$10,000 EV, 53-mpg Niro Hybrid, reviews of Outlander PHEV, Q4 E-Tron, EQS SUV: The Week in Reverse

Which new electric pickup is being made but can’t yet be delivered?

Which automaker released an adapter that will allow it to use the vast majority of U.S. fast-chargers?

This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending September 30, 2022.

We brought you a bumper crop of three first-drive reviews this week—each a very different kind of plug-in vehicle. The 2023 Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid

offers a much-improved 38 miles of plug-in electric range; we found it to be perkier driving and more electric, too. The 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV is refined, sophisticated, and loaded with tech items that give it a unique combination of off-road prowess and on-road handling and comfort. And the 2023 Audi Q4 E-Tron SUV and Sportback has a great feature set and smooth driving manners, but it’s focused more around practicality than punch. 

Otherwise there were a lot of details and product announcements for upcoming and refreshed vehicles. The base version of the Nissan Ariya costs $44,485 and will be rated an estimated 216 EPA miles, Nissan revealed this week. It also however raised prices on the rest of the lineup for this model that hasn’t yet been delivered and won’t for the foreseeable future be eligible for the EV tax credit. 

The 2023 Kia Niro Hybrid is one of the highest-mileage hybrids, at up to 53 mpg combined, and it got a modest price hike versus 2022, to $27,785.  

The Polestar 3 electric SUV is due to be revealed October 12, and this week the EV brand revealed a few more details for this upcoming model—including a 510-hp Performance Pack, clutch-based torque vectoring, an air suspension, and adaptive damping. 

Lordstown Motors made its first production-level Endurance electric pickups

this week—two of them, it reported Wednesday. It’s going to be a slow ramp, the company reported, and it’s still working on the certifications it needs to sell them. 

A higher max tow rating plus new battery heating and preconditioning features are new for the 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5

, which gets a price hike of about $1,500 for the new model year. But unofficially, dealer markups of up to $10,000 continue for this high-demand model that’s no longer eligible for the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. 

Tesla released a $250 CCS adapter for North America that will allow those with newer Tesla models to charge on networks like Electrify America or EVgo—although they’ll still need to use the charging network’s app or a credit-card swipe. 

BP will help keep the tens of thousands of Hertz rental EVs from GM, Tesla, Polestar, and other brands smartly charged. Plans include a national network of charging stations, with hubs around busy rental locations, and a charging interface so that Hertz can help manage charging when it’s cheapest and/or best for the grid.

According to recent testimony from a GM engineer, the much-hyped Nikola Badger hydrogen fuel-cell pickup would have contained almost no Nikola parts. That runs counter to what Nikola’s founder Trevor Milton claimed.

California is considering a rule that would ban sales of all diesel semis plus other kinds of medium- and heavy-duty commercial trucks. The only exceptions would be certain kinds of emergency vehicles.

Seven states in the U.S. announced that they’ve formed the Midwest Hydrogen Coalition, aiming to find the best ways to produce the fuel, potentially for use in fuel-cell semis

and other modes of transport. But it starts with defining “clean hydrogen.”

Over the next four years, Seoul plans to install more than 200,000 urban EV chargers

, as part of a plan aiming to make 10% of the four million cars in the megacity fully electric by 2026. Under the plan, residents will never be more than a five-minute walk away from a charger.

And want a brand-new no-frills electric hatchback for about $10,000? You can get that—in India; the automaker Tata just launched one called the Tiago.ev. 

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