Cars

Doubling the voltage: What 800 V architecture really changes in EVs

800 V EV, Cars, explainer / Rejus Almole / March 14, 2026

According to Leapenergy, however, 800 V prices are coming down. Today, an 800 V platform costs an additional $1,180, but this is projected to fall to $420 by 2028.

Where’s the industry headed?

Industry forecasts suggest that 800 V architectures will initially remain concentrated in higher-end EVs before gradually filtering downmarket.

Some analysts estimate that 15–20 percent of EVs globally could adopt 800 V systems by 2030, although the share is much higher in premium segments, where more than half of vehicles priced above $60,000 may use 800 V platforms.

China’s fast-moving EV industry may push the technology even further, with projections of around 35 percent penetration by the end of the decade.

The shift is being driven largely by improvements in silicon-carbide power electronics, which enable higher voltages while reducing switching losses and improving charging efficiency. As those components scale and costs fall, what is currently a feature of premium EVs from companies like Hyundai Motor Group, Porsche, and Lucid Motors may gradually migrate into more mainstream vehicles.

400 V vs. 800 V verdict:

So here lies the big question: Is 800 V the future of EVs? Yes—but don’t expect it to happen overnight.

Doubling the pack voltage brings clear technical advantages. Lower current means less heat, lighter cabling, more efficient electronics, and the ability to sustain extremely high charging power without pushing connectors and wiring to their limits. That’s why performance-focused EVs like the Taycan have embraced 800 V architectures.

For drivers who regularly rely on high-power DC fast-charging, the difference can translate into noticeably shorter stops. And shorter stops mean you can do cooler stuff with your life, instead of waiting for your EV to charge.

However, 400 V systems aren’t going away any time soon. They’re simpler, cheaper, and well understood, and they work perfectly well for the vast majority of EV use cases—especially when most charging still happens at home or at relatively modest public chargers. That’s why hugely successful vehicles like the Tesla Model Y and Ford Mustang Mach-E continue to use optimized 400-volt platforms while still delivering competitive charging speeds.

For now, though, the takeaway is simpler: 800 V isn’t a revolution—it’s an evolution. It makes fast-charging faster and high-performance EVs easier to engineer, but the 400 V architecture that powered the first wave of modern EVs still has plenty of life left in it.

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Lucid announces midsize EV platform, says profitability lies with SUVs

Cars, Lucid / Rejus Almole / March 12, 2026

Lucid’s entry into the highly competitive, high-volume midsize SUV market will be key to achieving profitability, the company told investors today. And it’s going to do that with a trio of electric SUVs that will use its new midsize EV platform, which it says has been engineered to deliver a starting price below $50,000.

“Today, we’re keeping the same Lucid product and technology DNA intact, while applying increased scale, capital efficiency, and cost discipline, and materially reduced costs, to enable a great business with a clear and credible path to profitability and free cash flow, supported by what we are executing now and what we are building for the future,” said Marc Winterhoff, interim CEO at Lucid.

The company has provided a few details about the first two SUVs due on the new midsize platform. The Lucid Earth is aimed at “trendsetting achievers” and will be the more spacious one. The Lucid Cosmos we expect to be sportier—this one is targeting “upscale nurturers.” The unnamed third SUV will likely be something a bit more off-roady, filling the same niche that Rivian has gone for with its R2.

“With Midsize, we didn’t compromise what makes a Lucid special, we engineered it to scale,” said Derek Jenkins, senior vice president of design and brand at Lucid. “These vehicles deliver unmistakable Lucid design and driving characteristics, while embracing a radically simpler, more efficient approach to manufacturing and cost.”

Part of that is Lucid’s new drive unit, called Atlas, shown in the video above. This unit uses 30 percent fewer parts than Lucid’s current drive unit and weighs 23 percent less. Even better, its bill of materials is 37 percent cheaper. With this drive unit, plus an 800 V battery pack, Lucid’s goal is up to 4.5 miles/kWh (13.8 kWh/100 km) for the most efficient midsize variant. More efficient motors make it possible to use a smaller battery for the same range, and that appears to be the approach here.

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Rivian reveals pricing and trim details for its R2 SUV

Cars, Rivian R2 / Tim Belzer / March 12, 2026

Between the antics particular to a certain car company and the industrial chaos that was set off by COVID (then compounded by the invasion of Ukraine) it’s easy to have become cynical about things like timelines. And yet, when Rivian showed off a midsize electric vehicle in 2024 and said it would go on sale during the first half of 2026, it meant it: deliveries of the first R2 SUVs will begin this spring.

As a new automaker Rivian often does things its own way, but with the R2 launch it’s following industry practice and starting with the more superlative version first. That’s the R2 Performance, which starts at $57,990 with the launch package (but not including a $1,495 delivery charge). You get quite a lot of electric SUV for that, however: up to 330 miles (531 km) from a single charge of the 87.9 kWh battery pack, with 656 hp (489 kW) and 609 lb-ft (825 Nm) from the dual motor powertrain. Fast charging takes 29 minutes from 10-80 percent.

The Performance features semi-active suspension, a rear window that drops into the tailgate, an interior with birch accents, heating for the front and rear seats with ventilation for the former as well, a nine-speaker sound system, matrix LED headlights, and some other neat touches like the flashlight that lives in the side of the door, similar to the way some cars hide an umbrella there.

The R2 is 185.9 inches (4,722 mm) long, 78.1 inches (1,905 mm) wide, and 66.9 inches (1,699 mm) tall, with a 115.6-inch (2,936 mm) wheelbase. Rivian

You can add Autonomy+ (the automaker’s partially automated driver assist), the tow package (4,400 lbs/1,995 kg), and some other colors as optional extras to the Performance trim; they’re silver by default. The launch package includes a lifetime subscription to Autonomy+ as well as the tow package, plus another optional body color.

In late 2026 the R2 Premium goes on sale at $53,990. This has the same 330-mile range and the same 87.9 kWh battery pack, but generates only 450 hp (355 kW) and 537 lb-ft (728 Nm) from its dual-motor powertrain. The R2 Premium does without the semi-active suspension, arrives on 20-inch instead of 21-inch wheels, and features fewer drive modes, doing without rally, soft sand, and launch modes, but otherwise shares its specs with the faster, more expensive R2 Performance.

