Jeep has just launched a new generation of the Compass in Europe, joining the entry-level Avenger and the aging Renegade. The latter is the one of oldest surviving models in the small SUV segment, prompting independent designer Marco Maltese to create a new version in the digital world.

The current Renegade was originally introduced in 2014, and despite its bold styling and the numerous updates it has received over the years, it desperately needs a refresh. Jeep has confirmed that a new generation will arrive in 2027, with a starting price under $25k in the US market. Maltese couldn’t wait that long, so he took action, unveiling his own take. His goal was to emphasize the Renegade’s rugged stance which distinguishes it from rivals.

Bringing The Renegade Up To Speed

The digital concept retains the compact footprint of the original, albeit with a more angular design. The profile is dominated by the sharp surfacing over the pronounced fenders, creating a futuristic stance in combination with raising windowline. The large alloy wheels of the pictured 3D model are shod in low-profile tires, but there is also an adventurous Trailhawk trim featuring all-terrain rubber.

More: Jeep Renegade Willys Edition Is A Nostalgic Throwback For Brazil

The front end ditches the iconic round headlights of the original but keeps the semi-circle LED graphics that have been popularized by the Land Rover Defender and a large number of Chinese SUVs. Jeep’s seven-slot grille is combined with bulky plastic cladding on the bumper, communicating the off-road heritage of the brand.

Maltese Design

Moving over at the back, the upright tail represents an evolution of the outgoing model, with slimmer LEDs and an oversized skid plate mirroring the one at the front. While this is just a design exercise, Maltese went the extra mile and also modeled the interior. The cabin features a digital cockpit and practical storage solutions on the dashboard and center console, inspired by the smaller Jeep Avenger.

New Underpinnings With An Emphasis On Electrification

We already know that the next generation of the Renegade will swap its predecessor’s FCA Small Wide 4×4 architecture with more modern Stellantis underpinnings. The STLA Small platform is a serious contender, keeping the production costs low while being compatible with combustion, mild-hybrid, and fully electric powertrain options.

More: Which New Stellantis Compact SUV Would You Actually Buy?

Judging from mechanically-related SUVs, the Renegade could be fitted with Stellantis’ turbocharged 1.2-liter engine that’s supported by a 48V mild-hybrid system. This setup has the potential of an AWD version courtesy of an electrified rear axle, just like in the Jeep Avenger 4Xe. Furthermore, a fully electric powertrain option has been officially confirmed, following the example of the Avenger and the Compass.

When it arrives in 2027, the new Renegade will face more serious competition in Europe compared to the US where it will be one of the few small SUV offerings. Rivals in the Old Continent include the likes of the Dacia Duster, Peugeot 2008, Citroen C3 Aircross, Opel Frontera, VW T-Cross, Hyundai Kona, and more.

Do you like this independently-designed Jeep Renegade proposal, or would you prefer something closer to the styling language of the larger Compass?

Thanks to Maltese Design for sharing his project with us.

Maltese Design

America waited what felt like an eternity to get its hands on the electric Volvo EX30 while European reviewers raved about it, but no sooner has it arrived than the EX30 is already at risk of disappearing. Volvo’s CEO has warned that he might be forced to pull the company’s smallest EV from the market because it’s simply not economically viable to import it under current US tariffs.

Hakan Samuelsson, who has returned to head the company after a three-year hiatus, made the revelation as Trump’s 90-day tariff pause nears its end. European carmakers are preparing for the possibility of a June 1 introduction of a 50 percent levy on cars imported to the US from the region.

Also: President Trump Just Dropped A Bomb On European Car Imports

Speaking to Reuters, Samuelsson said a 50 percent tariff would “limit the ability” of Volvo to sell the EX30 in America. Although Volvo builds the bigger EX90 in the US, American-spec EX30s are built in Belgium, with the company having moved export production there from China, which led to a delay in its US arrival. The automaker is believed to be considering moving production of the EX30, and potentially the XC60, to the US.

Buyers Will Feel the Price Hike

Samuelsson was also adamant that customers and not the carmaker itself would have to soak up most of the tariff-related price increases. Unlike high-end brands like Aston Martin or Ferrari, which cater to buyers with deeper pockets and much more tolerance for sticker shock, Volvo plays in a different league. Its buyers are much more sensitive to price increases, which makes tacking on a tariff-induced markup a risky proposition.

Volvo’s expectation that car buyers will have to shoulder the burden disproves Trump’s belief that tariffs will be “eaten up” by the exporting companies and their nations.

Hoping for a Diplomatic Detour

Even so, Samuelsson seems confident that some kind of resolution will be reached between Europe and the US. Under the terms of a deal secured between the UK and the US earlier this month, Land Rover, Mini and other British brands get away with a more manageable 10 percent tariff.

Related: Volvo’s EV Crash Hits Harder Than Expected As Buyers Walk Away From Batteries

“I believe there will be a deal soon,” Samuelsson told Reuters. “It could not be in the interest of Europe or the U.S. to shut down trade between them.”

Time is running out, but the industry is watching closely. If nothing changes by next month, the EX30’s American road trip could be cut painfully short.

Electric vehicles are, nowadays, neither a niche or a novelty. As more automakers flood the market with new models, competition is heating up – and Cadillac wants in. GM’s luxury brand is making a serious push to grow its EV presence, and a part of its strategy includes luring customers away from other automakers.

According to one General Motors executive speaking to CNBC, around 80 percent of new Cadillac EV buyers are coming from outside the brand. A closer look at the data shows that roughly one in 10 of those newcomers is switching over from Tesla.

Review: Is Cadillac’s New Vistiq The Baby Escalade You’ve Been Waiting For?

The Lyriq, Cadillac’s main weapon in its EV quiver, is a huge part of this conquest. It boasts a starting price of under $60,000 and is eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit, at least for now. It features a huge 33-inch curved OLED display, lots of luxury, and decent range too. Unsurprisingly, about 25 percent of Tesla owners trading in for a Cadillac are choosing the Lyriq.

“We see the opportunity to increase the conquest rate for Tesla, absolutely,” Brad Franz, Cadillac director of global marketing, told CNBC. The portfolio is the key,” he continued. “We’ve always had good interaction with Tesla customers, but in the past, that’s been in that 10% to 15% range [for Lyriq]. So, certainly, we’re seeing a good jump in conquest rate.”

Are Some Tesla Owners Just Done With Tesla?

Interestingly, at least one analyst believes that this is less about how perfect the Lyriq is for Tesla owners and more about getting out of the Tesla ecosystem altogether. “People leaving Tesla cars now, they’re, in my opinion, making a very deliberate choice to get out of that car. If your priority is to get out of the Tesla ASAP, then they’re not, technically, cross-shopping Tesla for their next car,” said Joseph Yoon, Edmunds’ consumer insights analyst.

That trend might not slow down anytime soon either. Tesla is facing a myriad of concerns at a brand level. At the same time, Cadillac is offering a stronger EV portfolio than ever before. “Cadillac is leading the way with our EV lineup,” Franz said. “We’re really poised for success. We’re going to take this portfolio, now that Vistiq is rounding out the SUV portfolio, and become the No. 1, tier-one EV luxury brand.”

