6's. (American car buyers really do want larger cars, and they vote with their wallets.)

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Today, Polestar electric vehicles gained access to the Tesla Supercharger network. That means US Polestar drivers have access to 17,800 more DC fast chargers than they did yesterday—once they get a NACS adapter, which can also be ordered today from their local Polestar service point. But right now, Polestar has bigger worries than expanding its charging options. Should proposed new rules banning Chinese connected-car software and hardware go into effect, they would effectively ban the automaker from the US market, the company says, including the EVs it builds in South Carolina.

The rule would ban Chinese connected-car software from US roads from model-year 2027 (midway through 2026) and Chinese connected car hardware from model-year 2030.

The ban on Chinese connected-car technology is the latest in a series of protectionist moves from the federal government and Congress. The revamped clean vehicle tax credit no longer applies to EVs made in China or with Chinese components in their battery packs, and the US Commerce Department has been pressuring Mexico to not offer generous incentives to Chinese automakers looking to set up shop nearby. Chinese-made EVs have also been subject to a 100 percent tariff since May.

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Owners of Ford Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning electric vehicles are getting an over-the-air software update that will finally give Android Auto users a bit of an upgrade. Once the update is installed, Ford's EVs will report their battery state of charge to Google Maps when the app is running on an Android phone and being cast to the Ford's infotainment system via Android Auto.

That means Google Maps can calculate an estimated state of charge upon arrival at the route's end and will suggest charging stops along the way, including estimated charge times.

A similar feature has been available to iOS users casting Apple Maps to Ford EVs via CarPlay since late last year, and it worked quite well when we tried it out with the F-150 Lightning back in January.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Today, the reborn Scout Motors showed off a pair of new electric vehicles that revives the long-dormant maker of trucks and SUVs. Originally owned by International Harvester, Scout now belongs to Volkswagen Group, which decided to use it to create a new American-made brand for off-road-capable vehicles.

The first of these will be the Traveler SUV and Terra pickup truck, due to go into production in 2027. Despite VW's recent investment in Rivian, these are all-new, clean-sheet designs with a platform unique to Scout designed in Michigan, a platform that uses a body-on-frame construction with either purely electric or range-extended powertrains.

Scout says that pricing for the Terra and Traveler should start at "under $60,000," or "as low as $50,000 with available incentives" for the entry-level models, which are due to go into production at a new factory north of Columbia, South Carolina, in 2027.

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After a rocky first half of the year, Tesla enjoyed a much healthier third quarter in 2024. As we learned earlier this month, it arrested a slide in sales, delivering 6 percent more electric vehicles year over year. But the automotive side of the business was essentially flat—Tesla attributes its success to its second-best quarter ever for regulatory credits, as well as making it cheaper to build the cars it sells.

Automotive revenues grew by 2 percent to $20 billion for the third quarter, less than the growth in deliveries. But Tesla's static battery and solar operations grew by 52 percent year over year, bringing in $2.4 billion. Services and other revenue-generating activities brought in another $2.8 billion, growing 29 percent compared to Q3 2023.

Cutting operating expenses by 6 percent helped a lot, as did increasing income from operations, up 54 percent to $2.7 billion. Some of that income has come from the Supercharger network, though it's still mostly from Tesla drivers—so far, only a few of the OEMs that have announced a switch to the Tesla-style NACS plug have gained access to Tesla's chargers. But Tesla says part sales have been strong, and it has increased its margins at its service centers.

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New cars really are better than they used to be. They last longer, they're more efficient, and they're safer for the occupants in a crash. But it's not entirely a one-way street. If the last time you bought a car was more than a decade ago, you're probably shocked at the cumulative effect of inflation since then. But even ignoring sticker shock, there's also the matter of cars (almost) all having lifeless steering. But a patent filed last year by Mercedes-Benz might have the answer.

Regular readers will have read me complain about the death of steering feedback more than once. And that's a bad thing if you care about driving, or even if you don't. The late Richard Parry-Jones, an engineer whose career at Ford saw him rise to become CTO and head of global R&D, tracked customer satisfaction data and was able to prove to skeptical colleagues that good steering was highly correlated with customer satisfaction "because bad steering is tiring," he wrote.

Mostly, it's down to a switch from hydraulic to electric power-assisted steering—in many cases, the electric motor is placed on the steering column, which has the side effect of filtering out road forces, keeping them from being transferred back up the column and to the driver's hands via the steering wheel.

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