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A glimpse into tuner culture: Fast and Furious exhibit at the Petersen

Cars, Fast and Furious, The Petersen Museum / Rejus Almole / March 11, 2026

The museum is celebrating 25 years of the original F&F film with a 23-car exhibit.

The Dodge Charger and Toyota Supra from The Fast and the Furious are among the cars in a new exhibit at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles. Credit: Ollie Millington/Getty Images

The Fast and Furious franchise has come a long way in the quarter-century since the first film’s release. Originally an undercover cop story, the franchise has morphed into… something else entirely. It’s now a bombastic expression of automotive culture combined with some kind of caper, maybe to save the world. Just don’t think too deeply about the plot.

Along the way, the film’s cars have become nearly as famous as the human stars. If you’re a fan, you probably can’t have Vin Diesel or Michelle Rodriguez come hang out with you in your garage, but you can drive a Charger or Eclipse—or even a Jetta that looks like it escaped from the set. The more well-off collectors don’t need to settle for building a replica, though; they actually own cars that appeared on screen, and there’s quite a community of Fast and Furious car collectors.

You can find some of these cars at the Petersen Automotive Museum, which has a new exhibit celebrating 25 years of the franchise.

“When we started researching this exhibition… you go into the project with the typical ‘I’m going to source a film car’ mindset, where film cars always have interesting histories,” said Kristin Feay, an assistant curator at the Petersen.

“But sometimes it will be owned by collections, it will be private owners, it will be isolated sources,” she said. “With this exhibition, it was interesting because there are actually a number of enthusiastic owners who buy these cars—they collect them, they restore them—and these cars are well known within their communities. They’re known by names like Stunt one or Hero One, Stunt Two, Stunt Three.”

But according to Feay, unlike some other film cars, discovering the history of the Fast and Furious machines takes work.

“When we were trying to source, for example, Brian’s Mitsubishi Eclipse or his Toyota Supra or Dom’s Charger… the research framework for finding these cars was more like a 1960s race car… You’re looking for a vehicle, but you’re looking for a vehicle that has an institutional history and a personal history,” she said.

For the later films, production built cars specifically for use, but in the early days, the producers relied on the tuning scene itself, borrowing cars from tuning shops.

Cars change hands

“That would include Brian’s Toyota Supra, which was built and owned by Craig Lieberman, who worked with Super Street [a tuning shop] at the time,” Feay said. “The first four cars from the street race—Eclipse, the Integra, the Mazda RX7, and the Honda Civic—were all owned. And the original hero cars were all owned and built by tuners. Letty’s 240 SX actually has a really interesting story about its development as a tuner car. But what this meant is that these cars, because they were customs, have historical significance. They have complex ownership histories.”

A green modified Mitsubishi Eclipse. — You’d have your work cut out trying to eclipse this exhibit with a larger collection of movie cars from the franchise. Credit: Petersen Automotive Museum

In addition to the borrowed cars, copies were made that could be crashed or hacked about to fit cameras. “For each car, depending on the scenes it would be featured in, you could have maybe as few as three facsimiles made, maybe up to 10 facsimiles made. And each of these facsimiles would have, from a collecting standpoint, different degrees of usage and damage. Was this a junk car? Was this an exploded car? Was this a stunt car? Was this a hero car? So within each one of those tiers, you almost have a gradation system like you would for a classic car,” Feay said.

These early cars fell into two camps. Hero cars were returned to their owners—$25 million was too small a budget to buy them outright. But the fame those cars quickly accrued meant their owners started getting mobbed in public.

“These guys couldn’t actually show up to car meets without being totally swamped. So it’s like, ‘Oh, hey, this used to be my car, but it is apparently something else now,’” Feay said.

“That’s what happened to the Integra GSR from the first street race, ” she told me. “And essentially from there, you have the typical cycle of auctions and private owners. But the second part of this history of these cars is the replicas.”

What about the replicas?

Hundreds of replicas made by Universal escaped the crusher and were instead stored in a warehouse in Santa Clarita, California, before being repurposed with new paint and bodykits for Too Fast, Too Furious.

“It’s known as the warehouse scramble scene,” Feay said. “It’s when Brian and Roman are looking to escape from the law at the end of the film. They drive their cars into the warehouse, the garage doors close, and when they open, it’s tons of cars pouring out to distract, to draw attention away from them.”

Suki’s pink Honda S2000 has actually appeared in more than one guise on screen. Petersen Automotive Museum

“That’s what happened to a few of our cars on display,” she said. “And from there, they were sold to private owners. Some of them went to collections. Some of them sat derelict on people’s lawns… And they essentially went all over the world.”

Don’t expect to find many cars from Tokyo Drift, though. The movie was filmed in 2006, and the Japanese domestic market cars couldn’t be imported to the US. “They were either crushed or sold off to other places outside the United States,” Feay said. “So we were not able to get things like Han’s original Mazda RX7 or the orange and black one, which we really wanted to see here. It was just unfortunate. And then DK’s 350Z also was an unable to be located.”

Most of the 23 cars in the exhibit haven’t been seen at the Petersen before, but regular visitors will have seen the pink Honda S2000, which is part of the museum’s permanent collection. “That car is interesting because it was… an actual custom. It was owned and built by the editor of Super Street Magazine, RJ DeVera, who played Danny Yamato in that first street race scene,” Feay told me.

The S2000 is best known as Suki’s bright pink car, but it actually appeared in various guises. “It was black. It had the yellow graphics on it, and that was the original iteration. After that, it went back to RJ, who painted it black, painted it orange, and then rented it back from production as Suki’s car. And then it got a pink paint job, its iconic paintwork,” Feay told me.

Tuning history?

“When you hear the stories behind these cars… you’ll hear about the history, but when you actually look at the object, it makes it real, Feay said. “And with our cars, you can actually see there are some dings in the paint, like in the interior engine bay, and you can actually see the layers of colors in it. You can see it’s black, you can see it’s orange, you can see when RJ painted it. It’s that object that made me realize that these cars are essentially archeological. These are cars that have this history.”

Lettie’s 240 SX also has an interesting history. Owned by a private collector, it was found—painted orange—in someone’s yard.

“It was a notable custom,” Feay told me. “… It is really a true S14 JDM car. It was built by this shop called V-Spec, who also had connections with Super Street. It was significant in that it was what we believe to be one of the first kouki front-end SR20 DET engine-swapped S14s in the US.”