What Buyers Are Actually Comparing

Data from Edmunds shows that Lyriq shoppers are also eyeing models like Cadillac’s own Optiq, the Acura ZDX, Ford Mustang Mach-E, and BMW iX. Just behind those are the Kia EV9 and GM’s own Chevy Blazer and Equinox EVs. Tesla buyers, on the other hand, tend to stay loyal, often looking at other Teslas when they’re ready for something new. Depending on the model, they may also consider options from Honda, Hyundai, Kia, or occasionally, the Equinox EV or Hummer EV.

It’s still too early to say if Cadillac can claim a top spot in the EV luxury space, but the landscape is shifting. Buyers in the EV market have more choices than ever before. The real question is whether that momentum can continue or if new regulations, tariff concerns, and stifled EV infrastructure will change that.

Mazda introduced the EZ-60 crossover at the Shanghai Auto Show last month. While the initial focus was on the range-extended variant that will be sold in Europe as the CX-6e, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has now revealed a number of details about the fully electric model.

On the styling front, the design isn’t much of a surprise as it looks virtually identical to the range-extended crossover. As such, it features split lighting units and a fully enclosed grille, as well as digital side mirrors, flush-mounted door handles, and plenty of plastic body cladding.

More: Mazda’s New Electric SUV Packs Six Screens And A Range-Extender Powertrain

That much we were already aware of – the real news is the release of performance specifications. According to the Chinese ministry the EZ-60 will have a 255 hp (190 kW / 258 PS) electric motor that enables the crossover to hit a top speed of 115 mph (185 km/h), a lithium iron phosphate battery, and a curb weight of up to 4,806 lbs (2,180 kg).

Many details are still unknown, but Mazda has previously said customers can expect a CLTC range of around 373 miles (600 km). For comparison, the rear-wheel-drive Tesla Model Y delivers 368 miles (593 km), while the all-wheel-drive version manages 447 miles (719 km) under the same, highly optimistic Chinese driving cycle. Mazda also revealed the BEV variant of its crossover will have a 47:53 front/rear weight distribution as opposed to the 50:50 setup found in the range-extended model.

That’s not a lot to go on, but Mazda recently revealed they have received more than 18,000 pre-orders since the EZ-60 debuted last month. Bear in mind, though, that those numbers never translate into actual sales – they are just an indication of the public’s interest. Moreover, anyone could place a pre-order by paying a deposit that started at just ¥10 ($1.39), or practically pocket change.

Regardless, the EV should feature a classy cabin with a 3D heads-up display and a 26.45-inch screen. We can also expect an AI ​​assistant, a 23-speaker audio system, and zero-gravity front seats with eight massage modes.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — What was considered “plug and play” solution years ago, that being fleet electrification, is far more complicated. OEMs, vendors and transportation leaders are highlighting the continued challenges but also the benefits of electric school buses while also promoting collaboration as the industry enters uncharted territory. But continued funding is necessary.

Brad Beauchamp, EV product segment leader for Blue Bird, moderated a related session, “School Bus Sector: Rolling out the New Generation of School Buses,” on April 30 at the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo that provided the perspectives of two student transporters, a leader of electrification at the nation’s largest school bus contractor, a mechanical engineer, and a smart charging technology provider.

Mike Bullman, director of transportation for the South Carolina Department of Education. described the uniqueness of The Palmetto State, as the DOE owns and maintains all 5,600-plus school buses. Bullman noted the fleet fuel makeup is currently 88 percent diesel, 10 percent propane, and three-and-a-half percent electric. He noted that his operation has taken a multi-pronged approach to alternative fuels with a focus on advancing technology.

He added that the South Carolina state specifications committee will be convening in the this summer, and gasoline will be on the agenda as well. “We feel that fleet diversity is very important as we certainly move into the future,” he said.

The South Carolina fleet travels 78 million miles a year and supports 77 public school districts. Those 78 million miles serve 365,000 students a day using about nine or 10 million gallons of diesel fuel annually and 1.2 million gallons of propane. There are 42 statewide school bus maintenance facilities and a staff of about 375 employees, with an annual budget of $170 million.

“It’s quite a large endeavor,” Bullman shared.

In addition to fuels, Bullman is focused on technology adoption. “We take a safety-first approach, but we want to make sure that technology is in there,” he said, adding that buses have tire pressure monitoring systems, stability control, camera systems, stop arm cameras, student management, GPS tracking. “All of that is part of this comprehensive multi-prong approach,” he added.

He noted that preventative and predictive maintenance are also important. Bullman and his team in South Carolina lead the inspection program offered at STN EXPO conferences.

Bullman’s department also has a statewide routing program and a comprehensive driver training program. “Additional investments in charging and fueling infrastructure is on our list and important to us, long cycle cost analysis for vehicle procurement, and staff training,” he said.

He added that South Carolina will continue to seek additional funding sources, noting that was the main driver for purchasing electric vehicles. In 2021, the state received $1.3 million in grant money to purchase four electric school busses and in 2022 received $6.6 million to purchase 16 EVs and then in 2024 they got another $6.9 million to purchase another 20.

He added that with the EVs, they are seeing cost savings with maintenance and operating costs, it’s the initial cost gap that needs to be bridged. “I personally and professionally believe that the school bus space is an ideal space for an electric vehicle,” he said. “It just fits. You’ve got long dwell times. You’ve got repeatable routes. Certainly, 80 to 90 percent of the routes in South Carolina can be covered quite comfortably with an EV bus.”

Bullman cited the current challenge is uncertainty surrounding federal funding for ESBs — which many in the industry would agree with. He noted that without grants, South Carolina would not have been able to purchase electric, citing the cost gap with diesel. He noted that data collecting will be key and help to convince naysayers that this is the right technology moving forward.

Sam Hill-Cristol, director of strategy and business development for The Mobility House, noted that V2G technology is a way to offset some of those costs. “We’re optimistic about the contributions that V2G revenues can make in the total cost of ownership calculation,” he said.

He noted that while there are ongoing V2G projects across the U.S., it is currently not scalable. He expects V2G to gain more popularity in the years to come.

Meanwhile, Lauren Lynch, senior mechanical engineer with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), noted that the agency focuses on energy systems research and development with an eye on data collection. She said NREL provides data to fleets of school buses to enable fleet managers who are adopting the technologies to better understand their use and performance.

She said the fully funded program is a free service to fleets right now. Going forward, she explained that NREL will provide buses with a data logger that works in conjunction with telematics systems, so it won’t interfere with other data logging taking place on the bus. The data is transferred to NREL, who stores the data and conducts an analysis. Currently, they are working with seven different fleets and aim to collect data for at least 30 days. NREL is also hoping to capture a year after year performance and is coming up on year two working with Beaverton School District near Portland, Oregon.

