Pressing which button may help you get better hybrid mpg?
Which EV outsells all but the Ford F-150?
This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending Friday, June 16, 2023.
The startup Telo says it can match all the utility and capability of a Toyota Tacoma, in an electric pickup the size of a Mini Cooper SE, by truly applying the packaging innovations allowed by skateboard designs. With some of the original Tesla braintrust behind it, will Telo get this idea to market?
In coordination with its annual shareholder meeting this week, Toyota released several updates on key technologies, focusing on EVs. In future electric vehicles, it seeks to employ a suite of efficiency-boosting technologies, including downsized e-axles, next-generation silicon carbide inverters, and boundary layer aerodynamics from rockets. An electric Toyota Crown sedan is on the way, too.
![Toyota Crown family Toyota Crown family](https://world-of-cars.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/toyota-solid-state-update-tesla-charging-connectors-telo-truck-hybrid-mpg- and-ev-mode-the-week-in-reverse.jpg)
Toyota Crown family
As part of this, Toyota provided a comprehensive, albeit somewhat confusing, update on its battery strategy for future EVs—including solid-state tech enabling 10-minute charging, as well as bipolar LFP tech, next-generation NCM tech, and a fusion of chemistries. They may allow future EPA ranges well over 500 miles later in the decade.
After last week’s announcement that GM will install the Tesla charge port (NACS) on its vehicles beginning in 2025—following Ford’s announcement last month—charging networks and stations are quickly jumping aboard in support. Although it’s not yet clear whether CCS adapters alone will allow stations with Tesla connectors to tap federal funds.
![2024 Polestar 2 2024 Polestar 2](https://world-of-cars.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/toyota-solid-state-update-tesla-charging-connectors-telo-truck-hybrid-mpg-and-ev-mode-the-week-in-reverse-1.jpg)
2024 Polestar 2
The 2024 Polestar 2 gets a boost to 320 miles of EPA range. But that might not even be the biggest news for many shoppers. Notably, it makes the switch to rear-wheel drive in single-motor form, or a rear-biased AWD system in dual-motor form. There are more standard features with the new model year, too.
Hyundai is effectively undercutting the Tesla Model 3 with a $5,000 discount on Ioniq 6, if you don’t count the federal EV tax credit that Tesla buyers might be eligible for. Although it’s short of a permanent price drop, it shows that this space is getting more price-competitive.
![2023 Tesla Model Y - Courtesy of Tesla, Inc. 2023 Tesla Model Y - Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.](https://world-of-cars.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/toyota-solid-state-update-tesla-charging-connectors-telo-truck-hybrid-mpg-and-ev-mode-the-week-in-reverse-2.jpg)
2023 Tesla Model Y – Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.
Full-size pickups aside, the Tesla Model Y topped the sales charts