“A Fast and Furious Legacy” opens at the Petersen Automotive Museum in LA on March 14 and runs until April 2027.

Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica’s automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC.

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2026 Australian Grand Prix: Formula 1 debuts a new style of racing

Cars, F1, Formula 1, racing / Mike M. / March 9, 2026

Just like the Apple movie?

The key is understanding how to conserve energy across a lap. Oh, and be reliable.

Formula 1’s 2026 season got started in Australia this weekend. Credit: Alessio Morgese/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Formula 1’s 2026 season got underway this past weekend in Melbourne, Australia. Formula 1 has undergone a radical transformation during the short offseason, with new technical rules that have created cars that are smaller and lighter than before, with new hybrid systems that are more powerful than anything since the turbo era of the 1980s—but only if the battery is fully charged.

The changes promised to upend the established pecking order of teams, with the introduction of several new engine manufacturers and a move away from the ground-effect method of generating downforce, which was in use from 2022. For at least a year, paddock rumors have suggested that Mercedes might pull off a repeat of 2014, when it started the first hybrid era with a power unit far ahead of anyone else.

That wasn’t entirely clear after six days of preseason testing in Bahrain, nor really after Friday’s two practice sessions in Melbourne, topped by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and Oscar Piastri’s McLaren, respectively. The Mercedes team didn’t look particularly worried, and on Saturday, we found out why when George Russell finally left off the sandbags and showed some true pace, lapping more than six-tenths faster by the end of free practice than the next-quickest car, the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton.

It’s never done that before

It wasn’t all smooth running for Antonelli, who tore three corners off his car during the same practice session, giving his mechanics a monstrous job to rebuild it all in a few short hours for qualifying. That almost didn’t happen, until qualifying was interrupted with a red flag caused by an uncharacteristic crash for four-time world champion Max Verstappen, who ended up in a crash barrier right at the start of his first flying lap.

A rear lockup sent Max Verstappen into the barrier during qualifying. Paul Crock / AFP via Getty Images

“I’ve never experienced something like that before in my career. The rear axle just completely locked on, then of course you can’t save that anymore at that speed,” Verstappen told the media. Red Bull hasn’t yet revealed the precise cause of Verstappen’s crash, which forced him to start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid, but it’s likely related to the way the car’s electric motor can harvest more than half of the power output from the V6 engine.

Verstappen wasn’t the only driver caught out by unfamiliar hybrid behavior. Last year’s title hopeful and hometown hero Oscar Piastri looked to have the measure of his teammate (and reigning world champion) Lando Norris, but never even took the start of the race. On the way to the grid, Piastri took a little too much curb at turn 4, at which point his car delivered 100 kW more power than he was expecting; on cold tires, this spun the wheels, and before he could catch it, the car was in pieces and his weekend was over.

Ctrl-Alt-Del

If you are a relatively recent F1 fan, you may have only watched the sport during a period of extreme reliability. It was very much not always this way, and even when budgets for the top teams were two or three times what they’re allowed to spend now, cars broke down a lot.

Completely disassembling them and putting them back together overnight didn’t help, a practice that ended some years ago, but mostly it was technical rules that required teams to use the same engines for multiple races. Until 2004, you could use multiple engines in a single race weekend; by 2009, each driver was only allowed to use eight engines during a single season. Now, the limit is just three engines, and the same for the components of the hybrid systems, with grid penalties for drivers who exceed these limits.

Aston Martin's Canadian driver Lance Stroll during the Formula One Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne's Albert Park Circuit on March 8, 2026. (Photo by Martin KEEP / AFP via Getty Images) — Aston Martin got enough running this weekend to shave two seconds off its lap time deficit to the front-runners. Credit: Martin KEEP / AFP via Getty Images

That has been a rare occurrence of late, since the previous power units had been relatively stable since 2014 and were thus well-understood. But multiple drivers had issues this weekend in Oz. On Friday, we already discussed the vibration problem that limited Aston Martin’s running in preseason testing and during the first day of practice. That didn’t get much better for the team in green, which used Sunday’s race as a test session: Fernando Alonso completed 21 laps in total; Lance Stroll did 43 and actually took the finish—although it wasn’t classified, as the race distance was 58 laps.

But Aston Martin wasn’t alone in having problems. Williams has had its own trouble this year with a car that is uncompetitive and overweight, and Carlos Sainz missed the entire qualifying session after having a breakdown on his way back into the pit lane. On Sunday, Audi’s Nico Hülkenberg had to be pushed into the garage just before the start of the race with a power unit failure, marring what has otherwise been an excellent debut for the new power unit constructor, which took over the Sauber team.

Verstappen’s teammate, Isack Hadjar, had done the seemingly impossible for a Red Bull second driver and stepped up after Verstappen’s qualifying crash to claim third on the grid, behind the two extremely fast Mercedes drivers. But he only got as far as lap 10 before his power unit, the product of Red Bull’s in-house program with help from Ford, failed somewhat spectacularly, parking him by the side of the road. Five laps later, the (Ferrari-powered) Cadillac of Valteri Bottas broke down, too. Not quite the failure rate that some predicted, but six cars out of 22 still failed to make it to the checkered flag.

But it wasn’t all bad

That said, the other 16 cars did finish, including the Cadillac of Sergio Perez. Cadillac has managed to stand up a team from scratch and, since then, meet every deadline it needed to. Now, it has the rest of the season to show us it can make its car fast, something that equally applies to Williams and Aston Martin.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 08: Gabriel Bortoleto of Brazil driving the (5) Audi F1 Team R26 leads Esteban Ocon of France driving the (31) Haas F1 VF-26 Ferrari and Pierre Gasly of France driving the (10) Alpine F1 A526 Mercedes on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit on March 08, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Joe Portlock/Getty Images) — Audi looks to have landed in the midfield at the start of its F1 adventure. Credit: Joe Portlock/Getty Images

Audi had an almost as monumental task as Cadillac, designing and building a new power unit to install in what was the Sauber team before the German OEM took control. Aside from Hulkenberg’s problem, it had a pretty good debut. The cars lined up 10th and 11th for the race, and Gabriel Bortoleto showed off the talent that won him an F2 championship in his first year by finishing in 9th place, scoring the outfit points on its debut. Audi looks like a solid midfield contender, alongside Haas and Racing Bulls.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly scored the final point, but that team, like Williams, looks a long way from making best use of its Mercedes power units and right now needs to combat a problem with understeer that affects its car in high-speed corners.