“It’s been exciting, and we’re expanding our analysis to include a maintenance and cost study,” she shared. “We want to ensure that we provide a value back to the fleets. So, as part of our overall objective, we not only want to provide this analysis to the fleets, where we highlight key insights or maybe identify some areas of opportunity, but we also hope to utilize the data as an aggregated study for the vocation, utilize the data and other tools and models to inform driver developments or address any barriers within the industry.”

She explained that the data shows electric buses are more efficient than other powertrains. They do, she confirmed, have higher capital costs but have resulted in an overall lower dollar-per-mile cost when operating the same routes.

“We’re looking at all powertrains within the fleet to understand the performance of each and identifying areas of opportunity and what’s going well,” she explained, adding that the end-goal is to make the electric school bus data publicly available via the online tool FleetREDI. Currently, the website has data on heavy- and medium-duty findings.

San Marcos Unified School District in California also received about $30 million in grant funds for infrastructure and school buses. “It was very overwhelming,” Executive Director of Transportation Mike Sawyer said.

He noted that the district had 84 old diesel buses, so he started applying for grants — one of them being the Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program grant in California and the Zero Emission School Bus and Infrastructure Program — and the money kept flowing.

To help him navigate all the funding, he said he reached out to partners, including Engie, which helped San Marcos find inefficiencies in charging infrastructure. Engie helped San Marcos create “one of the biggest” charging infrastructure bus yards. Phase one was completed with 40 EV chargers, six of which are 120 kW, the remainder being 30 kW chargers. Phase two, which is about to break ground, will bring the district to a total of 75 chargers.

The location holds about one megawatt of solar and 1.5 megawatts of battery storage, and it includes a 60kW diesel generator to serve as backup if the power goes out. Sawyer noted SMUSD currently has 33 electric buses on the road.

Providing a Service

Meanwhile, First Student operates over 45,000 school buses across 43 states and eight Canadian provinces. Of those, 450 are electric vehicles.

“EVs, they are providing not only cleaner and quieter rides to school, but these kids are arriving to school calmer,” said Jennifer Harp, the contractor’s vice president of the electric vehicles program, discussing a recent project in rural Westville, Illinois that electrified its entire fleet of 17 school buses with help from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Clean School Bus Program, IRA tax credits, and the Illinois Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust program.

“They had some limited resources,” she said, adding that they were on a lease property and needed an infrastructure solution that would avoid high costs.

She added the company integrated its First Charge, a trenchless, flexible and quick-to-deploy. purpose-built charging hub with that removes the barrier of having to trench locations.

Harp also noted First Student currently deploys 14 First Charge units. It took about nine months to deploy the one operating in Westville.

“If we want to follow Westville’s playbook for electrification success, we really need to remember that continued success in this space requires continued funding incentives from all of our government sectors,” she said. “It also requires that we minimize costly infrastructure as much as possible. Requires partnerships and a willingness to share those learnings. …With the right strategy and infrastructure, school bus electrification is not only possible, it is absolutely practical.”

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Related: (STN Podcast E257) The Paths Forward: AI, Clean Energy, Manufacturing Discussed at ACT Expo
Related: Gallery: ACT Expo 2025
Related: Cummins CEO Says Mixed Fuel Approach is Key for Commercial Sector

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She noted the conversations on battery-electric adoption at ACT Expo have evolved from the initial belief that it could be a plug-and-play option. “If you’ve been here long enough, you know that it’s not that simple,” she shared. “Fleet electrification takes partnerships, very strong partnerships, high increased project coordination, industry standardization, and, above all else, patience.”

Meanwhile, The Mobility House provides smart charging to fleets to over 2,500 sites globally, 100 of which are location in North America. Hill-Cristol shared that the grand vision is to achieve “zero emission transportation at zero cost,” he said. “We think we can get there in some cases, through the technology that we provide.”

He explained that vehicle grid integration is an umbrella term The Mobility House uses to talk about a suite of use cases that are becoming more common with the next-generation electric school bus projects.

“The days of going to the utility, getting a totally new service, 100 percent paid for, putting in enough capacity for every charger to be on at once, and then just turning it on and not worrying, I think those days are pretty much behind us,” he said, adding that now customers are looking for ways to solve challenges, like vehicle-to-grid, charging off peak and backup power integration.

Hill-Cristol also mentioned off-grid supplemental solutions, which consists of using solar storage or a backup generator to help with capacity challenges and the delay in receiving chargers. All of this is also provided by The Mobility House.

He elaborated that the off-grid solutions can be either a long-term or temporary solution. For instance, some districts are using it as a bridge as they wait for their infrastructure, whereas some districts can solely use it as a charge management system. Other use cases include a micro-gird if districts need additional power on site.

“Depending on where you fall on that spectrum, and the investment that you’re making, I think that would lead you to the conclusion of whether this is a two-to-five-year solution or whether this is going to be something that sticks around,” he said. “Because with the right combination of technologies, you’re also going to get operational cost saving.”

The post Funding, Data and Resiliency Needed for Electric School Bus Success appeared first on School Transportation News.

Even at 1:87 scale, Volkswagen’s obsession with campers is alive and well. From the iconic T1 to the modern, all-electric ID. Buzz, the brand has spent decades turning road trips into a lifestyle, now it’s shrinking that ambition into something you can lose in your sock drawer. The latest creation inspired by the ID. Buzz is a fully functional scale model cruising through Hamburg’s Miniatur Wunderland, tiny caravan in tow.

More: No More IDs, VW’s EVs Will Get Real Names

Creating a micro-camper that small is tricky enough, but this one doesn’t just sit pretty on a shelf. It drives. It lights up. It does everything you’d expect from a real EV, just in a version small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. After nearly 200 hours of intricate work, the miniature Buzz finally hit the road, well, track actually, for its first voyage.

Engineering, in Extra Small

The mini caravan and roof rack aren’t just there to look cute. They’re crucial for stashing all the mechanical components that couldn’t be jammed inside the scale ID. Buzz itself. Still, the model stays impressively faithful to the real thing, right down to its cheerful yellow and white color scheme.

Power comes from a microscopic electric motor running on a 4-volt system. And because even tiny vehicles need to recharge, the model drives itself to a custom charging station when the battery runs low. It tops up in 30 minutes, using its side mirrors as charging connectors, which is exactly the kind of clever over-engineering you’d expect from a place called Miniatur Wunderland.

Volkswagen

According to Volkswagen, this is the smallest moving vehicle in Knuffingen’s fully automated road traffic network, and the only one hauling a camper. The fictional city is part of Hamburg’s Miniatur Wunderland, Germany’s most popular tourist attraction, which features over 1,200 trains and 16 kilometers (10 miles) of painstakingly detailed track and scenery.

And yes, VW is well-represented beyond the Buzz. One of the model trains is stuffed with 1:87 scale Polo hatchbacks, a nod to the car’s 50th anniversary.

More: This Guy Replicates Crash Tests With Extremely Detailed Scale Models Made Of Clay

The tiny minivan was modeled after the ID. Buzz of #BULLILOVEstories that has covered over 125,000 km (77,671 miles) through 41 countries. Presenter Christian Schluter has spent more than 220 nights in the vehicle, as he travels around the world collecting stories about the iconic VW Bus.

Interestingly, VW is keeping track of the distance traveled by the tiny ID. Buzz camper in Miniature Wunderland, converting it to scale to see if it surpasses the mileage of the original. Furthermore, the company has hidden another miniature ID. Buzz within the facilities in Hamburg, as an Easter Egg for visitors.

After a marathon session in the House, lawmakers passed Donald Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’. While it still has to go through the Senate before becoming a law, the implications are indeed big. Under the proposal, hybrid owners could pay $100 more every year to register their car, while EV drivers would face a steeper fee of $250.

Those new taxes are meant to combat the debt that the government incurs as a result of crumbling infrastructure. Right now, that work is mostly funded by gas taxes which are currently set at $0.18 per gallon. With more people driving EVs and hybrids, people are buying gas less and so the funds are dwindling.

More: California’s EV Future Just Got Canceled By Washington

“The bill includes provisions from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to provide historic investments in the United States Coast Guard to strengthen our national and border security, as well as … ensuring that electric vehicles begin contributing to the Highway Trust Fund,” said Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), chairman of the influential Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

According to TTNews, the last time the Highway Trust Fund received any sort of assistance was back in 2021. Despite that, it goes into tens of billions of dollars of debt every year. Since EVs buy very little fuel, they’ve often been seen as freeloaders on American roads. Hybrids fall into the murky middle. Both tend to weigh more on average than a gas-powered car in the same segment so it’s worth considering that they have the potential to do more damage.

A Broken System Gets a Shakeup

The reality here is that with or without EVs and hybrids, the government’s plan for funding highway infrastructure was a failure. It’s never been tied to inflation, so it’s continually lagging behind, and now we’re here, 20 billion dollars in debt annually.

That said, it seems that the pendulum of failure might be swinging just as strongly but in the other direction now. As we pointed out in our earlier coverage of this topic, now, EV and hybrid drivers will end up paying far more than gas-car drivers. Ultimately, this could still end up getting axed before it becomes law. GOP leaders in the Senate could make several changes before trying to pass it there.

California is going to war, legally speaking, against the Federal government. On Thursday, the GOP-led Senate voted to strip the state of its longstanding ability to set its own vehicle emissions rules. California’s response? A firm promise to sue the federal government if and when US President Donald Trump signs the measure into law.

More: GM’s Urgent Warning, California’s EV Rules Could Harm You

When the news broke, California Governor Gavin Newsom didn’t wait long to respond. He immediately called the move illegal and said it was harmful to health and the environment. “The party of MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) is making our world smoggier,” he said. To revoke the waiver from California, the Senate did go against counsel from two nonpartisan government entities that both said it would be illegal to do so.

States’ Rights or Regulatory Overreach?

That said, the GOP felt that California had too much power and was leveraging that power to set rules on a pseudo-federal level. Several states had joined California in imposing the same rules, including one that banned new gas-car sales after 2035.

Based on data, those goals were far too lofty considering the current state of EV adoption in the U.S. The GOP decision takes the stress off of automakers, oil companies, and dealers who felt they were going to be stuck with products that wouldn’t sell well.

Health First, Says California

For many in California, the state’s regulations are prioritizing health and wellness above all else. “We have real-world evidence that these rules are improving public health,” said Dr. John Balmes, of UC Berkeley. A recent study from the University of Southern California showed a significant reduction in asthma-related emergency room visits for children and adults associated with the number of electric vehicles in a zip code.”

Others in the state see the revocation of the waiver as a positive move. “I think this was a good middle ground that we can still talk about EVs,” said John Pitre, CEO of Motor City Auto Club in Bakersfield, to BakersfieldNow. “We can still develop them. We can still have future opportunities to explore different types of EVs. But it’s not at the detriment of people having a selection of gas or diesel-powered vehicles that they may really want.”

Ultimately, only time will tell whether or not California’s lawsuit will claw back its freedom to set its own standards. This will be the 21st lawsuit filed by the state attorney general against the Trump administration. “The federal government’s overreach is illogical,” Bonta said in a press conference in Sacramento. “It’s politically motivated, and it comes at the expense of Californians’ lives and livelihoods.”

Credit: Governor Gavin Newsom

Tesla is pushing hard on its updated Model Y lineup, trimming lease costs and setting an end date for a low-interest financing offer that’s been floating around for a while.

Let’s focus on the lease deal first because it’s the best we’ve seen so far. Earlier this month, Tesla tried to sweeten the deal on the Model Y by releasing the new and more afforable Long Range RWD version.

More: Tesla On FSD Suddenly Swerves And Crashes Into A Tree, Claims Driver

Tesla has reworked the lease terms (likely by reducing the Money Factor / interest rate) so the Long Range RWD can be had for $491 a month on a 36-month, 10,000-mile-per-year lease with zero down, before taxes and fees. That figure drops even more if your state throws in EV incentives. In Massachusetts, for example, a $3,500 state rebate brings the payment down to just $380 a month. Prefer a shorter lease? A 24-month term with the same mileage costs $525 per month before taxes and fees.

Step up to the dual-motor Long Range AWD version and the numbers have been lowered too. Tesla has knocked around $75 off the previous monthly lease rate, bringing it down to $530 per month for 36 months and 10,000 miles. Apply that same Massachusetts incentive and you’re looking at $421 a month. The 24-month lease for this trim is $560.

In terms of financing deals, the Model Y Long Range All-Wheel Drive is still available with an APR of just 1.99 percent. Notably, that deal is available for a minimum down payment of 15% plus applicable taxes and fees for up to 72 months. Those who do need to use the 84-month term are subject to a much less appealing 6.44 percent APR. That has been the case for a little while now, but Tesla is putting a deadline on it. It’ll end after June 16.

Finally, the Long Range RWD version isn’t available with 1.99 percent financing. The best rate available on it right now is 5.49 percent. Granted, the total price difference between the two versions is just $4,000 total so moving up to the AWD variant is probably what Tesla wants customers to do. 

Tesla being Tesla, just because those better APRs expire on June 16 doesn’t mean they’re gone for good. All it takes is a little patience. If inventory doesn’t move fast enough, there’s a decent chance Tesla brings them back, or maybe even throws out a zero percent deal before the year’s over.

Electric cars aren’t exactly uncharted territory anymore, but that doesn’t mean every automaker has found its footing. After years of dominating the hybrid world, Toyota is finally getting serious about fully electric vehicles. Enter the next-generation C-HR, a compact SUV with a much sharper edge than the one you might remember. It’s not just a redesign – it’s practically a reboot, and yes, it’s fast enough to leave Toyota’s own GR86 sports car in the dust.

After easing into the EV market with the awkwardly named bZ4X, now rebranded simply as bZ, Toyota seems determined to make an impression. In developing the all-electric C-HR, the company says it benchmarked the SUV against both mainstream and premium rivals, and confidently claims it now belongs in the latter camp. A substantial 338 horsepower from dual electric motors certainly strengthens that argument.