Russell initially battled Leclerc for the lead, passing and repassing each other several times over several laps, allowing a rejuvenated Hamilton to catch up with them. Russell was the meat in a sandwich between the two Ferraris until Hadjar’s crash called out the first virtual safety car. The two Mercedes took the opportunity to pit for new tires, undercutting their rivals in red.

The Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton probably weren’t fast enough to have won even if they’d pitted at the same time. They didn’t and finished in third and fourth, behind the victorious Russell with Antonelli in second place. In clean air, the Mercedes looked unstoppable in Melbourne, and the team clearly understands how to get the most out of these new power units compared to its customer teams.

A new style of racing

The peculiarity of these new hybrid power units has demanded a new way to be fast, particularly at the temporary circuit formed around the roads of Melbourne’s Albert Park, which lacks the heavy braking zones of most F1 tracks. This was evident with the cars decelerating well before the turn 9-10 complex as the engines diverted so much of their power away from the rear wheels and through the electric motor into the battery to use later in the lap. While not quite coasting, the drivers were clearly trying to maintain as much momentum as possible with little power actually going to the tires.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 8: The drivers prepare for their group photo on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit on March 8, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Jayce Illman/Getty Images) — Twenty-two drivers, 22 opinions. Credit: Jayce Illman/Getty Images

Whether they approved of this or not seems to rest on whether they have a fast car.

“I thought the race was really fun to drive. I thought the car was really, really fun to drive. I watched the cars ahead, there was good battling back and forth. So far, so good. It may seem different, but in my position, I thought it was great,” said Hamilton.

“It created a lot of action in the first few laps of the race, so I think, you know, on this kind of track there will be a lot of action, in some other track maybe a bit less. But I think today was much better than what we all anticipated, so I think, yeah we need to just wait a few more races before actually commenting on this new regulation,” said Antonelli.

“Maybe now, there’s a bit more of a strategic mind behind every move you make, because every boost button activation, you know you’re going to pay the price big time after that, and so you always try and think multiple steps ahead to try and end up eventually first. But it’s a different way to go about racing for sure,” Leclerc said.

“Everyone’s very quick to criticize things. You need to give it a shot, you know. We’re 22 drivers, when we’ve had the best cars and the least tire degradation, and we’ve been happiest, everyone moans the racing [is] rubbish. Now, drivers aren’t perfectly happy, and everyone said it was an amazing race. So, you can’t have it all. And I think we should give it a chance and see after a few more races,” said Russell.

Outside the top four, the verdict was less impressed—Verstappen in particular. And I noted with interest a press release this morning from Red Bull that his GT3 team announced that the four-time F1 champion will contest the 2026 Nurburgring 24-hour race in May, plus the qualifying races that lead up to it. Verstappen will race alongside Jules Gounon, Dani Juncadella, and Lucas Auer in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 after securing his permit to race at the fearsome German circuit last year. With little left to prove in F1, there is absolutely a greater than zero chance the Dutch driver walks away from single-seaters next year—at least until the next F1 rule change—to try and win endurance races like Le Mans.

A mercedes-AMG GT3 race car inside a cooling tower of a power plant — Red Bull had someone BASE jump into this cooling tower to unveil the livery on Verstappen’s GT3 car. Credit: Mihai Stetcu / Red Bull Content Pool

But that will surely depend on how well things go over the next few races, the next of which takes place next weekend in Shanghai, China. For now, I’m cautiously optimistic. The first few races of the season are on tracks that won’t play to these hybrids’ strengths, and it’s easy to reflexively hate anything new. But the racing on Sunday was more than entertaining enough, even if it wasn’t quite the same as we saw last year.

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Chevrolet killed it then brought it back, now we drive it: The 2027 Bolt

Cars, Chevy Bolt, First drive / Tim Belzer / March 9, 2026

Faster charging, more modern infotainment, and a new LFP battery are highlights.

It’s back! Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.—When the Chevrolet Bolt debuted in 2017, the electric hatchback stood out: Here was an electric vehicle with more than 200 miles of range for less than half the price of a Tesla Model S. The Bolt had its ups and downs, though. A $1.8 billion recall saw the automaker replace the battery packs in more than 142,000 cars, which wasn’t great. COVID delayed the Bolt’s midlife refresh a little. It got a price cut—the first of several—plus new seats, infotainment, and even the Super Cruise driver assist, plus a slightly more capacious version called the Bolt EUV.

Along the way, the Bolt became GM’s bestselling EV by quite some margin, even as the OEM introduced its new range of more advanced EVs using the platform formerly known as Ultium. But as is often the way with General Motors, a desire to do something else with the Bolt’s assembly plant saw the car’s cancellation, as GM wanted to retool the Orion Township factory as part of its ill-judged bet that American consumers would embrace full-size electric pickups like the Silverado EV. And thus, in 2022, GM CEO Mary Barra announced the Bolt’s impending demise.

This was not well-received. Even though Chevy promised an almost-as-cheap Equinox EV, Bolt fans besieged the company and engineered a volte face. At CES in 2023, Barra revealed the Bolt would be brought back, with an all-new lithium iron phosphate battery in place of the previous lithium-ion pack. When GM originally designed the Bolt, it was the company’s sole EV, but now there’s an entire (not-) Ultium model range. The automaker also has a giant parts bin to pick from, so the Equinox EV donates its drive motor, plus there’s a new Android Automotive OS infotainment system.

But you could have read all that ages ago. Chevy announced some specs and pricing last October, including the news that there would be a sportier RS trim in addition to the LT version. Then, in January, we learned its 262-mile (422 km) range and the fact that it can DC fast-charge at up to 150 kW, using a NACS socket instead of CCS1. Now, we’ve had a chance to spend some time behind the wheel of the 2027 Bolt, and here’s what we found.

Spec sheets can be misleading

As before, the Bolt’s electric motor drives its front wheels. The drive unit generates 210 hp (157 kW), a 4 percent bump on the old car. But its torque output is just 169 lb-ft (230 Nm), well down on the 266 lb-ft (360 Nm) of the earlier Bolts. This had me worried: near-instant and effortless torque practically defines the EV driving experience, and the thought of missing nearly 40 percent of that thrust sounded like it would make for a radically different driving experience.