Read: Toyota’s C-HR Returns To America But It’s Nothing Like You Remember

While recently speaking with Road & Track, the chief engineer for the Toyota bZ and C-HR, Daisuke Ido, acknowledged that adding power boosts the new model’s appeal.

In an interview with Road & Track, Daisuke Ido, chief engineer for Toyota’s bZ and C-HR programs, made it clear the brand is aiming higher. “During benchmarking, we brought some of the competitors into two groups — the normal, let’s say daily use cars, and the premium cars,” he said. “Now, we are in the premium group. The new numbers are more powerful. More power is more appealing.”

That message is echoed by Chad Moore, marketing manager for the bZ and C-HR lineup, who said Toyota is “positioning it as more sporty and fun to drive” compared to the outgoing model. Additionally, he pointed out that Toyota has made it “much more premium inside and outside, not just with the BEV powertrain and the acceleration.”

Toyota says the 338-hp C-HR can hit 60 mph (96 km/h) in a respectable 5 seconds. In Europe, it’ll also be sold in 165 hp and 221 hp configurations, but these models won’t be available in the United States.

Admittedly, the C-HR is far from an outright performance car, like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N or Kia EV6 GT. It’s more similar to the (larger) EV6 GT-Line AWD, which delivers 320 hp and can hit 60 mph in around the same 5 seconds. That should be more than enough for most shoppers, and there were times not too long ago when those figures were reserved for high-end sports cars.

There’s no shortage of over-the-top SUVs these days, but the Yangwang U8 manages to stand out in a sea of excess, and not just for its wild features. It recently even caught the attention of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who seemed suitably impressed.

Apparently, though, BYD’s high-end sub-brand decided the original U8 wasn’t quite lavish enough, because now there’s an even longer and more luxurious version named the Yangwang U8 L.

Read: Watch BYD’s Yangwang U9 Jump Road Spikes (And The Shark)

According to new details out of China, the U8 L rides on a massive 3,250 mm (127.9-inch) wheelbase, which is 200 mm (7.8 inches) longer than the base model. This extra length makes room for a custom 2+2+2 seating configuration, bringing a touch of private-jet layout to your daily school run or mountain retreat. Unfortunately, Yangwang hasn’t shared interior photos yet, so we’ll have to imagine how those second-row thrones might look once you slide in.

Longer, Flashier, Shinier

However, some obvious changes have been made to the exterior of the new flagship U8. For starters, the Yangwang badge on the front grille can be finished in 24-karat gold, as can the emblem at the rear. The automaker’s designers have also crafted new 23-inch forged wheels for the U8 L that have floating center caps, just like a Rolls-Royce. These new wheels are wrapped in wider rubber than the standard model.

Around back, Yangwang has cleaned up the design by removing the spare wheel carrier. The result is a sleeker, more upmarket profile that dials down the rugged SUV cues and turns up the executive limo vibe.

Same Power, Same Party Tricks

Underneath, the U8 L doesn’t mess with the formula. China’s Autohome reports that the U8 L shares the same drivetrain as the standard U8: four electric motors, a 2.0-liter turbocharged range-extender, and a 49.05 kWh battery pack. The numbers are hefty at 1,180 hp (880 kW) and 944 lb-ft (1,280 Nm) of torque, and the party tricks remain intact. That includes the ability to float in water and execute tank turns, thanks to each wheel getting its own motor.

Yangwang provided the world a glimpse at the U8 L at the recent Shanghai Auto Show, with production scheduled to kick off later this year. Prices could start at around 1.5 million yuan, or the equivalent of around $205,000 at current exchange rates. That’s a lot for a Chinese-built SUV, but it’s a relative bargain compared to a Rolls-Royce Cullinan that starts at over $400,000 in America.

That’s no small sum for Chinese-built SUV, but compared to a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, which starts at over $400,000 in the U.S., it almost feels like a deal, especially if your idea of a bargain includes gold trim and amphibious capabilities.

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While tornadoes can obliterate communities, hailstorms cause damage across much larger areas.

(Image credit: Michael Swensen)

While attending the STN EXPO East conference in March, School Transportation News connected with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools student transportation professional in North Carolina. One of these individuals is Monique Jackson, an education veteran who recently wrote a children’s book focused on school bus safety.

Jackson is an area manager for Charlotte-Mecklenburg, the second largest school district in the state. One of 14 area managers, Jackson oversees services for over 5,000 families across 12 different schools. Jackson recalled her time as president of her senior class in high school, where in the yearbook she had said that she would like to be a kindergarten teacher. Little did she know, that would only be the start of her over 25-year career working with students.

Her educational career began at Crispus Attucks Children’s Center, a non-profit childcare center in Roxbury, Massachusetts as a preschool teacher. Jackson transitioned from early childhood care to a program director in Boston that led to her education advocacy work with a group that she described as a “inner city network of childcare provider professionals.”

She later became the president of this group, serving for three years. Her job included working on legislative bills to provide quality and affordable child-care for all the children in the community. She also led the Dorchester Neighborhood Cluster, an organization that utilized funding from the state’s Department of Education for parent advocacy, continuing education for educators, training and workforce development.

Additionally, she was the director of court child-care, where she helped to provide a safe and therapeutic environment for children whose parents were in the courtroom, so they would not be exposed to all the things being discussed in courts.

“I’ve been around for quite some time in terms of the education field,” said Jackson. “I have worked in diverse programs, that are traditional and nontraditional.”

After moving to North Carolina in 2004, Jackson continued her educational journey in after-school care programs and later as a teacher for another five years before entering the world of student transportation.

As a young child, Jackson shared that her mother would walk her to school. However, she rode the school bus for one year during middle school.

“One of the things that we were dealing with at the time, which is really sad, was some issues around racism, because they integrated the schools, and we were basically bused into areas [where] people that look like me did not live,” she recounted.

She described a traumatic incident when someone outside the bus threw a glass soda bottle that struck her black school bus driver in the face.

“I have never forgotten that as a child on the bus and seeing that happen,” she said, adding she believes that everything happens for a reason and there was a silver lining to witnessing the shocking event.

“I think for me, it helped me to realize I still want to work in education and work with children and families. However, it made me realize the importance of cultivating and fostering an environment that is inclusive and inviting for all, and then, of course, focusing on the component of safety as a core value,” she said.

This sentiment is highlighted in Jackson’s first children’s book, “Mommy, Why is Everyone So Mad?” Published in 2020, Jackson shared the book unfolds the feelings surrounding the lack of acceptance that many people face in today’s world and, despite that, how we can all model respect and kindness in our interactions.

“You know, children have a squabble in the sandbox. They go back to being friends again. They forgive each other. They give second chances,” said Jackson. “And sometimes as adults, we lose that softness and that ability to be forgiving and to realize that guess what, we’re human beings. We’re not perfect, we’re going to make mistakes, you know, different things are going to happen. But we have to remember that it’s all about building community and supporting each other.

“We need to breathe,” she continued. “Recognize our humanity. That’s the piece that’s missing. Because when you look at humanity, it doesn’t matter about color, race, politics, religion, socioeconomic background. It matters about people, and what people need to thrive and grow and be successful and happy in our lives.”

Before joining student transportation, Jackson went back to graduate school to obtain a master’s degree in school administration with the goal of becoming a principal. She expressed that she was looking for something different, and a friend recommended that she apply for an open position of transportation manager for the Hopewell area. She was hired and she has stayed in the transportation arena since 2018.

Jackson channeled her love of storytelling, education and safety into her latest children’s book, “Gus the Talking Safety Bus.” The two characters are based on her own twin granddaughters, Ava and Libby, who know all about Gus, a robot used by CMS to train students in kindergarten and first grade about school bus safety.

Jackson said Gus served as her inspiration to use a familiar face to teach children about the importance of safety in the Danger Zone at bus stops and onboard the bus.

She explained that it’s important for students to know what is expected of them from a safety perspective before they get on the school bus. She outlines five safety basics in her book, which she hopes is used as a teaching tool. Her advice is to confirm the expectations, restate them to students, and develop a routine so that they know exactly what to do. This ranges from waiting until the bus has come to a complete stop to how to sit securely in the school bus seats.

Of course, school bus safety doesn’t rely simply on the students but also the school bus drivers. Jackson said she considers her drivers to be “rockstars.”

“Drivers do a lot behind the wheel and then also keep those students safe every day. This is a tough job, and I tell people the same way teachers have a tough job, school bus drivers do too,” she said. “Who knows what it’s like to get behind the wheel of a one-ton machine, and you have precious cargo on board? They don’t realize the things that drivers face and what they run into every day in order to keep those children safe and to get them to school and get them back home every day.”

She said she tries to provide a strong safety foundation by encouraging her drivers to keep in mind that it takes 21 days to form a habit. She encourages them to start the new school year by reinforcing safety rules consistently with the students and modeling them. This sets the tone for the year and can be adjusted to developmental age with each route.

Jackson said she makes sure to let her drivers know that they are fully supported by her, which means following up on behavioral incidents that may require action from school administration. She said she makes sure to follow due process, which includes reporting incidents as referrals to lead drivers and forwarding to school administration. If a resolution isn’t reached, she said she can pull evidence of past referrals as well as videos of the infractions to ensure that the driver is best equipped to handle the school bus and students safely.

As she shared on Episode 254 of the School Transportation Nation podcast, Jackson said she supports a multi-prong approach to school bus and Danger Zone safety, an effort that includes transportation leadership, the drivers, the students and their families and educational material.

Jackson’s passion for educational access and transportation safety is evident to anyone who interacts with her. “I love children and families, and I think that it’s important that all children have access to a quality education, whether it’s before school, after school, of course for our daily school routines as well,” she said.

To add to her ever-growing list of accomplishments, Jackson is also the founder of Kingdom at Work, an online faith platform that she created during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide support for people struggling during a time of isolation. She said of transportation “when there’s a crisis, we transform,” and that the group assisted in transporting educational materials, devices and meals to students.

Jackson said she is excited to continue her journey as an author and has plans for future writing projects. Her books are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and directly from her website.

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Related: School Bus Driver Creates Children’s Book to Promote School Bus Safety
Related: Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s New Transportation Leader Came Through the Ranks
Related: WATCH: Women in Transportation at STN EXPO East

The post NC Transportation Manager Channels Passion for Education, Safety into Children’s Books appeared first on School Transportation News.

A teen girl who was on the receiving end of profanities and a racial slur from a woman while riding a Currituck County Schools bus spoke out on how shocked she was by the incident, reported WAVY 10.

The incident reportedly occurred May 15, when 35-year-old Samantha Spoor boarded the school bus and started yelling at eighth-grade Moyock Middle School student Savannah Bailey.

Bailey told local news reporters that Spoor was told by her son that he had been kicked on by another student on the school bus. When the bus got to Spoor’s stop, she made her way inside the bus. Bailey said she stood up from her seat only to better hear what the woman was saying, but that’s when Spoor directed the profane comments at Bailey.

According to the news report, Bailey was shocked and felt disrespected. Her mother, Christina Bailey, told local news reporters that this incident was uncalled for. Bailey’s father, Anthony Bailey, also stated that he is now unsure if he wants his daughter riding on that school bus route anymore.

The district said only authorized personnel and students are permitted to board school buses, and that Spoor’s behavior was unacceptable. The matter was reported to law enforcement.

Spoor now reportedly faces misdemeanor charges of trespassing, disorderly conduct and communication threats.

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Related: Boy Racially Bullied on St. Louis School Bus
Related: School Bus Driver Abandons Kids, Uses Racial Slurs
Related: Creating a School Bus No-Bullying Zone
Related: TSD Conference Keynote Addresses Bullying in Schools, Buses

The post North Carolina Student Target of Racial Slurs on School Bus appeared first on School Transportation News.

As electric vehicles continue their steady march toward becoming a dominant force on global roads, one country has pulled far ahead of the rest- and it didn’t happen by accident.

By now, it’s widely understood that Chinese automakers have taken a commanding lead in the EV race, while many Western legacy brands are still scrambling to catch up. It’s also well known that Chinese battery companies are driving much of this momentum, leading with rapid innovation and serious scale. But how did they manage to surge ahead so dramatically in such a short time? The answer is fairly straightforward: money. More precisely, billions in government subsidies every single year.

Read: CATL’s New EV Batteries Give You A Full Charge In Minutes

Fresh data from Nikkei Asia shows just how significant this financial support has been. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., better known as CATL, the world’s largest EV battery manufacturer, has been raking in the kind of government funding that would likely make Elon Musk reconsider his next big tax tweet.

While CATL has not reveal full-year details of the government help it received in 2024, it has disclosed that in the first half it got 3.84 billion yuan ($532 million) in state subsidies. This made it one of the largest beneficiaries of the Chinese government’s policy, only behind state-owned oil company Sinopec, which received 4.06 billion yuan ($563 million). Importantly, however, that’s how much Sinopec received for the full 2024 calendar year, whereas CATL’s figure is only for the first six months of 2024 – thus, it total, the latter’s figure far exceeded Sinopec’s.

The subsidies CATL has received appear to have jumped in the second half of 2024. As noted by Nikkei Asia, in 2023, it disclosed its subsidies under ‘other income’ in its financial reports. In 2023, ‘other income’ totaled 6.26 billion yuan (~$868 million), and of this, 5.72 billion yuan (~$793 million) were subsidies. In 2024, its full-year report revealed 9.96 billion yuan (~$1.3 billion) in ‘other income,’ but didn’t specify how much of this was subsidies.

Of course, it’s not just CATL that is benefiting from this practice Full-year data from 2024 reveals that BYD received almost 3.8 billion yuan (~$527 million) in subsidies last year, no doubt playing a significant role in the firm’s ability to release so many new models so frequently.

Great Wall Motor was the fourth-largest recipient of subsidies, earning a touch under 3 billion yuan (~$416 million). SAIC Motor closely trailed GWM, receiving more than 2 billion yuan (~$277 million) in subsidies for the year.