In fact, the 2027 Bolt is actually slightly zippier than the old car. The motor’s torque output might be less, but with an 11: 59:1 final drive ratio, you would never, ever guess. Zero to 60 mph (97 km/h) takes 6.8 seconds, 0.2 faster than before. The new motor can spin faster than the old one, and so even at highway speed there’s sufficient acceleration when you need it.

If you’re looking for a new EV for between $30,000–$40,000 there’s an awful lot of choice now. Jonathan Gitlin

The new powertrain is also more efficient. Even though much of our drive route was on challenging—and hilly—roads like Mulholland Drive down to Malibu, and mostly in Sport mode, I still saw around 4 miles/kWh (15.5 kWh/100 km). So that 262 mile range estimate from the 65 kWh battery pack sounds spot-on.

Perhaps the old Bolt’s biggest weakness was how slow its DC charging was—almost an hour to 80 percent at a maximum of just 55 kW. Now with NACS, things are a lot better. I tested recharging a Bolt LT from 19–80 percent using a Tesla V4 Supercharger, which took 25 minutes and added an indicated 211 miles of range. The charge curve is much flatter than before, starting at ~110 kW before gradually beginning to ramp down once the state of charge passed 65 percent. Like other batteries, the LFP pack will charge much more slowly once it reaches 80 percent, but unlike lithium-ion, you’re encouraged to charge the car to 100 percent as often as possible.

For most charging networks, recharging is as simple as plugging in and letting the car and charger talk to each other using plug and charge (ISO 15118); this is still being implemented for Tesla Superchargers, but you can initiate a charge from the Bolt’s charging app. A word of caution though: The charge socket is on the driver’s side of the car, which means you’ll have difficulty using a V3 Supercharger—which only features a short cable—without blocking more than one stall, something that may enrage any Tesla owners hoping to charge simultaneously.

A blue Chevy Bolt charges — Fast-charging is actually fast now. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

And before you ask, no, it wasn’t possible to relocate the charge port; this would require a significant redesign to the car’s unibody as well as its powertrain layout, at vast expense.

Drives like a Bolt should

Although the new $32,995 RS trim has a sportier appearance inside and out than the $28,995 LT, both trims use identical suspension tuning. The ride is more than a little bouncy over the expansion gaps of LA’s highways, but a look at previous reviews reminds me that old Bolts also did this. The effect was much less noticeable on the back roads, where the car proved nimble if not exactly captivating to drive: I would very much like to try one on performance tires. The range would suffer a little, but cornering grip would be much improved. That said, the low-rolling resistance tires have more grip and are less likely to break traction than, say, the Toyota bZ we just reviewed.

There’s a new power-steering actuator, and a new rear-twist axle, but the suspension and steering geometry should be the same as older Bolts.

However, if you’re familiar with the old Bolt, you’ll notice a few changes. The cabin has a lot more storage nooks and cubbies than before, and both the main instrument panel and the infotainment screen are larger than in a 2023 Bolt. You use a stalk mounted on the steering column to select D/R/N/P, and must now use a persistent icon on the touchscreen to toggle one-pedal driving on or off. This is less convenient than the old car and its physical controls. The regenerative braking paddle is gone from behind the steering wheel, too.

The new cabin. The seats are better but lack lateral support. If you want wireless phone charging, you’ll have to spend $1,195 on the tech package. Jonathan Gitlin

But there are two settings for one-pedal driving, one gentler than the other, and you’ll also regenerate energy using the brake pedal. Exactly how much regen occurs before the friction brakes take over depends on things like the battery’s state of charge; in high regen, I saw as much as 85 kW by lifting the throttle, and the same with one-pedal driving turned off but using the brake pedal to slow. With one-pedal turned off, the car will still regenerate a few kW when you lift the accelerator pedal, so, unlike a German EV, this car won’t coast freely.

Is this the McRib of EVs?

Any worries that the rebatteried Bolt would be missing the car’s essential character were misplaced. Although some of the numbers on paper look lower, the driving experience is no worse than the old car in most ways, and improved in terms of onboard safety systems, powertrain efficiency, and so on. The comments will no doubt reflect antipathy that GM dropped Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to cast one’s phone, but the inclusion of apps like Apple Music might go some way toward alleviating this angst. In all, the 2027 Bolt represents a solid upgrade.

But there’s a catch. Just like last time, GM has other designs on the Bolt’s assembly plant—now in Fairfax, Kansas. That factory will churn out Bolts for just 18 months; next year production ends and the automaker repurposes the site to build gasoline-powered Buick Envisions and Chevy Equinoxes. Chevy told us that it expects there will be sufficient Bolts to stock dealerships for the next two years, but after that, it’s done.

Chevrolet killed it then brought it back, now we drive it: The 2027 Bolt Read More »

Climate change sucks, but at least it won’t kill your EV battery

Cars, climate change, EV adoption, EV battery / Tim Belzer / March 6, 2026

The good news is that technological progress more than offsets the effect of a warming world, even (hopefully) extreme scenarios like warming of 4° C. Those older batteries, which have a median lifespan of around 15 years in the current climate, would decrease by about 20 percent to a median of 12 years under 4° of warming, the study finds. But newer batteries, which have a current median lifespan of 17 years, should still last about 17 years on average under such conditions.

Older batteries also have a greater distribution of aging. The percentiles are much closer to the median for newer batteries, which under the worst conditions might see a lifetime degradation of up to 10 percent; by contrast, older batteries may suffer a loss of 30 percent or more.

“I think these improvements are well-known to experts in the field. But when I started this project, I was looking at web forums and reading how people were deciding on cars,” Wu said. “There are still a lot of durability concerns about EV batteries.”

After modeling battery lifetimes in 300 cities around the world, Wu and his co-authors found that with older battery technology, countries with the lowest GDP per capita had the greatest reductions in battery lifespan. Under the worst outcomes, Africa, Southeast Asia, and India could see those EV batteries lose 25 percent of their lifespan, compared to 15 percent in Europe or North America. But newer batteries should lose only 4 percent of their lifespan at worst in low-income countries and remain stable in the affluent West.

Of course, this assumes that those lower-GDP nations adopt EVs with the same kinds of battery technology we see in more well-off markets, and they don’t take into account factors like vehicle reliability, changes in powertrain efficiency, or whether charging infrastructure will remain stable in a warmer world. But it’s just another bit of data we can point to showing that EVs aren’t really that scary, just different.

Nature Climate Change, 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s41558-026-02579-z (About DOIs).

Climate change sucks, but at least it won’t kill your EV battery Read More »

Nerve damage, energy management, and Apple TV: F1 in 2026 starts today

Cars, F1, Formula 1 / Tim Belzer / March 5, 2026

Drivers aren’t happy about energy management, and one team won’t finish the race.

Credit: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

Later this evening—Friday morning local time—the new 1.6 L V6 engines that power this year’s crop of Formula 1 machinery will roar into life as practice for the first race of the year gets underway in Melbourne, Australia. After several years in which the teams’ performances converged so much that the sport was determined by finer margins than ever, 2026 sees a comprehensive reset.

The cars are smaller and lighter, and they have different aerodynamic configurations for the corners and the straights. The hybrid systems are more powerful, and each runs on its own bespoke sustainable fuel. There’s even a new way to watch as F1 makes a $750 million move from ESPN to Apple. Over the offseason, throughout the preseason shakedown in Barcelona, and then two three-day tests in Bahrain, plenty of questions have arisen: Are the new technical regulations a mistake? Can we still watch F1TV? And just what the heck is going on, Aston Martin?

400 kW + 350 kW = headaches?

After more than a decade with the same power units—and the same few manufacturers—the sport wanted to attract some new blood. Drawing in more car companies, which have boards and shareholders to answer to, required acknowledging road relevance and some commitment to sustainability and decarbonization. Since OEMs are all about electrification, that meant a greater emphasis on the hybrid side of the power units. And the veneer of environmental responsibility arrives in the form of heavily audited, fully sustainable fuels.

The engines are still 1.6 L V6s and turbocharged, but those turbochargers no longer contain the hybrid system known as the MGU-H. (It was dropped for cost grounds and a lack of road applications, but Porsche has started selling cars using this technology, and boy, are they good.) There’s now a much more powerful MGU-K, the electric motor that lives between the V6 and the transmission, and a more powerful battery. The combustion engines now generate 400 kW (536 hp), with the MGU-K adding another 350 kW (469 hp).

The rules package succeeded in attracting new power unit makers to the sport. Ferrari and Mercedes have been joined by Audi, Honda, and Red Bull’s in-house engine program (with help from Ford), although it is true that Alpine (formerly Renault) ended its long-running engine operation at the end of 2025 as its team opts for Mercedes power instead, joining the other customer teams McLaren and Williams.

Cadillac signed up, too, and it takes to the grid in Australia as the sport’s 11th team, although it will use Ferrari power units (like Haas) for the next three years while it develops its own for 2029.

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - FEBRUARY 11: The 2026 Formula 1 drivers pose for a photo during the F1 Photocall at Bahrain International Circuit on February 11, 2026 in Bahrain, Bahrain. (Photo by Mark Sutton - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) — The 22 drivers who will compete in the 2026 season. Credit: Mark Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

On paper, 750 kW (1,006 hp) F1 cars should get everyone pretty excited. But they’ll only have that much power when the 4 MJ (1.1 kWh) battery is fully charged. That can happen in a couple of ways: regen via the rear wheels under braking and by siphoning power from the V6, which the sport calls “superclipping.” You’ll hear the engines continue to strain even as the cars lose speed at the end of long straights as horsepower is diverted into the battery and away from pushing the car through the air.

Each lap, each car is allowed to deploy up to 8.5 MJ (2.36 kWh), which means depleting and replenishing the battery more than once per lap. Because electrical energy is limited, drivers will have to use it intelligently. An optimal lap probably won’t be completely flat out the entire way; making up too much time in one corner using the full hybrid deployment might cost more on the following straight when there’s no more MGU-K contribution.

It’s fair to say some of F1’s biggest stars have not been entirely enthusiastic about having to adopt some of the same energy management techniques already used by their peers driving hybrid prototypes in the World Endurance Championship and all-electric single-seaters in Formula E.

After the first day of testing last month, four-time world champion Max Verstappen had some thoughts. “As a pure driver, I enjoy driving flat out,” he said. “And at the moment, you cannot drive like that. There’s a lot going on. A lot of what you do as a driver, in terms of inputs, has a massive effect on the energy side of things. For me, that’s just not Formula 1. Maybe it’s better to drive Formula E, right? Because that’s all about energy efficiency and management. That’s what they stand for.”

Not every track shares the same characteristics, however.

“Some tracks, you don’t have to do lift and coast for a single lap, and in some places, you have to do a lot of lift and coast for a qualifying lap,” driver Lewis Hamilton told reporters today. “There can be a big difference between deployment, of a second. If you don’t lift in one corner, for example Turn 6 and Turn 5 here [in Australia], if you take it flat or if you lift, it has a massive compound effect through the rest of the lap. You can do a good lap, but you could be a second down because the deployment is off.”

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 5: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Scuderia Ferrari in the drivers' press conference during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit on March 5, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Jayce Illman/Getty Images) — Will we see a smiling Lewis Hamilton more often this year? He might not love the new style of racing, but at least he’s much more comfortable with the way the cars handle. Credit: Jayce Illman/Getty Images

An MGU-K on the front axle would have helped; about 60 percent of the braking is done by the front wheels, and that energy is lost as heat instead. But all-wheel drive was vehemently opposed by every other OEM during the planning stages out of fear of Audi’s experience with all-wheel-drive hybrids in WEC. And they probably did us a favor in that regard: Mark Hughes convincingly argues that adding a front motor would open the door to stability control in F1, something that was already prevented in 2008 and which would certainly ruin the sport if allowed.

An easier fix, albeit one that would slow lap times, would be to restrict the amount of energy the MGU-K could deploy, down to 250 or even 200 kW (335–268 hp). During testing in Bahrain, the sport’s organizing body, the FIA, had some teams try this out. Don’t expect any power restriction for the first few races, though; sensibly, the sport will give it some time to see how everything works in practice.

Six laps? All day??