All this answers the questions we posed at the beginning. There’s no secret sauce at play here; the Chinese managed to leapfrog the competition and undercut their rivals at the same time simply due to immense state help. No wonder, then, that the US and the EU are seething as they watch their own brands trying to compete in an uneven playing field.

In a move that could reshape the future of clean transportation policy in the U.S., Senate Republicans just voted to strip California of its long-standing authority to set its own vehicle emissions rules, including blocking its plan to stop sales of gas-powered vehicles.

The decision targets California’s ambitious clean-air mandates, which critics say are too aggressive for the current market to handle. Supporters of the state’s standards, however, argue that this vote undermines state rights and sets a troubling precedent for federal overreach.

More: Major US Dealers Launch War On New EV Sales Model

California has long set its own rules regarding air pollution standards. These included regulations on heavy-duty trucks, trains, and cars. It had even declared that it wouldn’t allow the sale of gas-powered new cars and trucks after 2035. But that authority was just revoked using the Congressional Review Act, or CRA.

This happened despite warnings from two nonpartisan agencies, the Senate parliamentarian and the Government Accountability Office, both of which warned the Senate that this move was likely illegal. Nevertheless, the Senate voted 51 to 44 to overturn the waiver that grants California the power it had to set its own rules.

A Shift With National Consequences

This is a huge move because California, by itself, equates to the fourth-largest economy on the globe. Automakers have largely followed California’s guidance on emissions to keep selling cars there. Several states have also taken up the same standards. Now, all of that is in question as Donald Trump’s signature will axe the waiver for good.

Reacting to the news, California Governor Gavin Newsom said, “The United States Senate has a choice: cede American car-industry dominance to China and clog the lungs of our children, or follow decades of precedent and uphold the clean air policies that Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon fought so hard for. Will you side with China or America?”

The Conservative Pushback

Those on the other side of the political aisle obviously have a different view. “California has imposed the most ridiculous car regulations anywhere in the world, with mandates to move to all electric cars,” Trump said during his campaign, reports The Guardian. “I will terminate that.”

“The fact is, these EV sales mandates were never achievable,” John Bozzella, president and chief executive of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, said in a statement. “There’s a significant gap between the marketplace and these EV sales requirements.”

How did the party of small government justify stepping in and imposing its will on a state this way? It says that since California has such a large sway on the auto industry that it was effectively setting Federal policy all along. This move stops that ability and returns that power to the Federal level alone.

“Over the past two decades, California has used its waiver authority to push its extreme climate policies on the rest of the country, which was never the intent of the Clean Air Act,” Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Republican of West Virginia, said to the New York Times.

The Hard Numbers

As we recently pointed out, data does seem to indicate that California’s goals surrounding the end of gas-powered new car sales are too ambitious. While EVs are gaining traction around the world, the U.S. is one of the slowest markets concerning adoption.

No doubt, that’s the result of several factors like distance between destinations, charging infrastructure, and pricing. Regardless of why the uptake is slower, it still makes California’s goals tough to imagine coming true. This new move from the Senate makes it appear altogether impossible now. 

Autonomous driving may be the future, but the present still has a lot of explaining to do. Especially when cars with so-called “Full Self-Driving” capabilities start careening off the road for no obvious reason.

That said, it’s rare to see what we just have in a newly released set of videos involving a Tesla. According to the title, it shows a crash while running what Tesla calls its autonomous system, Full Self-Driving (Supervised). What’s worse, though, is that it seems to do so without rhyme or reason in broad daylight with no traffic on a straight road.

More: Tesla Stiffs Cybertruck Owners On Another Promised Feature

Tesla famously uses vision-based software and hardware to run its semi-autonomous Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software. In theory, it makes complete sense since we humans also drive almost entirely via vision-based mechanics. In practice, though, there are some major concerns, and this video highlights them. We’ll circle back to that.

The Incident: Straight Road, Sharp Left Turn

A YouTube channel recently uploaded four videos showing each side of a car during a crash. They say this is a Model 3 and that it’s running FSD 13.2.8, which is almost the latest available version. On May 11, Tesla released 13.2.8, but this crash happened on February 26 so indeed, it was up to date given that information.

That said, what the video shows is the most shocking part of this entire situation. Across three of the four clips, we see the car moving for 45 seconds. In all of them, everything appears totally normal for the first 31 seconds as the car trundles down a two-lane road. Then, just as a car passes going the opposite way, all hell seems to break loose.

The car turns hard to the left, goes across the opposing traffic lane, goes off the road, and hits a tree before rolling over. From the moment it begins to turn to the moment it impacts the tree is less than three seconds. While that’s tough to swallow, it’s the conditions that really make this a bad deal for Tesla.

The road was perfectly straight. This appears to be at some time in the relatively early or later part of the day as the shadows cast on the ground are long. Despite that, the sun is bright and seemingly unobstructed by clouds, so there’s no lack of lighting in the scene. Finally, there’s no complex traffic situation here with markings, other cars, or road signs.

Still, for whatever reason, it appears as though this car allegedly on FSD just decided that it needed to leave the roadway and did exactly that. Adding even more confusion to this crash are videos of YouTubers testing FSD against inanimate objects on the road. In almost every case, the technology focuses on slowing itself down, stopping even, to avoid an obstacle. Very rarely does it try this sort of hard steering input at speed.

The Lidar Elephant in the Room

And this brings us back to vision-based autonomous driving systems. Again, we humans use vision to determine how to control our cars. Tesla is trying to do that too, but it’s caught flack, and I suspect is about to catch far more, over its choice to skip using lidar and radar tech.

While vision can work, and obviously does for most people on most days, Lidar and radar offer the ability to easily see through bad weather conditions like fog or haze. They could simply be used as a redundancy to confirm what a vision-based system thinks it sees too. Nevertheless, Tesla ditched it years ago and its CEO Elon Musk appears committed to never bringing it back.

Reports From The Driver

According to the person who posted the videos on Reddit, he was going around 55 mph when the crash happened. He says of the experience, “I loved the FSD until this happened. I was a full believer in autonomous vehicles until this happened to me. Lesson learned.” Thankfully, the only injuries he suffered included a cut on his chin, some lower-back discomfort, and “emotional damage,” as he calls it.

It’s worth pointing out that there are many unknowns here. While there appears to be no reason to suspect these videos and their description are inaccurate, there could be more to the story that we’re not being told. If that doesn’t end up being the case, though, Tesla is likely in a lot of hot water over this. The owner has submitted requests for all of the data relating to the crash so hopefully more of that sees the light of day.

Previous crashes involving the software typically offered some sort of purchase for Tesla defenders to cling to. Based on everything available in the four videos here, it appears as though FSD just made its most blatant mistake in the public sphere.

If this is possible with the hardware and software running Tesla’s planned Robotaxi service, it might have to be even more careful than it’s already planning on being. When asked if he’d ever buy another Tesla, the owner of this car’s words were damning. “I want another but would NEVER use FSD again.” Yeah, I think we can all understand why.