F1 in 2026 will see much greater variability in performance between the teams than the ultra-tight gaps we saw last year. That, of course, was the result of several years of stable rules that didn’t allow much freedom due to factors like weight balance and suspension setup. Mercedes is a favorite going into this year, but Ferrari, Red Bull, and McLaren also look very strong. Haas, Alpine, and Racing Bulls head the midfield, with Audi impressing and Williams disappointing, and Cadillac certainly hasn’t embarrassed itself.

If only Aston Martin or its engine partner, Honda, could say the same. The team’s Canadian billionaire owner, Lawrence Stroll, has invested hundreds of millions into the UK-based team, building a state-of-the-art factory and wind tunnel and recently hiring Adrian Newey, the megastar designer and aerodynamicist whose cars have been responsible for 12 championships so far (Newey even has a stake in the team).

2026 is Aston Martin’s first year with a works engine supply, provided by Honda. The Japanese OEM has an on-off relationship with the sport, most recently deciding in 2020 to leave, then changing its mind again in 2024 due to the new rules. That four-year gap meant that the current program at Honda was effectively started from scratch, and it has been hard going.

In fact, as early as January last year, the head of Honda Motorsport, Koji Watanabe, told me that Honda was having problems. “Everything is new. [The] motor is new, [developing] 350 kW—it’s a very compact one that we need. And also the lightweight battery is not so easy to develop. Also the small engine with big power. So everything is very difficult, but we try our best,” Watanabe said.

Once the power unit was fitted to the car, things got much worse. Aston Martin was late to the Barcelona shakedown, and its drivers posted the slowest lap times in both the first and second Bahrain tests. The team also completed fewer laps than any other—just 206 during the first three-day test and a mere 128 laps during the second test. (For comparison, Mercedes, McLaren, and Ferrari each did more than 420 laps during the first test, and Mercedes, Racing Bulls, and Haas did more than 400 laps during the second test.)

Aston Martin's Spanish driver Fernando Alonso inspects his car with team mechanics in the garage ahead of the Formula One Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne's Albert Park on March 5, 2026. (Photo by Paul Crock / AFP via Getty Images) — Alonso has already fallen out with Honda once during his career over engine problems. Credit: Paul Crock / AFP via Getty Images

The problems were myriad, affecting both the gearbox and the power unit. Chief among the issues was a vibration that shook apart components like the battery pack, destroying spares. So on the final day of testing, the team was limited to a mere six laps of the Bahrain circuit. With so little testing and so much to debug, the prospect of Aston Martin finishing in Australia—or any of the first few races—seems doubtful.

But wait, it gets worse. Earlier today, Newey held a press conference in Australia, where he explained that the team hadn’t made any progress in damping the vibration, which resonates through the carbon fiber tub. Having parts like mirrors shake off is less than ideal, but the vibration is also transmitted through the steering wheel, and the problem is so severe that both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll risk permanent nerve damage if they try to complete an entire race distance.

Asked to describe conditions in the car, Stroll (who suffered a hand injury last year) said, “I don’t know how you can compare it. I guess just electrocute yourself on a chair or something like that, not far off. It’s just… it’s very uncomfortable vibrations. It’s bad for the engine but also for the human inside the car. We need to get on top of it, but I think we will.”

Could this precipitate a driver move? Stroll Jr. is a permanent fixture as long as Stroll Sr. owns the team. But two-time champion Alonso already lost several years of his career to a poor Honda power unit and uncompetitive McLarens, and at 44, he’s now much closer to retiring. Rather than the Newey world-beater he thought he was getting, Alonso, who hasn’t won a race for 13 years, might well be looking at his old home Alpine a little wistfully. Alpine boss Flavio Briatore is also Alonso’s long-time manager, and Briatore certainly has no qualms when it comes to benching or replacing drivers. If I were Franco Colapinto or Pierre Gasly, I’d keep an eye on that.

Apple

If you had come into the #macintosh channel on the Ars IRC server in 2003 and told us that Apple would one day be the broadcast home of F1 in the US, you probably would have been asked where you got such good drugs. But last year, after producing a blockbuster movie about the sport, Apple snatched the US rights from ESPN.

Understandably, for existing ESPN customers who don’t have and don’t want an Apple TV subscription ($13 a month), this wasn’t great news. There was also a lot of confusion about F1’s standalone digital TV offering. After a rocky launch in 2018, F1TV has come into its own, offering a much less British-centric commentary feed than the UK’s Sky (which it includes as an alternate audio option), in-car feeds, and a comprehensive archive of races dating back decades.

If you were previously subscribed to both Apple TV and F1TV Premium, you have one less bill to pay. If you’re an Apple TV subscriber in the US, you now have access to F1TV Premium via its website and apps. I’m a subscriber to both, and my two accounts were tied together without any problems.

Whether you use the F1TV app or Apple’s, you’ll have the option for both the F1TV commentary of Alex Jacques and Joylon Palmer or the Sky audio feed of David Croft and Martin Brundle, plus Spanish-language audio. Apple says each Grand Prix will have up to 30 other feeds, including in-car from all 22 cars, a driver tracker, a telemetry feed, and more.

Here’s what F1’s multi view looks like in Apple’s TV app. Apple

The computer company is going all out, with integrations across its various services. Apple Music will offer live audio broadcasts of races and curated playlists from drivers, and F1 will feature in the Podcast and News apps. There are even enhanced maps for some circuits—if Monza makes the cut, I will report back on it later this year. For a non-Apple Maps map look at the sport, consider this interactive map created by an Ars reader, F1 fan, and geospatial expert that includes all the team factories and the 24 circuits.

Nerve damage, energy management, and Apple TV: F1 in 2026 starts today Read More »

There are plenty of great choices if you want to spend less than $15K on an EV

Cars, used ev prices / Tim Belzer / March 3, 2026

Last time we looked at the used electric vehicle market, it was to see what the options are if you’re spending $10,000 or less. Two solid choices emerged quickly: a BMW i3 if you don’t need much range, and a Chevrolet Bolt if you do. Lots of earlier Nissan Leafs made the list, too, but these had limited range and air-cooled batteries to contend with; we also included an assortment of compliance cars and, perhaps for the very brave, a Tesla. But what happens when you grow the budget by 50 percent? What EVs make sense when there’s $15,000 burning a hole in your pocket?

As it turns out, at this price point the planet starts looking a lot more like your own personal bivalve. For starters, the cars that looked good at $10,000 look a lot better in the next bracket up, generally newer model years or with lower mileage than the cheaper alternatives. Which means you can afford the facelifted i3. For model-year 2018 and onward, BMW fitted its electric city car with a larger-capacity battery, which means up to 114 miles (183 km) of range on a full charge, or about 150 miles (241 km) if it’s the one with the two-cylinder range-extender engine. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto might also be built into these i3s, although there are aftermarket solutions now, too.

No aftermarket is required to get CarPlay or Android Auto on any of the Bolts you might buy for under $15,000, which include a mix of pre- and post-facelift (model-year 2022 and onward) cars, although few of the slightly more spacious Bolt EUVs. Like the i3s, expect lower mileage examples, plus all the usual caveats: slow DC charging and seats that can get a bit hard on long drives.

There are plenty of great choices if you want to spend less than $15K on an EV Read More »

It’s almost a station wagon: The 2026 Subaru Trailseeker, driven

Cars, suba, Subaru, Subaru Trailseeker / Rejus Almole / March 2, 2026

Winding roads revealed slightly more body roll than we saw in the Uncharted, despite both models feeling significantly lighter than the average electric crossover. Easy steering effort helps enhance a sense of nimbleness despite the added cargo volume in the back, though no true Subie fans will ever mistake a Trailseeker for an STI.

Instead, the comparisons to various Toyota models seemed almost unavoidable. The center touchscreen, minimalist gauge cluster sitting forward on the dash, dual smartphone charging pads, and gear selector knob all contrast with the rest of Subaru’s internal combustion and hybrid lineup. But of the EVs, the Trailseeker clearly embodies the Subaru ethos best—even if the name itself suffers from a bit of Baja Fresh syndrome. If you have to tell me the food is fresh…

Simply put, a max range estimate of 281 miles leaves anyone trying to get off the beaten path at the mercy of charging infrastructure. Any serious adventure will require plenty of planning. The standard NACS port, which allows access to all those Tesla Superchargers, should help assuage some range anxiety, but the idea of truly leaving the world behind in this EV seems somewhat unlikely.

The Trailseeker also comes in Stormtrooper spec.

Credit: Subaru

The Trailseeker also comes in Stormtrooper spec. Credit: Subaru

Instead of seeking out off-road trails, this EV seems best suited to parking at trailheads or paved campsites and then serving as a basecamp. You can pack up the trunk with gear, or better yet, load up the roof rails, a must-have for many Subaru owners. An optional plug in the trunk provides 1,500 W of vehicle-to-load output, and a “My Room” mode lets occupants stay in the car for extended periods with the power on while camping or charging.

At the very least, the Trailseeker can handle that level of escapism with a calm capability. Will the additional cargo capacity and power bump make up for the slightly higher price over an Uncharted? Subaru customers seem likely to accept that trade-off.

It’s almost a station wagon: The 2026 Subaru Trailseeker, driven Read More »

And the award for the most improved EV goes to… the 2026 Toyota bZ

2026 Toyota bZ, car review, Cars / Tim Belzer / February 27, 2026

The world’s largest automaker has had a somewhat difficult relationship with battery-electric vehicles. Toyota was an early pioneer of hybrid powertrains, and it remains a fan today, often saying that given limited battery supply, it makes sense to build more hybrids than fewer EVs. Its first full BEV had a rocky start, suffering a recall due to improperly attached wheels just as the cars were hitting showrooms. Reviews for the awkwardly named bZ4x were mixed; the car did little to stand out among the competition.

Toyota didn’t get to be the world’s largest automaker by being completely blind to feedback, and last year, it gave its EV platform (called e-TNGA and shared with Lexus and Subaru) a bit of a spiff-up. To start, it simplified the name—the small electric SUV is now just called the bZ. It uses a new 74.7 kWh battery pack, available with either front- or all-wheel-drive powertrains that now use silicon carbide power electronics. And for the North American market, instead of a CCS1 port just behind the front passenger wheel, you’ll now see a Tesla-style NACS socket.

Our test bZ was the $37,900 XLE FWD Plus, which has the most range of any bZ at 314 miles (505 km), according to the EPA test cycle. When you realize that the pre-facelift version managed just 252 miles (405 km) with 71.4 kWh onboard, the scale of the improvement becomes clear.

Standard equipment is generous, even in XLE trim. Jonathan Gitlin

Our loan immediately followed a week with the bZ’s more powerful, more expensive Lexus relative. While I might have liked that Lexus interior and some of its mod cons like ventilated seats, the Toyota is a much better EV despite having fewer frills. With 221 hp (165 kW) going to the front tires and 4,156 lbs (1,885 kg) to move, the XLE FWD Plus is not speedy. In normal mode, 0–60 mph (97 km/h) takes 8 seconds, although there’s still enough torque in this setting to chirp the low rolling resistance tires.

And the award for the most improved EV goes to… the 2026 Toyota bZ Read More »

Ford is recalling 4.3 million trucks and SUVs to fix a towing software bug

auto recall, Cars, Ford / Mike M. / February 26, 2026

Last year, Ford set a new industry record: It issued 152 safety recalls, almost twice the previous high set by General Motors back in 2014. More than 24 million vehicles were recalled in the US last year, and more than half—13 million—were either Fords or Lincolns. By contrast, Tesla issued 11 recalls, affecting just 745,000 vehicles.

Truth be told, Ford’s not doing too hot in 2026, either; it’s currently leading the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s chart for recalls this year, with 10 on the books already. The latest is a big one, affecting almost 4.4 million trucks, vans, and SUVs.

The recall affects the Ford Maverick (model years 2022–2026), Ford Ranger (MY 2024–2026), Ford Expedition (MY 2022–2026), Ford E-Transit (MY 2026), Ford F-150 (MY 2021–2026), Ford F-250 SD (MY 2022–2026), and the Lincoln Navigator (MY 2022–2026). Just the F-150s alone number 2.3 million.

The problem is with the vehicles’ integrated trailer module, which allows the trailer’s lights and brakes to work in conjunction with those of the towing vehicle. According to the recall notice, a “software vulnerability within the ITRM allows for a potential race condition to occur between the ITRM and the CAN Standy [sic] Control bit (STBCC) during initial power-up.” If that happens, the trailer will have no lights or brakes, and you’ll get a pop-up alert on the main instrument display.

Ford is recalling 4.3 million trucks and SUVs to fix a towing software bug Read More »