The electric SUV game just got a little more interesting. Xiaomi gave us our first look at the stylish YU7 last year, and now the crossover has officially been launched in China. It’s big news as the YU7 is the company’s second model and their first SUV, following the SU7. That sedan has been a runaway success in its home market, racking up 258,000 sales in just 14 months, including 28,000 deliveries in April alone.

The crossover follows in the footsteps of the SU7 and is a high-performance luxury SUV with an impressive design. It features a shark nose front end that is flanked by “waterdrop” headlights, which have channels that direct air out through the hood. Speaking of which, the crossover has the largest clamshell aluminum hood among mass-produced vehicles.

More: Xiaomi YU7 SUV Looks Like A Ferrari Purosangue And McLaren Rolled Into One

Aerodynamics played a huge role in the YU7’s development and the production model has “10 through-flow air channels and 19 optimized vents to manage airflow precisely.” They’re joined by aerodynamically optimized wheels and an active grille shutter system. Thanks to all this attention, the model has a drag coefficient of 0.245.

Since we’ve already seen the crossover before, we’ll just briefly mention a few highlights including flush-mounted door handles and a standard panoramic glass roof. They’re joined by a distinctive rear end with “halo” taillights and two spoilers. The model is being launched in three eye-catching colors – Emerald Green, Titanium Silver, and Lava Orange – and they contrast with gloss black accents.

In terms of size, the YU7 measures 196.8 inches (4,999 mm) long, 78.6 inches (1,996 mm) wide, and 63 inches (1,600 mm) tall with a wheelbase that spans 118.1 inches (3,000 mm). That means the crossover is 2.3 inches (58 mm) shorter than the Tesla Model X and has a 1.4-inch (35 mm) longer wheelbase.

Minimalist Interior, Maximalist Screens

While the exterior is stylish and expressive, the cabin is overly minimalist. It’s dominated by a 16.1-inch infotainment system and a HyperVision Panoramic Display, which sits at the base of the windshield.

The latter echoes BMW’s Panoramic iDrive Display and spans 43.3 inches. It’s customizable, but can act as a speedometer, a navigation display, and a front passenger display.

Putting screens aside, the crossover has Nappa leather zero-gravity front seats with one-touch recline and a 10-point massage function. They’re joined by power-adjustable rear seats with backrests that can tilt from 100° to 135°.

Rear seat passengers will also find dedicated climate controls and a dual-screen entertainment system. Other highlights include a wireless smartphone charger, hidden air vents, and soft-touch materials throughout.

The crossover can accommodate 23.9 cubic feet (678 liters) of luggage and that can be expanded to 62.1 cubic feet (1,758 liters) by folding the seats down. There’s also a small frunk, which provides 5 cubic feet (141 liters) of space.

Power, Range, and Charging Speed

Three different configurations are available and the entry-level YU7 has a single electric motor producing 316 hp (235 kW / 320 PS) and 389 lb-ft (528 Nm) of torque. It enables the model to accelerate from 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) in 5.9 seconds, before hitting a top speed of 149 mph (240 km/h). Buyers will also find a 96.3 kWh battery pack that delivers a CLTC range of 519 miles (835 km).

The mid-level YU7 Pro has a dual-motor all-wheel drive system producing 489 hp (365 kW / 496 PS) and 509 lb-ft (690 Nm) of torque. This cuts the dash to 62 mph (100 km/h) to 4.3 seconds, but the top speed remains unchanged. Unfortunately, the range drops to 472 miles (760 km).

The range-topping YU7 Max has an upgraded dual-motor all-wheel drive system with 681 hp (508 kW / 690 PS) and 639 lb-ft (866 Nm) of torque. 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) comes in a blistering 3.2 seconds and drivers will eventually hit 157 mph (253 km/h) if they keep their foot planted on the accelerator. The Max is also notable for having a larger 101.7 kWh battery, which delivers 478 miles (770 km) of range.

When the battery is low, owners can go from a 10% to 80% charge in as little as 12 minutes. After 15 minutes, they can get up to 385 miles (620 km) of range.

The YU7 has a double wishbone front and five-link rear suspension with air springs. The latter provide five levels of adjustment, meaning the crossover can provide up to 8.7 inches (222 mm) of ground clearance. Other highlights include continuous damper control and a high-performance braking system with four-piston Brembo calipers.

Xiaomi also confirmed the crossover will have advanced driver assistance technology. This is made possible by a roof-mounted LiDAR sensor, a 4D millimeter-wave radar, 11 high-definition cameras, and 12 ultrasonic radars.

Pricing and Availability

While pricing details haven’t been released yet, Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun dismissed earlier rumors suggesting a starting price around 200,000 yuan ($27,800). “The Model Y starts at 263,500 yuan ($36,600), and based on these (YU7) configurations, this car should cost 60,000 to 70,000 yuan ($8,300 to $9,700) more,” Lei said during the presentation, according to Reuters. “But we’ll talk about the price in July.”

As automakers worldwide scramble to future-proof themselves in the electric era, China has been comfortably in the lead, cranking out next-gen EVs packed with cutting-edge tech and advanced battery systems one after the other at record pace. But behind the buzz and impressive new models, there’s a financial reality dragging at the wheels: most of China’s EV brands are still burning cash, not banking it.

Read: Seres 5 Crushes Tesla Model Y In Comfort But Loses The Battle Where It Counts

At last count, there were around 50 EV brands competing for space on Chinese roads. Out of those, just three of them are thought to be profitable. These include BYD, Li Auto, and Seres. Despite this, brands continue to offer generous discounts to grow their footprint, forgoing financial security in the pursuit of sales.

Discounts Keep Climbing

According to a JP Morgan study cited in a South China Morning Post report, industry-wide discounts averaged a record high 16.8% in April, up from an already steep 16.3% in March. The China Passenger Car Association puts the average discount for 2024 at 8.3%. To top it off, average EV prices were trimmed by 10% back in December. That’s not just aggressive, it’s unsustainable.

Last year, the difference between the selling price of an EV and an automaker’s costs, including raw materials, labor, and logistics, known as the vehicle margin, dropped to 10%. This is down from approximately 20% just four years ago. Analysts believe that most of China’s smaller EV manufacturers will be forced out of the market or will be acquired by larger rivals over the next couple of years.

“Nearly all of them were the victims of price competition,” said Phate Zhang from CnEVPost. “But if any of them chooses to exit the price war, their sales will decline and make it more difficult to post a net income.”

Looking Beyond China’s Borders

One potential lifeline is exports. Chinese carmakers have begun shipping more EVs abroad, where they can command better margins. According to JPMorgan’s Nick Lai, international sales are proving to be more profitable and could provide the breathing room these companies need.

“Price competition has turned fiercer this year. Unfortunately, we have not seen a jump in [EV] demand so far,” Lai noted. The domestic market, while massive, isn’t growing fast enough to offset the steep discounts.

Still, exports are trending upward. In the first four months of 2025, EVs made up roughly 33% of China’s total vehicle exports, up from about 25% over the past two years. It’s not a total solution, but it’s a glimmer of hope for brands looking to survive the increasingly brutal home turf battle.